OK, NASCAR, it's your turn: When's Wendell Scott day?

And if your first thought here is 'Wendell who?', that's a pretty good indication that the racing community needs to do a better job recognizing the pioneering efforts of the first - and only - black man to win a race in NASCAR's top series.

Sunday, major league baseball honored the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut. League officials retired Robinson's No. 42 a decade ago, then temporarily unretired it so any player who wanted to honor Robinson could do so. About 200 players, coaches and managers did.

Now it's time for NASCAR to honor Scott, who faced his own difficult journey in breaking down a racial barrier.

"Time has passed to pay tribute to him," said Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler.

NASCAR has awarded scholarships in Scott's name to minority students with an interest in the racing industry, and Scott's son, Wendell Jr., has served as a mentor to drivers participating in NASCAR's diversity program. Wheeler said some tracks have hosted their own tributes to Scott.

But where's the big-stage tribute to the man who broke racing's racial boundaries? NASCAR isn't ruling it out, but it's not in the works yet.

"Obviously, Wendell Scott has been a guy who's one of NASCAR's pioneers," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said.

Bill Lester, who last year became the first black driver to compete in NASCAR's top series in 20 years, grew up watching Indy-style racing and admits he didn't know much about Scott when he came to NASCAR.

Since then, Lester has gotten to know Scott's widow, Mary, and his children.

"I have gotten to gain a late appreciation of (Scott)," Lester said. "I can only imagine what it would have been like to be in his shoes."

Scott, a taxi driver and auto mechanic from rural Virginia, started racing cars in 1947, the same year Robinson broke into baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Some estimates say he won more than 200 races in the minor leagues. Wheeler said when Scott competed at Bowman-Gray Stadium during segregation, the black grandstands were full.

Scott finally broke into NASCAR's top series, then called Grand National, in 1961.

The true depth of his struggle for respect in an overwhelmingly white sport - another black driver, Charlie Scott, raced on the sands of Daytona Beach in 1956 - aren't widely known; NASCAR wasn't in the same media spotlight as baseball at the time and Scott wasn't one to complain.

"He was a very gentle person," said Wheeler, who got to know Scott while selling racing tires for Firestone. "He was very tenacious, but he didn't show it. You could not get the man down."

Racial issues aside, Wheeler was most impressed by the fact that Scott never got frustrated trying to take on well-funded stars like Richard Petty while racing on a shoestring budget. Wheeler said Scott "had to be a master of the junkyard" just to make it to the track.

Scott only won once, but who knows what he could have done in a proper race car?

"Obviously, he wasn't close to being as successful in racing as Jackie Robinson was in baseball," Wheeler said. "Problem is, Jackie didn't have to have a car. Wendell did."

Wheeler said he doesn't remember Scott being mistreated by fans or competitors. In fact, some fellow drivers helped him out by lending him spare parts.

But even his victory didn't come without controversy.

Scott clearly won the Dec. 1, 1963, race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla., perhaps as many as three laps ahead of second place. But officials declared another driver the winner, only later recognizing Scott as the winner and attributing the mix-up to a "scoring error."

But Scott endured, starting 495 career races and finishing in the top 10 in points three times. His career came to an end after a crash at Talladega Superspeedway in 1973.

Given America's fixation on round-number anniversaries, NASCAR already has missed out on the chance to make a bigger deal out of the 40th anniversary of Scott's victory. That means NASCAR could wait to throw a heck of a party in 2013 for the 50th anniversary of his victory.

But if they don't want to wait, NASCAR could make Scott a major part of the new Hall of Fame, which is set to open in Charlotte in 2009.

Wheeler said recognizing Scott might boost NASCAR's existing efforts to convince more black teenagers to take up racing, as a fan or a driver.

"We're getting more and more black fans, but if we had a really good black race car driver, it would make all the difference," Wheeler said.

NEXTEL CUP

Subway Fresh Fit 500

Site: Avondale, Ariz.

Schedule: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, 5 p.m.); Saturday, race (FOX, 5 p.m.).

At a glance: The Car of Tomorrow returns this weekend and will make its debut on a one-mile track. The cars previously competed at Bristol and Martinsville and produced winning margins of 0.064 and 0.065, respectively. … In 20 years, no pole-winner has won this race and only two winners - Jeff Burton in 2000 and Kurt Busch in 2004 - have come from the No. 2 position.

BUSCH

Bashas' Supermarkets 200

Site: Avondale, Ariz.

Schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 2:30 p.m.), race (ESPN2, 6 p.m.).

At a glance: Carl Edwards has 1,370 points through seven races, and a 403-point lead over Dave Blaney in the standings. Edwards has almost 100 points more than Kevin Harvick did at the same point last year, when Harvick clinched the title with five weeks to go.

CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES

Grand Prix of Houston

Schedule: Friday, qualifying, 12:10 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 11:30 a.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, noon).

At a glance: Last week's victory at Long Beach moved Sebastien Bourdais all the way from 13th to third in the standings, 19 points behind Will Power and just four behind runner-up Alex Tagliani.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Indy Japan 300

Site: Suzuka

Schedule: Today, qualifying, 9:30 p.m.; Friday, race, 9 p.m. (Sunday, ESPN, 9 a.m., tape).

At a glance: Scott Dixon jumped past Dan Wheldon into the series points lead with his runner-up finish at St. Petersburg last week. Wheldon and Helio Castroneves are tied for second, five points behind.

- Associated Press

NASCAR

Nextel Cup

1. Jeff Gordon, 1,136

2. Jeff Burton, 1,128

3. Matt Kenseth, 1,011

4. Jimmie Johnson, 955

5. Denny Hamlin, 914

6. Clint Bowyer, 866

7. Kyle Busch, 856

8. Carl Edwards, 837

9. Tony Stewart, 814

10. Jamie McMurray, 805

11. Mark Martin, 794

12. David Stremme, 779

13. Juan Pablo Montoya, 767

14. Kevin Harvick, 763

15. Kurt Busch, 759

16. Elliott Sadler, 756

17. Greg Biffle, 738

18. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 737

19. Martin Truex Jr., 671

20. Ryan Newman, 656

Busch Series

1. Carl Edwards, 1,370

2. Dave Blaney, 967

3. Kevin Harvick, 938

4. Kyle Busch, 913

5. David Reutimann, 907

6. Matt Kenseth, 873

7. Bobby Hamilton, Jr., 859

8. Marcos Ambrose, 824

9. Mike Wallace, 819

10. Regan Smith, 802

11. Stephen Leicht, 787

12. Denny Hamlin, 757

13. Regan Smith, 752

14. Shane Huffman, 749

15. Jason Leffler, 743

16. Juan Pablo Montoya, 723

17. Steve Wallace, 712

18. Jon Wood, 705

19. Greg Biffle, 690

20. J.J. Yeley, 687

Craftsman Trucks

1. Mike Skinner, 745

2. Todd Bodine, 651

3. Rick Crawford, 602

4. Ron Hornaday Jr., 601

5. Ted Musgrave, 600

6. Jack Sprague, 564

7. Matt Crafton, 549

8. Johnny Benson, 543

9. Travis Kvapil, 529

10. Aaron Fike, 497

11. Dennis Setzer, 482

12. Erik Darnell, 456

13. Stacy Compton, 454

14. Brendan Gaughan, 443

15. Ken Schrader, 427

16. Chad McCumbee, 416

17. Davis Starr, 409

18. Willie Allen, 394

19. Terry Cook, 385

20. A.J. Allmendinger, 375

IRL

1. Scott Dixon, 80

2. Dan Wheldon, 75

(tie). Helio Castroneves, 75

4. Tony Kanaan, 65

5. Sam Hornish Jr., 61

6. Dario Franchitti, 56

7. Tomas Scheckter, 52

8. Vitor Meira, 46

9. Marco Andretti, 44

10. Danica Patrick, 40

(tie). Buddy Rice, 40

(tie). Ed Carpenter, 40

13. Scott Sharp, 37

14. Darren Manning, 35

15. Sarah Fisher, 34

16. Jeff Simmons, 29

(tie). A.J. Foyt IV, 29

18. Kosuke Matsuura, 27

19. Marty Roth, 15

20. Alex Barron, 12

NHRA

Top Fuel

1. Rod Fuller, 383

2. J.R. Todd, 342

3. Brandon Bernstein, 327

4. Tony Schumacher, 304

5. Whit Bazemore, 295

Funny Car

1. Ron Capps, 458

2. Robert Hight, 370

3. Tony Pedregon, 314

4. Jim Head, 301

5. Gary Scelzi, 279

Pro Stock

1. Greg Anderson, 484

2. Jason Line, 355

3. Dave Connolly, 329

4. Jeg Coughlin, 315

5. Allen Johnson, 250

Pro Stock Motorcycle

1. Angelle Sampey, 175

2. Karen Stoffer, 146

3. Matt Smith, 132

4. Craig Treble, 130

5. Chris Rivas, 126

Formula One

1. Fernando Alonso, Spain, McLaren-Mercedes, 22

(tie) Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Ferrari, 22

(tie) Lewis Hamilton, Britain, McLaren-Mercedes, 22

4. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari, 17

5. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, BMW-Sauber, 15

6. Giancarlo Fisichella, Italy, Renault, 8

7. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Toyota, 4

8. Robert Kubica, Poland, BMW-Sauber, 3

9. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Williams, 2

10. Ralf Schumacher, Germany, Toyota, 1

(tie) Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, Renault, 1

Champ

1. Will Power, 59

2. Alex Tagliani, 44

3. Sebastien Bourdais, 40

4. Bruno Junqueira, 38

5. Robert Doornbos, 35

6. Tristan Gommendy, 31

7. Justin Wilson, 30

(tie) Katherine Legge, 30

9. Oriol Servia, 28

(tie) Neel Jani, 28

11. Paul Tracy, 26

12. Ryan Dalziel, 23

13. Alex Figge, 21

14. Graham Rahal, 19

15. Mario Dominguez, 17

(tie) Simon Pagenaud, 17

17. Dan Clarke, 15

18. Matt Halliday, 11

ALMS

1. Rinaldo Capello, 62

(tie) Allan McNish, 62

3. Emmanuel Pirro, 58

(tie) Marco Werner, 58

5. Jon Field, 45

(tie) Clint Field, 45

(tie) Richard Berry, 45

8. Frank Biela, 26

(tie) Michael Lewis, 26

(tie) Chris McMurry, 26

11. Tom Kristensen, 22

12. Bryan Willman, 16

Grand Am

1. Scott Pruett, 93

2. Max Angelelli, 92

(tie) Jan Magnussen, 92

4. Patrick Carpentier, 80

(tie) Milka Duno, 80

6. Max Papis, 75

(tie) Colin Braun, 75

8. Mark Wilkins, 71

9. Memo Rojas, 68

10. JC France, 67

(tie) Patrick Long, 67

(tie) Jorg Bergmeister, 67

13. Jon Fogarty, 64

(tie) Alex Gurney, 64

15. Memo Gidley, 61

(tie) David Donohue, 61

(tie) Darren Law, 61

18. Oswaldo Negri Jr., 60

(tie) Mark Patterson, 60

(tie) Michael Valiante, 60

(tie) Michael McDowell, 60