Happy Friday.  Habbajeeba, we made it through the week!  

Today In Nascar History

April 3, 1977: G.C. Spencer finishes eighth in the Rebel 500 at Darlington for the 138th and final top-10 finish of his 20-year career. Spencer is winless in 415 starts from 1958 to 1977.

Bits and Pieces

NASCAR moves champion’s banquet to Vegas starting this year

Greg Engle/nascarexaminer.com

A NASCAR tradition nearly three decades old is coming to an end.

The season ending awards banquet celebrating the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will move from New York City to Las Vegas starting this year.

A source with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, who asked to remain anonymous because they are not authorized to publicly release the information, confirmed that the season ending banquet would be held there in the first week of December beginning this year.

NASCAR moved its season ending ceremony from Daytona Beach, where the sanctioning body has its headquarters, to New York City in 1981.

A downturn in the economy combined with a seemingly increasing indifference by residents and less then favorable weather, inspired NASCAR to begin looking for a new locale in 2008.

Last year the traditional ‘Victory Lap’ around Manhattan was cancelled after residents complained about the traffic congestion.

The warm weather and more affordable lodging seem to be the biggest draw for the sanctioning body in terms of Vegas. Burton Smith president of Speedway Motorsports who owns Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been lobbying NASCAR to bring the weeklong event to Vegas for years.

An official announcement is expected within the next few weeks.

Sadler To Promote Autism Awareness at Texas: This weekend at Texas Motor Speedway NASCAR driver Elliott Sadler is driving into the month of April with something important on his mind-raising awareness for Autism-by wearing a specially designed autism awareness helmet for Autism Awareness month. The helmet features the familiar multi-colored puzzle pieces that have become the symbol for autism awareness, along with the arrow pointing forward that is prominently placed on every Sadler helmet. Following the month of April the helmet will go up for online auction at www.SadlerFoundation.org to raise money that will directly benefit The Hermie and Elliott Sadler Foundation and autism related charities.(ElliottSadler.com)

Keselowski back in the #25 at Texas: Brad Keselowski will attempt to qualify the #25 GoDaddy.com Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. This is Keselowski's fifth attempt at making a Sprint Cup Series event and his fourth for Hendrick Motorsports. Keselowski has qualified three times driving the #25 Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports and most recently drove the #25 Chevy to a 38th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 1. After this weekend at Texas, Keselowski will attempt to make the field in five more Sprint Cup races this season for Hendrick Motorsports. Keselowski will try to line up the #25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet at Darlington on May 9, Dover on May 31, Chicago on July 11, Michigan on Aug. 16, and Kansas on Oct. 4. Crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 25-537 for this weekend's event at Texas Motor Speedway. The car, which will be pitted by Keselowski's #88 Nationwide Series crew, has not been raced or tested, although McGrew and his team took it to the wind tunnel last month.(HMS PR)

Gordon has good record at Texas, but no wins: #24-Jeff Gordon has more top-five and top-10 finishes than any other Sprint Cup driver at Texas Motor Speedway. He ranks sixth on the all-time Sprint Cup win list with 81 victories and out of the 22 tracks on the Cup circuit, Gordon is lacking wins on two - Homestead and Texas. In Gordon's last appearance at TMS, the Dickies 500, he sat on the pole and finished runner-up to Carl Edwards. Gordon went winless last season for the first time since 1993, his first full Cup season, but the #24 team has started 2009 on a better note. Gordon is situated among the points leaders and has posted second-places finishes at Daytona and Atlanta.(TMS PR)

UPS Reveals New NASCAR Ad Campaign: #6-David Ragan won’t be racing the “big brown truck” this year, but he will be learning what it takes to be a UPS driver in a humorous new television advertising campaign UPS launches this weekend as part of its revamped racing program. The four-spot series, which was produced by The Martin Agency, will feature Ragan competing with UPS drivers in various extreme physical challenges to determine who will earn the title of “Maximum Driver.” The first spot will be broadcast on FOX on Sunday, April 5, during the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, but a special preview will be available on Friday afternoon, April 3, at www.racing.ups.com. Ragan made his UPS Racing debut at the Daytona 500 in February, at which time a new television ad introducing him to the UPS team began running that featured Ragan driving his No. 6 Ford Fusion through UPS corporate headquarters. The “Maximum Driver” series will go beyond the introduction, with Ragan facing several unique and potentially harrowing challenges as he goes toe-to-toe with some of UPS’s elite delivery professionals. The “Maximum Driver” campaign follows UPS’s immensely popular “Race the Truck” commercials featuring NASCAR legend Dale Jarrett, who represented UPS Racing for nearly eight years. After the Samsung 500, the three remaining spots will be revealed sequentially throughout the 2009 racing season.(UPS Racing)

Regan Smith Takes Impressive Streak to Texas: #78-Regan Smith, who returns to Sprint Cup action this weekend, will take an impressive streak to Texas Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's Samsung 500. The Furniture Row Racing driver has competed in 43 career Cup races and has finished every one of them. He has never had a DNF (did not finish). Smith's 43 Cup races include seven in 2007 (six with Ginn Racing, one with DEI), 34 with DEI in 2008 and two this year with Furniture Row Racing. "Honestly, I don't think about it (the streak) at all," said the 25-year-old Smith. "I go out there the same way every week and focus on finishing races, completing laps and getting the most I can out of the race car without tearing it up. I can't get better if you're constantly fixing racecars." The Texas event will be the third race of the season for both Furniture Row Racing and Smith as the Denver, Colo.-based team is running a part-time schedule in 2009. After Texas, Smith and the Furniture Row team will compete at the next two Cup races -- April 18 at Phoenix International Raceway and April 26 at Talladega Superspeedway. The team's current schedule includes 13 Cup races for 2009. (DMF Communications/FRR PR)

Labonte, Smith inducted into Texas Motorsports HOF: #96-Bobby Labonte and Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Chairman and CEO Bruton Smith were inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame during Wednesday evening’s gala at The Speedway Club at Texas Motor Speedway. The two were honored along with Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, #99-Carl Edwards and IndyCar Series driver Scott Dixon. Labonte and Smith join previous inductees A.J. Foyt (2003), Johnny Rutherford (2003), Terry Labonte (2004), Lee Shepherd (2004), Kenny Bernstein (2005), Jim Hall (2005), Eddie Hill (2006), Mark Martin (2007) and Jim McElreath (2007) into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame. Labonte’s presenter for his induction was none other than his older brother and 2004 inductee, Terry Labonte. “It’s a great honor,” Labonte said. “Just having the career and starting out in Texas. This is just a neat factor to come to this. This is pretty cool. I always enjoyed following in Terry’s footsteps.” Labonte was honored with a special announcement at the conclusion of the ceremony. Interstate Batteries CEO Norm Miller and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch unveiled the special paint scheme Busch will run during Sunday’s Samsung 500. The paint scheme is a replica of the #18 Interstate Batteries car that Labonte drove during his 2000 Sprint Cup Series championship year while at Joe Gibbs Racing. The scheme pays tribute to Labonte’s induction with “Congrats Bobby Labonte! Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame 2009 Inductee” on the deck lid of the car. Smith brought back NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing to Texas in 1997 with the construction of Texas Motor Speedway. Since then, he has continued to develop “The Great American Speedway!” into one of the premier sporting venues in the country. Smith, with the help of racing star Curtis Turner, opened Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 1960 and hosted the first World 600 that year. Since that time, Smith has set the standard in marketing and promoting motorsports as he has turned SMI into one of the most recognizable brands in NASCAR.
Hendrick was awarded this year’s Bruton Smith Legends Award. The honor is a lifetime achievement award given to a legendary figure in motorsports. Hendrick is known for establishing one of the winningest organizations in NASCAR. The team owner of four of NASCAR’s most recognizable drivers (Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin) has set the standard of excellence in motorsports.
Edwards, who became the first Sprint Cup Series driver to sweep both races at Texas Motor Speedway last year (the Samsung 500 and Dickies 500), earned the Texas Motor Speedway Racer of the Year. Edwards led nearly half the Sprint Cup Series laps run last year at TMS, leading 335 of 673 laps. His two wins placed him atop the list for most wins by a Sprint Cup Series driver at “The Great American Speedway!” with three. Dixon received the Texas Motor Speedway Sportsmanship Award. Dixon earned his first TMS victory during last year’s Bombardier Learjet 550k en route to the IndyCar Series championship.(TMS PR)

Reggie Busch to visit with Vickers: NFL running back Reggie Bush, who plays for the New Orleans Saints, recently became the first- ever NFL player to join the Red Bull family and their extensive athlete roster. The 2005 Heisman Trophy winner and former USC star will hang out with Brian Vickers prior to this Sunday’s events for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and watch the race from the #83 pit box.(Toyota PR)

Labonte to provide ride to school: Texas native #96-Bobby Labonte and Ask.com are going to provide one lucky Dallas/Fort Worth-area fifth grade student the opportunity to get a ride from Labonte in the Ask.com Ford Fusion on Thursday, April 2 in conjunction with the Ask.com Safe Search Schools program. The program promotes the importance of parents playing a key role in keeping kids stay safe online. Along with a visit from Labonte, the winning school will receive new computers and a donation of Web Wise kids' fun which are computer games that teach Internet safety to parents and students through real-life simulation. Students will submit their Internet safety plan and a panel of judges will select the best entry.(TMS PR)

New Hampshire Motor Speedway offering MegaTicket for Cup race weekends

By SceneDaily Staff

New Hampshire Motor Speedway says it is offering fans three days of NASCAR racing for $99 with the track’s new MegaTicket for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup weekends.

A $150 value if purchased separately, the MegaTicket includes reserved seating for the Cup events in the MegaZones, located in a section of the Concord and Laconia grandstands, and general admission seating for Friday and Saturday.

To create the MegaZones, speedway officials transferred seating areas normally used for corporate block tickets and released them for this fan package.

"We are continuing to develop our FansFirst initiative with our new MegaTicket," said Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of NHMS. "This is a package designed for race fans to enjoy three days of non-stop racing and entertainment at an incredible price.

“Combined with our policy of free parking and allowing fans to bring in their own food and beverage, New Hampshire Motor Speedway continues to be the most affordable sports and entertainment venue in New England."

Atlanta Motor Speedway working with hotels to offer discounted rates for fall race weekend

By SceneDaily Staff

Atlanta Motor Speedway says some 30 area hotels that have agreed to offer better rates and no multinight minimums for fans traveling to Atlanta for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Pep Boys Auto 500 weekend of Sept. 5-6 .

Each participating hotel and motel is offering AMS race attendees rooms priced at no more than $129 and as low as $60. The participating hotels won’t require multiple night stays and will provide locked-in rates for fans using the promotion code, “AMS Discount.”

“After the great fan response we received from our initial event with  this program in March, we have expanded the list of cooperating properties for the Pep Boys Auto 500 on Labor Day weekend,” said track President Ed Clark. “We’re committed to making Atlanta Motor Speedway one of the most fan-friendly stops on the NASCAR circuit, and these rates will only help make attending the first-ever Sprint Cup night race in Atlanta  affordable.”

A complete list of participating properties can be found online at www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.

Penalty for illegal sealed engine could encompass 2 teams, 2 races, 2 series

By Bob Pockrass/scenedaily.com

FORT WORTH, Texas – The new engine rule for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series could result in a unique penalty – a penalty that covers two races and includes both series, or possibly even two different organizations.

Because of the new rule that teams cannot run four consecutive races with a fresh engine, a team that wins the race or finishes second might want to seal the engine after the race in order to use that engine in a future event. NASCAR is allowing those teams to seal the engine – and have it torn down after the engine is used again.

NASCAR sent out a bulletin at the start of the year indicating a minimum penalty of $100,000 and 100 points for messing with a sealed engine. If a sealed engine, though, is torn down after being used in two races and it is found to be illegal, that means that the penalty would be a minimum $200,000 and 200 points – and NASCAR Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash stressed Thursday that those are minimum penalties.
“We’re putting together a program that is a great thing for the industry and for someone to [mess with it], that would be the minimum [penalty],” Balash said, adding, “If there would be an issue, the issue would go back to both races … and it could be an issue in two garages.”

Two garages? How? Well, NASCAR is only sealing engines, not requiring a team to use the exact engine it used in a previous race. A team just needs to use any sealed engine, and engines can be used in Nationwide or Truck competition. That means an engine could be used in a Nationwide race one week and then in a Truck event the following week or moved from one Nationwide car to another or from one truck to another if teams so desired.

Theoretically, an illegal sealed engine used by two different teams would result in a $100,000 fine and a 100-point penalty for each team.

Balash said the intent is to allow an engine builder who serves multiple teams to make the best, cost-effective use of its inventory.

Balash said he and Camping World Truck Series Director Wayne Auton determine if an engine has enough mileage to be sealed and then used again to prevent an elite team from giving a motor to a limited-funded team to run a few laps, have it sealed and then use it for another race.
If the winning team does not use the engine again after having it sealed, the engine will be torn down at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., prior to the end of the season, Balash said.

If a Nationwide Series team wins with a sealed engine or isn’t sealing the engine used in the race, the engine will be torn down at the race track, just as has been done in the past. NASCAR announced a new procedure Wednesday for the Sprint Cup Series where the engines of Cup cars would be torn down later in the week at the R&D center.

NASCAR already takes a car back after every Cup race for more inspection.

“The Sprint Cup Series has a vehicle that already is going back and forth between the event and the R&D center with the cars that we’ve been taking back,” Balash said. “Currently, the Nationwide Series does not have a vehicle that could do something like that.”

Note to NASCAR drivers: Tell it like it is!

By Amy Henderson
Athlon Sports Contributor

There was a lot of discussion in the media and by fans after last weekend’s race at Martinsville about the seeming lack of emotion from winner Jimmie Johnson and runner-up Denny Hamlin after the two made contact late in the race. Johnson’s resulting pass propelled him to the win despite Hamlin’s domination for much of the race.  Some accused Hamlin of not being angry enough (and if he had been, I’m sure some would have accused him of being a jerk).  Some blamed Johnson for not saying it was a bump and run (personally, I don’t think it was, either, but that’s not the topic of this column). 

These days, everything a driver does and says is put under a microscope. It’s a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation, really, because if you say one thing, you’re a colossal jerkhead ego with feet, and if you say another, you’re more boring than watching cement set. But sometimes, isn’t there something you’d like to hear come out of a driver’s mouth, just once?

Here’s what I think needs to be said:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. should tell people to get off his back. He’s not his father, he’s not the best driver ever to climb into a racecar, and he’s not an oracle. The expectations that fans and even some media seem to have for him would be unattainable by Superman and Batman all rolled into one.

I’d like to see him tell everyone to stop expecting him to be something he’s not and probably never will be — and doesn’t even want to be, at that. Then I’d like to see him tell the faction of his fans who do things like throw beer cans onto the racetrack that he’s embarrassed to have them counted among the lot.

And then I’d like to see him, for possibly the first time in his entire life, just go racing.

Staying in the Hendrick fold, Jimmie Johnson ought to be less afraid of what his sponsors will say on Monday and just tell it like it is. Oh, I know why he’s apprehensive, but I also think someone forgot to tell him that he doesn’t need to be afraid of losing his ride anymore.

I’m not even necessarily talking about accepting blame for things like the wreck he caused at Talladega, because he did own up once he was able to work out what happened. I’m talking more about verbalizing the finger he shot Robby Gordon at Bristol during his rookie year. Perhaps a good, “That guy is a total jerk out there, and if he ever does that to me again, I will drop kick his sorry ass into next week.”

It can’t be as though he never thinks along those lines, after all. And it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if he let the emotion out once in a while.

On the other hand, Kyle Busch needs to say something a bit different. While his storming off when things don’t go his way could be construed as his subscribing to the adage about “if you cant say nothing nice, you shouldn’t say anything at all,” at this level of this sport, that’s simply not an excuse. 

What Busch needs to learn to do is to take a few minutes to compose himself, emerge from his hauler and say something civil, like thanking his crew for their hard work. Sure, if another driver just dumped you, tell the world what you think of him, but stomping off like a spoiled two-year-old because something didn’t go your way leaves people with a bad taste in their mouths.

What it boils down to is that everything these drivers say or don’t say is scrutinized these days, and sometimes, after a good scrutinizing, there’s so much more that could be said.

On a less serious note, what I really want to see is Jeff Gordon have an obscenity-laden exchange with Mark Martin. Wouldn’t that get people talking ...

Meet Foster, the dog who inspired Greg Biffle's foundation

By Kris Johnson/scenedaily.com

At his race shop in Mooresville, N.C., Greg Biffle has what appears to be a constant shadow. Never far from the Roush Fenway Racing driver is his 7-1/2 year old boxer Foster.

This is not your average dog.

Foster can and will open the front door of the shop for you. There are plenty of paw prints on the outside of the building to prove it. Foster loves to be photographed. He was even the poster boy for Milk Bones in 2004.

Foster is also a cancer survivor.

“See his scar? That’s why that patch is there. See how the skin’s different? He had a tumor in his neck, and he had it removed,” Biffle, ever the proud papa, says as he pats the dog’s side.

Most importantly, perhaps, Foster is the inspiration for Biffle’s foundation and its ongoing efforts to save dogs from being euthanized.

The Greg Biffle Foundation was launched in 2005, and its mission is to create awareness and serve as an advocate to improve the well-being of animals by engaging the power and passion of the motorsports industry.

Monthly rescue flights run from Mooresville to the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, N.Y. NSAL bills itself as the largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization in the world.

How many dogs have Biffle and his wife, Nicole, helped save so far?

“It’s in the thousands. We probably rescue with puppy transport 30-40 a month, and we’ve done that for three years, so that’s 300 or 400 a year,” Biffle says. “And we actually place a tremendous amount of animals here, too. Team guys now will come to us. Nicole does a lot of these local rescue group [efforts].”

Biffle grew up with dogs in the Pacific Northwest – a German Shepherd named Fritzy, Irish Setter Wally and a Black Lab named RC among them – but was without a pet when he moved to Detroit in the late 1990s to compete in what is now the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Later, upon his relocation to North Carolina, Biffle rented a place with a yard and added Foster to the mix.

“He just became part of the family,” Biffle says. “He just means the world to me.”

The Biffles also own Foster’s daughter, Gracie, and now Savannah, who was rescued from a shelter in Georgia.

Biffle says his animal welfare work is far from finished.

“Getting older and doing all the things you’re passionate about – and animals is one of them – we’ve been trying to build a shelter here in Mooresville. I have a picture in my head of what I want to build,” Biffle says. “A little bit smaller than PetSmart, but for animal adoption and animal welfare and spay/neuter. That’s the main thing. I hate to sound like Bob Barker, but one dog that’s not spayed or neutered [means] there’s nine, and then nine makes 81. I want a building that’s nice, bright and clean [where] you come here and get your pet.”

For more information on Biffle’s foundation, visit www.gregbifflefoundation.com.

Chasing history down U.S. Highway 1

Ed Hinton/espn.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Just got home from a lovely day trip into the past two centuries.

Destination was the 20th century, down in Darlington, S.C., home of NASCAR's first big track -- and to this day its most difficult.

We were shooting some TV advance material for ESPN at hallowed Darlington Raceway with its all-time maestro driver, David Pearson, and the man I think resuscitated the Lady in Black from her deathbed in the 1990s, Jim Hunter.

To get there from here, you drive through several glimpses of the 19th century, down U.S. Highway 1, for which the path through the Carolinas was originally cleared for another purpose -- Sherman's army marching 60,000 strong, felling forests as it came.

This was the second leg of their trip, the first being their more famous March to the Sea, from Atlanta to Savannah, Ga. Once rested at Savannah, Sherman turned to the north, wreaking vastly worse wrath than he had in Georgia, for as one of his soldiers said upon setting foot in South Carolina, "Here treason began, and here, by God, it shall end."

Somehow the western edge of his army barely missed the town of Cheraw, S.C., and as you drive through today, if there were no power lines or automobiles, it could just as easily be the spring of 1842, the year St. Peter's Catholic Church was established -- the old wooden church stands now, little changed from then.

My all-time favorite observation about the Carolinas was from the eloquent Charlotte Observer columnist Ron Green Sr., who once told me, "The Mason-Dixon Line should have been drawn between North and South Carolina."

That's how different they are. Their populations even have very different Southern accents.

Crossing the state line headed south, you're not only entering a different state but almost a different region, and the pace of life slows down by half.

The very border is a demarcation line between the pre-spring buds of North Carolina and the blooming, pollen-misted spring of South Carolina.

And there is the deeply traditional challenge of passing through Society Hill, S.C., without running afoul of the law.

It's the Eastern Seaboard's most notorious and longest-running speed trap, where, as far as I've been able to tell through the decades, every male citizen is a town policeman sitting in a patrol car with his radar pulsing.

Past Society Hill you're home free down to Darlington, and there we met -- Hunter and Pearson and me, and an ESPN crew led by producer Bonnie Larkin -- to sit on the dock at Walter McKnight's house, overlooking the lake and across to the Pearson Grandstands.

We talked for a good two hours on camera, and I haven't laughed that hard, that long, in years. What did we talk about? I can't tell you yet. It would spoil the fun of the feature pieces that will air on "NASCAR Now" the week, and the day, of the Southern 500, May 9.

Suffice it to say there's a lot of Hunter, who managed old Darlington from 1992 to 2000 and brought it back from dilapidation to dignity, talking about the history of the place.

And there's a lot of Pearson, telling the secrets of how he won 10 races, more than anyone else, on the Lady in Black & and precisely why he would barely turn the steering wheel coming off corners where drivers such as Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty would saw and yank on their steering wheels for dear life.

Pearson always looked like he was driving down an interstate, and I always wondered how he could do that, and today he finally told me. Just another case of legerdemain by the Silver Fox that no one could guess for decades.

Couldn't leave Darlington without stopping by the Raceway Grill, home of the best hamburger steak (smothered in onions and melted cheese) in the Eastern time zone. And french fries cut from fresh potatoes.

Which left me drowsy for the drive back north, up the way Sherman's army had come, and just at the state line I stopped and read the historical marker for the exact dates. They crossed into North Carolina on March 4-7, 1865.

Three days to cross the state line. That must have been some army.

The immortal Kurt Vonnegut Jr. admonished us all, in the last book of his life, to remember the times that we are truly, sublimely happy, for when you think about it, those times are relatively few in anyone's lifetime.

Today was one of those times.

Montoya finally ready to make a run

by Lee Spencer/foxsports.com

Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January, Juan Pablo Montoya was bouncing through the infield at Daytona waiting to see if he could throw one of the "Juantourage" from the golf cart.

The laughing was infectious.

Normally the sight of journalists would send Montoya off in the other direction. But he couldn't wait to reveal the excitement and anticipation of the upcoming NASCAR season.

"It's exciting because you know everybody in the organization at Ganassi racing, they want to prove and show to everybody what we're made of," Montoya said. "And I think we're getting a lot closer to being a reckoning force in the sport. I feel like I'm ready.

"To tell the truth, I've learned a lot. I've made a lot of mistakes, and I really felt like a rookie driving those things. But right now, I feel like I'm in a very good position of learning a lot of stuff. It's just a matter of time. If you look at our races last year we did good everywhere. And that's the main goal: Bring the car home every week and see where you are."

Things have changed dramatically for Montoya since leaving the Formula One jet set for stock cars. The 33-year-old Colombia native who won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 and seven F1 races — including the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix — now appears comfortable in his surroundings at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet.

Very comfortable.

"I think the mile-and-a-half program is very good, the thing with the Chevys is going to be even better," Montoya said. "Our short track program kind of sucked. I feel like we made it a little better at the end, but we still finished at a 10th-place best, and you can't have that. You have to have, on a bad day, a top-five car. We're working on it."

After five races, Montoya is 14th in the point standings. While most of Montoya's success has come on road courses and intermediate tracks, his ability to run well on short tracks, like the last two weeks at Bristol (ninth) and Martinsville (12th) has caught the attention of his peers.

"I think he's a really talented race car driver," Jeff Gordon said. "To race in open wheel for all those years — a totally different kind of race car, at totally different tracks, with totally different rules — and then come here and be able to adapt to this style of racing and to be enjoying it as much as he is, to me, he's been the most impressive open wheeler that's come into our series.

"You can go to Charlotte, you can go to Daytona and run good at those tracks. If you want to impress me come to Martinsville and run good. It's impressive that he's had those kinds of finishes."

Montoya's team has been a work in progress. He's currently on his third crew chief, Brian Pattie. Team owner Chip Ganassi warns to not underestimate Pattie's abilities just because he honed his skills in the Nationwide Series.

"Brian's been a crew chief for a long time," Ganassi said. "So many Cup crew chiefs forgot how they got here. They forget what they need to do to be successful. They want to glorify crew chiefs when they haven't done anything to deserve superstar status. Brian doesn't get caught up in the sideshow and I appreciate that.

"He and Juan have developed a nice rapport and I think that's what you need to be successful," Ganassi said. "You've seen a lot of success as the relationship has matured between Brian and Juan and I think it's only going to get better."

Pattie is charged by his driver's renewed commitment to the team. He began noticing the turnaround last season during the Chase — when the former CART champion was again on the outside looking in. Pattie believes the results the team is currently experiencing will continue with the strategy he's devised for his driver.

"This is what we need to be doing every week," Pattie says, reflecting on the team's steady improvement at the track.

Pattie keeps detailed records charting the growth of Montoya and the No. 42 team. His playbook graphs the past two years and the present to compare results in both qualifying and races finishes. Montoya's progress is marked in green. There are emerald dots all over the page.

"We have goals every week and we don't look beyond that race," Pattie said. "That helps Juan stay focused. He's changed. He knows when to let go. He knows what it takes to move to that next level.

"The competition knows we're not the whipping boys anymore. You want to make the Chase? You can't use Juan as the whipping boy."

Jamie McMurray learned that lesson at Bristol when Montoya knocked the No. 26 Ford out of the way when it was running on old tires. Montoya has toned down his aggressiveness in the last two years, but admits that he's not afraid to use the chrome horn when it's warranted.

"Now I don't make it as obvious," Montoya says with a smile.

What was obvious at Martinsville was Montoya's ability to maintain his composure after he fought his way into the top 10 only to lose a lap and drop out of the top 25 after adverse adjustments were made to the car on the second pit stop. Montoya's ability to battle back to a 12th-place finish marked the determination of the champion he is.

At 33, Montoya still has options as a racer. But for now, all of his energy is funneled into thriving in stock cars.

"We're getting closer to running really well and it gets more frustrating the better you run," Montoya said. "We're looking at making some changes on making ourselves better. And I'm really trying to focus myself to try not to make mistakes and make ourselves better.

"I'm not looking at what races I'm going to run good, like I did last year or the year before. We're looking at running good every week. No, you're not going to win every week. But you got to make sure you run good and we're working at that pretty hard. We all are on the same page. We want to run better and we all know what we need to do. I'm pretty encouraged, to be honest."

No. 8's family tree has deep roots in Cup Series

By Official Release

This is the latest installment in an occasional series of releases highlighting some of the Cup Series' most renowned car numbers and their performance heritage. This release examines the No. 8's history:

Aric Almirola is the latest driver to drive the No. 8 car in Cup Series competition. As for who is the greatest, let the debate begin.

And believe it not, that debate does not begin and end with Dale Earnhardt Jr., his considerable success notwithstanding. Instead, a pretty convincing case can be made for Joe Weatherly being "the man" when it comes to the No. 8's legacy.

Weatherly made 110 starts in the No. 8 between 1961-64, winning 20 times and capturing back-to-back Cup Series championships in 1962 and '63. Weatherly, who died in a racing accident at Riverside, Calif., in 1964, was named in 1998 to the elite list of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers.

Earnhardt made 291 starts in the No. 8 from 1999-2007, continuing a family alignment with the number. His grandfather, Ralph Earnhardt, drove the No. 8 in the 1950s and '60s in Sportsman competition and other short-track events.

An interesting aside: The grandfather made 51 starts in Cup Series competition but none were in the No. 8. The grandson won 17 times in the No. 8, most notably the 2004 Daytona 500.

And then there's this historical gem which can't be overlooked: Seven-time series champion Dale Earnhardt even made one Cup Series start in the No. 8 -- his series debut in the 1975 Coca-Cola 600.

While the No. 8's all-time history in the Cup Series is spread out among 86 drivers and 1,319 starts, the total number of times the number has visited Victory Lane is attributable to a surprisingly small group. The No. 8 accounts for 38 wins. In addition to the win totals of Weatherly and Earnhardt Jr., the only other No. 8 win was provided by Bobby Hillin Jr. at Talladega Superspeedway in the summer of 1986.

Those are some strange statistics to grasp, especially considering the history-rich "family tree" of the No. 8. Consider: The 1950 Cup Series champion Bill Rexford had two starts in the number; Jeff Burton had 59; Mark Martin had 24; Dick Trickle, Hut Stricklin and Morgan Shepherd also took the No. 8 out for some afternoon spins.

And then there's Ed Negre, who may have lacked quality finishes but certainly not quantity. Negre made 283 starts in the No. 8 between 1967 and 1979, second only to Earnhardt's 291. Negre, who usually owned the cars he raced, failed to win a Cup Series race during his career.

Almirola, driving for the Earnhardt-Ganassi organization, will attempt to make his 18th start on Sunday in the Samsung 500 at Texas.

A 64-driver bracket quite a battle among sport's best

By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM

Sometimes you find the coolest stuff dealing with NASCAR's history on the Internet. In this case, it's a tournament featuring the 64 greatest drivers in NASCAR's history, with brackets similar to those of the NCAA basketball tournament.

It's the brainchild of Charlie Turner and Steve Wronkowicz, hosts of the syndicated radio show On Pit Row. They also have member profile pages in NASCAR.COM's Community section.

According to their site, they took NASCAR's list of the 50 greatest drivers and added 14 current stars to the mix, then instead of seeding the tournament, they randomly sorted the names and came up with the brackets. And surprisingly, with only a few exceptions, it seemed to work very well.

I wound up printing out the brackets and filled in my choices, just to see who would wind up in my Final Four. And to be honest, I could go back tomorrow and revisit the list and probably come up with a completely different set of winners.

One of the regionals was stacked with Lee Petty, Bill Elliott, Junior Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Ned Jarrett. But the most difficult one might have been the one that included Terry Labonte, Curtis Turner, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Bobby Allison, Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Dale Jarrett.

There were four intriguing first-round matchups, the most interesting perhaps being a battle between Kyle Busch and Darrell Waltrip. Talk about your mirror images. Ol' DW's a fan favorite now, but when he first started out, the boos were long and loud for the fellow from Owensboro, Ky.

Wallace, who very easily could have made it deep into the bracket, had the misfortune of being put against Richard Petty right off the bat. The same could be said for modified superstar Richie Evans, who drew Pearson on the same side of the tournament. And Dale Earnhardt Jr. wound up against Yarborough in the first round, not a favorable draw for fans of the No. 88.

The second round had its share of intrigue, with the most difficult choice being between Lee Petty and Elliott. Elliott had a stellar career and is a proven fan favorite, but Petty's numbers -- three Cup championships, 54 victories, an average finishing position of 7.6 -- gave him the edge in my book.

So my Sweet Sixteen wound up being: Lee Petty, Junior Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Ned Jarrett, Darrell Waltrip, Jimmie Johnson, Tim Flock, Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner, Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Herb Thomas, David Pearson, Jeff Gordon and Joe Weatherly. Quite a collection of the old and the new.

In one of the better third-round matchups, Waltrip narrowly edged Jimmie Johnson in a battle of three-time champions, the deciding factors being Waltrip's longevity and win total. But that might not be the case in future tournaments, if Johnson surely continues to add to his victory and championship totals.

Lee Petty and Earnhardt advanced to the Elite Eight from the first region. Waltrip and Roberts made it out of Region 2. It was tempting to take Yarborough over the King in Region 3, but I went with Allison and Petty. And Pearson and Gordon completed the third round.

The Final Four? Second-generation Earnhardt defeats first-generation Petty. Jaws sneaks past Fireball. Richard passes Bobby at the line. And the Silver Fox takes out Wonder Boy in another close one.

And that leaves me with the Intimidator and the King to duke it out in an all-North Carolina championship, although there's a temptation, based on career head-to-head performance, to want to choose Pearson to upset Petty and make it a border clash instead.

Anyway, at the least, it was a fun exercise in comparing NASCAR's stars over generations, and at the most, it may provide a lot of water-cooler conversations. I'd suggest downloading your own brackets and seeing who winds up in your Final Four.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Once And For All, the Reason Junior Isn’t Winning

Kurt Smith · Frontstretch.com

Last week, the bubbling cauldron that is the motorsports media began to boil over once again, reaching a point where Dale Earnhardt, Jr. publicly asserted that his crew chief Tony Eury, Jr. is a capable mechanic and even that he himself would be willing to take some of the blame for his failure to run better than he has. His owner Rick Hendrick, someone who knows a little bit about putting together a winning race team, has also expressed confidence in the No. 88 bunch, assuring everyone that they can put it together and do it soon.

That Junior has visited victory lane far less than expected since his joining Hendrick Motorsports has been, to say the least, a grain of sand in the Junior Nation oyster. And everyone has a theory why the winless streak continues—from too many off-track distractions to an inadequate crew chief to the ever-comical “he’s driving the R&D car”, as if Rick Hendrick paid millions to hire the most popular driver in NASCAR to test brake setups. Proud members of the anti-Junior Nation gleefully suggest that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is simply a mediocre driver.

So what’s the real answer?

Drawing upon some years of experience covering this sport, the Official Columnist of NASCAR has appraised the situation. After some careful consideration, I am here to give you the main, inescapable, undeniably simple answer why Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has not won more races than expected at Hendrick Motorsports. Here it is:

His car hasn’t been ahead of the other cars at the end of races.

There you go. What, you were expecting something you could forward to Rick Hendrick? “Mr. Hendrick! Mr. Hendrick! Kurt Smith figured it out!” Sorry if you expected as-yet-unexplored insight only for a flash of the obvious.

I’m not trying to be sarcastic. There is a larger point here. This is the highest level of American motorsports. This is where the best of the best are found, not just wheelmen, but crew chiefs, tire changers and engine builders too. No team is going to trample on the competition all the time. The 48 team may have won three straight titles, but only one of them came with outperforming the other teams for 36 races. The 18 crew won eight races last year…and then zero in the Chase.

Junior isn’t the only driver seemingly not living up to expectations. Kevin Harvick has not won in over two years. Jeff Burton has one win in the last 36 races. How about this one: Tony Stewart, yes, that Tony Stewart has just one win in his last 50 races, and that one came at Talladega, where victory is often the result of aero package and luck.

And in case no one has noticed, since Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has joined with Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon has yet to visit victory lane. This may mean that Gordon is driving the R&D car at HMS now, but I doubt it.

Does anyone seriously question the ability of Harvick, Burton, Stewart, or Gordon to drive a racecar with the best of them? Does anyone think Todd Berrier, Scott Miller, Steve Letarte, or Greg Zipadelli/Darian Grubb, take your pick, need to be replaced on the pit box? Does Richard Childress need to hire some different crew members for the 29 and 31 teams?

(There were some grumblings from shortsighted people last year…writers even…who felt that Steve Letarte should have been replaced as Jeff Gordon’s crew chief. This was after he won at least three races in 2007 with borderline prescient calls from the pit box. Letarte went from genius to weakest link in just one season.)

Hendrick Motorsports reigned over the NASCAR world in 2007, winning half the races and causing Junior Nation to lick their chops at the prospect of his leaving DEI for HMS. But 2007 was a unique season. Remember, there was the split schedule with the Winged Snowplow being run at all but the high speed tracks. Hendrick got a jump on the other teams with it, and Jack Roush sheepishly admitted that he did not devote the resources to the new car that he should have early on. On top of this, Hendrick was diversified enough to run well at the remaining races.

Hendrick enjoyed brief success by accepting the rules and working within them. By 2008, the rest of the teams knew better. Once they caught up, we had racing again.

The current car is also very demanding in its setup, and most drivers and crew chiefs have noted that there is very little margin for error in either direction. This may explain the lack of consistency from so many teams, Junior’s included. Matt Kenseth’s performance this season is a perfect example. It is incredibly difficult to set the current car up consistently to a driver’s liking.

Junior doesn’t lack motivation, despite his comment that he would rather have fun. He’s smart enough to know that nothing is more fun than winning.

He might not need a new crew chief either. Remember that Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus were going to part ways at the end of the 2005 season, each believing that the other was holding the team back until Rick Hendrick sat them down for milk and cookies. We now know better. They were just getting beaten by teams that were better at the time.

People critical of Earnhardt or Eury often fail to realize how tough it is out there. What’s “wrong” with the No. 88 team is that they’re up against the world’s best in stock car racing…competition tough enough to have kept a four-time champion out of victory lane since Charlotte in 2007. Every week, to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the driver has to beat Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin. The crew chief has to outsmart Chad Knaus, Steve Letarte, Darian Grubb and Kenny Francis. The crew has to change tires faster than the 17, the 2, or the 11 crew. The shop has to build a better car than the guys at Roush Fenway, Joe Gibbs, or Richard Childress.

It all reminds me of a quote that I’ve always liked from Bobby Labonte. When he was struggling in 2004, he was asked by a reporter what it would take for him to return to his 2000 championship form. He replied, “I need to drive faster.”

It boils down to a simple answer because there are no simple answers. Teams struggle and drivers struggle and it’s not because any of them aren’t capable. This is as competitive a business as it gets. They’re all bringing their “A” game. Many people think Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is just a crew chief change or a shop change away from a championship. The reality is that any team has to beat the very best out there, no matter who is driving the car, making the calls or paying the bills.

That’s why they run the races.

Kurt’s Shorts

• NASCAR’s own website published pictures of a deteriorating North Wilkesboro Speedway earlier this week, while discussing how the loss of NASCAR races there hasn’t hurt the local economy all that much. The pictures are sad, especially the ones that show grass growing through cracks in the asphalt. But I’m not getting the point of the article. With all due respect to the townsfolk, it isn’t the possible loss of jobs that has NASCAR fans upset about the loss of NWS.
• Everyone’s favorite cartoon rodent seems to be less prominent in NASCAR broadcasts these days, although if I owned a company advertising during races, I’d tell Fox to get rid of that dancing gopher while my company’s logo is on the screen. I wonder how much tawdry revenue Digger is bringing in. I expect there won’t be much more as more people wearing Digger T-shirts are laughed at or worse at NASCAR events.
• Last week’s Happy Hour discussed Travis Kvapil’s situation, now it seems as though A.J. Allmendinger appears to be the next worthy driver to be on the lack-of-sponsorship block. I tried to persuade Tom Bowles to get the Frontstretch to sponsor the 44, but he said he’d have to cut my salary, which currently ranges in untold millions. Sorry A.J., I’d help if I could.
• OK, Jeff Gordon has been running very well, but save for a couple of accidents, he was running well at this point last year too, until the unmitigated 43rd place disaster at Texas. He finished second in the fall race, so it would appear that the 24 team has figured out the problem. We’ll see.

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Well, that's all for today.  Until the next time, I remain,

Your Nascar Momma

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

his list is authored by:

Sandra Monacelli
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