Kyle Busch now has 7 wins and has won the last 4 races. He is on track to break Richard Petty and Jeff Gordon’s NASCAR single season win record in the Modern Era (1972-Present). This record is 13 wins, Gordon and Petty both have accomplished this feat.

Can Kyle Busch break this record? With 17 races left this season, and his current win streak and average finishing position, it seem like just a matter of time.

With Kyle Busch’s current winning streak and the fact that he has been at the top of the Nascar Sprint Cup points for several weeks now, his NASCAR diecast collectibles are on fire.

The newly announced Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Daytona Win Coke Zero 400 raced version 1/24 scale Action diecast car preorders are racking up like a slot machine jackpot. (pictured)

Also, his standard paint scheme (M&M’s) is extremely close to being sold out and anywhere you can find them the price is starting to soar.

This is one of the most dramatic changes in sales I have seen in my 10+ years in the nascar diecast industry. Last year, Kyle Busch’s cars were barely selling. Now he is one of our top sellers and I see no reason for this to change in the near future.

Will Kyle Busch become this years Champion? I would love to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. pull a championship out of his hat, but I think the cards are definitely in Kyle Busch’s favor.

by Brock Clever, Copperstateracing.com

A year ago, Jeff Gordon “won” the NASCAR Sprint Cup regular season, finishing the first 26 races an eye-popping 312 points ahead of runner-up Tony Stewart.

Gordon’s reward for his fast start? He saw his big margin disappear and found himself second at the start of the 10-race Chase for the championship, 20 points behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.

For the stock car postseason, the 12 eligible drivers are each boosted to 5,000 points, then seeded by victories, with 10 points for each win. In 2007, all the Chase drivers except Clint Bowyer had at least one win.

Johnson, who went on to win the title for the second straight year, got the points lead for his six victories to Gordon’s four entering the Chase.

If Kyle Busch, who leads the standings by 103 points over Jeff Burton heading to New Hampshire this week, stays out front, he’s not likely to meet Gordon’s fate. The new Joe Gibbs Racing driver already has five victories and only fourth-place Carl Edwards, with three, is close.

At the moment, the only other multiple race winner is ninth-place Kasey Kahne with two. Among the top 12, Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Bowyer each have one win, while Gordon, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth have none.

“It would be nice to have some wins in our pocket at this point, but the main thing is to be in the Chase,” said sixth-place Gordon.

And that is definitely the first order of business.

With 10 weeks of regular-season racing left, there are still plenty of question marks. Just 79 points separate Bowyer in 10th place and rookie David Ragan in 14th.

“I’m not super comfortable with where we are at in the points,” said Kahne, just 34 points in front of Bowyer. “We definitely need to keep staying after it and keep gaining points and doing everything we can to stay in the top 12.

“We definitely have a lot of work to get in (the Chase) and there are a lot of good cars still on the outside and right behind us. (But) there are a lot of good tracks coming up for us. We’ve been fast at a lot of the upcoming tracks.”

Even Burton, who has been at or near the front of the points from the start of the season, isn’t taking anything for granted.

“Obviously, as the races get closer to two or three to go before the last 10, we’ve got a tremendous amount of emphasis put on it,” the four-time New Hampshire winner said. “However, we can’t forget that they pay the same amount of points for the third race of the year as they do for the 25th race of the year.

“So all the work that we’ve done up to this point is what matters, and every race by itself matters a great deal. The emphasis will be put on these closing races. At the end of the day, it’s an accumulation of all the points you gained in the first 26, so it really doesn’t make that race any more important than any other.”

—

MOVING UP: While everyone has been watching Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne streak to wins lately, it’s Matt Kenseth who has been making the biggest inroads in the standings.

Coming back from a slow start, the 2003 Cup champion has surged from 22nd in the points to 12th in the past six races, scoring more points (934) than any other driver in the series during that period.

“I don’t know if it’s ever too early to look at it,” Kenseth said of the standings. “You always look at it on the way home, especially if you’re moving up, to see where you’re at and see what happened. But, the bottom line is really you do the best you can every week, and try to finish as high as you can and try to lead laps and do all that and the points take care of themselves.

“The higher you finish, the more points you get. So, really, it’s not a strategy, when you race hard and try to be smart and do the right things and, hopefully, get some good finishes and get back in it.”

Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are the only drivers who have qualified for the Chase every year since it began in 2004.

—

GOOD CHEMISTRY: Coming off his first road course victory last Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., series leader Kyle Busch is about as confident of his Joe Gibbs Racing team as a driver can get.

“It doesn’t surprise me that we’ve jelled this quickly, but it does surprise me that we already have five wins,” said Busch, who was dropped by Hendrick Motorsports last year to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr., and quickly found his way to the No. 18 Gibbs Toyota.

“When you switch teams and come to a new organization, and working with a new crew chief, it can be challenging,” the 23-year-old driver said. “When (crew chief) Steve (Addington) and I first started working together, I was really descriptive about telling him what the car was doing. I was telling him what the right-front was doing and all, getting into a lot of detail. Now, I’ve toned back and just tell him it’s tight and he fixes it.

“He gets what I mean, so we’ve come a long way as far as chemistry. I’ve come a long way with everyone at JGR, for that matter. Also, Toyota and JGR have come a long way together this year with their engines and development and our cars. It’s not just one factor that has made us successful. It’s just a combination of all the hard work from the guys at the shop and all the guys on the (No.) 18 Interstate Batteries team at the race track each weekend.”

But Busch said there is still room for improvement.

“I’ve learned in this sport that if you become complacent, it just gives everyone else an opportunity to catch back up with you,” he explained. “There’s room for a football player to get better. (New England’s) Tom Brady could still get better, even though he’s certainly seems to be at the top of his game. There are so many things you can learn each race, each game, each week that can help you later in the season and even later on in your career.

“I’m still learning those things every time I set foot at the race track. For me, it’s been all about taking what I learn each week and putting it to good use. It’s part of what has made us successful as a team this year.”

—

STAT OF THE WEEK: Two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart is 11th in the points and without a victory in the first 16 races this season. But the notoriously slow starter may be about ready to make his move.

In four of the last five seasons, it took Stewart at last 14 races for his first victory, and it is the next 10 tracks, starting with New Hampshire, where Stewart generally has had the most success. His combined career numbers at the upcoming tracks include 18 of his 32 career victories, 59 top-fives, 91 top-10s and an average finish of 13.2.

By Mike Harris, AP Auto Racing Writer

Jeff Gordon continues to seek his first win of 2008, but no one will be holding a tag sale any time soon for the four-time Cup champion.

Even though he remains winless in the first 16 races, Gordon’s third-place finish Sunday at Sonoma, Calif., helped him jump three spots in the Sprint Cup standings.

He comes into Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ranked sixth.

With 10 races remaining, Gordon still is not a lock to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup 10-race playoff, but his odds have certainly improved, even if he still hasn’t won a race.

But until, if or when that happens, Gordon is still having a good year, no matter what the cynics keep saying.

Q. You’re so competitive that anything less than a win can be considered disappointing. Still, wasn’t finishing third a good day in the big picture of moving closer to qualifying for the Chase?

A. “Well, I’m disappointed the way we started the race. I really thought (Saturday that) we were going to be good on the long runs and instead, we were not. So I feel very fortunate that we finished third. Things really went our way to get that third. You know, when we’ve won out here in the past, we didn’t need things to go our way; we were good enough to make up for some of that. (Sunday) we weren’t.”

Q. What do you think about your former teammate, Kyle Busch, winning his first career road course race?

A. “I’m really impressed with Kyle, because I’ve been around him and I don’t think he’s a very good road racer. You know, obviously he’s maturing and he’s learning, and that’s what it’s going to take for him to maintain that points lead and be a factor and continue to win these races. If he can win (at Sonoma), it’s going to boost his confidence; he’s going to think he can win anywhere.  He might be able to.”

Q. You say this season has been disappointing, the same thing many of your cynical critics are saying, yet you’re up to sixth in the standings. How can you be disappointed, being that high in the rankings?

A. “As a team, we’re performing unbelievable. But it is very frustrating that the cars were so good last year, and this year, we’re just not where we need to be. I know that Hendrick Motorsports has the resources and I still feel like I have what it takes, and I know my team does. It’s been frustrating at times because when you don’t have the cars running the way you want them to, everybody starts to lose their confidence.  The team does, you do, and it only takes a few little things to click, and all of a sudden, you’re right back there and that’s what we constantly have to remind ourselves. We are very happy to be where we are in the points, feel pretty blessed to be honest with you, to be where we are in the points because I can’t necessarily say that it’s been from being awesome fast.”

By Jerry Bonkowski
GateHouse News Service

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
SONOMA, Calif. — For David Gilliland, it always has seemed simple at Infineon Raceway, a tricky 1.99-mile road-course that gives other Sprint Cup series drivers serious fits.

Gilliland made his first Sprint Cup start at the track in June of 2006, but it wasn’t the first time he had raced at the venue. He had raced there while on the NASCAR Camping World West circuit and also in the NASCAR Southwest series, winning two events.

So it came as no surprise — at least to Gilliland — that he registered a Cup career-best second-place finish in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon. He said he owes much of his Infineon success to his father, Butch, formerly a formidable driver in his own right in what is now known as the Camping World West series.

“My dad has won here four times, and the first time I ever road raced I came here,” said Gilliland, who served as his father’s crew chief when Butch won the Camping World West series championship in 1997. “I had never road raced or nothing, and I qualified fourth. We broke a transmission then, but I just always came here with the attitude that if my dad could do it, I guess I can do it.

“I’ve never really taken any lessons on road racing. I’m just kind of at home here. It’s been good. It’s been a great racetrack for us.”

The only one better Sunday was race winner Kyle Busch, who said he once drove for the Gilliland family in a lower series when he was starting out as a driver.

“We’ve been friends kind of through the years,” said Busch, who recalled getting moved out of the way for a spot by Gilliland on the last lap of one of those early races.

It was ironic, then, that Busch felt all along that Gilliland wouldn’t attempt to do the same in the final laps Sunday — even though he said he knew how badly Gilliland hungers for his first Sprint Cup victory.

“To be racing with him at the end of the race was neat. I knew he would race me clean,” said Busch, who won his series-high fifth Cup race of the season. “I’ve got to thank him for doing that and also congratulate him on a great finish of his own.”

Jeff Gordon, who finished third right behind Gilliland, also said he was impressed with the way Gilliland smoothly negotiated his No. 38 Ford around the 12-turn Infineon beast.

“I wasn’t around him enough to know what he did most of the race, but there at the end he was definitely impressive,” Gordon said. “He was good on the restarts. He would get in there, and I thought he was going to have something for Kyle there at the end. I think actually if all the speedy-dry hadn’t been on the racetrack, he might have.

“Kyle did a great job. It shows all the talent he’s got and what a great team effort it was. But David really impressed me. I was happy for him; I like David a lot.”

The speedy-dry was on the track after a 12-minute delay when the race was red-flagged, following a late-race accident that removed three key players from contention and benefited Gilliland perhaps most of all.

It occurred in Turn 4 when Kevin Harvick drove his No. 29 Chevrolet in too deep, locked up the brakes, and got into the back of the No. 26 Ford of Jamie McMurray, who then hit the No. 20 Toyota being driven by Tony Stewart. All three cars had been running in the top five when Harvick, running fifth, attempted to pass Gilliland, who was running fourth, and set off the melee (watch video).

Much to the pleasure of Busch as well as Gilliland, the No. 38 Ford drove right through it all and into second place, where Gilliland remained the rest of the race.

“Everybody makes mistakes sometimes, but when Harvick comes up to me and runs his mouth like he did at Michigan [after an incident in a Craftsman Series truck race last weekend] and says all the stuff he did, he kind of stuck it right back in his mouth here this weekend. That was good to see,” Busch said.

Gilliland was just happy to survive the incident and come home with the best finish of his season and his Cup career.

“It looked like Harvick got in there and wheel-hopped a little bit. It was not on purpose. It was just one of those deals,” Gilliland said. “Turns 7 and 11 are dangerous, just for that deal. You try to get in as hard as you can, and if you wheel-hop the back tires at all, it’s trouble.

“It was close. It was right there in front of me, but we were able to get past it.”

Avoiding that kind of trouble was key to Gilliland’s strong day, as he ran in the top seven most of the sunny afternoon.

“We never got off the track, we never missed a beat, and our brakes were perfect,” Gilliland said. “That’s what it takes to do well on a road course: no mistakes.”

Gilliland said he hopes to build on it and help his employer, Yates Racing, and a full-time sponsor. The organization has been in search of one all season long.

“To come here and have a good day, we’re in a sponsor search right now for a full-time deal, so hopefully this will help. We’re just excited about it,” Gilliland said. “We had a terrible run last weekend [finishing 27th at Michigan]. This should help us build some momentum. We’re going to use this; we’re going to build this up.

“We ran strong all day long. We ran in the top six or seven 90 percent of the day, and I’m really proud of that. I’m just really proud, most of all, of Yates Racing and where we’ve come as a team — [fellow Yates driver] Travis Kvapil and I both — in the six months from where we ended the year last year. Yates Racing is definitely coming back, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.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

Nancy Gay, Chronicle Staff Writer - San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, June 20, 2008

Kasey Kahne captured his second pole in his last three NASCAR Sprint Cup races - and his first road course pole - on Friday with a smooth, conservative dance through Infineon’s Raceway’s twisting and blazing hot course.

He’ll be in top position for Sunday’s 110-lap Toyota/Save Mart 350 race, which continues to bedevil many of NASCAR’s top drivers who experience difficulty negotiating the rare right-hand turns of the first of only two road-course events on the calendar.

Kahne’s No. 9 Budweiser Dodge posted a top lap speed of 92.152 mph, putting him just ahead of Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet (92.04 mph.)

“I tried to make a conservative lap and change where I could, and stay consistent,” said Kahne, who won his 16th pole in 160 career NASCAR Sprint Cup races.

And the day ended well for Kurt Busch, who posted the third fastest lap (92.005 mph.) He’ll start on the second row next to Bobby Labonte.

“I was a bit surprised. We made five or six changes to get the car good enough,” said Busch, whose No. 3 starting position gives him six starts in the top six in his last seven races at Infineon. “Sometimes it’s sliding around and you can feel it.”

The twisting Sonoma course wasn’t very kind to Kurt’s younger brother, current NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kyle, who had to repeat his qualifying run because of an inspection error and finished 30th in the 43-car field.

A piece of yellow tape used to mask one of the car’s cowls during pre-race inspection wasn’t removed prior to Kyle Busch’s first attempt. That small bit of tape, NASCAR officials concluded, would be enough to impede either the aerodynamics or the ventilation of his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota.

But Busch’s second try - which came in the midst of the 12-driver group that was forced to qualify to make Sunday’s field - was equally disappointing. Kyle Busch, who has a 32-point lead over Jeff Burton, will start on Row 15 next to Paul Menard.

Another annual impediment for drivers is the often-oppressive heat in Sonoma, which bothered some more than others on Friday. Triple-digit temperatures gave way to a qualifying session during which the air temperature hovered between 95-99 degrees.

Some complained of a slippery track surface while others found it to be surprisingly sticky despite the cloudless sky and relentless sun.

“It’s just real slick and I didn’t ease up enough there. It’s real slick. Tough,” said Carl Edwards, who nonetheless managed to qualify 12th, putting him on the sixth row and in solid position to challenge for victory.

Starting position at Sonoma, as well as Watkins Glen, N.Y. on Aug. 10, is critical because of the road course configurations.

“The track’s got a ton of grip right now, believe it or not,” said Greg Biffle, who qualified 10th overall and will start on the fifth row alongside Ryan Newman.

Five-time Sonoma winner Jeff Gordon once again showcased his mastery on the 10-turn, 1.99-mile track yet again, piloting the No. 24 car to a fifth-place qualifying spot. He’ll start on Row 3 next to Elliot Sadler, whose sixth spot is his best in 10 races at Sonoma.

Gordon, who is seeking his first win of 2008, had four Sprint Cup victories last season.

Tony Stewart, a two-time Infineon Raceway winner, will have a difficult time Sunday after qualifying 39th.

While defending Toyota/Save Mart 350 champion Juan Pablo Montoya prevailed in ‘07 despite starting 32nd - Montoya qualified 21st on Friday - Stewart was clearly disappointed to be in the back of the pack.

“We just got to get the car driving as good as we can,” he said.
NASCAR at Infineon

What: 110-lap, 350-kilometer (218.9 miles) road race

Where: Infineon Raceway, Highways 37 and 121, Sonoma County

When: Qualifying 4 p.m. today (Speed), race 2 p.m. Sunday (TNT)

Info: infineonraceway.com

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

In the dominance of Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards this season, there have been at least two top drivers that have not been to victory lane yet this season. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart have done well in the past at the road course race track, winning 7 of the last 10 races, combined. In addition to Jeff Gordon & Tony Stewart, here are some of the other drivers that are looking for a win that would do great at Infineon:

Robby Gordon (#7): Two of the three races that he has won were at the road courses of Watkin’s Glen and Infineon, both in 2003 and he hasn’t won since he won both races in 2003.

Sam Hornish Jr. (#77): Though he is now in NASCAR, Hornish is no stranger to the road course. He has raced there in Indy cars.

Boris Said (#60): Said has been so close a few times of winning a race. He won a pole at Infineon in 2003 and Daytona in 2006. He is also a racing pro and does well in any car that he races in.

Ron Fellows (#01): Fellows have been racing at the road courses in the NASCAR top series since 1995. He did win three Nationwide Series races at Watkin’s Glen, the last one being 2001. He races in the Le Mans Series.

Patrick Carpentier (#10): Like Hornish, Carpentier has also raced in the Indy Cars at Infineon and is no stranger to the track. He made his NASCAR debut in 2007 at Watkin’s Glen.

Scott Pruett (#41): He is filling in for the #41 car this week. He was full time in NASCAR in 2000. He got spun trying to win at the Mexican road course in the 2007 Nationwide Series race and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya ended up winning the race.

Marcos Ambrose (#21): Trying to attempt to make his first start in the Sprint Cup. He is a road course pro. He was spun at Montréal in 2007 by Robby Gordon in the Nationwide Series race and finished 7th. Robby Gordon got penalized and was not able to race in the race at Pocono the next day. The next week, Robby Gordon let Ambrose race in his race car.

Dario Franchitti (#40): Like Hornish and Carpentier before, Franchitti is also not a stranger to this track, as he too raced at this track in the Indy cars.

Brian Vickers (#83): Vickers have done well with Red Bull Racing this season. He even improved in the standings into the Top 20. He has finished well this season.

A.J. Allmendinger (#84): Allmendinger has also done well, since taking the car back from Mike Skinner at Talladega. He is a former Champ Cup driver.

Juan Pablo Motoya (#42): Montoya is looking for his first win of the season and to win at Infineon for the second year in a row.

by Mike DiMauro

Jeff Gordon expects to be able to bounce back from a few difficult weeks to contend for victory once again on Sunday at the first road course race of the season at Infineon Raceway.

The four-time Sprint Cup champion has the best record among active drivers at the track, with five wins, three of them from pole position.

Gordon says that even after struggling to be a contender for victory recently, he believes the Sonoma track will provide him his first chance of winning a race this season, although he doesn’t expect that to translate in a sudden upturn in his form at other tracks.

“I do feel like Sonoma is a track that we can be competitive at,” Gordon said. “It seems like typically in the past, Sonoma is one of those tracks where no matter what kind of season we’re having, we can go out there and be competitive enough to win the race.

“Doesn’t guarantee you are going to win the race, but at least you’re going to be competitive. And I feel confident that we are going to be competitive this time as well.

“But that didn’t change what’s happening at the mile-and-a-half tracks that we are struggling with. That doesn’t turn that around. It just gives us an opportunity to hopefully pull off a great finish.”

The Hendrick driver believes that, despite having a new car to deal with at Sonoma since last year, they are able to rely on information from the past to be competitive, as he believes he and Tony Stewart proved last year.

“I think not as many things have changed for the road course with this new car as they have for the other tracks,” Gordon added. “So, I think that we are able to apply a lot of what we have had in the past to the new car and still be pretty close.

“I will say that I felt like Tony Stewart was the best car on the road course this last year, and I felt like we were the second best. Even though Juan Pablo Montoya won the Sonoma race, I felt like Tony and myself were the best cars as far as speed.

“So just you’ve got to hit the strategy right and you’ve got to make sure you maintain that speed, and you always have to improve them.”

Gordon holds a number of records at Infineon Raceway, including the qualifying track record, the most laps led, the most races led, plus being the youngest winner and the youngest pole-sitter at the venue.

By Diego Mejia

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

DOVER, Del. – When Joe Gibbs hung out his shingle as a NASCAR team owner nearly 17 years ago, Joey Logano was just learning to walk.

Now, having turned 18 just last weekend, Logano could very well become a big part of the future of Joe Gibbs Racing.

After several years of hype blowing up his potential as a driver, Logano makes his much-anticipated NASCAR debut Saturday in a Nationwide Series race.

While his name may be new to the masses, Logano has been in the racing world’s consciousness ever since Mark Martin said three years ago that the kid could compete in the Cup series right there and then. Logano was 15.

Martin doesn’t throw around that kind of praise easily, which is one reason why Saturday’s Heluva Good! 200 – yes, that’s what it’s called – at Dover International Speedway is drawing as much attention as Sunday’s main event, the Sprint Cup Series’ Best Buy 400.

For Logano, this weekend is his version of “American Idol,” where he finally gets to show off his talent to the world.

“Thank God, finally,” said Logano, who had to wait until now to compete because NASCAR’s rules stipulate a driver must be 18 to race. “It seems like I’ve been waiting for 18 years.

“I’ve done a ton of testing and a ton of races growing up. I feel like I’m ready to go out there and win some races. At Dover, we’re shooting for a top-five right off the bat. I’m confident in my abilities I can do it.”

And he should be. Logano, a native of Connecticut, has won everywhere he’s competed. He beat Cup star Kevin Harvick at a race in Iowa last year, claimed the Busch East Series championship as a rookie and won the Toyota All-Star Showdown, a race that featured a host of talented champions from across a number of racing series.

Earlier this month, he dominated the Carolina 500, an ARCA Series race that featured savvy Cup veteran Ken Schrader.

So far, Logano has lived up to the hype, which begs the question: How long before the kid is racing in the Sprint Cup Series?

All along, Joe Gibbs and his son J.D., who serves as team president for JGR, have been emphatic in saying they don’t want to put too much pressure on Logano. According to J.D. Gibbs, the plan is to acclimate him to the big time by running him in 18 to 19 Nationwide races this season, as well as several ARCA races.

But when it comes to what’s next, the Gibbses are hush hush.

J.D. Gibbs said last week that Logano, who has a three-year contract, will be brought along slowly, that there will be no pressure on him to perform or have to move up to the Cup level within a certain time frame.

“The Cup thing, we’re in no hurry; we’re just going to watch and wait,” J.D. Gibbs said. “Eventually he’s going to have a spot in this sport for many years to come in the Cup series. We’re not going to rush him to get there. I think we’re just going to let him enjoy what he’s doing now and kind of grow. I think when the time is right, we’ll all be ready to go.”

Circumstances may dictate otherwise, and the ultimate decider may not be either Gibbs, but rather Tony Stewart.

Stewart, the No. 1 driver in the Gibbs stable, has already acknowledged that’s he’s looking at other opportunities, including possible ownership of his own team as early as next season. If Stewart were to bolt, that would leave JGR with an open seat, and where would they turn?

As much as Joe and J.D. Gibbs will say they want to bring Logano along slowly, the fact is the path they’ve carved for him is no lazy country road, but rather a four-lane highway.

While waiting to reach NASCAR’s eligibility age, Logano spent the time logging lap after lap, not just in a Nationwide car, but in a Sprint Cup car, too. In all, Logano said he’s done 35 tests in a Cup car, logging over 4,100 miles.

And once Logano turned 18, it took JGR just seven days to get him into a Nationwide race.

Does this sound like an organization that’s in a hurry?

“I think we all feel the same way that we want to get him in everything we can as fast as we can, but at the same time we want to make sure that we don’t put undo pressure on Joey,” Joe Gibbs said.

For 18, Logano is extremely mature and handles himself like a pro, which probably has something to do with the fact that the media has treated him like one for years. On the flip side, his family has kept him grounded with their own awe-shucks attitude toward the hype.

Still, there’s always the fear that the hype, pressure and expectations will be too much, or that he’s just not as insanely good as advertised.

Several years ago, then new team owner Ray Evernham touted Casey Atwood as the next Jeff Gordon. Atwood was rushed onto the Cup scene at 20. Less than two years later, Atwood was gone from Evernham’s team. Today, at 27, he’s completely out of NASCAR racing.

Logano is in a similar situation, but with one key difference. While Evernham Motorsports was just getting off the ground, JGR is an established organization with three championships and a bunch of wins under its belt.

In Saturday’s Nationwide race, Logano will be driving a car that is not only proven, but has dominated the competition this season, winning six of 13 races. While it’s certainly beneficial to be with a proven winner, this will only add to the already astronomical expectations that surround Logano.