Happy Thursday...whew, only one more day.

Today In Nascar History

October 9, 1982: Darrell Waltrip wins his first Nationwide Series race in his second start, beating Sam Ard by 2 seconds in the Miller Time 300 at Charlotte.

Number of the Day

3: Drivers attempting to make their Sprint Cup Series debut this weekend in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Bryan Clauson, 19; Brad Keselowski, 24; and Scott Speed, 25, must qualify on speed Thursday to make the 43-car field for Saturday night's race.

Sandra,

Please let all your race fans know about this great event Greg Biffle has going on.  Pass it on. www.gregbiffleforpets.com .  Thank you

Power Rankings

Power Rankings: Sometimes it's better to be lucky  Charlotte

Most Popular Driver…Vote here!

http://www.scenedaily.com/mostpopulardriver/  or

http://www.votemostpopulardriver.com/

Nationwide Most Popular Driver Poll

Craftsman Truck Most Popular Driver Poll

Quote of the Year

"NASCAR ain't doing nothing I like right now." "I don't like the rules they are doing...you can bump somebody and they want to fine you for it." Pearson saw the look on Carl Edwards face and made sure to say he knew that Edwards could not speak-up or he would get fined.

--David Pearson

Comments from the Peanut Gallery

From RD

From Shareen,

Other races have been won, below the yellow line, when the winner was forced below it.

True, but his name was Earnhardt <snicker>

rd

from Lou

From Shareen,

Other races have been won, below the yellow line, when the winner was forced below it.

True, but his name was Earnhardt <snicker>

rd

from Lou

Hi Momma,

Just one quick statement about the end of the Talladega race.

If you look at more than just the end of the race, and it seems most people are just looking at the end, You will see that Regan Smith was below the yellow line  when he put the nose of his car past Tony Stewarts quarter panel. That's all I have to say.

The Old Man of NASCAR,

Lou Elliott

And…

Hi again Momma,

Did You Notice? … Officials appeared to be taking debris off certain cars on the track during the first red flag period?

I hadn't read this before I sent my other comment. I'm surprised that this was even include in Mr. Bowles article. It was pretty obvious, at least to me, that they were doing this for safety purposes. What they removed could have fell onto the track, cut a tire, and caused a very serious accident. This was done by the officials, not the crews, and what they removed was in no way working on the car.

The Old Man of NASCAR,

Lou Elliott

From Smilin Jack

To Lou (not so old),  What do you consider 'up state'?  Fonda, Utica-Rome?  I followed the races a lot before I entered service and never really returned to the area except for vacations.  Sure was good racing! 

Smilin' Jack

Bits and Pieces

Hamlin cleared to race this weekend
CSD Staff

Denny Hamlin has been cleared to race this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway following a crash at Talladega that kept him in a hospital overnight Sunday.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was kept overnight at the University of Alabama Hospital following his crash during last Sunday's race, when a blown tire sent his car against the wall while he was leading the race.

Hamlin has been given the green light by NASCAR's consultant Dr. Jerry Petty.

"It was definitely the hardest hit I have ever taken in a race car," said Hamlin. "It was good to get home, get some rest and take it easy this week. I am feeling better every day and look forward to getting back in the car this weekend.

"I need to thank everyone at Talladega and at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Hospital, and also Dr. Petty and the NASCAR medical team for taking care of me. I really appreciate all they did for me and for putting my health above everything else.

"Thanks to all of the fans for their concern and, of course, thanks to everyone at JGR and No. 11 team who build really safe cars and that showed last weekend."

Hamlin will be skipping Friday night’s Nationwide Series race. He was scheduled to drive for Braun Racing but Dave Blaney has tasked to replace the JGR driver at the wheel of the No. 10 car.

Hamlin is currently 12th in the Chase standings.

No New York victory lap this year
CSD Staff

NASCAR has opted to replace the traditional ‘Victory Lap’ through the heart of New York during Champions Week with a daylong block party.

NASCAR has staged the lap around Manhattan for the past four years as part of the weeklong Champions celebration. The stunt however drew some criticism from New Yorkers who aren’t NASCAR fans.

After the lap in 2007, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office fielded angry e-mails from people who were by getting stuck in traffic.

The new block party, just one of many NASCAR-themed events scheduled that week - will include concerts, food, race simulators, and show cars.

Casey Mears gets new nickname; dad
CSD Staff

Casey Mears and Trisha Grablander welcomed their baby Tuesday, Oct. 7th. Samantha Mae Mears weighed 8lbs. 7oz. and is 20 3/4 inches long. Sam is named after her Great-Grandmother Mae "Skip" Mears.

Qualifying rainout possible at Lowe’s tonight
CSD Staff

The forecast for Bank of America 500 qualifying tonight at Lowe's Motor Speedway doesn’t bode well for several drivers hoping to make Saturday night’s event.

A low-pressure system responsible for producing the rain that fell across the Charlotte area Wednesday evening and overnight is moving across South Carolina today. A few showers and possibly even a thunderstorm could cross the region today.

NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying is scheduled for 7 p.m.

If qualifying is rained out, Brad Keselowski, Scott Speed and Bryan Clauson and Derrike Cope would be among those not making the race.

Clearing skies and warmer temperatures are forecast for the weekend.

Milestone Watch
CSD Staff

Several NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers will mark personal series milestones in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500.

Jimmie Johnson will make his 250th career start. Kasey Kahne will make his 175 career start. If he qualifies the No. 70 Chevrolet on Thursday night, Tony Raines will make his 125th career start.

This weekend also means a milestone for LMS, which will host its 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup and 54th NASCAR Nationwide events. A total of 499 drivers have competed there.

Four will attempt to make their first LMS starts this week — Brad Keselowski, Bryan Clauson, Scott Speed and Chad McCumbee.

Latest on Indy's Tire Test: Goodyear Tire and NASCAR officials, along with Sprint Cup Series drivers Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin [tested the #5 Hendrick Chevy], expressed optimism at the progress made in tire testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A total of 14 Sprint Cup Series drivers tested Oct. 6-7 at IMS as Goodyear developed a tire for the 16th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, scheduled for Sunday, July 26, 2009. The final day of the three-day test, Wednesday, Oct. 8, was canceled due to rain. This was the second Goodyear test at IMS in three weeks and, according to Stu Grant, Goodyear’s general manager of worldwide racing, the effort is paying dividends. “We tested with Kyle Petty a couple weeks ago, saw some very, very encouraging results out of that test,” he said. “Now, of course, we’re here with a lot more cars. We’ve got what we believe to be a good start toward a 2009 race recommendation. Just look at the racetrack, you can see there’s a groove in the racetrack where the cars are going around, just kind of looking normal. We’ve got rubber debris on the outside of the groove, and we’re seeing some significant improvements in wear.” Goodyear also plans to test again with multiple cars in April 2009 at IMS, Grant said. Detailed laboratory analysis after the 2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, which was slowed by frequent competition cautions, identified the causes of excessive tire wear during that event, Grant said. The 2008 event was the first for NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow” at IMS. “We saw that the additional load and additional slip that the right rear tire saw was considerably more than it was in 2007,” Grant said. “Then we started to do some laboratory analysis to try to figure out, ‘OK, why did we see that kind of wear debris, why did the track not rubber in?’ To make a long story short, what we found out was that the additional load and slip that the right rear tire saw changed the particle size of the wear debris.” Goodyear brought tires to this test that lasted longer and will produce better racing next year at IMS, Sprint Cup stars Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne said.(IMS PR)

Talladega TV Ratings Even with 2007: ABC earned a 4.6 national rating for its live telecast of the AMP Energy 500 Sprint Cup race from Talladega Superspeedway, the same rating as was earned by last year’s race telecast, also on ABC. The race averaged 7,439,614 viewers. The race earned ABC’s highest rating so far this season and matched its highest rating from 2007. The network is televising all 10 races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.(ESPN)

Keselowski to attempt first Cup race: Brad Keselowski will attempt to put his #25 GoDaddy.com Chevy in the Bank of America 500 field during Thursday evening's Sprint Cup Series qualifying session at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Should he be successful, Keselowski will make his first-ever Sprint Cup Series start Saturday night. Car owner Rick Hendrick will enter Keselowski and the #25 GoDaddy.com team in two Sprint Cup races this season -- Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and the Nov. 2 Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The race will mark the return of the #25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, which most recently was fielded in the 2007 Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with driver Casey Mears. Hendrick Motorsports ran the #25 Chevy full time from 1986-2007, winning 17 races with drivers Tim Richmond (nine victories), Ken Schrader (four), Jerry Nadeau (one), Joe Nemechek (one), Brian Vickers (one) and Mears (one). Veteran crew chief Lance McGrew will call the shots for Keselowski and the #25 GoDaddy.com team at Lowe's Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. McGrew, who has been successful working with young drivers like Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch, is a former Sprint Cup Series race winner and Nationwide Series champion. The #25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet team participated in the Sept. 23-24 Sprint Cup open test at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Keselowski posted the 12th-best lap time of the two-day session at 29.250 seconds and 184.615 mph. Keselowski has logged hundreds of laps in the new Chevrolet Impala SS by testing with Hendrick Motorsports' research and development team. The experience also has allowed Keselowski to develop a strong relationship with McGrew, who helps guide Hendrick's R&D efforts. (Hendrick Motorsports PR)

AMP Energy Relaunch scheme for Earnhardt, Jr.: This weekend, the #88 Chevy will change to Dale Earnhardt, Jr's favorite color, orange, to showcase AMP Energy Relaunch for the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. AMP Energy Relaunch revives and hydrates with a burst of orange citrus and an intense surge of energy to get up and get moving again.(Hendrick Motorsports PR)

Pink M&M's scheme for Busch at LMS: While M&M’s will be on board as the primary sponsor this weekend in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch’s #18 Toyota will feature a pink paint scheme to help raise awareness for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation during Breast Cancer Awareness month.(JGR PR)

Pop Tarts scheme for Mears again: For the fourth time this season and second consecutive week, Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's most popular morning food product, will adorn the hood of the #5 Chevy. Pop-Tarts was also the co-primary sponsor of the #5 Chevy in March at Las Vegas, in August at Bristol and last weekend at Talladega.(HMS PR)

Gordon to run Menard's scheme at Charlotte: Coming off their third top-ten restrictor-plate finish of the 2008 season, Robby Gordon and his #7 Menards team look to carry their superspeedway momentum forward into this weekend’s Bank of America 500.(RGM PR)

Dan Stillman named Wypall Crew Chief of the Race in Talladega: Dan Stillman, crew chief of the #01 DEI/Principal Financial Group Chevy driven by Regan Smith, was named the Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race for Sunday's strong performance in the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. After qualifying in the fourth position, Smith and the Stillman-led team went on to display a remarkable performance throughout the entire 500-mile race. Running in the top-10 for the latter part of the race, Smith was in second place on the final lap when he attempted to pass race leader Tony Stewart. Stewart moved up the track to block the #01, but Smith forced his way to the inside, beating Stewart to the checkered flag. NASCAR officials ruled that Smith had passed Stewart by going below the yellow line. They penalized Smith and the #01 team, crediting them with an 18th place finish. The 2008 Wypall Wipers Crew Chief Challenge is a season-long contest that will determine the best crew chiefs in the Sprint Cup garage. Following each race, a panel will vote to determine which crew chief demonstrated the most outstanding strategy and leadership during the race. It isn’t necessarily the crew chief that goes to Victory Lane, but the crew chief that makes the biggest difference for his team. Representatives from Wypall Wipers, together with FOX/SPEED television analyst Jeff Hammond, and three of NASCAR’s top crew chiefs who represent Wypall, including Todd Berrier of Richard Childress Racing’s #29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevy team, Bob Osborne of Roush Fenway Racing’s #99 Office Depot Ford team, and Kenny Francis of Gillett Evernham Motorsports’ #9 Budweiser Dodge team, make up the panel of judges. In addition to the $1,000 check, the winning crew chief will receive signage to announce the win on their pit box the following week. The crew chief with the most weekly top wins will be honored as the Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Year and will be presented a $20,000 check at the season finale in Homestead. The Wypall Wipers Crew Chief Challenge will continue throughout the remainder of the 2008 season and spotlight the men behind the machines. For more information, log onto www.Wypall.com.(PR) 

Thompson In Turn 5

Robby Gordon: Continuing To Defy Conventional Wisdom

Tommy Thompson · Frontstretch.com

Not since the days of independent driver Dave Marcis, who through sheer determination managed to earn a living as a Cup driver and team owner, has any owner / driver showed more grit and fortitude than Robby Gordon. The proprietor of Robby Gordon Motorsports continues, though just barely, to defy the odds that overwhelmingly should have seen his team sitting on the sidelines. Instead, bolstered by his eighth place finish Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, the multi-talented driver continues to remain within the Top 35 in owner championship points. As such, he is guaranteed a spot in the Sprint Cup field for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500.

Still struggling to remain inside the Top 35 certainly is not where the 39-year-old optimistic entrepreneur imagined he would be four years after taking his then-Busch Series operation Sprint Cup racing. Still, that he is even still surviving in this dog-eat-dog, deep-pocketed series has already proved many NASCAR insiders wrong. Back in 2004, they predicted Gordon’s chances of survival at “slim to none” when the California native announced his intentions to go it alone; but so far, slim’s won out.

In fact, following the offseason announcement that Robby Gordon Motorsports had signed what was termed a technical, manufacturing, and marketing agreement with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, Gordon exuded confidence, saying, “We’re going to win three races this year, and we’re going to be very competitive right out of the box.” Taking it one step further, he added, “Why do I feel that? It’s not what I feel; it’s what I know.”

Predicting to win three races in 2008, equaling the total number of wins recorded by Gordon in his previous 270 Cup attempts, may have seemed like an insane statement at the time. However, Gordon had reason to believe his track fortunes were about to take a turn for the better. Keeping the truth private, he knew his agreement with GEM went considerably further than what the general public understood it to be. It was not the run-of-the-mill technical sharing deal, but a complete buyout-in-the-making that would give him unlimited aid in 2008. The deal would provide desperately needed help, money that could reasonably elevate a middle-tier team such as his No. 7 entry into one capable of competing for race wins.

Had the agreement been completed, Gordon would have received support from not only GEM, but eventually added manufacturer support from Dodge for the season. GEM would have then eventually bought RGM for a reported $23.5 million. Gordon, as part of the deal negotiated last January, would have then been under a four-year agreement to drive for GEM for an estimated $5 million in base pay, bonuses, and benefits. The cherry on top of the sundae? He would have become a member of the company’s Board of Directors.

Indeed, had the deal stood and Gordon merged his operation, that would have marked the end of NASCAR’s only viable one team owner / driver effort. But the covert agreement fell apart this summer, and seemed headed for court before both parties resolved their differences. Assessing blame for the failure of the merger to occur would be somewhat like determining the guilty parties for the current meltdown of the U.S. financial sector. The bottom line isn’t about why it failed, but the fact that it did fail … and that left Gordon still struggling to survive.

Whatever the truth is concerning Gordon’s aborted relationship with GEM, it has not improved his chance for long-term survival. For the past two months, he has been in an extended battle for a Top 35 position in owner points with Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 00 team. Team owner Gordon presently has his No. 7 Dodge, with no sponsorship yet announced for Charlotte, a mere 39 points ahead of fellow owner/driver Michael Waltrip’s only team not safely positioned within the Top 35.

With such a fine line between success and failure, conventional wisdom would have seemed to dictate that Gordon — fighting for sponsorship dollars — would at this very moment be desperately seeking another suitor to either buy or affiliate his organization with. But not Robby. Recently rumored to be looking at some form of an alliance with DEI, Gordon dismissed the talk and claimed he has enough sponsorship in place for next season. “If people are estimating that we’re going to go away, obviously they don’t know me very well,” stated Gordon on his Sprint Cup future.

All bravado aside, Gordon’s proclamation is hard to contradict. Even with three manufacturer switches in three years, he has continued to make races and keep his head above water. That’s no small feat in the ultra-competitive multi-team environment flush with sponsorship money and factory backing that the Sprint Cup Series has become.

On the other hand, it would appear that the noose is tightening far quicker for RGM than its owner would like to admit. Though able to enter 2008 with Top 35 protection, the landscape is quickly changing for Gordon’s No. 7. Competitors are partnering up and forming larger and stronger organizations, rushing to maximize their influence before NASCAR’s four-car limit comes into play in 2010. The most successful teams in particular are the ones extending their tentacles, building alliances that go above and beyond that limit to make the new rule essentially useless. Additionally, the Toyota teams of Red Bull and MWR are now becoming legitimate Top 20 contenders, cementing their place within the Top 35 in owner points. Simply put, there are fewer and fewer small and underfunded start-up teams left for a one-team driver/owner to outperform.

Regardless of what transpires, though, Gordon has proved the “experts” wrong. Not only has he been able to continue to compete in the premier motorsports circuit in the United States for nearly four seasons, but during that period, he has built an organization that GEM, by way of their initial offer, has demonstrated is of value.

So, although Robby Gordon has no announced manufacturer lined up or sponsorship for the full schedule signed…who dares count him out in 2009?

I don’t.

And that’s my view…from Turn 5.

NASCAR drivers and fans hit hard by the slumping economy

Lars Anderson/si.com

When Dario Franchitti moved from IndyCar to the Sprint Cup series at the start of the 2008 season, he had all the earmarks of being sponsorship gold. Not only was he the reigning Indy 500 winner and IndyCar series champion, but also he was married to actress Ashley Judd. Telegenic, good-lucking, and possessing a smile that can break hearts, Franchitti is as good with a microphone in his hand as he is on the track, where many -- including yours truly -- picked him to be the '08 rookie of the year in the Cup series.

But six months after making his Cup debut in the Daytona 500, Franchitti is no longer a driver in NASCAR's highest series. What caused his demise? Put simply, the slumping economy, and now Franchitti is the poster boy for how these tough economic times are affecting NASCAR.

In early July, Franchitti's owner, Chip Ganassi, shut down Franchitti's team due to lack of sponsorship, which meant Franchitti and 71 other people were given pink slips. It costs about $25 million to be the primary sponsor of a car, and in this harsh economic climate the competition among owners to attract sponsors is every bit as fierce as the paint trading on the track.

Sponsorship of a car, after all, boils down to advertising, and when a company is struggling, one of the first things that gets slashed is the advertising budget. Not even Dale Earnhardt Jr., the sport's most popular driver, has been immune to this reality, as the Navy recently announced that it was pulling sponsorship of the Nationwide team that he owns.

''The sponsorship game is really hard right now," said veteran driver Jeff Burton. "I think you're going to see more of it. The reality is we're going to see less sponsors in the garage than we did last year. People are less willing to make the investment because of the tough economic times we're in.''

"If you're a good businessman, you're going to look at all of your discretionary spending," said Roger Penske, who owns both a NASCAR team and an IndyCar team. "Where do you get the best return? I think sponsors are going to be hard to get in the next 12 to 18 months, and the ones we've got, we're going to have to deliver with."

Want more proof of the scarcity of sponsors in the Cup series? In the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, 53 cars had enough financial backing to attempt to qualify and make the 43-car field. When the circuit returned to Daytona in early July for the summer race, only 45 cars attempted to make the show. Could there come a time when NASCAR runs a race with a field that's less than full? It's certainly a possibility, especially if the economy doesn't turn.

What about the fans in these lean economic times? Though the tracks don't release attendance figures, it's clearly visible that the numbers at the gate are significantly down this season. Last weekend at Talladega, there were about 50,000 fewer fans than last year, which accounted for the lowest crowd for the race in two decades. The typical NASCAR fan drives to races, and the high prices at the pump (and the gas shortages in the South) have convinced many stock car diehards to stay home. While this has helped boost television ratings this season, it's hurt merchandise sales at the track, which are down across the board from 2007.

But at least the fans have a choice to stay away from the sport, something Franchitti didn't have. He's still hoping to return to Cup series next season, and at Watkins Glen on Aug. 8 he flashed his stock car talent by capturing the pole for the Nationwide race. "I'm going to talk to other teams in the NASCAR paddock, for sure," said Franchitti. "I'm going to talk to everybody and see what my options are for next year."

Unfortunately, if the economy doesn't get healthy fast, those options may be severely limited.   

Voices From The Heartland

Smith vs. Stewart Takes the Heat Off Cousin Carl

Jeff Meyer · Frontstretch.com

I am not a journalist. I am a columnist. As such, I can report or write about the facts as I interpret them. Let’s face it, it’s one of the reasons y’all love me so much… or vice versa.

Having said that, I will tell you now it’s the reason I have Regan Smith’s name first in the title of this article. Simply put, I will give him first billing even if NASCAR will not. I firmly believe that Smith was forced below the yellow line, and no matter how many times I watch the video, I will not be convinced otherwise.

Another thing that I want to clear up is the difference between “blocking” and “forcing.”

Blocking is what you do to keep the other guy behind you. If you try to “block” when the other guy already has his nose beside you, that is a “force.” As I respectfully explained to a highly regarded member of our staff, in the civilian world, blocking is what happens when you get “cut off.” What happens when you get forced? You get run off the road. There’s a key difference here. Getting cutoff is annoying… but getting run off the road is criminal, and Regan should have gotten the license plate number of that car. Oh, yeah; it was number 20! Unfortunately, the NASCAR cops gave the wrong guy the ticket. No surprise there — in either the NASCAR or civilian world.

What was really nice, however, for me as a fan, was the heat that the whole Smith / Stewart debacle took off my (put on fan hat) favorite driver Carl Edwards.

Regular readers know that I had picked Carl to be my favorite when my first favorite, Dale Jarrett, finally retired. I picked Carl for that honor back when he first started flipping off trucks in a way different from what that sounds like. Back then, Carl seemed to be a talented and classy young man with lots of potential. Over the years, I have often said that only time will tell if his class turns out to be equal to DJ. So far, he has not let me down, and the events that transpired on the last few laps last Sunday only served to prove once again that I had, in fact, made a noble choice to fill DJ’s shoes.

“You do the best you can to move as far forward as possible. I was just pushing Greg as hard as I could. It’s my fault, and I apologize to everybody caught up in that wreck. I was worried about the idiots here, and I was the guy that caused that one,” said Carl after taking out about eight Chase contenders.

I found that I ran through a gamut of emotions — just like the fans of a ton of other drivers — as I watched that wreck unfold. I felt everything from being downright livid to drowning in despair; but if you weren’t a Carl fan, I’m sure you stopped at livid. As I braced myself for the derision and even hatred towards Carl that was sure to follow such a massive screwup… well, that’s when Smith and Stewart started their little dance. (After the cleanup of Carl’s mess, of course.)

When you couple the controversial finish with a very humble statement accepting total blame for the big wreck, well, my man Carl comes out looking refreshingly classy in this day and age when most drivers are so quick to blame everyone or everything but themselves. The irony of the whole deal is the simple fact that, had Carl not caused that crash, Regan Smith probably wouldn’t have been in the position he was to create the controversy at the end of the race.

So, the big question that came to my mind was what life was going to be like back at the shop for Carl after having taken out both title-contending teammates: Biffle and Matt Kenseth.

“Carl didn’t mean to do it, it wasn’t his fault. He caused it, but he was just trying to help and he pushed me all the way down the back and did everything he could to help,” said Biffle after the race.

OK. Not too bad so far.

“You knew it was going to be crazy, but I actually felt like we were almost home free. Biffle got wiped out, and he wiped me out somehow,” said Kenseth while failing to acknowledge Carl’s very existence.

Ouch. My guess is, Kenseth’s emotions are still somewhere in the livid range!

And now for something completely different…

Goodyear.

The very name leaves me livid. Fortunately, I have a beverage that helps to cure that. At any rate, it is nice to see that this fledgling young company is working so hard to get some traction on this whole “making tires to race on” thing they got going now.

During recent testing at Indy, reports are coming in that they have found the technology to make a tire that you can race on for just over 20 laps!

“We’re not all the way there, but we’re pretty close to it,” NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition, Robin Pemberton said. “We were in about an eight- or nine-lap window before (during testing), and that got up to 10, and now we’re in the mid-20 range. So it’s improved 300 percent already. We walked the track last night, and the track was taking on rubber, so that’s a good sign.”

Goodyear’s General Manager of worldwide racing, Stu Grant, went on to explain some of the more “technical” aspects of the tire.

“In simple terms, it’s a softer tire. I use the term stickier. I can say, at this point, we’re really, really encouraged by what we’ve seen at this test so far.”

It’s good to see that they are finally figuring out what to run on at these new tracks such as Indy!

Stay off the wall, (and put your sarcasm recognition glasses on for that last part!)

Jeff Meyer

Gordon comes full circle

Former ‘Wonder Boy' sees bits of himself in today's young drivers

DAVID POOLE/The Charlotte Observer

The irony is not lost on Jeff Gordon.

“You take Kyle Busch,” says Gordon, the four-time Sprint Cup champion. “I will be behind him maybe not running quite as fast and he comes off the corner sideways, taps the wall about the start-finish line and goes on. And he does it lap after lap after lap.

“I am sitting there with a grin on my face because he's not really driving away from me and I am saving my stuff and staying away from the wall. There are times when that pays off for him, but I am comfortable with where I am, too.”

He knows that what he's thinking when watching the 23-year-old Busch blossom into NASCAR stardom is the same thing drivers like Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace were thinking when Gordon first emerged as a young star.

Gordon was just shy of his 23rd birthday when he got the first of his 81 career victories, in May 1994 in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

He got the 81st here in October of last season, winning the Bank of America 500 for his sixth victory of 2007. It gave him a 68-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson as Gordon sought a fifth championship in a season very much like the days of dominance when he won 40 races and three championships between 1995 and 1998.

But he hasn't won since, and people wonder what's gone wrong with the driver once nicknamed “Wonder Boy.”

“Yes,” Gordon admits, “I find myself saying the same things about the young guys they used to say about me. The reason I can say it is I've been there. I understand.”

There is, however, the other side of that coin.

As each of the sport's greatest stars moved forward in his career, at some point each faced times when things didn't come as easily as they seemingly once did.

Earnhardt won at least twice each year from 1983 through 1991, winning 45 races and four championships in those nine seasons. He won only once and finished 12th in the standings in 1992, but then came back to win titles in 1993 and 1994.

Wallace followed his 1989 championship season by winning only five races over the next three seasons and finishing outside the top five in points each year. But he won 10 races in 1993 and eight the next year.

Darrell Waltrip won 43 races and three championships from 1981 through 1986, but he only won once in 1987 when he defected from Junior Johnson's team to Rick Hendrick's. Over the two seasons following that, he won eight times.

“You go through periods when you're not as successful because that's life,” Jeff Burton says. “There are a lot of things that have to line up to make everything work.

“Jeff is a victim of his own success. … It's unrealistic to expect anyone to go out every single year and knock off six or eight wins. … This is hard. When people make this look easy it's because they're good and everything lines up. They make it look easy and when it no longer does, it's not because they can't do it anymore. It's because it's hard.”

There are those who would offer other explanations for the 35-race winless streak Gordon finds himself trying to snap in Saturday night's Bank of America 500.

Gordon did hit the wall jarringly hard this year in a race at Las Vegas, and it has often been said that drivers change after taking a jolt like that.

“I've hit a lot more walls than some of the young guys these days, and when they hit maybe it doesn't hurt as much as it did when I started,” Gordon says. “I am only scared when I see a hit like the one at Vegas coming.”

He also has made gobs and gobs of money – by this time next year Gordon will almost certainly have become the first NASCAR driver to win more than $100million in his career. He'll pass the $98million mark this weekend.

“There are guys out there who you say ‘Why is he out here riding around?'” Gordon says. “I've seen that. Is it just the money is too good? Every guy tells himself, ‘I don't want to be in that position. I don't want to be doing it for the money or the glory or holding on to something that's not there.' But I've seen guys do it.”

Burton says anybody who thinks that's Gordon's problem is off base.

“Jeff might raise his hand and say ‘I'm done' a year from now or two years from now,” Burton says. “But if he does, I can assure you that in what he has left he would give 100 percent. I race with Jeff every week and he's not laying down.”

Gordon insists he'll keep right on asking himself the same three questions he always has when it comes to deciding how much longer he'll keep going.

“Am I competitive? Am I healthy enough? And am I enjoying myself?” Gordon says. “When any of those change, I am going to step away.”

The theory that gets under Gordon's skin most is when someone suggests he might not be racing as hard as he did before the birth of his daughter, Emma, 16 months ago. But ask him if the rumblings that he doesn't like to drive a loose race car are true and it's clear he thinks you're getting warmer.

“That's true, I have never liked to drive a loose race car,” Gordon says. “I want it to be perfect. I am always searching to get the car right and make it be fast. … There is a certain feel I like, with any car I've ever driven, and that is I like to drive feeling that right-front tire. With this car, that's the biggest challenge we've had.”

Gordon won six times and set a modern-era record with 30 top-10s last year as NASCAR's new car had a roll-out on shorter tracks.

This year, when the new car moved into full use, Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte have found themselves searching for the right combinations on bigger tracks such as Lowe's Motor Speedway.

“Nobody can drive a loose race car,” Gordon says, challenging the conventional wisdom that this is the key to success these days.

“That whole thing of loose is fast is crap. I've seen guys this year – like Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth at times – their car is free but it has grip. That's the difference, the difference between being loose and just sliding sideways and in being able to push the car out there to the edge and the car is still in the race track. When we've got our car freed up, we just don't have the grip.”

So why not, the critics muse, just take what Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus, are doing with their cars and mimic it? Johnson, after all, is leading the Chase for the Sprint Cup while Gordon is 232 points back in eighth. Or why not try to figure out what the teams that are doing well are up to with their cars?

“If you try to copy your teammates and the garage area, you're going to become average,” Letarte says. “We've never been average. In 2006, we had some great runs and some awful runs, and that was a product of trying to be great.

“It doesn't matter what everybody else is doing. Jeff doesn't drive their cars and he doesn't drive like them. We're going to give him what he needs in the wheel.

“Why don't we run Jimmie's set-up? If it's their set-up and we're copying it, then you will never be better than them. We're not here to run fourth. If they thought it up, there's a piece of it you're going to be short on. They're going to beat you with their set-up.”

Some fans figure Letarte is the problem, ignoring the fact that he was in the same job last year when Gordon was denied a title only by Johnson's remarkable run of four straight wins that followed Gordon's victory here.

“That's why I am glad we've got Tony Jr. here,” Letarte jokes, invoking the name of Tony Eury Jr., the similarly scrutinized crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. “We can hang out together.”

Gordon defends Letarte as strongly as Earnhardt Jr. backs Eury Jr.

“If I didn't feel like Steve was the guy or Rick Hendrick didn't feel like it, he wouldn't be here,” Gordon says. “We believe in him and I think the guys on this team still believe in me. We just have to get it where it all clicks together.”

That's it, says Eddie Wood, co-owner of the Wood Brothers team.

“It's all about combinations and people and circumstances,” Wood says. “Everything has got to be right to be right.”

The way to get it right, Gordon says, has never changed.

“I know what it took last year,” he says. “We still have the same ingredients and tools and we just haven't as a group made it happen this year. The only way we're going to make it happen is to continue to work hard. It's there. We just have to find it.”

Gordon has won at least two races each season since 1994, a string of 14 straight seasons that's in peril. But his career has had downturns before.

He finished ninth in points in 2000, his first year after Ray Evernham left as crew chief, and then missed the Chase and wound up 11th in 2005 in Letarte's first full season.

Gordon says there was more to it than just the change in crew chiefs.

“The valleys I've had have been during the years where there were big transitions where somebody found something,” Gordon says. “But usually when somebody found something, it wasn't somebody my age or my same experience level who found it.

“The people who found it were some young guys that they just threw stuff at, and all of a sudden they went, ‘Wow.' The rest of us had to figure it out. And in the 1990s, that team was our team. We were the ones figuring it out.”

Now? Well, Gordon, 37, says he enjoys testing with young Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski.

“Steve can throw stuff at him that I would look at and just say, ‘No.'” Gordon says. “That's not because I am old and don't want to drive it, it's because my brain can't adapt to the concept. Fresh minds generate fresh ideas.

“I feel like I am as good of a driver, or better, than I've ever been because I am a much smarter driver. But at the same time there is no doubt that it is harder for me to adapt to new things than it was 15 years ago.”

And irony rears its head once more.

“I guess,” Gordon says. “I am just like everybody else my age.”

(* includes seven races with Brian Whitesell at end of 1999 season)

What happens when rules are made with wiggle room

DAVID POOLE/The Charlotte Observer

Notes and observations on NASCAR, motorsports and more from the Observer's beat writer:

Forecast could spell 500 trouble for some

The forecast for Bank of America 500 qualifying Thursday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway isn't great.

If it rains qualifying out, Brad Keselowski, Scott Speed and Bryan Clauson would join Derrike Cope in not making the race. You'd hate to see them not get a chance to even try to make the race, but that may be how it works out.

Talladega fans can't have cake, etc.

Those who think the racing is so great at Talladega need to understand that if you're going to have that kind of racing then bump-drafting and blocking are a part of the deal.

You can't say that kind of racing is great and then complain when a guy slamming somebody in the rear bumper to try to push him to the front hits him too hard or at a bad angle by some miniscule fraction and causes a big wreck. And you can't say that if a driver leading the race or even one of the lines in the draft makes a move to block the advance of somebody else.

If you didn't have bump-drafting and blocking, you wouldn't have the racing that you love so much. They're part of the same package.

MY TWO CENTS

NASCAR's clarification comes with cost

Confusion over how the yellow-line rule would be called on the final lap of races at Talladega and Daytona created a huge mess in Sunday's Amp Energy 500, and that is entirely NASCAR's fault.

Officials tried to create room in the rule to set up heart-stopping, last-lap finishes in restrictor-plate races, saying things like "you can get all you can get within sight of the checkered flag" that basically meant the rule was the rule on every lap but the last lap.

The storm following Sunday's race forced NASCAR to close that loophole once and for all with its Monday statement clarifying the policy. But that came too late to help Tony Stewart, the declared winner on Sunday, and Regan Smith, who many fans still feel got "cheated" by the decision.

It also came too late to keep the sport from suffering another blow to the credibility of its officiating.

But just about the dumbest thing I've ever heard - and that's saying something - is that because NASCAR let Dale Earnhardt Jr. pass below the yellow line at Talladega in a race in 2003 that it set some kind of precedent that must continue to be followed.

NASCAR botched that call, badly, and the last thing it should do is keep making the same bad call over and over again.

Nobody has preached more about NASCAR needing to be consistent with its rules, but it needs to be consistent in calling them properly. Bad calls happen in every sport, but the goal is to get it right, not to miss it the same way time after time.

BY THE NUMBERS

1,169 - Laps led by Jimmie Johnson in 14 career Cup starts at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

2,339 - Laps led by Bobby Allison at Lowe's Motor Speedway, making him the all-time leader in that category. It took Allison 43 starts to reach that total.

Backing off is a foreign concept to drivers

by Larry McReynolds/foxsports.com

Sometimes we have the tendency to be the masters of the obvious, but like most of us predicted, the results from Sunday's race at Talladega jumbled the points up. It took its toll on eight of the 12 Chase drivers. The only four not affected in a negative way were Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton.

I look at the Richard Childress cars as the story of the tortoise and the hare. Those RCR cars aren't up there leading laps or winning races, but they are solid as a rock every single week. If the guys in the front bobble, like Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle did last weekend, the No. 31 and No. 07 are right there just top-10'ing this thing to death.

I see two big stories coming out of Talladega. Go back just a few weeks ago to Dover and here are the three top Roush Fenway drivers battling for the win and ending up first, second and third. This past weekend they are all wrecked race cars in the garage and it was because of a bad move by one of their drivers.

The bump draft deal at Talladega ... I just don't know if there is a right answer for it. We are victims of our own work to some degree. These new cars have the same bumper height on the front and rear. When you have that, you are going to have what you had happen last Sunday.

NASCAR decided to lay down the law about the parameters, but the best I could tell there were no limits last Sunday.They were bumping in the corners and they were bumping on the straightaways. They were laying on each other and they were slamming each other. To me it looked like it was all bets off for the bump draft. Edwards felt terrible for his race team and those of his competitors too. Luckily Biffle and Edwards have been so solid in the first three Chase races that it wasn't as big a hit to them for the championship as it was for others.

I think after this Saturday's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway we need to look to see who is still within 161 points out. But don't forget, all it would take is for Jimmie Johnson to lose an engine Saturday night and the whole dynamic changes. Right now though, the No. 48 group is solid.

Looking at how the points lay out now, trust me, it's not more than a six-man race left for the 2008 championship. Again, that all can change should something happen to our championship leader Johnson this Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway ? He could cut a tire down, or like I mentioned earlier, lose an engine, and then it's a whole new ballgame.

I still believe Jimmie, Carl and Greg Biffle are the three frontrunners. Martinsville is going to be a huge hurdle for the Roush Fenway group. Predominately when you look at their history there, Martinsville has not been a great race track for that organization. When you look at the numbers you clearly see it has been a Hendrick track, so that's a positive for the No. 48 bunch as if they need anymore positive momentum.

Full throttle

Of course, the big story out of Sunday was whether NASCAR made the right call at the end of the race.

Now I couldn't be happier for Tony Stewart, his crew chief Greg Zipadelli and that whole No. 20 team. Despite making the Chase, that team has had a rough season. I just knew how badly they all wanted to win a race before they part ways after Homestead in November. Now they can say they won at least one race the entire 10 seasons they were together. That's pretty awesome. I couldn't be happier for that group.

On the other side of the coin, my heart is broken for Regan Smith and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. That could have been a career-making race for Regan and huge for DEI. Let's face it, in the last few weeks they have taken some hits. Paul Menard is leaving and taking his father's sponsorship with him. That leaves DEI with four race teams, three drivers and only one full-time sponsor. Adding to that, to my knowledge, that sponsor is only a one-year deal. Winning Sunday could have been huge for that operation.

The only thing I was a little disappointed by was NASCAR's response to Regan Smith. Regan has said he only had two choices: The first was to go below the line, like he did. The second option was to stay above the yellow line, get into the side of Tony Stewart and wreck not only Tony but himself as well. The few good race cars left out there running around might also have gotten caught up in that.

NASCAR told Regan he had a third choice and that was to lift out of the throttle. There's not one of those 43 guys out there who can see the checkered flag waving at Talladega that would lift out of the throttle. That's the reason those 43 guys are there. It's absurd that anyone views that as an option.

There is never a situation in NASCAR that is identical to another situation. You may relate to it, but there is always a subtle difference. Trust me, I don't envy NASCAR for being the group to have to make that call. It had to be a tough call. They get a lot more right than they do wrong. I have done a lot of radio interviews since Sunday's race and I tell folks the same thing, I am not saying NASCAR made the right call. I am not saying NASCAR made the wrong call. All I can do is lay all the elements out on the table for everyone to make their own decision.

Three or four years ago Dale Earnhardt Jr. went below the yellow line and passed Matt Kenseth. The ruling was that he was forced down there. Was it identical to the situation that happened Sunday? Probably not. Was it similar? Yes it was. Regan did have that right front fender at Tony's left rear quarterpanel. It wasn't a lot but it was there. Had he not moved below the line, more than likely they were going to wreck. Again, let's be clear. I am not saying it was the right call and I am not saying it was the wrong call. I am just simply laying all the elements out there.

I guess my biggest fear is that these drivers will study the tape. If they conclude that Regan was forced down there despite what NASCAR says, then they might decide next time that their only option in that same situation is to stay above the yellow line and stay in the gas. If that happens then that's not good.

In my opinion those Chevrolets waited too long to make their move. Why in the world they waited until the tri-oval to make their move is beyond me. I knew when they went off into Turn 3 it was over. I mean I even told my wife that Tony was going to win. All they did was follow him off Turn 2 and down the backstretch like the Pied Piper. In my opinion, you need to make your move in Turns 1 and 2 or at least coming onto the backstretch.

Final thought

You know what, we have got a great product right now. We've had great racing on the short tracks. We've had great racing on the 1.5-mile tracks and the superspeedways. Look at Sunday, we set a NASCAR record for lead changes. If we can just get our economy turned around, get the election behind us and get things pointed in the right direction, then we are going to be in great shape because our product is great.

Once-promising DEI keeps losing because Teresa won power struggle

Pete Pistone/cbssports.com

"DEI without Dale Jr. is a museum."
--Tony Stewart (May 2007)

They haven't replaced engine dynos and chassis bays with statues and paintings just yet, but Stewart's prediction for the future of Dale Earnhardt Inc. is close to becoming dangerously true.

Teresa Earnhardt's decision to not give her famous stepson 51 percent controlling interest of the company has resulted in a serious slide for the team the late Dale Earnhardt founded.

Last week's decision by Paul Menard to bolt DEI and bring his father's lucrative home improvement store sponsorship with him to Yates Racing is just the latest blow to the beleaguered team that only a year ago looked like it was headed in the right direction.

The Junior divorce was in the rearview mirror and after a merger with Ginn Racing, DEI was suddenly a pretty solid four-car stable.

The addition of veteran Mark Martin to the team brought instant credibility and some much-needed star power to DEI, which was left with solid but low-key Martin Truex Jr. as its anchor along with Menard and a duo of youngsters in Aric Almirola and Regan Smith.

But fast forward about a year and what seemed like a promising foundation has crumbled in a short period of time.

Martin will leave at year's end for Hendrick Motorsports with the No. 8's U.S. Army sponsorship headed for Stewart-Haas Racing and Ryan Newman in 2009. While Truex Jr. and sponsor Bass Pro Shops are locked in for 2009, Menard's departure leaves DEI with only Almirola and Smith, neither of whom has a sponsor for next season.

It's a situation that has thrown the company's management into a defensive mode of fighting the perception DEI is heading for the extinct list.

"What's killing me is the perception that's out there right now, and we've got to do something to overcome it," said DEI president Max Siegel.

"But there's nothing I can say or do short of bringing in a sponsor or winning on the track to change people's perception of this race team."

DEI came close to winning last Sunday at Talladega with Smith crossing the finish line ahead of Stewart at the checkered flag, only to be penalized for passing below the yellow out of bounds line.

Although ultimately ending in disappointment, it capped a strong day for the entire DEI stable. Menard finished second, all four of the team's cars qualified in the top 10, and ran with the leaders most of the 500 miles.

The showing was encouraging, saying the least, and impressed the departing Menard, who doesn't subscribe to the notion that the team will close its doors.

"DEI, they're going to be OK," he said. "They had strong race cars today, as you saw. They'll be OK in the future."

Talladega didn't surprise Siegel, who remains optimistic about the progress the team has made in just more than a year.

"I'm not going to pretend that we're contending with Roush and Hendrick," Siegel said. "But I can tell you that probably 75 percent of the other teams are trying to aspire where we are performance-wise. "And I clearly don't think that our employees and Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies (the joint engine development program DEI has with RCR) are getting the credit that they deserve. When we went into the offseason last year, our main objective was to improve our engines."

However, Siegel understands the gravity of the situation and how the lack of sponsorship funding will affect DEI's future.

That could include shrinking the stable from four to one car, if necessary.

"There are hard costs to run cars and some efficiencies when you run more cars," Siegel said. "We have to raise money to meet a budget.”We've been looking for more ways to become more efficient to give us more money to reinvest and we've also been looking for ways in the traditional sponsorship realm as well as other revenue-generating sources to invest in motorsports.

"We're just rolling up our sleeves and working as hard as we can to find the funding. We're going to run a fiscally responsible company."

But in this economy and with companies less and less willing to lay down tens of millions of dollars for a NASCAR race team sponsorship, particularly with a middle-tire team like DEI, finding that funding will be looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Would things have been different if the most recognizable and popular driver in the sport had stayed with the team that was created for his future by his father?

Of course they would.

However, Teresa Earnhardt decided that giving up 51 percent of the company to anyone was too big a price to pay.

Now she's left with 100 percent of a team that unless some major steps are taken won't be worth anything at all.  

By The Numbers: Charlotte

For the first time in the Chase era Johnson leads at CMS

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM

By Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM

For all his success since the inception of the Chase in 2004, there is an interesting little side note heading into Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, ABC): Jimmie Johnson has never been the points leader going into the fall race at Charlotte.

In '04 Johnson was ranked ninth more than 240 points back and in '05 he was fifth, 92 points behind eventual champion Tony Stewart. Johnson's first championship season in '06 saw him enter the Charlotte race eighth in the standings, 156 points behind leader Jeff Burton and in '07 he was just nine points behind teammate Jeff Gordon.

Here's the scary fact for the rest of the Chase contenders. In two of those four seasons, '05 and '07, Johnson left Charlotte on top of the point standings. With a 72-point lead going into LMS, Johnson could leave Charlotte with his largest points lead with five races remaining.