IRL Preview - Round 7 : Atlanta.

Eddie Cheever's emotional first win for Infiniti at Pikes Peak put him atop the Indy Racing Northern Light Series standings, and favourite for this years title. The Nissan engine which powers the Team Cheever Dallara has proven to be capable of winning on any type of oval after competitive showings in every one of the six races run so far this year and the ex-Arrows Formula One driver will be hoping to add to his current eight point series lead.

The defending champion in Atlanta is Kelley Racing's Scott Sharp who took his fourth series win at the 1.5 mile track last year. Sharp has since added to his win tally by scoring a breathtaking win at Texas earlier this year. Texas, another 1.5 mile track with similar characteristics to Atlanta, saw a record 31 lead changes amongst eight drivers in the best IRL ever seen. Sharp has moved into third place in the championship, a position he replicated at Pikes Peak a month ago.

Second in the championship is Indy 500 runner up Buddy Lazier who was forced to retire from the Radisson 200 after less than a lap when his engine blew. The Hemelgarn driver retired from the race last year in a major accident with Sam Schmidt and will be looking to regain his series lead on Saturday night.

Also amongst the potential winners for this event are Robby McGehee, who finished second to Sharp at Texas, Scott Goodyear who could retire at the end of the season and Al Unser Jr who was third at Texas and was victorious and the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year.

there are at least a dozen other drivers who are all capable of snatching victory this weekend including Greg Ray, whose crash at Pikes Peak made it impossible for him to retain his title. The Team Menard driver desperately needs a good result to ease some of the pain from a wretched season.

Three old faces return to the IRL scene this weekend headed by the 1999 Rookie of the year Scott Harrington. Harrington had been out of a drive for much of the year after his family run team collapsed at the end of last year. He has now signed a firm deal with Mid America Motorsports to drive their Dallara-Aurora in place of Doug Didero.

JJ Yeley returns to the series for the first time since 1998 when he drove for Team Menard at Indianapolis. The young short track specialist was seen as 'the next big thing' by many and has been given another opportunity to show off his skills in the troublesome Riley & Scott of the Jonathon Bryd McCormack squad.

The final returnee this weekend is Stevie Reeves who will drive for the fledgling Logan Racing team. Reeves finished in the top ten in his last IRL start at Charlotte in 1998 and hopes that his extensive experience in all forms of Motorsports will help the young team who made their series debut at Texas this year.

26 cars have been entered for the Saturday night race and two thirds of the field have a shot at winning. Not many major championships can make that claim.