Tracy finished 14th last month at Watkins Glen International in the No. 24 Dallara-Honda for the team, which has used five substitute drivers since Mike Conway was injured in an Indianapolis 500 crash.
With sponsorship from Motegi Racing Wheels at the 1.5-mile superspeedways, Tracy will be making his debut at Kentucky and racing for the first time at the Japan track since an April 2002 Champ Car race in which he started third.
Tracy has five starts at Motegi (with a best of fifth in March 1998) but hasn't raced on an oval since Milwaukee in May 2009. He was bumped from this year's Indy 500 field on the final day of qualifying.
The Canadian, who earned 31 wins and the 2003 championship in Champ Car, finished sixth at Edmonton on July 25 in his most recent IndyCar start (for KV Racing Technology).
"It's great to be back with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing," Tracy said in a release. "It's been a while since I've raced on an oval, but I'm ready for the challenge."
Dreyer & Reinbold hasn't decided on a teammate for Justin Wilson in the Oct. 2 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Quite a year: Saturday's Grand-Am Rolex win at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve by Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas was significant for several reasons, starting with the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team clinching its fourth championship.
With their eighth win this year, Pruett and Rojas set a single-season record for Daytona Prototypes. They can clinch the championship as co-drivers by piloting their car for at least 30 minutes apiece in the Sept. 11 season finale at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
"It?s been an incredible season for us," Pruett said. "We?ve hit on something that?s been incredible. It goes beyond a championship season for me because it's so incredible what Chip Ganassi Racing has done this year. I mean, 'Wow!' "
The Grand-Am title is the latest in a season filled with major achievements for Ganassi, whose NASCAR Sprint Cup teams (that he co-owns with Felix Sabates and Teresa Earnhardt) have three wins, including the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400. Ganassi IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 and closed within 23 points of Will Power in the pursuit of his second consecutive series championship with a win Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway.
Ganassi, whose teams have 16 wins across the three series in 2010, is the only car owner to win the Daytona 500, Indy 500 and Brickyard 400.
"I?m involved in a lot of forms of racing, but sports cars have always been near and dear to my heart," Ganassi said. "I love the racing, I love the people and I love the competition, and it?s really great to be part of Grand-Am if you love all that."
NHRA schedule: The National Hot Rod Association will begin its Countdown to the Championship this weekend at O'Reilly Raceway Park, but the track won't host the opener of next year's playoff. The 2011 Countdown will start at zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C. (the site of the opener in 2008-09). Next year's 22-event slate also will feature Firebird International Raceway moving from February to October as part of the six-race Countdown.
New approach: NASCAR will restructure its PR staff into an Integrated Marketing Communications department with a chief communications officer likely to be hired from outside the industry. Managing director of corporate communications Ramsey Poston will leave his position but oversee the department through the end of the year before becoming a NASCAR consultant.
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