New, Hot Dale Earnhardt Jr Diecast Amp Relaunch 1/24. Just released is the new 2008 orange and white paint-scheme that Dale Jr will be running later this year. This car is sure to be a great NASCAR diecast collectible. Motorsports Authentics is limiting these cars to just 5,000 pieces and they are only available through dealer/master wholesalers. With such a low production number and limited distribution this car has alot of resemblance to the Dale Jr diecast Born on Date from 2005 these cars sold for over $400.00 in there prime and still remain a sought after collectible today. Don’t miss your chance to own this rare diecast piece.

This car is offered in a bundle with the Amp Mountain Dew and The Amp Relaunch in a special frosted sleeve. We are also offering them individually for those that have already purchased the Amp Mountain Dew car.

The Dale Earnhardt Jr Relaunch 1/24 is offered in the Action Platinum Series which features, diecast body and chassis, opening hood and trunk, collector box and is sequentially numbered.

Please visit www.copperstateracing.com for more info.

by Brock Clever
www.copperstateracing.com

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Wrecked Chase contenders, two red flags, record lead changes and a Tony Stewart victory on a controversial finish.

The Amp Energy 500 was a show for the ages. Unfortunately, it also was a tire explosion waiting to happen.

Sound familiar?

Once again, tires were a major issue in a 2008 Sprint Cup race, and no one knows why.

Three times tires exploded off the wheel. It could have ruined a spectacular day, and did ruin the day for about a dozen drivers.

“I was worried all the way back when the 88 [Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.] blew a tire in practice,” Jimmie Johnson said. “When you run over something, you cut a tire. These tires exploded. In my opinion, something was wrong. It was in the back of my mind all day.”

Johnson escaped with a ninth-place finish and padded his points lead. Copperstateracing has Jimmie Johnson Diecast still avalible and it looks like he is making another charge for the Championship so get yours today.

The wild ending Sunday — Regan Smith illegally went below the yellow line to pass Stewart at the checkered flag — was the story of the race.

Tires became an afterthought. Denny Hamlin, who spent the night in a Birmingham hospital, probably felt differently.

The right-front tire on Brian Vickers’ No. 83 Toyota exploded, triggering a nine-car pileup.

Hamlin slammed the wall in Turn 2 when his tire disintegrated while he was leading midway through the race.

“That was scary,” said J.D. Gibbs, the president of Joe Gibbs Racing and Hamlin’s boss. “Denny’s going to be OK. He has a headache and his foot was hurt, but he’ll be all right.”

An earlier tire failure for Brian Vickers caused a nine-car pileup and brought out the first red flag. And Jeff Gordon’s day was ruined when David Reutimann’s tire burst into shredding rubber, causing Gordon to crash.

The first sign of trouble came Friday when Earnhardt had a tire explode during practice. At that time, everyone hoped it was an isolated incident. It wasn’t.

“It was a little nerve-racking today with the tires blowing for no reason,” Earnhardt said. “The Hoosier tires also blew in the ARCA race [Friday], so maybe it was something to do with the [track] surface. It’s made me nervous, but you have to run.” For new 2009 Dale Earnhardt Jr Diecast please visit copperstateracing.com.

Earnhardt’s backup car was a contender to win, but his race ended with 15 laps to go. Earnhardt was a victim of 10-car pileup caused by Carl Edwards’ bump-drafting too aggressively with teammate Greg Biffle.

It proved the continuous danger of restrictor-plate racing at Talladega, a clear reason why the 2.66-mile oval is the worst place for tires to go off like a TNT charge.

Sunday could have been so perfect. It was Talladega at its best — an incredible 64 lead changes among 28 drivers, a NASCAR record.

This was the edge-of-our-seat drama fans have come to expect at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR’s biggest bad boy. But tires shouldn’t explode, not at this track.

In fairness, the only tire issue in the final 89 laps was a single-car spin by Jamie McMurray when he cut a tire.

And the race was a night-and-day difference from the travesty at Indianapolis at the Allstate 400 in July. That event was a series of competition cautions to keep the tires from coming apart on the track.

But as it was that day at Indy, drivers at Dega had to wonder if they would become the next victim of tire destruction.

Goodyear product manager Rick Heinrich didn’t have a definitive answer for it.

“Our engineers still are looking at all the tires,” Heinrich said during the race. “I can’t say for sure in every case what happened. We don’t know all the details. We will do some analysis back in Akron [Ohio]. What we do know is we have the exact same tire as we had here in the spring, a race-proven tire.”

Heinrich said one of the tires that failed Sunday had evidence of a puncture.

“The teams are telling us there’s a lot of car contact out there,” Heinrich said. “That loosens things up and drops debris on the track.”

That’s true for every Talladega race.

“We didn’t have any issues,” said Paul Menard, who finished second. “The guys blowing tires maybe have a fender rub or aggressive camber.”

The shape of the new car — taller and boxier — puts extra loading on the right-side tires.

Heinrich wouldn’t place the blame on setups by the teams or the new car, which was racing at Talladega for the third time. Some crew chiefs thought a few teams were overinflating the right-side tires.

If so, NASCAR needs to get better control of what the teams are allowed to do with the tires.

It’s one thing for a driver to lose points in the Chase because of a mistake in pack racing at Talladega. But no one wants to see a driver lose a chance to win the championship because a tire failure caused him to miss a race.

If an answer isn’t found soon, wrecked cars, red flags and controversial finishes will become the least of NASCAR’s problems. Tony Stewart Diecast Subway car is nearly sold out get yours today at copperstateracing.com. There should not be a raced version produced for this car, licencing for Tony Stewart / Home Depot / Subway runs out at the end of the year.

By Terry Blount
ESPN.com

We feel that Dale Earnhardt Sr. is truly watching his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. race into the history books!

Martin Truex Jr.’s road to NASCAR appeared to be paved with gold.

So far it’s been anything but.

The New Jersey native, who broke in with tons of promise, has had a dark shadow hanging over his head - along with the entire Dale Earnhardt, Inc. team - for much of his time in the sport’s top level.

Last year the talk was all about Dale Jr. leaving the team. This year it’s about Truex’s contract, and just recently there’s been talk about teammate Mark Martin moving to Hendrick Motorsports next year.

The fact is Truex hasn’t had a clean, controversy-free season at DEI. Not yet at least.

“No, I really haven’t to be honest with you,” Truex said this week. “I think part of that is DEI being Dale Earnhardt, Incorporated. It’s always been under a tough microscope. I think whether it was before Dale Jr. or after Dale Jr. it’s always been that way.”

It’s not all his fault, but he’s right in the midst of the storm cloud.

And when Truex talks you can hear the deep frustration in his voice.

He made the Chase for the Championship last year, but now he’s sitting 17th. His performance - the team’s performance - will have to change fast if he’s going to have any shot at getting into the Chase.

While there have been some good runs, he’s not been great. Adding to the performance misery is the off-track nonsense. Face it, DEI gets slammed just for being DEI. DEI head Teresa Earnhardt often unfairly becomes fodder for talk radio chatter by callers and hosts.

“I think a lot of the people are harsh in their opinions of DEI and what they are, you know, the job they’re able to do,” Truex said. “I think the perception of DEI is not as good as what it really is. So that’s been tough at times. Seems like I’ve always had to stick up for them when there is really nothing to stick up for. So it’s been a weird situation. It’s always been something a little different. But there’s always been somebody trying to, you know, make their job a little tougher than it should be I think.”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Truex got his start in New Jersey, following in his father’s footsteps. Along the way he won a bunch of races, including the 1999 Turkey Derby Classic at Wall Stadium. He’s also won two titles on the Nationwide level. And he moved gradually into Sprint Cup at DEI.

A year ago with Junior leaving Truex was fixing to be the man at DEI. He may be the man, but clearly the team is off a tick.

Truex said it’s easy to not let the off-track nonsense get in the way of his driving because he’s a racer and that’s all he’s ever done

No one would blame him, though, if the constant chatter and controversy had a role in his performance. Now there’s the talk of his uncertain future.

There’s a lot of pressure on his shoulders, and he’s got mixed feelings about carrying that load, too.

“I’m not one to just walk out and take the easy road,” he said. “I don’t mind the challenge. I think if we succeed and we do our job, it’s a lot more gratifying. We’ve got more pride in it.”

Still he’s an underdog.

“I kind of like that situation. But at the same time if things aren’t going right and people are pointing the finger and asking why you’re not getting the job done, you’ve got to take the heat then, too,” Truex said. “So it’s a tough situation either way.”

Truex said he’s enjoyed his time at DEI and he’s still having fun. No surprise that he won’t show his hand on what his plans are other than saying he and DEI are working hard to put things together for next year. It has taken a little bit longer than everyone expected, he added.

“For me it’s just trying to get comfortable and be comfortable in the position I’m in - what they’re doing and the direction they’re headed for the future, so I can make sure that we can be together for a long time,” he said.

Interestingly Dale Jr. used some of those same reasons for leaving. Considering his performance and the level of frustration in his voice you wonder if the future for Truex means moving away from the storm cloud in order to get ahead, just like Junior did.

Sometimes the grass is really greener.

by Richard Huff
nydailynews.com

June 21, 2008
As silly season 2009 continues to pick up steam, the hottest seat in the NASCAR garage for next year appears to be the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, driven by Casey Mears.

Despite Mears’ contract lasting through 2009, many of NASCAR’s top stars have been rumored to take over the seat. The names with the most weight attached to them in the rumor mill as of late are Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart.

Mears’ season has been full of disappointment thus far. Currently sitting at 27th in points, and at one point in danger of falling out of the top 35 cars in owners’ points locked into every race, Mears’ best finish so far has been seventh, at Martinsville and Talladega. Mears opened the season with a 35th at Daytona and a 42nd at Fontana, followed by another 42nd at Bristol three races later. Mears has led only one lap all season, at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte; a race he won last season.

Certainly driving for four teams in four seasons doesn’t help a driver’s psyche, or teach him anything about consistency, but the #5 team expects better from their driver - especially after Kyle Busch led the team to four wins and a Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award in three seasons.

Truex is highly unlikely to take the seat from Mears, after Dale Earnhardt Inc. exercised its contract option on him for 2009. However, Truex is a good friend of newest Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., and could possibly be lured to the team that way. Since winning his first career race at Dover last season, Truex’s race finishes have been composed of hot streaks intertwined with many finishes of 30th or worse. Indeed, he only has one top-5 finish thus far this season (at Richmond) and sits 15th in points.

Bowyer’s contract also stipulates that he will drive for his current team, Richard Childress Racing, through 2009. However, that team is expanding from three cars to four. Combined with the presence of two top drivers already, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, and the potential addition of Ryan Newman for 2009, Bowyer may find himself the number four driver at RCR next season. However, with Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick, it’d be hard to see him any better off in the #5.

Bowyer’s performance may see a slight drop if he stays with the team next season. However, he hasn’t had any performance issues so far this season: he sits 12th in points, has one win, three top-5s, and an average finish of 16.9. Bowyer may not want to risk starting anew with a new team and crew chief Alan Gustafson, as his current partnership with Gil Martin has landed him in one Chase for the Cup and should keep him in this year’s title hunt.

Tony Stewart is the most interesting rumor of the bunch. Not only is he signed with Joe Gibbs Racing through 2009, the #5 car appears to be a fall-back option for him.

His current goal is to assume partial ownership of a team, which he may do with Haas CNC Racing. Stewart’s relationship with manufacturer Chevrolet is very strong, and he was reportedly not very pleased with Gibbs’ decision to leave them for Toyota this season. Stewart fields Chevrolets in USAC competition.

Stewart has also been the number-three driver at Gibbs this season as far as performance goes, as he is the only driver in the stable to not have won a Sprint Cup race thus far this season. (For the record, he’s won four Nationwide Series events in six tries.)

Stewart usually heats up late in the season, but to not have won through 15 races and be sitting 11th in points is a disappointing first part of the season for him.

The answer, however, may not lie in further change for either Mears or the #5 team. Since being shuffled from the #41 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge in 2005, to the #42 CGR car in 2006, to the #25 at Hendrick last year, to the #5 in 2008, Mears has never truly had a chance to prove himself with any one team, and his best years should be yet to come.

Hendrick shouldn’t take a risk at going after any more contractually obligated drivers, let Mears fulfill his contract, and go driver-hunting again in 2009, when all of those mentioned above will truly be free agents. Perhaps Mears will break out and prove himself worthy of the #5.

by Chris Leone, Bleacherreport.com

June 22, 2008
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who ended a 76-race winless streak last week at Michigan International Speedway, will seek his second consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory today at the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

But oddsmakers do not give Earnhardt much of a chance on the road course at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. At betEd.com, Earnhardt is listed with 120-1 odds, numbers that put him deep in the pack of 43-car field.

Four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, who has won five times on the difficult course at Infineon, is listed as the favorite at 3.75-1.

Gordon, who had already gained four of his six 2007 victories by this point last season, is still looking for his first win of the season. Oddsmakers like Gordon’s chances based on his history at Infineon, where he holds the qualifying track record, most laps led and the most races led.

Robby Gordon, also seeking his first victory of the season, has the second-best odds for today’s race at 6.75-1.

He’s followed by Tony Stewart with 7.5-1 odds, and Juan Pablo Montoya and Kevin Harvick at 9-1.

The odds are slightly different at Bodoglife.com, which lists Jeff Gordon as the favorite at 3-1.

Robby Gordon is next at 7-1, and then things change up. Kyle Busch, who leads the Sprint Cup Series standings, is listed along with Montoya at 9-1, followed by Stewart at 10-1.

In updated odds for the 2008 driver’s Cup championship, Busch is listed as the favorite with 7-2 odds, followed by Earnhardt at 5-1, and Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards at 6-1, according to Sportsbetting.com.

Jeff Burton, who trails Busch by 32 points in the Cup standings, is listed at 15-1 odds.

By Lonnie White, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

6/22/2008
Sonoma, CA (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch and the Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew made the right moves at the right times and he captured Sunday afternoon’s Toyota Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway. The No.18 M&M’s Toyota crossed the finish line 1.717 seconds ahead of David Gilliland.

The victory was Busch’s fifth of the season and ninth of his Sprint Cup career.

Twice Busch made pit stops just before a caution flag and it set him up with the lead on the final run to the checkered flag. He was never really challenged over the final 40 laps and led a total of 77 laps.

“These guys worked so hard,” said Busch. “This is really special. We came a long ways with this thing. That’s what makes me so proud of this team.”

Kasey Kahne, winner of three of the last five races and Friday’s pole, brought the field to the green flag for 110 laps of road-course fun. He led them through the first laps, but it was Robby Gordon that was showing the most speed. The No.7 Dodge started eighth but by the end of the third lap he was already past road-course ace Jeff Gordon and into fourth place.

Also of note was that Kahne was reporting to his pit crew that he had already lost first gear. Jimmie Johnson caught Kahne on lap five and passed him in Turn 11 to grab the lead and five bonus points.

Robby Gordon, who only knows one way to drive - at 110-percent, took third place from a fading Kahne on lap eight.

Meanwhile, Johnson was out for a “Sunday drive” with the clean air built his lead to almost four seconds after a dozen laps. Two drivers who looked strong early were Carl Edwards and rookie Marcos Ambrose. Also of note, defending champion Juan Pablo Montoya cracked the top-10 on lap 13.

Edwards was on the move and got around both Robby Gordon and Busch for second place on lap 21. He was more than four second behind the two-time series champion. But Edwards was faster than Johnson and began to eat into his lead. Johnson’s lead was under one second at lap 28 as Edwards closed on the No.48 Chevrolet. A caution flag on lap 30, cause by David Ragan, slowed Edwards’ assault on Johnson.

Differing pit stop strategies, left Greg Biffle, Montoya and Busch at the front of the line. Johnson came out 11th, but the first of those who had pitted.

Biffle led for just three corners before spinning and when the smoke had cleared, Busch had slid underneath Montoya to grab the lead. Busch quickly built a two-second lead on Montoya.

In the middle of the field, Edwards got around Johnson and began to slowly move his way past those who had not stopped at the last caution flag.

Busch, Montoya and McMurray stayed in line at the front, although Busch built the lead to more than three seconds by lap 50.

In this “strategy race,” the question for every crew chief is when they would make their final stops. Last year, Montoya made his final stop on lap 68 and after everyone had cycled through he was left with the lead and the only question was could he stretch his fuel to the checkered flag. He did and won the race.

The drivers were mostly staying in line waiting for the final pit stop and run to the checkered flag. Exceptions were Edwards who cracked the top-five on lap 62 and Ambrose was also climbing - he was up to ninth. By lap 65 Edwards was up to fourth and Ambrose to seventh.

Gilliland pitted on lap 66, the first of the top-10 drivers to pit.

Could he go 44 laps on a tank of fuel?

Jeff Burton came in on the next lap as did Harvick and Clint Bowyer. Ambrose and Dale Earnhardt Jr. came in on lap 68. Busch came in on lap 69 as did Montoya, McMurray and Tony Stewart.

Then on the next lap Robby Gordon and Max Papis made contact and it brought out the caution flag.

With the caution flag in the middle of pit stops, the advantage went to those who had stopped before the yellow…the opposite of what you want at an oval track.

The remainder of the cars stopped when pit lane was opened on lap 71.

The race would restart with Busch, Montoya and McMurray again leading the way. Behind them were Ambrose, Gilliland, Stewart, Harvick and Ron Fellows.

Montoya, McMurray and Ambrose got together in Turn 11 when Ambrose tried to make a pass on the No.26 Ford. The end result was Montoya getting knocked back to 15th place and Ambrose taking over second.

McMurray fought back and passed Ambrose as the crossed the start/finish line to start lap 77. Ambrose began to fade as Gilliland, Stewart, Harvick and Elliott Sadler all got around the rookie. Then Ambrose’s transmission blew and his great day was over.

Busch again built a comfortable lead, almost three seconds at lap 90, 20 to go. Without a caution flag it appeared that it was Busch’s race to lose - assuming he had enough fuel to go 41 laps on his final fill up. His margin back to McMuray at lap 100 was more than four seconds.

But then David Reutimann slammed into the tire barrier with nine laps to go and it brought out a full-course caution flag. The yellow erased Busch’s big lead and gave those chasing him one last chance to catch him.

It took a while to dig Reutimann’s Toyota out of the tire barrier and the green flag dropped with six laps to go. Busch got a great start, but McMurray slipped off the track in the first turn and Stewart stole second from him.

A couple of turns later Harvick went in too hot, hit McMurray who in turn hit Stewart sending all three cars spinning. The accident also collected Ron Fellows who was set for a top-six finish.

The race would restart on lap 107 with Busch leading Gilliland and Jeff Gordon. But they couldn’t get in even one green-flag lap completed before the caution flag came out again.

The red flag came out to clean up the multi-car accident and officials declared the race would go to lap 112 on a green-white-checker finish. Busch got off to another great restart and was never challenged the rest of the way.

Jeff Gordon, Bowyer and Casey Mears completed the top-five. Montoya finished sixth.

Busch’s win gives him a 103-point lead over Burton heading to the next race - set for Sunday, June 29th at the New Hampshire International Speedway.

by: The Sporting News

06/21/2008

THERE are many reasons to like Dale Earnhardt, Jr., some that don’t make much sense.

He has a famous father. He has a smile and a wit that can light up a room. And he looks pretty good and comfortable in a pair of jeans in a TV commercial.

But, c’mon. The guy has won exactly one NASCAR race in the past 778 days, yet no one has booed him. Barry Zito can’t go five days without hearing boos.

That’s because Earnhardt transcends his sport like Tiger Woods does his. Junior is testament to the strength and depth of NASCAR and the endurance of his family name.

“Let’s be honest. The most popular figure in our sport went two years and never won a race,” said Kyle Petty, the veteran NASCAR driver who will be a TNT analyst for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. “The guy who sells the most T-shirts. The most hats. Gets the most cheers from the grandstand. Somebody the sport has promoted as our big guy goes two years (without winning)? What if golf went two years without Tiger Woods ever winning an event? I’m not sure golf would survive that. NASCAR can survive that.”

Or maybe not.

“I would disagree. I would think it would be parallel in some ways,” said Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate. “If you’re a fan of golf and you respect Tiger and watch Tiger and, if he’s gone, you’re still going to watch golf. Die-hard Tiger fans might not be as interested but they’re golf fans. They’re going to watch it.

“Motorsports is the same way. Every sport needs their heroes. Every sport needs their marquee guy. Tiger has every (competitor) covered by so far. In NASCAR, you don’t have that gap from first on down.”

The point is a NASCAR driver doesn’t have to dominate his sport to have staying power. Earnhardt may win major events as often as Phil Mickelson but he’s got Tiger-like Teflon status. He can do no wrong.

“All Tiger Woods has got to do is show up. He doesn’t have to win every week, but what he does is great. It’s great for his legacy,” Earnhardt said. “Just being able to see the man play is what people go for.”

Of course, NASCAR fans feel the same way about Earnhardt.

“I’m a lucky guy. Very fortunate,” he said.

How fortunate? Earnhardt’s victory at Michigan International Speedway last Sunday was his first since May 6, 2006, ending a 76-race winless streak. That drought would cripple most drivers, their crews, car owners and sponsors.

“I’d be ill, no doubt about it,” Johnson said.

Yet Earnhardt plugged on, along with his nation of loyal fans, though, in terms of individual sports, he’s more Andy Roddick than Roger Federer.

“This sport is strong enough and it’s shown that without him winning over the last couple of years he’s still popular and so is the sport,” said Jeff Gordon, another of Earnhardt’s Hendrick teammates.

But how can a guy be so beloved even though he’s lost more than the 49ers and Raiders combined the last couple of years? He can handle losing in the way Ernie Banks handled it with the Cubs.

“I kind of like the way Dale Jr. doesn’t cause a whole bunch of headlines. He just sort of knocks it out and does what he does and I appreciate that,” said veteran NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip. “He has everyone’s attention and he could be controversial if he chose to. He has more of the attitude of ‘I’m just going to race my car.’ That definitely comes from his dad.”

Dale Earnhardt, Sr., however, eventually became a seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, the first time at the age of 29. Junior is 33 now and, since leaving DEI for Hendrick, has the best equipment and best crew to win his first Cup.

“It would be huge,” Gordon said. “There’s no doubt that having him as a champion would be a win-win for them, for Hendrick and for NASCAR. There might be some guys who might not want to admit that but that is the case.”

The problem is Earnhardt has more competition in his sport than, say, Tiger Woods has in his.

“It’s just the ultimate. There’s just so many people (drivers, crew members) that want to be here,” Waltrip said. “The best in the world are here and there hasn’t been one guy yet that showed up with his knee messed up and his game of whack who kicks everybody’s butt (like Tiger).”

So Earnhardt is Tiger-proofed. Even people who may have been perceived to be his enemies are among his many admirers.

“I always liked him before he was my teammate,” Gordon said. “He’s a good guy. He’s good for the sport. He’s appreciative of the position he’s in and he works hard and he’s a great driver. What’s not to like about that?”

OK, Junior doesn’t win enough, yet he’s popular enough that everyone overlooks that fact.

He’s a lucky guy.

by: Dave Albee, Marin Independent Journal

Sunday, Jun 22, 2008

Jeff Gordon had 30 top-10 finishes, including six wins, in 36 Sprint Cup races last year. SONOMA, Calif. NASCAR’s annual trip to Sonoma has always been a celebration for Jeff Gordon. Surrounded by family and friends, he enjoys some fine wine, a game or two of croquet and his many personal milestones.

Two years ago, he threw an engagement party here, and last year, he celebrated the birth of his first child. The party this trip is daughter Ella’s first birthday, planned for after the garage closed yesterday at Infineon Raceway.

But if Gordon has it his way, the celebration will stretch to victory lane today with his first win of the year. He already had scored four of his six 2007 victories by this point last season, but the four-time Cup Series champion has struggled to duplicate those efforts this year.

“I’m more frustrated that we’re not more competitive,” said Gordon, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports. “To me, you can be the fastest car out there and not get wins. So that’s not really bothering me. What’s bothering me is that we’re hit or miss. We’ve put some top-fives together - some of them we earned, some of them we earned by strategy.

“We didn’t go out there and really perform well enough to get those, and that’s where I feel like we really want to be - really getting the performance of our car.”

Gordon was a model of consistency last season, racking up a NASCAR record 30 top-10 finishes in the 36 points races. He built a lead of more than 300 points on the competition during the “regular season,” then staged an epic battle with teammate Jimmie Johnson for the championship before finally settling for second in what will go down as one of the greatest seasons of his career.

So why has his performance fallen so far off? He does have six top-fives through the first 15 races, but those finishes are pocked by days like Pocono and Michigan, where he was an uncharacteristic 14th and 18th.

Gordon points to the full-time use of the Car of Tomorrow as one of the issues plaguing the No. 24 team. Hendrick Motorsports was better than every other team last season in managing the back-and-forth swapping of the new and old cars, and maybe this year other teams have simply caught up because there’s only one car to focus on.

“We weren’t on mile-and-a-half tracks with this car. We had the old car and we had the old car dialed in. We had this car dialed in for the tracks we were going to. And it was really that we had it more dialed in than our competitors,” Gordon said. “Our competitors went to work and they’ve gotten better. And we’ve got to step up.

“It’s very easy to get behind. Our teammates have done a little bit better job of catching up than we have, and that’s where I want us to get better.”

Indeed, teammates Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have each been to victory lane once this season. And while Gordon is ninth in the standings and in Chase contention, Earnhardt is third in the points and Johnson is fifth.

But Sonoma is Gordon’s chance to shine. He’s an exceptional road racer with nine career victories on NASCAR’s two road courses. Five of those wins were here at Infineon, including three-straight from 1998 to 2000. He last won here in 2006 and has 11 top-10s in his 15 career starts.

As much as he’d like to duplicate his past success today, he won’t make it a make-or-break race for his season.

“I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on us to feel like we have to win here, and then if we don’t it’s our last opportunity or a failed weekend,” he said. “I really just want to come in here and do what we know we’re capable of doing and try not to make mistakes - put the best car out there and go about it like we would any other time, whether we came in here with four or five wins or with no wins.”

And no matter the outcome, this weekend will go down as a memorable one.

“This is a really special weekend,” he said. “We always have a great time coming out here. I’ve put different events together with friends and family here for years and this year obviously, with [Ella’s] birthday, it’s just getting bigger and turning into a birthday party.

“And so it’s going to be quite a bash. It’ll be something she’ll probably never remember but something we will never forget.”

By JENNA FRYER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

6/21/08

If only stock were available in Kasey Kahne, and I’d have bought about a month ago.

Mind you, after seeing what he did during All-Star Weekend-first in being voted into the show-which in an of itself was no surprise, considering he has more female voters than Hillary Clinton-then driving from the back to win the thing when it seemed the whine dujour was “We can’t pass in the new car!” I think most of us were baffled.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to bet on the 9 car to win the Coca-Cola 600, but since I am a rocket scientist, I made the call for Kasey. And I felt pretty good about it, except for the fact the 18 was on the pole, and Kyle Busch has been a fair driver this year.

Not only did the 9 go on to win, Kahne decided he would take the pole and another win at Pocono two weeks later. I didn’t notice the blond from the Budweiser commercial getting doused with beer, but gotta think the Sprint Girl has a good dry-cleaning service.

Then he finishes second to Dale Jr. last week in the great gas gasp of 2008 at Michigan.

(Attention Danica haters, Junior won a fuel mileage race too… Are you going to put an asterisk (*) by his name?)

So now Kasey goes out early and sets a speed good enough for the pole at Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Pronounced “Three-fitty” to keep up with NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity and Pop Culture Initiative Program, not that more exposure is needed there).

But I digress… What was I talking about?

Oh, yes, Kasey Kahne-the man known for his dance moves, inability to shake the Allstate chicks, and road-course prowess. Okay, perhaps two out of three ain’t bad.

How did Kasey Kahne get the pole for this race? Was it extra incentive from Budweiser to put a stick in the eye of Coors Light, now that they sponsor the pole award (a long-time Bud sponsorship)? Did he eat some of Kyle Busch’s magic M&Ms? Or are we seeing the resurgence of the Kahne of old-The one that had six poles and wins just two years ago?

I might buy that for a dollar, but this is a road course.

So let’s take a look at the reality of what things look like, based on Friday’s qualifying.

First off-there are some “Expecteds” up front: Jimmie Johnson out-ran the road course master-teammate Jeff Gordon (Happy Birthday, Ella!) by just over a tenth of a second. Jimmie went out about the same time as Kasey, and turned in a good lap. Kurt Busch starting third is no surprise. Kurt has shown the ability to time in well when on the track by himself, sweeping poles at both road courses in 2006, but he doesn’t have the finishes to show for it.

Bobby Labonte laid down a lap to start fourth in the #43… Could Petty Enterprises have…?

Breathe…

Brother Terry rolls out 11th in Kyle Petty’s #45. Hmmm. I’ll wait and see on those two.

Row four is where the action will be. Marcos Ambrose was fastest in first practice driving the Wood Brothers #21 car, and qualified an impressive seventh. I would think he feels rather comfortable in this car, being it should be more like the Aussie V8 Supercars he was so good in. But then there’s Robby “Crash” Gordon (sorry, Hurricane, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em) starting astride Ambrose.

Anyone remember the Nationwide (Busch) race at Montreal last year? I’m rooting for the Tasmanian Devil. I look for Robbie to further reinforce my not-so-flattering nickname for him in finding a way to crinkle a couple of fenders, if not send some people off into the dirt as he tried to claim a rare win (I think the Chick Fil-A Cows will jump over the moon first, but stranger things have happened-like NASA finding ice on Mars).

So where is Tony Stewart? He’s historically good on road courses, but starts in the rear with the gear Sunday. I may be off base here, but I think Tony’s looking for an out from JGR, is not happy with NASCAR, and will drop from the Chase. Mind you Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson both started in the back last year and finished in the top-10.

Jamie McMurray better find a way to pull his head out and run well at Sonoma. With word that Greg Biffle is nearing a new 3-year deal with Roush, McMurrary needs to start auditioning for a new job for 2009, if not sooner. He’s been impressive on the course in the past, starting on pole last year, but finished 37th. His lackluster performance in a Roush machine (save Daytona last summer) would make any fan consume Crown-in excess.

As for the “Road Course Ringers”, they’re… They’re… Uh… Where the heck are… Oh, here they are!

Color me unimpressed.

Boris Said starts 14th and that’s a lousy qualifying effort for him, considering he usually is in the top-10. I’d keep an eye on my mirrors if I were ahead of him. Boris is racing for the win. He doesn’t give a ratt’s butt about the points, and is at a point where he isn’t worried about making friends.

Ron Fellows is still getting over jetlag after flying home from finishing second in LMGT1 at the 24 Hours of LeMans last weekend. He’s in the 01 DEI car for Regan Smith. I don’t really know what to make of this ride. I fully expect he can get into the top-10, but that’s historically when he’s in an RCR car.

Then there’s Ganassi hired-gun Scott Pruett, who’s really not a “Hired Gun” since he drives full-time for Chip in Grand Am, and will be pulling double-duty between Mid Ohio, where he will race the 01 Telmex Daytona Prototype with Memo Rojas, and Sonoma. Can you say, “Road trip!”

That pairing has dominated the Rolex Series this season, and Pruett has been oh-so-close to getting that first NASCAR win (I think he’s still cussing Juan Pablo Montoya under his breath and when not saying “Hi” to his family in interviews on Speed). He’s starting a little deep in the field to consider him a real threat, but effective strategy and a timely full-course caution could get him up front, and then he can shine.

“Mad” Max Papis is also returning from France and a third-place finish in LMGT1 at LeMans in the sister Corvette to Fellows. He’s in the 66 car for Scott Riggs, who failed to qualify the 70 car for Haas/CNC. Papis hasn’t shown the ability that Pruett, Said, and Fellows have in NASCAR, but it will be interesting to see if he can keep the car in one piece.

I’ll waste a sentence on ringer Brian Simo, who starts last.

Okay, there it was.

I look for two things in this race; One: the “mercenaries” moving forward, and with a purpose (read: Hell bent for leather).

Two: a major points shake-up in the top-12. Kahne, Johnson, Gordon, and Biffle start in the top-10, and are in position to gain ground on Kyle Busch. Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, and Dale, Jr. are starting in the next-five, right around Boris (see above, on what could happen with the hair.) With Jeff Burton 20th, just maintaining the gap over Kyle, who rolls 30th, he should be able to take over the points lead.

The big question will be with Stewart, who coming from 39th, will have to close up on Matt Kenseth (33rd) and keep David Ragan (38th) at bay to hold on to a spot in the top-12.

Who in the top-12 haven’t I mentioned… Oh, Clint Bowyer starts 19th, and RCR teammate Kevin Harvick is 32nd. Don’t look now, but Bowyer’s hold on the cellar-dweller spot in the Chase is tenuous at best. It’s possible, though a stretch, that both Bowyer and Stewart could be on the outside looking in after Sunday.

So now that I’ve broken out the Crayons and drawn you a picture, it’s time to color in a winner for the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Big Daddy. The Man. Jeff Gordon.

He’s due, it’s time, and he’s feeling pretty good being on the road course, having just gone through his first Father’s Day and the birthday of his daughter. Sonoma is Gordon’s track. Then again so is Watkins Glen… And Darlington… And pretty much any other circuit on the Cup tour save Texas and Homestead.

Then again there’s that guy named Kahne. And he’s running like the Allstate girls are after more than a picture…
Hmmm.

by Adam Amick, w/The Bleacher Report

June 20, 2008
SONOMA, Calif. — Kasey Kahne, a driver who’s never had a top-10 finish in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race on a road course, will have a leg up on breaking that drought Sunday, having claimed the pole for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

Though Kahne has never finished better than 23rd at Infineon, he turned a lap in 77.740 seconds (92.153 mph) in Friday’s qualifying session to edge Jimmie Johnson (92.040 mph) for the top starting spot. The pole was Kahne’s second this year and the 16th of his Cup career.

Working on last year’s notes after a disappointing practice session, Kurt Busch qualified third at 92.005 mph. Bobby Labonte (91.943 mph) will start fourth, followed by Jeff Gordon (91.923 mph), a five-time winner at the 1.99-mile road course.

Elliott Sadler, Marcus Ambrose, Robby Gordon, Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle will start from positions six through 10. Driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, Ambrose will make his Cup debut in Sunday’s race.

For the third straight year, Kahne qualified in the top eight at Infineon, but his race results haven’t matched his starting positions.

“We’ve always raced good here for the first 70 laps,” said Kahne, who has two wins and a second-place finish in his last four Cup points races. “This year, we’re trying to make sure we’re more prepared than we have been in the past. I’ve always liked this place, and I like Watkins Glen (the other road course on the Cup circuit).

“We’ve been really fast at both places at times. If we just put a full race together, we’ll be fine.”

Johnson had a pole-winning lap going until he lost time through Turns 10 and 11 of the 12-turn track.

“I had a little trouble in Turn 10, got a little loose off Turn 10,” Johnson said. “Today we just worked on qualifying trim, so I have no idea how our race setup will be. But I’m sure we’ll have a great racecar.”

Notes: Subbing for Kyle Petty in the No. 45 Dodge, Terry Labonte qualified 11th. When he takes the green flag on Sunday, he’ll be the only Cup driver to have started all 20 races at Infineon. . . Tony Stewart, a two-time winner at Infineon, qualified 39th, his worst starting position of the season. . . Defending race winner Juan Pablo Montoya, who started 32nd last year, qualified 21st on Friday. . . Kyle Busch got a rare do-over during qualifying after the tape placed over the cowling (air intake) at the base of his windshield was left in place on his first qualifying attempt. Busch ran 90.656 mph with the tape on but improved only marginally, to 90.794 mph, with the tape removed on his second attempt. The Cup points leader will start 30th. . . J.J. Yeley, Scott Riggs, Dario Franchitti and Brandon Ash failed to qualify for the race.

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

There was a litany of significant firsts for Dale Earnhardt Jr. June 15 at Michigan International Speedway.

First, just winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup race that had more irregularities in the waning laps than a Florida vote tally was a momentous achievement, especially when you consider that Junior passed the pace car under yellow late in the race and probably would have run out of fuel had the race gone to its conclusion in overtime.

NASCAR has a rule about passing the pace car under yellow. It goes something like this: “Don’t do it.”

But when Little E, second to none in popularity, did it, he was told by NASCAR officials, in no uncertain terms, “Don’t do it again.”

And when the race went to a one-time-only, green-white-checkered, two-lap overtime session following a spin by Defiance native Sam Hornish Jr. with three laps remaining in regulation, Earnhardt was leading. He took the white flag signaling one lap to go, but his fuel cell was unoccupied, his engine was gasping on fumes and the Junior Nation was holding its collective breath, creating a vacuum that threatened the creation of a black hole.

But thanks to another spinout by two other drivers, the yellow appeared again and Earnhardt was automatically declared the winner of a fuel strategy race that had more twists and turns than the Infineon Raceway road course in Sonoma, Calif., where the NASCAR Sprint Car Series appears this weekend. His car had to be pushed to Victory Lane, the needle well below the little “E” on his fuel gauge.

Earnhardt had a brief attack of self-reproach immediately after the race, saying, “I know what they’ll write, but we finally won one.”

What he thinks we’ll write is that he was lucky in every sense of the word and that he won a fuel mileage race that separates the men from the boys, but in reverse order.

No, the “1” under victories this season doesn’t delve into assorted nuances. To quote Junior on many occasions after the race, “It is what it is.”

It was his first win with Hendrick Motorsports, almost a year to the day after he made the jump from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to his new team. It was not only his first triumph in 77 races, dating back to May 2006 when he won at Richmond, but it also kept him first among the Hendrick drivers — Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears — in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.

It was also his first triumph at MIS and first on Father’s Day.

That raised this delicately worded inquiry at the post-race press conference: “I hate to be a jerk and ask the maudlin question, but can you talk a little bit about what it means for you to win on Father’s Day?”

“Oh, man, no. You’re not a jerk,” Junior quickly responded, and he was off to the races. More specifically, he was off to the race, the one that still might be first in his heart.

“It’s special. You know, my daddy, he meant a lot to me,” Junior continued. “There’s a lot of people that I look up to that just happen to be great fathers themselves, role models for their sons. It means a lot to me to do well on Father’s Day. It’s a special day for my family, special for my sister (Kelley). She’s very, very happy at home and in tears on the telephone so it means a lot to her. I know I can’t tell my father happy Father’s Day but I get the opportunity to wish it upon all of the other fathers out there, and I genuinely mean that when I say it.”

Forget all the firsts, for a few extended seconds, Junior wanted to talk about a second place he took at MIS in an IROC race in 1999. It was the first place he almost got, one he feels he should have gotten and to this day regrets he didn’t get.

There was nothing more that Junior wanted to do than impress his father, the late Dale Earnhardt, to show him that he really belonged at the NASCAR Cup level, where he would start full time the following year, and that he wasn’t just the son of a seven-time NASCAR champion. But even more importantly, Junior wanted to beat arguably the best NASCAR racer ever, the father who refused to dote over his son when it came to racing, secretly caring for his boy with the utmost affection, but refusing to show public and very seldom private emotion. Junior often wondered where he stood with his father as a racer.

“That’s one race in 1999, since you bring that up, that doesn’t get much play, but damn it, have y’all ever watched it?” Junior asked. “I swear, I had him. And it burns my butt to this day that Rusty Wallace pushed him by me, because I wanted to beat my daddy so bad. And I had him, and he knew it.

“I’m telling you, it bothers the hell out of me because I sat behind him and he waved and waved telling me to stay there and I’m like, man I’ve got to run my own race here, there’s only 12 of us out here. Can’t you fend for yourself? And I sat there like a good son until the last lap and put a good move on him and he never gave me any credit for that because he knew I had his butt.”

Maybe, but the elder Earnhardt won a terrific side-by-side duel by 0.007 seconds. In NASCAR speak, that’s about two inches. Earnhardt senior would die in an accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

“To me, I was more tired after that race than I had ever been in my life, “ Junior said. “I was physically whipped. I had to go to the infield care center and get some IV after a 50-lap race in IROC because of how hard I had worked. I had worked like 10 men on that last lap. And I’m surprised that didn’t get more play when people talk about me and him and our friendship, our relationship as father and son, because to me, that day ranks right up there with the Winston win.”

That was Junior’s first victory in NASCAR Cup racing. It came at the July race in Daytona in 2001, just about five months following his father’s death.

“It was here, you know, at Michigan,“ Junior passionately continued in regard to his loss to his dad in 1999. “I thought it was a little bit of a phenomena to be honest with you, or some sort of a unique happenstance that that was the two guys coming down to the finish line beating and banging on each other and that doesn’t really get a lot of play. But I look back, I got that, it’s in my bookmarks on YouTube so I can watch it just about any time I want.”

And he wants to, a lot.

By Dave Woolford
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer

BROOKLYN, Mich. - What began as a bruising week for NASCAR, which suspended two officials named in a blockbuster $225 million racial discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former Nationwide Series technical inspector, culminated on a positive note when one of its marquee names, winless for almost two years, finally made it back to Victory Lane.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. won yesterday’s LifeLock 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, ending a drought of 76 points races after he heeded the call of his crew chief and cousin, Tony Eury Jr., to gamble on fuel mileage and stretch his last tank of gas 54 laps.

“I know what it means for our little corner over here,” said Earnhardt, whose previous win came May 6, 2006, at Richmond. “But if it helps NASCAR and makes NASCAR happy and it does something for NASCAR, then great. I’m happy to be a part of that.”

Earnhardt’s fuel conservation provided him with enough horsepower to turn a top-five ride into a winning one after he coasted across the finish line under caution when a late spin by Sam Hornish Jr. on Lap 199 forced the race to go two laps beyond its scheduled 200-lap distance.

“I’ve got to hand it to Tony Jr. for being a risk-taker,” said Earnhardt, who finished ahead of Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth.

“He’s done a good job this year of getting us good finishes, better finishes than we probably should have. Normally, we would not take the risk to trade a top-five for a possible win because, normally, half the time it doesn’t work out, but we did the right thing today.”

With 20 laps to go, Eury saw that Earnhardt was going to be six laps short of the finish. If he pitted, their top-five car would likely end up finishing 25th. If they gambled on gas and stayed out on the track and ran out, it would likely result in 25th.

“It was like a Catch-22 question,” Eury said. “OK, are we rolling the dice? Or do we say, ‘OK, I’m going to take my top-five and get my points and I’ll see you [in next week’s race] in Sonoma [Calif.]’ I think both of us wanted to win pretty bad, and we just said, you know, go for it.”

But when Hornish induced the seventh of eight cautions for 22 laps, “I was pretty sick,” Eury said. “I was like, ‘We’re done.’ I could make 200 [laps], but 202? We’re in trouble.”

At that point, Eury instructed Earnhardt to begin conserving fuel under caution. Earnhardt complied, gassing it, shutting it down, and coasting before cranking up his engine again. But he drew the ire of NASCAR officials and his competitors when he kept passing the pace car.

“I was getting a little greedy,” Earnhardt said. “I wanted to coast farther, so I would gas it harder and coast past the pace car and just let him catch back up, that way I could keep my motor off longer.”
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Kenseth, who felt slighted by a NASCAR decision not to give him the track position he lost when a pit road official accidentally blocked his exit from his stall, said Earnhardt did not maintain a cautious pace. “I didn’t think you could pass a pace car,” he said. “But the leader would stand on the gas and go 10 car lengths of the pace car and shut the motor off.”

Said Earnhardt, “Yeah, I can understand how it might look if, especially, you’re not a Dale Jr. fan. I know exactly what they’re going to say, but the hell with it. My fans are happy and I’m happy for them. The other half are going to tear this apart on how we won this race, but I got the trophy and I got the points and I got to see my team and my car owner [Rick Hendrick] and my family tonight happy as they have been in a long time.”

What made it even more special was that it came on Father’s Day.

“It’s a special day for my family, special for my sister [Kelley],” Earnhardt said. “She was very, very happy at home and in tears on the telephone so it means a lot to her. I’m glad she’s as happy as she could possibly be today under the circumstances. And it makes me feel good. I know I can’t tell my father, ‘Happy Father’s Day,’ but I get the opportunity to wish it upon all of the other fathers out there, and I genuinely mean that when I say it.”

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

By Michael Vega
Globe Staff / June 16, 2008
Globe Newspaper Company

Unlike other big league professional sports, NASCAR’s teams and drivers don’t disclose compensation. The public knows what Peyton Manning, Alex Rodriguez and Kobe Bryant earn, but can only guess and wonder about Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch.

NASCAR does release money won from purses, and it’s a recognized fact that drivers get a healthy percentage, splitting the rest with the team. But how big a cut is open to negotiation and also can be dependant upon where a driver finishes in races and the season standings. It’s safe to assume, for example, that with four wins and $3,245,614 in official Sprint Cup earnings in 13 races this year, Kyle Busch has already cleared more than $1 million in prize money.

Salaries and bonuses are closely guarded secrets by both sides. There are no salary caps or player unions or minimums based upon years in the league in NASCAR, or any other form of racing, and it allows them to keep their business private. They like it that way.

When Jeff Gordon was going through his divorce with first wife several years ago, she sued to force Hendrick Motorsports to open its books and show what Jeff had made. Hendrick and Gordon were able to block the demand in court, but it points to fact that even some husbands don’t tell their wives about their contracts on the circuit.

Owners, drivers, agents, sponsors and manufacturers, who are all part of the contract process, wouldn’t talk about specific drivers and teams, but several sources say compensation at the top of the Sprint Cup food chain has been rising dramatically in the past year and a half.

Here are the parameters of what they’ve told me that drivers anywhere in the top 10, and not necessarily toward the top, are receiving this year: Retainers of $6.5 million to $7 million, $2 million in guaranteed prize money, a $500,000 to $1 million signing bonus and a personal services contract with the manufacturer or sponsor of $400,000 to $500,000. They also make big bucks on merchandising, but it’s difficult to assign a hard number because of the broad range that is based upon a driver’s popularity.

The bottom line: Every driver signing a new contract for 2009 can expect to make $10 million to $12 million over the life of a deal and ink a contract between three and five years in length.

More at Sports Illustrated

It was a rough weekend for many top drivers of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, as half of the top 12 in points were damaged in a monster wreck.

I could go play-by-play on how the wreck took place, but why not just check it out below? One thing I found disturbing is the comment made by my boy Tony Stewart…

As you can see, it was Elliot Sadler who unfortunately went low in turn two only to find himself slamming his rear bumper into David Gilliland. This was the beginning of the end for many top dogs, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne and many others.

Anyone think Tony Stewart was sincere in his blame-taking interview? He states the wreck was his fault, and I agree with the fact that he was part of the reason why many of the people behind him were involved.

After seeing the interview for the second time, I hear the statement of “Anytime I’m within a half a lap of Elliot Sadler, I expect that (wreck) to happen.”

Not exactly sure what that means and if it was a jab at Elliot Sadler, but in the remainder of the interview, he did take the blame, which is honorable.

Overall though, the race in my opinion was pretty damn boring, especially at the end. The race was either dominated by Greg Biffle or, of course, Kyle Busch.

There was only one big wreck, which contributed to why the race was so boring. It took out a lot of the top dogs who would have been fighting for the win.

I think I’m going to create a new rule that
NASCAR should implement: If Kyle Busch makes it to the front with 50 or fewer laps remaining, they should just stop the race and give him the checkered flag.

That will save me beer money and give me the chance to stop screaming at the TV for Tony Stewart not being up front.

I have a feeling this race would have been more exciting at the end if there were a caution. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle were two strong cars, and I think if they would have been closer to Kyle Busch at the end with a restart, there would have been a lot more action.

A big congrats to Kyle Busch, though, on his fourth win for the season, especially after being wrecked by his own teammate in Saturday’s Nationwide race.

I also want to give Greg Biffle a handshake and a pat on the back for his third-place finish on Sunday. The man’s alternator went out, and he was forced to turn off the air conditioner and the oxygen.

www.bleacherreport.com

Montoya may drive for Gibbs next season

■ Chip Ganassi won the Indianapolis 500 Sunday with Scott Dixon, but over in Ganassi’s NASCAR camp things aren’t going quite so well.

In fact, Juan Pablo Montoya appears to be getting fed up with the way that things are going and there is speculation that Toyota men Joe and J. D. Gibbs may be ready to make a run at Montoya“>to fill the NASCAR seat that Tony Stewart is expected to leave at the end of the season. Montoya“was not pleased that Ganassi fired crew chief Jimmy Elledge last week, just two days before Lowe’s Motor Speedway opened for the Coca-Cola 600.

■ One of the more surprising drivers Sunday night was Bobby Labonte, who ran strong, rallied from nearly two laps down, and finished 11th.

Labonte and team owners Richard and Kyle Petty are under the gun to land new sponsorship.

“Track position meant so much all night,” Labonte said. “We had to put tires on the car, and that cost us some spots (at the end). It was tough because we wanted to stay out (and not change tires); but that gives you a false sense of hope.”

That move not to change tires, of course, doomed Tony Stewart.

“You’re never really sure about the tires, so we decided to put new tires on,” Labonte said.

■ Sam Hornish Jr., who won the Indy 500 and then abandoned that series to jump to NASCAR, may finally be catching on to things in this side of the business. He finished 13th in the 600.

Hornish wanted fresh tires every chance he could get them. “The first stop we didn’t take tires, and the car got really, really loose. There were a couple of times they asked if we wanted to do no-tires, and I said ‘There’s no way we’re doing that again, because I about put it in the wall 10 times.’ It was a big handful.

“It took me seven times to finish the Indy 500 on the lead lap or to finish all the miles, and I was able to do this on the first try, and I’m real happy about that.

“We’ve had some pretty good performances the last couple of weeks. We’re heading in the right direction.”

■ Kurt Busch, Hornish’s teammate on the Roger Penske Dodge operation, was Sunday night’s big early surprise, dueling for the lead with kid brother Kyle Busch. But then a right-front tire issue put him in the wall. The Penske camp is apparently the only Dodge team to really be working hard on Dodge’s new NASCAR motor.

Pat Tryson, Kurt Busch’s teammate, was clearly dejected. It’s been a rough season for the team, and here they had a good night going.

“But once the right-side tire let loose, we had to fix a bunch of stuff and just didn’t have the car we needed to get back in the top 10,” Tryson said.

■ The homestretch of the 600 was, as expected, filled with gas-mileage strategy and gambits. And teammates Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. made the most of the situation.

Gordon was badly beaten out on the track all night, but crew chief Steve Letarte gambled on fuel, and Gordon pulled off a surprising fourth.

Earnhardt, on the other hand, was a strong runner until he slapped the wall midway and had to rally. He never really got back in contention, but crew chief Tony Eury Jr. also gambled on gas mileage, and Earnhardt brought home an unexpected fifth.

“We just saved gas at the end,” Earnhardt said. “We topped off with about 62 laps to go. So I was about two laps short, and needed to save two laps (worth of gas).

“So me and Jeff just drafted a little bit and lifted real early in the corners.”

So Earnhardt salvaged what looked like a disastrous evening: “We tore the car up pretty bad when we blew the tire going into three. I thought we were done.

“Then I got motivated again. The car wasn’t as fast, so we were just trying to hang on.

“I was so upset with the car the first of the race, so upset. But we got better. I was behind Jeff (midway) and I wasn’t trying to lap him; didn’t want to lap my teammate. I had been into that corner 250 times before that, but I rolled in there and it went straight in the wall.

“The right-rear tire was blown out after I hit. I’m assuming it went flat getting in the corner. But it went straight in the corner like when a right-front goes flat. Odd.”

■ Jimmie Johnson’s season of woe continues. He was looking fairly impressive early on in the 600, though not dominant. Then his engine soured.

“About three or four laps before I came to pit road, it dropped a cylinder, and it was just a matter of time before it went,” Johnson said.

“I hate to lose points. But I’m very pleased how comfortable the car was all night. We’ve made some big gains.”

COMPILED BY MIKE MULHERN - (journalnow.com)
Published: May 27, 2008