Austin Dillon is expected to make his second career start in the series. Dillon, the grandson of team owner Richard Childress, finished a respectable 12th in his truck debut earlier this month at Iowa.

Thirty-three drivers are on the preliminary entry list for the Heluva Good! 200, three short of a full field.

INDYCAR SERIES

Indy Japan 300 - Twin Ring Motegi - Motegi, Japan

Danica Patrick returns to the site of her first career IndyCar Series victory this weekend. Patrick made racing history in April 2008 when she took the checkered flag at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan and became the first female driver to win a major closed-course motorsports event.

As defending race winner, Patrick's trip to Japan this time around will be a different experience altogether.

"There's a level of confidence that comes with being the defending winner and there's some excitement as well," Patrick said. "Just going back to Japan is always nice for me."

Patrick conserved enough fuel late in the race to cross the finish line first. While the race leaders were forced to pit for gas, the Andretti Green Racing driver ran in front for the remaining three laps. She finished nearly six seconds ahead of runner-up Helio Castroneves, who won this event in 2006.

In Victory Circle, Patrick received an assortment of prizes, including a samurai sword. When Patrick arrives in Japan this week, she will have an opportunity to see a miniature version of her winning trophy, which is on permanent display at the Honda Collection Hall in Motegi.

"The sword came out for a while because it came with a beautiful stand, but it didn't really fit with the rest of the decor of the house," she said. "It's especially cool to see my face on a trophy, because that's the big deal at Indy too. I will know how they did my hair then. I've always wondered how they did my hair from the photos."

Patrick is currently fifth in points.

With two races to go, the battle for this year's IndyCar championship comes down to three drivers. Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe currently holds a 25-point lead over Dario Franchitti from Chip Ganassi Racing. Scott Dixon, the defending series champion and Franchitti's teammate at Ganassi, trails Briscoe by 33 points. All other drivers have been mathematically eliminated.

Dixon has had his share of ups and downs at Motegi. He finished 15th after starting on the pole in the 2003 inaugural race. Last year, he started second and finished third there.

"It is definitely one of the toughest tracks we go to," Dixon said. "It's a 1.5-mile oval, but it is shaped like an egg and very different. Turns three and four are very difficult, but turns one and two are so easy and wide open you get a tow going into turn three. It takes a lot of commitment going into turns three and four. You have to stay committed, and some years we go there, we are running wide open over 200 miles an hour, which is pretty crazy."

Briscoe has finished ninth (2008) and 12th (2005) in his first two starts at Motegi, while Franchitti's best finish in four races there is third, which came in 2007, his championship year.

Located 60 miles northeast of Tokyo, the Twin Ring Motegi facility contains two major racing venues, a 1.5-mile, egg-shaped oval and a three-mile, 14-turn road course, which winds underneath and east of the oval track.

Scott Sharp won the first Indy Japan 300 in '03, which was the first IndyCar event held overseas. The following year, Dan Wheldon made history for Honda when he claimed the first victory for the engine manufacturer at its home track.

Wheldon is the only repeat winner at Motegi. He also won there in 2004.