By Paul Tracy's own estimation,he's driven "20,000 laps" aroundthe mile oval at NazarethSpeedway, either in testing orFedEx Championship Seriescompetition. The lion's share ofthat mileage came as a memberof Marlboro Team Penske from1991-94 and again in '96-'97.

That may help explain why Tracy(KOOL Reynard Honda) is thedefending race champion andtwo-time defending polesitter atthe Bosch Spark Plug Grand PrixPresented by Toyota, Sunday's fourth round of the battle forthe PPG Cup (12:30 p.m. ET, live, ESPN).

Tracy has built an enviable record of success at Nazarethwhich includes five top-five finishes in the past six events,including victories in 1994 and last year. He was third in 1992and '93 and fifth in '96. He owns the track qualifying record of191.174 mph (18.831 seconds) set last year, and recorded abest lap of 18.65 seconds during a test at Nazareth on April 8.

While Tracy has dominated recent Champ Car history atNazareth, veterans Michael Andretti and Bobby Rahal ownimpressive Nazareth resumes as well. Andretti(Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford) is a two-time winner(1987, '96) at Nazareth, owns three runner-up finishes (1988,'92 and '97), and has scored PPG Cup points in nine of his 10career starts at the venue.

Rahal (Miller Lite Reynard Ford), who makes his record 250thcareer Champ Car start this weekend, has started all 11FedEx Championship Series events held at NazarethSpeedway and has scored PPG Cup points in 10 of them. Hewon in 1992 – his most recent victory in the series – finishedsecond in '87 and '91 and third in '90.

Al Unser Jr. (Marlboro Penske Mercedes) joins Rahal as theonly active driver who has started all 11 CART events atNazareth. He has finished on the podium in three of has pastfour starts there, with a runner-up effort in '94 followed bythirds in '96 and '97.

While veteran drivers like Tracy, Andretti, Rahal and Unser Jr.have dominated CART history at Nazareth, a new brigade ofdrivers currently dominates the PPG Cup standings. Theyinclude Adrian Fernandez (Tecate/Quaker State/LabattReynard Ford), who has parlayed three top-six finishes,including a victory at Japan, into first place with 41 points.Greg Moore (Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes) standssecond with 37 points while Dario Franchitti (KOOL ReynardHonda), Tracy's teammate, is fourth with 25 points. Amongthat trio, only Moore has previously finished as high asseventh in the PPG Cup race.

Defending PPG Cup champion Alex Zanardi (Target ReynardHonda) brings momentum to Nazareth as well. With hasvictory at the April 5 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, whichfeatured a comeback from one lap down on the 54th of 105laps, he moved into third in the PPG Cup standings with 34points. However, Zanardi's spectacular FedEx ChampionshipSeries resume includes only a top finish of 11th in two startsat Nazareth.

Bryan Herta (Shell Reynard Ford) continues to inch closer tothe first FedEx Championship Series victory which has so fareluded his grasp. Herta claimed his fourth career poleposition at Long Beach, and led the race with two lapsremaining, only to be passed by Zanardi, on fresher tires, onthe second-to-last lap.

This weekend's Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented byToyota marks the return of Robby Gordon to the FedExChampionship Series. Gordon (Panasonic-Duskin ReynardToyota) will be making his first start since the 1997 seasonfinale at California Speedway, and only his second since theend of the 1996 season. He collected one of his four careerpole positions at Nazareth in 1995 while driving for WalkerRacing.

Gordon's successor at Walker Racing, Gil de Ferran(Valvoline/Cummins Special Reynard Honda) comes toNazareth sixth in the PPG Cup standings with 21 points. Helooks to bounce back from a 20th-place finish brought on bytransmission problems at Long Beach, despite leading after92 laps.

Jimmy Vasser (Target Reynard Honda) has recordedtop-seven finishes in his past two starts at Nazareth (seventhin '95, fifth last year), as well as top-eight performances atJapan (seventh) and Long Beach (eighth). Scott Pruett(Visteon Reynard Ford) finished eighth at Nazareth last year,and has scored PPG Cup points in two of three starts thisseason.

Rookies Tony Kanaan (LCI Reynard Honda) and HelioCastro-Neves (Alumax Aluminum Reynard Mercedes) are offto impressive starts in the FedEx Championship Series.Kanaan has taken the early lead in the Rookie of the Yearcompetition with 18 points, built on finishes of sixth at Japanand fifth at Long Beach.

Castro-Neves has also scored in each of the past two events– 11th at Japan and ninth at Long Beach. He's second amongrookies with six points. He led laps in Long Beach and wasfor a while in a position to win that race.

Both PacWest Racing Group drivers scored points at LongBeach as Mark Blundell (Motorola PacWest Mercedes) andMauricio Gugelmin (Hollywood PacWest Mercedes) finishedseventh and 10th, respectively. Both will debut their '98Reynard chassis this weekend after campaigning the '97version in the first three race.

Christian Fittipaldi (Kmart Swift Ford) and Andre Ribeiro(Marlboro Penske Mercedes) look forward to a return to ovalracing, where each has posted his season-best finish to date.Fittipaldi was fourth at Homestead while Ribeiro was ninth atJapan.

Patrick Carpentier (Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes), the1997 Rookie of the Year, enjoyed his best qualifyingperformance of the season at Nazareth last year when hestarted third. Current rookie JJ Lehto (Hogan Motor LeasingReynard Mercedes) led the first five laps of his FedExChampionship Series career at Long Beach.

Richie Hearn (Budweiser/Ralphs Swift Ford), Michel JourdainJr. (Herdez/Viva Mexico! Reynard Ford), Max Papis (MCIReynard Toyota) and PJ Jones (Castrol-Degree ReynardToyota) all make their second career appearances atNazareth this weekend. Hearn led that quartet with an18th-place finish last year.

Dennis Vitolo (SmithKline Beecham Reynard Ford) isexpected to return to competition at Nazareth. He has missedthe past two events after aggravating a finger injury –originally sustained in a testing accident – during the seasonopener at Homestead.

Drivers seeking their first career starts at Nazareth includerookie Alex Barron (Castrol-Degree Reynard Toyota), ArndMeier (BAAN Business Software/Total Tel Lola Ford) andMimmo Schiattarella (Hawaiian Tropic Reynard Mercedes).

Preparations at the track this week included some pavement repair, which could introduce a slippery patch if the weathershould heat up by Sunday, making this oval even harder to drive. Nazarethis a place where there is very little time to react, because for most ofthe lap, drivers are in a turn. Setup of the car is crucial to success, as turn 1 and 2 are very different from the steeper banked turn 3 and 4 area.

Qualifying for the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented byToyota will air 2 a.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2. "CART 2Day"airs noon ET Sunday on ESPN2, one-half hour prior toESPN's live race broadcast, which is also on ESPN.