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NEWCASTLE — The good news about Trey Robb is he's progressing nicely as a race car driver. The bad news about Trey Robb is he's not racing tonight and Saturday at the American Sprint Car Series National Tour races at State Fair Speedway. Oh, Robb will be at the race track, but only as a spectator, likely surrounded by autograph seekers.

"We were looking forward to it, but I guess we'll be watching from the stands,” said Perry Robb Jr., Trey's father.

Robb raced in the ASCS National Tour races last weekend at Devil's Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas. He finished 11th in the A feature on March 14, then 22nd on Saturday. The latter finish was the result of a blown out engine in a race Robb led for three laps.

Perry Robb Jr. said repairs to the car, owned by Joe Swofford of Mansfield, Texas, can't be made in time for this weekend's Oklahoma City races. And since the Robbs sold both of their own sprint car engines — well, the rising 15-year-old driver from Newcastle can only sit back, watch and keep a Sharpie in his pocket.

"It's just unfortunate,” Robb Jr. said.

Otherwise, Trey Robb's career is going well. After cutting his racing teeth at State Fair Speedway as a 12-year-old — in the track's Champ Sprint division — the up-and-comer has spent a lot of time traveling and winning. Last season, Trey won the United Sprint Car Series Asphalt Thunder points championship. As a rookie on the series, he won five of eight scheduled races.

Trey finished 151 points ahead of the second-place Danny Statter and 173 ahead of third-place Terry Gray, an open-wheel racer who was driving before Robb existed.

The USCS Asphalt Thunder is dominated by races on the East Coast.

"He had a great year,” Robb Jr. said of his son. "We think we have a good package for this year, too.”

Trey will run some USCS races in 2008. He will also drive in a few ASCS events, both on the national and Sooner Region schedules. And there will be those nights when Trey runs wingless sprints and midget sprints, some with the renowned U.S. Auto Club.

"We're going to do a little bit of everything,” Robb Jr. said. "We're trying to get him in NASCAR stuff some day, and USAC is what they scout. We want him to be versatile.”

•Wright back on top: Gary Wright of Hooks, Texas, again leads the ASCS National Tour standings. Wright, who has won the last four championships, goes into this weekend's races with a 28-point lead over Oklahoma City resident Wayne Johnson. Wright won 13 features last season en route to a $50,000 championship purse.

•Locals to race tonight: A few of State Fair Speedway's regular classes will serve as support races tonight and Saturday. USA Modifieds and Pro Stocks will race tonight. Champ Sprints and Factory Stocks will race Saturday. State Fair has another driver practice scheduled 6 p.m. Wednesday.