Weekend preview: NASCAR goes to Vegas

Apart from having deserts, there's another thing that the American state of Nevada has in common with the Arabian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain: both of them hold top-quality motorsport events this weekend.

While the NASCAR Sprint Cup boys take in their third race of the season in Nevada's gambling capital of Las Vegas, Bahrain plays host to the third round of the GP2 Asia Series, as well as the second prong of the Australian V8 Supercars' season-starting double-header in the Middle East.

So, with their gambling heads on in Vegas, who from the NASCAR boys is going to be moving up or down the Castrol Rankings?

The best-placed of them is Jimmie Johnson, sixth in the Rankings and hot off his success in last Sunday's second round at California Speedway.

The NASCAR racers will, this weekend, have to drop their scores from last year's third round at Vegas. Although Johnson qualified third and led the most laps in 2009, he finished only 24th, so he has a relatively low score to discard. He's going to have to dominate this weekend, through qualifying and the race, to move ahead of fifth-placed rally star Mikko Hirvonen, but it is just about possible for the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet star.

Hendrick team-mate Mark Martin, 11th in the Castrol Rankings, has a big gulf to make up to 10th-placed Scott Dixon. Even with a tiny score from last year's 40th place in Vegas to discard, he's unlikely to move up.

Behind him, Tony Stewart (26th in Vegas last year) could leapfrog Lewis Hamilton and move into 12th place if he has a winning run this weekend. Just behind him, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin are looking to repass Kimi Raikkonen (for 14th) and Jarno Trulli (for 16th) respectively with a good run.

Of those in the top 20, it's Kyle Busch who has most to fear. Last year he took pole and the race win in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, so he could be in for a hefty drop of points this weekend if he doesn't come close to matching his 2009 form. Older brother Kurt could actively pass him, while a disaster for the younger Busch could even drop him behind rallyman Dani Sordo.

In Bahrain, Ferrari protege Jules Bianchi could leap six places to the number 52 spot if he has a GP2 weekend as impressive as his category debut last time out in Abu Dhabi. But runaway championship leader Davide Valsecchi, currently in 66th place, is not far behind the Frenchman and poised to make an even bigger jump if he keeps up his current form.

Down in the 90s are Sergio Perez, Alvaro Parente (who returns to GP2 action after the heartbreak of losing his Virgin F1 reserve role) and Javier Villa, while Briton Oliver Turvey, winner of the feature race in Abu Dhabi, could polevault all the way into the top 100 from his current 114th place if he repeats his form from last time out.

Another man knocking on the door of the top 100 is Jamie Whincup, who will be looking to repeat his domination of last weekend's opening Australian V8 round with another double win in Bahrain. He is 106th in the Castrol Rankings, 66 spots ahead of closest V8 rival Garth Tander.