Santerre said to reporters, “Needless to say we are shocked and disappointed. We are being made an example … We admit there was a rules infraction, but it was a shock to us with as much as it was unintentional and unknown prior to post-race inspection.”

The team is obviously disappointed that they have been penalized with the loss of their race win on top of whatever other penalties NASCAR decides to hand to them, but to make matters worse, they deemed the car with a  30th place finish. The win was then awarded to Sellers’ teammate and original second-place finisher, Austin Dillon – grandson to Sprint Cup Series car owner, Richard Childress.

In Other News:
- Due to the Nationwide Series’ race in Talladega and the Craftsman Truck Series race in Kansas both being held on Saturday, Kyle Busch has conceded running the truck race this weekend. The series’ points leader will be replaced in the no. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports truck by Shane Sieg. Shane has made 29 career starts in the truck series and has posted two top-ten finishes. One of those top-ten’s actually came behind the wheel of a Billy Ballew Motorsports truck last year at Loudon.

- Haas CNC Racing’s recent release of Jeremy Mayfield has left them scrambling for drivers week-to-week to fill the seat behind the wheel of their no. 70 Chevy Impala. The first week after firing Mayfield, they put Johnny Sauter in the car at Phoenix en route to a 37th place finish, and this weekend they’ll be hoping for better results with Ken Schrader at the helm. The team has recently locked on another driver for at least two of the season’s events with Max Papis scheduled to drive the car at both of the road course races in Watkins Glen and Infineon.

Post from: EveryJoe

NASCAR Taketh Away

Additionally, Busch currently holds a 35 point lead in the Craftsman Truck Series, with two wins and 3 top-five finishes in the four races that series as run to-date. Still, he has insisted that his intent in that series to run the 14 races that they’ve scheduled him for at Billy Ballew Motorsports, and he will not be going after that series title.

So, the immediate question that comes to mind is, why? Simple. Busch is currently second in the Sprint Cup points race, and by far off to his best start ever in that series, as he forges forward in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing. He insists that winning the Cup Series championship for JGR remains his priority, and many feel that running a full schedule in either of the other series could pose as a distraction to attaining that goal.

Again, Busch hasn’t decided indefinitely against running the full Nationwide schedule, but if he were somehow able to win the championships in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series’, it would mark the first time that any driver had ever won both titles in the same season. The two guys ahead of him in the Nationwide standings – Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards – are both also currently inside the Chase field, and both drivers appear to be in pursuit of achieving that historic mark.

In Other News:
- Sprint Cup Series veteran driver and former champion, Bobby LaBonte, was recently asked if he thought that NASCAR should sanction races across American borders. Though the Sprint Cup Series itself hasn’t raced abroad since they held an exhibition event in Japan back in 1998, the Nationwide Series currently holds events in both Mexico City and Montreal. LaBonte said that for the teams to travel that far is very tough on them logistically, and that for NASC AR, all the pieces have to fit just right. He then went onto add that their ventures across North American borders, however, has been great for the sport in that it has added fans and gotten NASCAR some additional attention.

- Last week I told you that professional tennis star, Andy Roddick, had some rather ill-intentioned words regarding NASCAR and that he didn’t understand why the sport had such high ratings. You will be relieved to learn, however, that this sentiment does not appear to be shared across the board by all professional non-racing athletes. It’s been reported that after soccer star David Beckham and wife, Victoria, recently left “the Pink Taco” in Los Angeles, his two children – Brooklyn and Romeo – were in possession of a Tony Stewart diecast. We’re going to take this as a sign of the Beckhams’ love for racing!

Post from: EveryJoe

Busch Still Not Sure About Pursuit of Nationwide Title

After leading the previous 18 laps heading into lap 76, Todd Bodine – winner of the Craftsman Truck Series’ season debut in Daytona – lost the lead to the 22-year old Kyle Busch, who coincidentally headed into this weekend’s race at California Speedway in a three-way tie for first place after Bodine was docked 25 points by NASCAR for a rule infraction at Daytona. Busch closed out the remaining 11 laps of the race at the helm and was able to bring his no. 51 Billy Ballew MotorsportsToyota to victory lane to give Toyota its second win in the series to kick off their 2008 campaign.

Johnny Benson – the other party involved in that three-way tie for first coming into Cali – finished the race in third. Terry Cook and Ron Hornaday rounded out the top five in the San Bernardino Co. 200. Thanks to the efforts of Ted Musgrave, Mike Skinner, and Philip McGilton, Toyota proudly managed to land four drivers in the event’s top-five and seven inside the top-ten. Meanwhile, after a disastrous day in Daytona last week, Kevin Harvick Inc. could at least crack half a smile this weekend thanks to a top-five finish from Hornaday, but his teammate Jack Sprague showed off another disappointing finish by running in 22nd.

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

 Craftsman Truck Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Craftsman Truck Series Results / Standings: California