Motordrome Speedway's season concludes tomorrow night, and the focus is on the battle between Rick Miller and Neil Brown to decide the track's NASCAR-sanctioned late model championship. Miller took the checkered flag Friday night for his eighth feature victory of the season, increasing his lead over Brown to six points.

For two drivers who all season have been trading wins, points and even a little paint, Miller's six-point lead going into the final race amounts to very little, especially considering a feature victory at Motordrome is worth 50 points. Plus, Miller's latest win means, per track rule, he will start 12th tomorrow night.

It no doubt will be exciting to see if Miller can win the title for the second year in a row or if Brown can add a Motordrome crown to the ones he won at Jennerstown. But as promising as that race would appear, the late models have nothing on what could happen with the modifieds.

Adam Kostelnik of East McKeesport won a 30-lap special event Friday, his seventh victory of the season, and claimed the points lead in the process when Gary Scott was caught in a wreck and finished 12th. Kostelnik has a 14-point lead over George Nicola and a 16-point advantage over Scott, and he will have to start 12th tomorrow.

But there's another element on the line in the modified feature. The driver who ends up winning the championship has a good chance of clinching the NASCAR ShorTrack Northeast Region title, as well. Motordrome is known for producing NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series regional champions through its late model class, but not through the modified division, or even the pro trucks when they earned NASCAR points under previous track ownership.

"It's just another goal," said Kostelnik, who won the street stock title in 2001 and raced trucks before moving into a modified this year. "Our goal this year was to win a couple of races, being my first year in a modified, and come back next year and try for the championship. But midseason we really hit our stride and started taking off.

"We still have a shot for the region so if we can win, we're going to go for the win, but [with a track title at stake] you're not going to take as many chances as you normally would."

In championship races in other divisions, Greg Kelley needs only to start the feature to clinch in pro trucks; Frank Turek must hold off Robin Rimel in street stocks; Bob Shipp has a 12-point lead in chargers; and Ken Dukich has 24-point advantage in the American Flyers.

Wade clinches at PPMS

Dave Wade earned his first late model title Saturday at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway by winning a heat race. The regular season at PPMS concludes Saturday with only the e-modified division still undecided as Shawn Domhoff has a 16-point lead over Wayne Tessean. Rich Apolito (limited late models), Larry Marks (pure stocks) and Ian Tomei (amateur stocks) have locked up their divisions.

Wiltrout on top at Jennerstown

Going into the final night of racing Saturday at Jennerstown Speedway, Garry Wiltrout has a 44-point lead in the NASCAR-sanctioned super late division and most likely will win the title to go with the championship he won at Motordrome in 2002.

Also trying to hang on to their points leads are Rick Boyer in late models, Dink Colarusso in street stocks, Kyle Martel in legacy cars, Duane Noel in chargers; and Patrick Parlock in hobby stocks.

Bandolero ace

Chris Bailey Jr., 15, of South Park, will be a driver to watch on asphalt tracks in coming years. Bailey, a ninth-grader at South Park High School, races in the Bandolero division at several speedways across the country, as well as on the KOIL Tour. In addition to winning 20 races, Bailey also captured the Lake Erie Speedway title, the Kentucky Speedway crown, the INEX-sanctioned Pennsylvania state championship and the national championship.

Next season he plans to move into a legacy car and compete at Jennerstown, Motordrome and Lake Erie.

Out of the Chase

When NASCAR introduced its "Chase for the Nextel Cup" points format before the season, many drivers and owners refrained from making a comment, instead waiting to see how it played out. In essence, NASCAR created a 10-race shootout that locks in its top 10 drivers to decide the championship, worth more than $5 million to the winner and at least $1 million to each of the other nine drivers.

Well, somebody had to finish 11th. After racing Saturday in Richmond, Va. -- the final event to decide the top 10 -- Chip Ganassi Racing's Jamie McMurray was sitting 11th, only 15 points out. It means no driver for Chip Ganassi, of Fox Chapel, will race for the title.

"We were 15 points short," Ganassi said. "You can talk about this or that, but at the end of the day, it's nobody's fault but our own."