Over in Monaco, preparing for Sunday's Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was fastest in both of the first two practice sessions, ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in the first, and teammate Lewis Hamilton in the second.

Apparently, you can see this practice on NBC Sports at 11:30 p.m. (Eastern).

Luck of the Irish: Peter Dempsey shows off his trophy! It should be bigger. (Eric McCombs)

For EVERYTHING from the day at Indy, see the full story in the Racing News Section. Look left at Menu, click on it!

Of course, it's going to be a long weekend of racing in Monaco, in Indianapolis and Charlotte with Formula One's Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 -- all traditional Memorial Weekend races.

Whatever you plan on doing, be sure to have enough charcoal, brats and burgers, plus a few brews on hand for the duration -- it's gonna be a good one.

RACE WEATHER: While Formula One cars will race in the rain, they won't have to. At this point Sunday's weather in Monaco is for 67 degrees and sunny.

In Indy, we're expecting overnight rain on Saturday night, and cludy weather on Sunday.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, NASCAR fans will have sunny weather, 66 degrees, on Sunday. But, that's for 11 a.m., and the race goes off just after 6 p.m.

So, the weather could get better . . . or worse.

On Saturday, we have Nationwide qualifying for the History 300 at 11 a.m.  See it on ESPN2. See the race itself on ABC at 2:45. Just think, free TV!

On Sunday, see Formula One from Monaco on NBC Sports at 7:30 a.m.

Next, we have the one-hour Indy 500 pre-race program, and then the race itself at noon, being shown on ABC for the 49th consecutive year. Here, Ed Carpenter has the pole and will share the front row with Venezuelan wonder kid Carlos Munoz, a rookie, while on the outside will be Marco Andretti. The first 10 drivers are using Chevy engines, and Honda comes in 11th with Alex Tagliani.

NASCAR's A.J. Allmendinger (yes, he was named for A.J. Foyt, his dad's favorite racer) will start fifth at the Brickyard. Two three-time winners, seeking to make their names immortal, are Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti. Helio starts eighth, while Dario, the defending champion, starts 17th and has Honda power.

And, not to beat a dead stock car, the Coca-Cola 600 goes off in Charlotte with pre-race commentary starting at 5:30 on FOX.

On Thursday night the final track record was set by Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin with an astounding 195.221 mph in his Toyota, followed by Kurt Bush in his Chevy at 194.595 mph.

NASCAR has every right to be proud of its Gen-6 racecar, because it's the fastest stock car in the history of the sport.

On Sunday night they run the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. You can see the green flag fall at 6:16 p.m. (Eastern) on FOX. See the full starting order in the Racing News Section.

A.J. Allmendinger is making his comeback, with a little help from Indy Cars and Roger Penske. Here's a look at him over the weekend while qulifying fifth for this coming Sunday's Indy 500.

For the complete starting lineup, see the Racing News Section.

Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 will be as different as night and day.

That’s because the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ longest – and, perhaps, most grueling – event begins in the late afternoon heat and ends in darkness. The 600-mile race comprised of 400 laps around Charlotte Motor Speedway’s 1.5-mile layout is an exercise in strategy.

Run fast enough to keep track position when the sun shines, but be able to adjust when night falls. The extra 100 miles is taxing on both engines and driver concentration -- but if you want to see the full story, you need to check the Racing News Section.

And, Greg Rickes has this for you: The much-anticipated CoTA appearance for the Australian V8 SuperCar series has now gone into the record books, and I have to say I found it a bit underwhelming, possibly because the reality could have never lived up to the high expectations. 

Sunday’s racing was mostly processional up front, with just one actual pass for the race lead (not counting lead changes due to pit stops). There was some good racing back in the pack, but overall it was not inherently superior to  the variety of series we’re accustomed to on the domestic scene.

See all of the column by going to the Racing News Section.