Schedule makes it tough for two-timing NBS drivers

It's considered a paired event. O'Reilly Raceway Park is just 15 miles down the road from the famous bricks at Indianapolis. It's the small track in the big racing market.

Yet it's all but a stand-alone Busch Series race this weekend.

By the Numbers

There was a time when Morgan Shepherd spent his time in Victory Lane at ORP.

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Just six Nextel Cup regulars are on board for Saturday night's Kroger 200 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2). It's an oddity considering the lengths some Cup drivers have gone to ensure seat time this season, often flying across state lines to compete on both Saturday and Sunday at different tracks.

Good for Busch regulars. Bad for Cup drivers. Or so one would think.

No driver has started worse than 18th and come back to win at ORP in the Busch Series. And no driver in the last five races has won from a starting spot worse than ninth. On Saturday, things don't look too promising for the half-dozen drivers making the trip across town to run the short track.

Cup drivers will be busy Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with qualifying and two practice sessions that run from 10 a.m. ET until 4:30 p.m. That leaves no time to squeeze in practice in the Busch car at ORP (9 a.m. and 11 a.m.), and a narrow window to make a qualifying run in the Busch car (4:35 p.m.). Missing qualifying results in a poor starting spot for Saturday night.

"It's tough to do because of the Brickyard schedule, but once I get in the car I remember how much fun I have racing there," said Greg Biffle, who plans to make at least one Busch Series practice.

"He'll probably have to come from the back of the field since I think he'll miss qualifying," said Biffle's crew chief Eddie Pardue, "but our pit crew has been outstanding this year so they should help him gain positions in addition to what he can do on the track."

What Biffle can do on the tiny track has been impressive. Four starts. Four top-fives. He started second and finished there in his first race. He won from the pole in his second trip there in Jack Roush's Ford. In fact, his victory there in 2002 is the only race won by a car other than Chevrolet in the last 15 events at ORP.

And in the last five events held at the track, four of the winners have gone on to collect the Busch Series championship trophy at season's end. So is the pressure on for Carl Edwards? Not likely his landslide lead isn't too shaky despite having injured his thumb earlier this week.

Add to that the fact that schedules will likely hamper him in terms of practice and preparation. Or will it?

"It will be important, but it really won't be as critical as most tracks," Scott Wimmer said of the value of practice time. "The practice is all during the day, and we race at night. Once nighttime comes, then you can forget about everything that you did during the day as far as changes and setup."

If that's the case, then forget about that disadvantage for the Buschwhackers.