Stock car drivers are generally considered oval specialists, so scheduling two road course races in an eight-day span has put pressure on everyone in NASCAR's Busch Series.

The series made its Canadian debut last Saturday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, home of the Canadian Grand Prix Formula One event. The Busch drivers now move to Watkins Glen, N.Y., for another road race on Saturday.

“Watkins Glen, being the second of back-to-back road-course events, presents a unique challenge to the NASCAR Busch Series teams,” series director Joe Balash said. “Teams have either had to build a third road course car to be prepared, or they're spending extra time driving from Montreal to Watkins Glen so they can get to the garage early to do the maintenance on their cars from last weekend.

“A number of Busch Series teams arrived (at Watkins Glen) early Monday to change engines, rebuild brakes, switch out transmissions and restore sheet metal on the road-course cars.”

Balash said these races, along with the March road course event in Mexico City, offer a good opportunity for the Busch drivers.

“This is the third of three road courses in 2007, which gives our drivers a broad experience to build their road course talents,” he said. “The Glen is a wider track, with more sweeping turns. It races more like a speedway than the tight chicane-like turns of Montreal.

THREE-WAY FIGHT: The championship battle in the Daytona Prototype division of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series could hardly be tighter heading into Friday's race on the short course at Watkins Glen International.

After a victory last week in the inaugural Grand-Am event in Montreal, Max Angelelli trails division leader Scott Pruett by just two points, while Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty are nine points out of first with just three races remaining on the 2007 schedule.

Pruett drives a Lexus Riley for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, while Gurney and Fogarty, who have won eight poles, five races and started all 11 events so far this year from the front row, share a Pontiac Riley fielded by Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing.

Angelelli, who co-drove Wayne Taylor Racing's Pontiac Riley with Jan Magnussen in Canada, will share driving duties this week with Memo Gidley at the New York track.

“Watkins Glen has been a track where we've always been pretty good,” said Angelelli, the 2005 series champion. “We left Montreal with the feeling that we might have found something, but we need at least another race to double-check whether what we found is what we've been looking for in our search for speed.

“Going to Watkins Glen, we know that we were already fast in the June race. Now that the championship race is so close, we are all so packed, the rest of the season becomes very delicate in that no one can make any mistakes.”

Unlike the annual June running of the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, which is run on the 3.4-mile long course at Watkins Glen, Friday's 200-mile race will take place on the 2.45-mile short course that also will showcase NASCAR's Busch and Nextel Cup Series competitors on Saturday and Sunday.

ON TOP: Sebastien Bourdais has posted a remarkable record since joining the Champ Car World Series in 2003.

Not surprisingly, the 28-year-old Frenchman, winner of three consecutive series titles, is leading the season standings heading into Sunday's Generac Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

More surprising, Bourdais is locked in a three-way championship duel with Dutch rookie Robert Doornbos and second-year Australian star Will Power. Doornbos, coming off his second win of the season, trails Bourdais by 10 points and Power, last year's top rookie, is 24 points behind the leader.

History says Bourdais will be difficult to overtake. The driver from Le Mans, France, has led the series points after 42 of the 68 Champ Car races in which he has competed. Last year, Bourdais led the series from start to finish.

There are four bonus points available during each Champ Car race weekend: One for fastest in Friday's qualifying, one for fastest in Saturday's qualifying, one for fastest race lap and one for gaining the most positions during the race.

After the first nine races of 2007, there have been 36 bonus points awarded and Bourdais has 14 of them. Doornbos has three bonus points and Power six.