"You know you’re fast at a place when there are people running around wearing ‘anybody but Jimmie’ t-shirts."
--Carl Edwards at Lowes Motor Speedway

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Newman tests at SC road course:  #12-Ryan Newman skipped the second day of “Car of Tomorrow” testing at Lowes Motor Speedway as he and the Alltel Dodge team spent Wednesday shaking down their road course cars at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina.(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)

Yates' Team Stumbling, No End in Sight
By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer

 
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Dale Jarrett could have been home cooking steaks before the halfway mark of the Coca-Cola 600. A wreck on the first lap of the race ended his night before he even settled into the driver's seat.

Elliott Sadler, his teammate, wasn't much luckier. He was stuck at the track, nursing an ill-handling car to a 30th-place finish.

It was yet another disappointing night for Robert Yates Racing, which appears to be in a downward spiral with no end in sight.

Consider:
 
- Jarrett is leaving the company at the end of the season to drive a Toyota next year, and sponsor UPS could follow him.

- Sadler, despite repeated denials, can't shake rumors he is trying to leave, too. Even worse, the most attention he got last week was not for something racing-related, but a stage-diving stunt that sent him tumbling to the pavement on live television.

- Crew chief Slugger Labbe currently is serving a four-race suspension for making an illegal modification to Jarrett's car in Richmond.

- General manager Eddie D'Hondt was fired last week as car owners Robert and Doug Yates decided they needed to be more hands-on with the team.

Robert and Doug Yates insist talk of their demise is premature, pointing out that Jarrett and Sadler are 16th and 17th in the standings - still close enough to rally their way into the Chase for the championship. But in almost the same breath, Robert Yates acknowledges the race track is the last place he's wanted to be lately.

"I really haven't looked forward to going to the race track recently," he said. "I'm looking for fun and hopefully in my future I'm planning to have fun, and I just hope it's at the race track."

From the outside looking in, it seems that Yates has a long way to go before things are enjoyable again.

Since its 1989 debut, RYR has won 57 races and had 419 top-10 finishes in 919 starts. Jarrett won two Daytona 500s and a championship in 1999 for Yates, and the team has had at least one driver in the top 10 in the point standings in 10 out of 17 years.

But the team has been slipping since 2001, when its six-year streak of placing a driver in the top five of the final standings ended. Jarrett has not made the final top 10 since 2002, and Sadler only did it in 2004.

If something doesn't change soon, both drivers are in serious danger of missing out on the Chase again this year.

"We're all working really, really hard and trying to make progress," Sadler said. "We've stumbled a couple times here in the last few weeks and haven't run as good as we'd like, so we're making changes and race teams do that.

"I love driving for Robert Yates because he's not afraid to make changes. I don't think there's a lot of chaos going on from the inside, I think we're just switching some people around and putting them in different positions and trying to make the organization a little bit better."

Robert and Doug Yates acknowledge they are victims of their own early success, and perhaps haven't moved their company along at the same pace as the competition.

Their driver development program is fairly new, leaving them with no in-house option to replace Jarrett in their flagship No. 88 Ford. They once had Kasey Kahne in their pipeline, and he's got three victories this season driving for someone else.

And their cars aren't exactly blowing away the competition these days. Sadler hasn't won in 59 races, and Jarrett's victory last October in Talladega ended a 98-race drought.

Jarrett has complained the team doesn't have enough engineers to keep them on the cutting edge of technology.

"That's something we've got to step up," he said. "But it's not like they're a dime a dozen. We're trying to find the right people. We've got a lot of good people, we just need that little extra direction an engineer brings."

But that's a bizarre area to be lacking, considering Doug Yates comes from an engineering background.

"In the engine shop, we're basically pretty much engineering-driven," Doug Yates said of the department he heads. "But in the race shop, we had a lot of success doing it the old-school way, and I think those days are gone. We all know that, but we haven't been able to transition from the old to the new. That's been part of our problem."

Robert and Doug Yates know they need to get up to speed quickly. It's going to be hard enough to find a top-name driver to replace Jarrett, and they've got to find a way to make Sadler happy, or risk having him opt out of his contract.

"We have a contract, but I always work on attraction rather than contraction," Robert Yates said. "As much as I talk about myself not wanting to be there, I wouldn't expect anybody to want to be there.

"We've got to be attractive for anybody to want to come. Some people who have called and their biggest question is probably the same as ours - `How well are we going to run?' And that's what we're working very hard on."

Stewart emerging as Nextel superstar
By MIKE FINNEY
The News Journal

There is nothing quite like watching a top-level athlete compete in his prime.

Who can forget Joe Montana racking up Super Bowl victories for San Francisco? Or Michael Jordan re-inventing the game of basketball? Or Nolan Ryan blowing fastball after fastball past major-league batters?

In the Nextel Cup Series right now, that prime-time performer would have to be Tony Stewart, the sport's defending champion.

"Tony Stewart, in my eyes, is the greatest race car driver I've watched drive in this era," Mark Martin said. "A.J. Foyt might have been that when I was a little boy, but Tony Stewart is my driving hero.

"The trophy does not make the man, and Tony [Stewart] has figured that out."

Stewart, a two-time series champion, has to be considered among the favorites to win the trophy in Sunday's Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America at Dover International Speedway.

He has recorded two victories and has finished among the top-10 11 times in 14 races at the high-banked, one-mile oval.

"Dover is a track that's constantly changing," Stewart said. "But it's one of those places where you really can't change your driving style. You still have to do the same things you always do. It's just a matter of finding the package that's right for the racetrack."

Stewart and Greg Zipadelli, who has been his crew chief since December 1998 -- the longest such pairing in Cup racing -- have been able to find that winning package on every kind of track, whether it be the high banks of Dover, a superspeedway, a road course or a short track.

Zipadelli gives a lot of the credit to his driver.

"I know we have if not the best, then one of the best drivers in the sport right now, or maybe ever to be here," Zipadelli said.

At 35 years old, Stewart appears to have moved beyond the episodes of immaturity that often overshadowed his early years in Nextel Cup. He also seems to be many years away from having to answer questions regarding any impending retirement.

Stewart is driving in the now -- and he is loving each and every shift of the gears.

"I'm just going out and having fun each week," Stewart said. "That approach seemed to work pretty well last year. It's a nice feeling knowing we're the defending champions.

"With that, it just started the year off right for our team. Everybody is positive and having fun. We're not going to re-invent the wheel this year. We're just going to keep doing what we've been doing all along."

Stewart, who has been a perennial slow starter, is fourth in the Nextel Cup points standings heading into Sunday's race at Dover. Stewart finished among the top 15 in nine of the first 11 races of the season, including eight straight before last Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, where he wrecked early and broke the tip of his right shoulder blade. He has led at least one lap in nine of the 11 races this season, joining Greg Biffle as the only drivers to do so.

Zipadelli not only sees Stewart gaining confidence, he sees the pit crew and the workers back at the race shop getting excited, too.

"I think it's a combination of everything," Zipadelli said. "Tony has been on since Daytona. He's been like a machine. He's been fun. He's really intense about his race car, giving good feedback.

"But I'm proud of everybody. It's truly become a team effort."

Stewart made some big changes heading into last season.

He moved away from the NASCAR hotbed of Charlotte, N.C., to Columbus, Ind., and the house where he spent his childhood.

He also called for a closed-door meeting with members of his race team -- excluding Zipadelli. He wanted to give his Joe Gibbs Racing team a chance to vent any frustrations.

"The impact of it was pretty big," Stewart said. "And we don't have to go into details of what it was about. Sometimes, bad things have to happen for good things to come out of it."

In effect, the meeting eliminated Zipadelli's role as the go-between for driver and race team. Stewart wanted to let his team know he was approachable.

Ever since, the No. 20 Home Depot-sponsored Chevrolet has been a contender virtually every week.

"I mean, the thing about NASCAR is you need to have a good race team, the good people behind you. And we all have that now," Kasey Kahne said. "And for [Stewart] to do that at every track, that shows that he's got a great team, but he also can drive at every single track and figure out what he needs at every track for a setup.

"You know, those guys got it together right now. They're the best team right now. Jimmie Johnson was the best for a while. Greg Biffle was the best for a while. And they run good at certain tracks. But Tony Stewart is the best right now and he's running really good at every single track, and that's what nobody else has done."

It is the perfect example of an athlete competing in his prime. Stewart fans should enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Rudd as Stewart's replacement? It's a smart move
By Jeff Owens
Special to CBS SportsLine.com
 
 
Tony Stewart is determined to win another NASCAR Nextel Cup championship. So determined that he might give up his race car this weekend.
  
That's right. Stewart may climb out of his car Sunday at Dover International Speedway and give it up to another driver.

You don't ordinarily improve your prospects and help yourself win a championship with such a move.

But you do when your replacement is Ricky Rudd.

Stewart fractured his right shoulder in a crash in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway last week, making him doubtful for this weekend's race at Dover.

But thanks to one of NASCAR's more unique -- and questionable -- rules, Stewart may be able to start the race at Dover, then turn his car over to a relief driver during his first pit stop. If he does that, Stewart will still get the driver points his team earns, possibly protecting his position in the top 10 in points.

Though the move is risky -- what happens if Stewart crashes on the first lap, re-injuring himself and taking out another driver in the process? -- it is perfectly legal under NASCAR rules. It is also a smart move for a team trying to protect its current points position, especially the defending champion trying to win his third series title.

It's a particularly smart move if you can find a driver like Rudd.

For years, teams with injured drivers have gone out and hired someone just to log laps and finish the race, scoring as many points as possible.

Rudd, on the other hand, could actually win the race at Dover, not only protecting, but enhancing, Stewart's championship hopes.

"He's a proven winner who will allow us to stay in contention for the championship," said Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs.

Rarely has a team had the option of hiring someone of Rudd's caliber as a relief driver. Typically, it's an experienced Busch Series driver or a Cup driver without a full-time ride.

Rudd, though, retired from a distinguished career following last season.

Though he never won a championship, he had 23 career victories and finished in the top 10 in points 18 times, including second in 1991 and fourth in 2001.

Just four years ago, Rudd was a winning driver contending for a championship with Robert Yates Racing. Though he struggled with Wood Brothers Racing the last three years of his career, he was still considered a driver capable of winning when he quietly walked away at age 49 last year.

Though Rudd retired abruptly and with little fanfare, he did not rule out a possible return under the right scenario. In this case, it's the perfect one -- a chance to drive a winning car for a championship team.

In seven years with Gibbs, Stewart has won 25 races and two Cup championships. Stewart won more races last year (five) than Rudd won in the last eight years of his career.

By hopping into Stewart's car, Rudd inherits a championship team for one day (or possibly more, depending on Stewart's injury). It is the best team he has driven for since he was with Hendrick Motorsports in the early 1990s.

Can he win?

He won four times at Dover, one of the toughest tracks and most grueling races on the circuit. He also proved throughout his career that he could win on any track, under any circumstances.

And at age 49, Rudd is still as physically fit and well-conditioned as many drivers half his age.

Stewart and Gibbs couldn't have picked a better relief driver. And Rudd couldn't have fallen into a better situation.

Though the pain from giving up his race car will no doubt hurt Stewart worse than his bum shoulder, he could be smiling at the end of the day, having protected, or even increased, his fourth-place position in points.

It could all add up to a big day for both drivers.