Ekstrom expects NASCAR return soon

Two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom expects to return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup series soon after making his oval debut at Richmond last weekend with Red Bull Racing Team.

The Swede had a respectable run on Saturday night at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway, finishing 31st but running close to a top-20 position in the first half of the race, eventually crossing the finish line ahead of series' regulars Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

While others trying the transition from different series into NASCAR have taken a more gradual approach in the past, the Red Bull driver ventured into racing on a short oval track at Cup level for his second stock car outing, but still managed to have a trouble-free run.

The 32-year-old said his experience last Saturday went beyond what he anticipated and made him earn more respect for the series. Although he has returned to Europe to drive again for Audi in the DTM, Ekstrom expects to be back in the Sprint Cup soon.

"I have to say for the first race on an oval, I was expecting it to be long and hard, but didn't expect it to be so action packed," Ekstrom said. "As soon as I started after the first restart, it was wild. That is nothing like what I have even come close to.

"I respect these guys even more who are doing this all the time -- the way you have to drive, stay focused on every single lap, hit your marks all the time, and tune the car up. [Saturday's race] is something to build on. I had a great experience and great support from the team. I am really appreciative of this chance.

"A big thanks to Red Bull and hopefully I will be back in NASCAR again soon."

Reed Sorenson will return behind the wheel of the #83 Red Bull Toyota next weekend at Loudon, but with only four races left in the DTM schedule, which finishes in late November at Shanghai, Ekstrom is expected to drive again for the team this season.

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Ekstrom to make oval debut

Two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom will make his oval debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series next weekend at Richmond, Red Bull Racing Team has announced.

The Swede will pilot the #83 Red Bull Toyota for a second time this year, having made his NASCAR debut in June. Ekstrom drove in the first road course event of the season at Infineon Raceway, where he finished 21st after starting 38th, leading the race for seven laps.

After racing in the DTM last weekend at Brands Hatch, the 32-year-old tested for Red Bull on an oval for the first time on Tuesday at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a 0.625 oval in North Carolina, where he successfully completed his preparation to compete next Saturday in the final race of the regular season at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway.

"To do a race on an oval is something different - it's a lot of laps and a lot of cars," said Ekstrom. "Racing in Richmond will be one of the biggest tasks of my life so far, but I feel I am ready for the challenge."

Ekstrom replaces Reed Sorenson, who has driven the #83 car for eighth of the past nine races. Brian Vickers started his fourth year at the wheel of the leading Red Bull entry but he has been sidelined from racing since May after being diagnosed with blood clots. Casey Mears, Boris Said and Ekstrom, have also driven the car this year.

"Mattias did a great job in Sonoma, and continues to impress at the oval track testing sessions," said Red Bull Racing Team's Jay Frye. "He has earned this opportunity, showing continued improvement every time he is behind the wheel."

Ekstrom is expected to be back behind the wheel of his DTM Audi A4 next week, when the series competes at Oschersleben. With four events remaining, he ranks fifth in the DTM standings.

Henrique returns to RacingEkstrom to make oval debut

Ekstrom open to NASCAR future

Mattias Ekstrom is not closing the door on doing further NASCAR outings this year, and also on considering a future in the Sprint Cup series.

The Swede will compete for a second time this year at NASCAR's top level this weekend, driving the #83 Red Bull Toyota at Richmond after first driving for the team last June at Sears Point, where he finished 21st after leading the race.

The 32-year-old has followed NASCAR for the past few years and had already pursued the idea of racing on an oval for some time, with circumstances playing into his hands this season to enable him to do so.

Red Bull's regular driver Brian Vickers was sidelined from racing after being diagnosed with blood clots last May, opening the chance for a number of drivers to fill in at the wheel of the #83 Toyota Camry for the rest of the season.

Although Reed Sorenson, who has driven in most races since then, is expected to return to the car next weekend at Loudon, Red Bull officials did not close the door on the possibility of Ekstrom driving for the team again this season.

The two-time DTM champion has a contract with Audi which links him to the manufacturer for now, but beyond that he remains open about his future.

"I came here and did the race at Sonoma and said afterwards that I'd like to do an oval," Ekstrom told AUTOSPORT. "What happens in the future nobody knows, but one thing is for sure, I will try to collect all the experience I can this weekend and I will do the best job I can and then we will see what happens.

"At the moment I have a contract with Audi which I'm happy for and I really enjoy the DTM and there are some races to go this year, but I decided I wanted to try this."

Ekstrom is fond of the close competition of NASCAR, which is what attracted him to compete in the Sprint Cup when given the chance. While the DTM also remains a very competitive championship, he enjoys having the chance to compete in a bigger field and with fewer team-mates.

"What I like the most is the racing," Ekstrom said. "You have many competitive cars and many competitive teams and DTM is also competitive but you have only 20 cars and then you have to drive with a lot of respect for your team-mates.

"Here there's 43 cars and you've got to be good because if not, you're going to be way down. The competition is what really attracts me and I really enjoy that."

NASCAR convert Juan Pablo Montoya has been in close contact with Ekstrom on his NASCAR visits and has given him advise on his transition to the heavy but powerful Cup cars and the series itself.

The Red Bull racer appreciates Montoya's input, while he has also looked for advice from other top drivers in the series.

"I liked [Montoya's] style when he was doing F1 and I've spent some time with him," said Ekstrom. "He's a nice guy and very competitive. He's been giving me all the info, what I should think of, all the pros and cons. I appreciate all the help I got from him because without that I would be struggling a lot more.

"I also got some help from Jimmie Johnson and I mean, you need to have some friends in this world when you come as a rookie in order to survive. I think what is really important is to do this with a lot of passion."

Ekstrom showed good consistency and quick progress during Friday's practice sessions at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway, but struggled in qualifying and will start from 42nd on the grid on his oval debut on Saturday.

Following the race he is expected to return to Europe to compete in the next round of the DTM at Oschersleben.

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Bowyer confident of Chase spot

Clint Bowyer remains confident he will secure his place in this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup championship play-off on Saturday night at Richmond.

The Richard Childress Racing driver is the only one inside the top 12 in the standings whose place in the Chase is not set yet despite a reasonable gap to Ryan Newman, who ranks 13th in the points.

The top 10 are already locked in, while 11th-placed Greg Biffle just needs to finish 42nd or lead a lap in order to mathematically secure his place in the play-off.

Bowyer needs to finish 28th or better this weekend to grab the final spot in the Chase, without having to rely on the results of Newman and Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray, who still has a mathematical, yet slim chance of beating his RCR rival to 12th place.

"With a 117 point lead, whatever it is, that is a pretty good pad," said Bowyer. "We've just got to go out, with any luck at all, we'll be in this thing. If we're not, I'd say it was not meant to be. This is an important race track for us. It is one of my best race tracks."

For his part Newman refused to get caught up in the maths of the points and said he will regard Saturday's race the same as any other. His only real chance to grab a last-minute Chase opportunity would come if Bowyer hit trouble but Newman would still need to get a top finish in order to profit from it.

"I don't know what has to happen but I know that I'm just going to do my best, try my hardest and where we end up is where we end up," Newman said. "Just like I said last week, I can't expect to make it up in two races, I can't expect to make it up in one race, I try my best and if the math works and success happens so be it."

If Bowyer makes the Chase, Richard Childress Racing would be the only outfit with all its drivers in the championship play-off. Last year none of the RCR drivers were in contention for the title and Bowyer is confident that this year his squad has a legitimate shot at bringing Jimmie Johnson's title streak to an end.

He reckons however that he needs to get more solid finishes in order to match his team-mate Kevin Harvick, who leads the standings heading into the final race of the regular season.

"You look at our performance all year long at RCR, it has been very good," said Bowyer. "These race tracks, if you look at just the #33 car, within these last 10 races, we've run well at the first time around at most of them. Actually ran in the top five.

"What we've got to get better at is getting the finish like my team-mate Kevin Harvick has. He's done a great job at showing the potential of RCR cars all season long. If Jeff [Burton] and I can match his success early in these last 10 races and put it together for 10 races, we're going to have a shot at winning the championship at RCR."

Bowyer has been in the Chase twice, finishing third in the championship in 2007 after claiming his first Sprint Cup win in the first race of the play-off.

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Q and A with Mattias Ekstrom

Two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom is making his oval debut this weekend at Richmond International Raceway in what will be just his second outing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

While others before him have taken their first steps in stock car racing at lower levels, including Juan Pablo Montoya, the 32-year-old Swede has taken the bull by the horns and will race Saturday at the 0.75-mile oval in the final race before the Chase for the Cup kicks off.

AUTOSPORT spoke to the two-time winner of the Race of Champions ahead of his second NASCAR race.

Q. Why are you going straight into the Sprint Cup and not trying at a lower level before, like others have done in the past?

Mattias Ekstrom: I think it doesn't really matter wherever you start, if you start in Cup or Nationwide. Sure, if you start lower you have less competition but there's good guys at every level in any NASCAR series. I mean, look at Kyle Busch, he's driving in all of them and besides, Red Bull only has a team in Cup. I had to do this with Red Bull because I've been an athlete for them for many years and that's about how it was.

Q. So you think it's easier to make the transition from DTM to NASCAR than from an open-wheel car?

ME: For me I think it's easier to adapt to NASCAR because I've been used to touring cars. Open-wheel cars have never been my cup of tea and I've never been good at it, so for sure I'm better off trying to do this than maybe going to IndyCars, that's for sure.

Q. What moved you to do this for a second time?

ME: What I like the most is the racing. You have many competitive cars and many competitive teams and DTM is also competitive but you have only 20 cars and then you have to drive with a lot of respect for your team-mates. Here there's 43 cars and you've got to be good because if not, you're going to be way down. The competition is what really attracts me and I really enjoy that.

Q. Are you seriously considering a future in NASCAR? Are more races in the cards this year?

ME: I came here and did the race at Sonoma and said afterwards that I'd like to do an oval. What happens in the future nobody knows, but one thing is for sure, I will try to collect all the experience I can this weekend and I will do the best job I can and then we will see what happens. At the moment I have a contract with Audi which I'm happy for and I really enjoy the DTM and there are some races to go this year, but I decided I wanted to try this.

Q. You've spent some time with Montoya in your NASCAR visits. Is he trying to sell you into making the move full time?

ME: I don't call him Juan, but Sean. I liked his style when he was doing F1 and I've spent some time with him. He's a nice guy and very competitive. He's been giving me all the info, what I should think of, all the pros and cons. I appreciate all the help I got from him because without that I would be struggling a lot more. I also got some help from Jimmie Johnson and you need to have some friends in this world when you come as a rookie in order to survive. I think what is really important is to do this with a lot of passion.

Q. With four races remaining in the DTM and ranking fifth in points, what's your outlook on the rest of the season?

ME: The championship is out of my hands now and I can't win it by my own performance, it would have to be the others doing something bad. I'm going there to enjoy every race, to try to win more races and what happens with the championship I can't really control anyway. We will see.

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Gordon: Wins vital to title challenge

Jeff Gordon believes winning for the first time this year will be vital to his chances of contending for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

The four-time champion, who is already safely in the championship play-off that starts next week, has been win-less for the past 54 races, dating back to April last year.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver sits currently second in the standings, but is expected to drop outside the top five once the points are reset next week when the Chase starts at Loudon.

The 12 drivers in the championship hunt will start the final 10 races with 5000 points plus 10 more for every win thus far, of which Gordon has none heading into Saturday's race at Richmond.

He believes that he will need to win for the first time soon as he reckons it is not realistic to aim at this year's title without a single victory.

"Maybe Jimmie [Johnson] or Denny [Hamlin] who have 50 points up on everybody else, I think it's possible for them not to win races because they already have a big head start, or at least a decent-sized one. But I think for us, I think we're going to have to win," Gordon said.

"I'm not giving up on it yet. We haven't won yet this year. It's not from a lack of effort... A few things go our way and what is it that makes that happen, other than putting fast race cars out there on the track and executing well?

"I still think we could have won three or four races up to this point, if not more already this season, and I can't see why we can't still win multiple races before this year is out."

Gordon has yet to win a title under the Chase format, having won for the last time in 2001 under the old cumulative points system. He still believes consistency to be key in the final 10 races, and reckons that is of his team's strengths, along with the improved communication he has within his group. However he insists that only a win will get his side of the garage to perform at championship level in the next 10 weeks.

"While we haven't won this year, and don't get me wrong, a win would really add so much to our Chase hopes and our championship hopes, just because it gets you to that next level," said Gordon.

"But we've got to live up to our strengths and our strengths are that we never give up... I think our communication, especially between [crew chief] Steve [Letarte] and myself is definitely improved and so that has a lot to do with why we're stronger and why we're better.

"And I think we're probably the most consistent team out there. That's always been one of our strengths and certainly always been one of mine and why the old points system was so good for me. I approach it the same way with 10 races to go."

Gordon has finished second twice this year, the last time at Richmond in May.

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Q and A with Mattias Ekstrom

Two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom is making his oval debut this weekend at Richmond International Raceway in what will be just his second outing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

While others before him have taken their first steps in stock car racing at lower levels, including Juan Pablo Montoya, the 32-year-old Swede has taken the bull by the horns and will race Saturday at the 0.75-mile oval in the final race before the Chase for the Cup kicks off.

AUTOSPORT spoke to the two-time winner of the Race of Champions ahead of his second NASCAR race.

Q. Why are you going straight into the Sprint Cup and not trying at a lower level before, like others have done in the past?

Mattias Ekstrom: I think it doesn't really matter wherever you start, if you start in Cup or Nationwide. Sure, if you start lower you have less competition but there's good guys at every level in any NASCAR series. I mean, look at Kyle Busch, he's driving in all of them and besides, Red Bull only has a team in Cup. I had to do this with Red Bull because I've been an athlete for them for many years and that's about how it was.

Q. So you think it's easier to make the transition from DTM to NASCAR than from an open-wheel car?

ME: For me I think it's easier to adapt to NASCAR because I've been used to touring cars. Open-wheel cars have never been my cup of tea and I've never been good at it, so for sure I'm better off trying to do this than maybe going to IndyCars, that's for sure.

Q. What moved you to do this for a second time?

ME: What I like the most is the racing. You have many competitive cars and many competitive teams and DTM is also competitive but you have only 20 cars and then you have to drive with a lot of respect for your team-mates. Here there's 43 cars and you've got to be good because if not, you're going to be way down. The competition is what really attracts me and I really enjoy that.

Q. Are you seriously considering a future in NASCAR? Are more races in the cards this year?

ME: I came here and did the race at Sonoma and said afterwards that I'd like to do an oval. What happens in the future nobody knows, but one thing is for sure, I will try to collect all the experience I can this weekend and I will do the best job I can and then we will see what happens. At the moment I have a contract with Audi which I'm happy for and I really enjoy the DTM and there are some races to go this year, but I decided I wanted to try this.

Q. You've spent some time with Montoya in your NASCAR visits. Is he trying to sell you into making the move full time?

ME: I don't call him Juan, but Sean. I liked his style when he was doing F1 and I've spent some time with him. He's a nice guy and very competitive. He's been giving me all the info, what I should think of, all the pros and cons. I appreciate all the help I got from him because without that I would be struggling a lot more. I also got some help from Jimmie Johnson and you need to have some friends in this world when you come as a rookie in order to survive. I think what is really important is to do this with a lot of passion.

Q. With four races remaining in the DTM and ranking fifth in points, what's your outlook on the rest of the season?

ME: The championship is out of my hands now and I can't win it by my own performance, it would have to be the others doing something bad. I'm going there to enjoy every race, to try to win more races and what happens with the championship I can't really control anyway. We will see.

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