On Tuesday, Scott Speed and Paul Menard made headlines after being announced as drivers on two Sprint Cup cars. Speed was rumored to take over for A.J. Allmendinger in the No. 84 Red Bull car and Tuesday it was finalized. Menard moves from DEI to Yates Racing and will bring over his Menards sponsorship.

Menard was one of two drivers at DEI that had a full sponsor, but he will be taking that with him to Yates. Now, only Martin Truex, Jr. is left at DEI with a full sponsor. Menard has gone 68 career races with reaching the winner’s circle and posted only one top 10 finish in his career at DEI. Menard’s first race for Yates will be in 2009.

Speed will be joining the NASCAR Sprint Cup series after running in the Craftsman Truck Series. Speed will begin running the No. 84 car on Oct. 19 at Martinsville. Speed was able to run a test on the Red Bull car at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last week. However, Mike Skinner will run the next two races in the No. 84 car, including at Lowe’s Speedway, before Speed takes the wheel.

I’d like to welcome Bruce Simmons back to the forum this week as he is now officially back from his trip. Bruce, it’s good to have ya back. I’d also like to thank Roc for stepping up to the plate for us last week in his absence and keeping this alive. And, of course, with us as always is Charlie Turner from On Pit Row. Now, let’s get started.

At the end of April, future NFL Hall of Famer, Randy Moss, announced that he was looking to break into NASCAR as a team owner, more specifically in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2009. With Moss’ announcement immediately came speculation that he would get his team into a few races prior to the end of this season, and rumors began to fly surrounding the team’s manufacturer, sponsor, and affiliates. Many even believed that Moss would land one of the bigger stars from the Sprint Cup Series to debut his truck.

The rumors were finally laid to rest two months later when Moss announced that he had bought into Morgan-Dollar Motorsports as a part-owner, and that the team would be renamed Moss Motorsports. They renumbered the truck #81 in favor of Moss’ jersey number, and the new team debuted at Kentucky Speedway in July with Willie Allen behind the wheel, finishing 15th.

Things continue to evolve for the race team, however, as they have recently announced an agreement that will put two-time Sprint Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson, behind the wheel of the no. 81 truck at Bristol on August 20th. Johnson has never in his career competed in a Craftsman Truck race, and some feel that it may be the result of the partnership between Lowe’s - Johnson’s Sprint Cup sponsor - and Kobalt Tools, which will sponsor the #81 entry in the truck race.

Q: Is Randy Moss’ recent 50% purchase of what is now Moss Motorsports good for the sport?

TZ: I know there’s a lot of fans out there that probably only see this deal go down on the surface and immediately think to themselves, ‘oh, that’s crap’. Let me tell you, I don’t care if he’s white, black, or yellow, Randy Moss is a smart businessman, and he’s grown up an avid fan of racing. I also like the non-NASCAR star power that he brings to our sport, and it’s already taking its effect by putting Jimmie Johnson in a Craftsman Truck race for the first time in his career next month at Bristol. In my book, kudos to Randy Moss for venturing down this path.

Bruce:  I think it will bring a different demographic to the sport to some degree as Randy Moss fans might just tune in to see what this is about.  Right?  Maybe?  We can hope.  New fans are always a good thing, regardless of how many or few.

Charlie:  It is a step forward in NASCAR’s drive for diversity. But Randy Moss is an OWNER. He isn’t going to bring any star power to the sport beyond this initial slash of publicity as his new venture is announced. Do you doubt this. If so, name for me  - quick - three other Craftsman Truck team owners. If you can do it, look at the names and then quantify how many fans those owners bring to the races. Did Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman bring a bunch of Cowboys football fans to NASCAR? If Moss can hang in  for more than three years and build his team into something more than it is today, then he will have accomplished something significant.

Want more? The “Loose in Turn 3″ trio answers three questions each and every week, so be sure to check out the other sites to get the rest of our weekly discussion.

Over at On Pit Row, we answer “Should Tony Stewart look for the hot, young prospect, maybe someone from the open wheel ranks, instead of a current, high dollar star like Ryan Newman for his second car at Stewart-Haas?”

And, we conclude our talks over at Bruce’s Bits ‘n’ Pieces, where the question was posed, “With Tony Stewart acting out over in USAC, what’s that about? I thought he had gotten a grip on his outbursts? Do you think the stress of starting up a new team might be getting to him?”

NASCAR veteran, Johnny Benson, held off Ron Hornaday in a two-lap shootout for the checkers to win the Power Stroke Diesel 200 on Friday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park. Hornaday took the lead from polesitter Bobby East back on lap 5 and went onto lead a race high 153 laps before surrendering the lead to the charging Benson on lap 162.

There were a record-tying 11 cautions during the event, the last of which came on lap 195 when Benson’s Bill Davis Racing teammate, Michael Annett, spun while trying to race Rick Crawford for position inside the top-five. The accident setup a restart on lap 198 of the 200 lap race, with Hornaday still running in second. Hornaday attempted a final charge, but he slipped high up on the track, and Benson pulled away for the victory. Hornaday went onto finish 2nd, followed by Erik Darnell, Matt Crafton, and Shelby Howard completing the top-five.

Other Notables:
Kyle Busch finished 8th in the race after stirring up a bit of controversy earlier in the evening, sending Chad McCumbee into the wall back on lap 136 as the two raced for position. Mike Skinner rounded out the top-ten in 10th place. Rick Crawford finished 12th. Hornaday’s Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate, Jack Sprague, was 17th.

Johnny Benson’s victory now opens up a 15 point lead over Hornaday in the points standings. Hornaday jumped past Matt Crafton to take the 2nd spot in the standings as Crafton drops down to 3rd. There were no other changes through the top-six in points. For Benson, the win gave him his second in a row, and his third in the past four weeks.

Complete Power Stroke 200 Results

Craftsman Truck Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Before I get into this week’s topic, I would like to point out that Bruce Simmons, who normally joins us here in our weekly “Loose in Turn 3″ segment representing Bruce’s NASCAR Bits ‘n’ Pieces, will to be joining us this week as he is off in San Diego on a separate venture at the moment. He will be returning with us next week, but in his place today is our guest blogger, one of DYN’s very own loyal readers, Rocky Akins. I’d like to give a special thanks to Roc for filling the gaps for us this week, and as a bonus, he even brought in this week’s topic of discussion for us.

Now, onto business. Earlier this week NASCAR announced that they would be implimenting new rules in the Nationwide Series that would restrict the horsepower that the engines can produce by limiting the airflow. The amendment they put in place states, verbatem:

“At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes. Unless otherwise authorized, the carburetor restrictor will be issued by NASCAR.”

The change comes after several months of complaining from teams of other manufacturers, particularly Chevy and Ford, as well as from several conspiracy theorists that watch weekly from the grandstands or from the comfort of their living room. The complaints finally drove NASCAR to conduct two dyno tests on the engines, one following the race at the Milwuakee Mile, and the other after a couple weeks ago at Chicagoland. The Milwuakee tests revealed a significant horsepower advantage for Toyota, but after Chicago, NASCAR tested ten cars - 3 from Toyota, 3 from Chevy, 2 Ford’s, and 2 Dodge’s. David Reutimann’s car topped the testing charts, and Kyle Busch - the eventual race winner - tested second.

Q: NASCAR recently placed restrictions on the engines in the Nationwide Series, limiting the airflow, and therefore putting a restriction on the horesepower. Should we expect to see similar measures be implimented into the Sprint Cup Series, and if so, when?

TZ: I think it all depends on next year, to be honest. If the Toyotas - particularly Kyle Busch - start to run away with things again in 2009, then yeah, I think NASCAR will start considering such moves. But, to be honest, I think their decision for the Nationwide Series was purely a financial one. From everything (credible) that I’ve read, the only true advantage that Toyota has had is that they didn’t have to upgrade their long-term engine packages. They came into stock car racing with an idea of what they wanted to do, and it turned out to be much better than what the other manufacturers were running. Chevy and Ford started making gripes, but in reality, they are fully capable of putting out the same product, but they don’t want to put forth the extra buck for the sake of the NNS. Notice that it’s not Toyota’s running away by a mile in the Cup Series, just Kyle Busch. That tells me that they’ve put forth the effort to upgrade in Cup.

Roc: I agree T.Z. Kyle’s car is wicked fast on all restarts, and he is the guy to beat every week which we’re not really seeing from the other Gibbs cars. Toyota will spend a bunch of money to be at the top, and with all the other corporations really in finacial trouble, I look for nascar to find a way to even out the field in Cup, too. I haven’t seen the rating this year, but as you know I’m pretty die-hard. But, there were a couple races that I just couldn’t watch, having certain cars that dominate every week hurts the sport  a lot more than it helps it so I look at early next year a horsepower change to be in effect.

Charlie:  The Nationwide Series horsepower initiative was put in place  to help save the teams money. Toyota experimented - all on their own by the way - in 2007 with making engines for the Craftsman Truck Series that lasted for more than one race between rebuilds. Johnny Benson actually won races with those motors as I recall. It is not surprising that Toyota has an edge there. In Cup, NASCAR will always play with things to level the field. It might be carburetors or it might be spoilers or splitters. Ido not believe that NASCAR will limit engines in the Cup Series across the board.

the Rest of the Discussion:
Tony Stewart, currently tenth in Sprint Cup points, is 49 markers ahead of 13th place Clint Bowyer. Four drivers, icluding Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne, within 49 points of each other with only three spots up for grabs. Who doesn’t make it to the Chase?

Be sure to visit On Pit Row as the three of us wrap up this week’s conversation by debating amongst ourselves to answer the above question concerning the Chase. And, just because Bruce isn’t with us this week is no reason not to continue giving his site some love, so don’t forget to continue checking out his Bits ‘n’ Pieces to get the latest and greatest on all that is NASCAR. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Image details: Built Ford Tough 225 served by picapp.com

Johnny Benson won his second race of the season and took the points lead for the first time in 2008 after making a 4-wide pass with just 32 laps remaining in the Built Ford Tough 225 Saturday at Kentucky Speedway. As the field restarted on lap 119, Benson was third in line behind Bill Davis Racing teammate, Michael Annett, and Dennis Setzer, and the lapped truck of Chad Chaffin was on the inside. Benson and Setzer both attempted the pass on Michael Annett at the same time, and Chaffin moved to the bottom of the track as well in an effort to make the pass and get his lap back. In the end, though, it was Benson getting the spot and cruising through the final 32 circuits to pickup the win.

Annett finished second - 0.475 seconds behind Benson - in just his third Craftsman Truck Series start. Matt Crafton finished third, with Setzer in fourth, and David Starr rounded out the top-five finishers. Kyle Busch failed in his bid to get his 15th overall win of the season, as he finished sixth. Mike Skinner, Terry Cook, Marc Mitchell, and Ron Hornaday finished 7th through 10th.

Making his debut for the newly formed Moss Motorsports, Willie Allen started 20th and finished 15th. Jack Sprague’s tough luck this season continued with a 22nd place run after starting 5th. Erik Darnell’s no. 99 Roush-Fenway Ford was caught up in an earlier accident and finished a disappointing 29th. And, in her third Truck Series start, Chrissy Wallace made it through just 50 laps before finding an accident of her own, and she finished 33rd.

Johnny Benson climbed up three spots in the standings to take a 1 point lead over second place, Matt Crafton. Ron Hornaday’s top-ten effort wasn’t enough, as he dropped two spots down to third, where he sits just five points out of first. Rick Crawford and Mike Skinner each moved up a spot to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Complete Ford 225 Results.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings:

Image details: Camping World RV Rental 250 served by picapp.com

It’s going to be a big weekend coming up for the Wallace’s as the NASCAR Nationwide Series makes a trip to St. Louis this weekend for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway, hometown to brothers Mike and Kenny Wallace. Considered to be the home track for the Wallace family, the track has been kind enough to name the grandstands in Turns 1 and 2 after the Wallace’s, and even honored them by placing their name on the race itself during older brother, Rusty’s retirement year.

Despite all of the hometown recognition, though, a member of the Wallace family has never put a tally in the win column since the Nationwide Series began racing here back in 1997, but they’ll have a prime opportunity to change that this weekend. Mike Wallace is having one of his finer seasons as he currently sits 8th in points and would like nothing more than to notch one up here in front of his hometown fans. He nearly did just that back in 2005 when he finished 2nd here in an Evernham Motorsports car. Mike will also be an honorary guest at the St. Louis Cardinals game on Thursday where he will throw out the first pitch of the game.

Kenny Wallace will also attend the race, as will Steven Wallace, who will be driving for Rusty Wallace Inc, the team owned by his father, Rusty Wallace. That team is still looking for their first win of the season. Steven is currently 12th in the points standings, and Kenny is 18th. All three Wallace’s will also compete in a dirt track race at Tri-City Speedway on Friday in Pontoon Beach, IL.

Mike’s daughter, Chrissy Wallace, will be competing this weekend as well. Chrissy will make the third Craftsman Truck Series start of her career on Saturday in the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway. To date, she’s finished 18th at Martinsville and 20th at the Milwuakee Mile.

Image details: Coke Zero 400 Qualifying served by picapp.com

Former NBA star and current ESPN NASCAR analyst, Brad Daugherty, announced earlier this week that he has purchased a 50% interest in JTG Racing, which will be renamed JTG Daugherty Racing. The company currently runs two full-time entries in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, driven by Marcos Ambrose and Kelly Bires. The team says that they will continue to run both of these teams next season, but will add a single team to the Sprint Cup Series as well, which we have learned will be driven by Marcos Ambrose. The entry will be the no. 47 car and will feature Little Debbie Snacks as the primary sponsor.

Ambrose is currently 13th in the Nationwide Series points standings and was ranked 8th last year. He also made his Sprint Cup Series debut earlier in the season behind the no. 21 Wood Brothers Racing car at Sonoma where he finished in a disappointing 42nd after a very successful run through the majority of the race. He is scheduled to run six races in the Cup Series throughout 2008.

Daugherty, a five-time NBA All-Star, also has previous experience as a car owner in NASCAR. The late Kenny Irwin Jr. won two Craftsman Truck Series events in a Daugherty-owned entry in 1997, and Robert Pressley won a (then) Busch Series race in Daugherty’s car all the way back in 1989.

Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that I know what it is. Between 2007 girlfriend, Erica Dewey, and 2008 girlfriend, Samantha Sarcinella, who wins this heated battle?

 
The above photo of Kyle is with former girlfriend, Erica Dewey, at the 2006 Nextel Cup awards banquets. Erica was mere steps away from joining NASCAR’s elite “Hot Wives Club”, as the two were engaged, but split sometime in ‘07. During the 72 races run in those two seasons, Kyle tallied up a total of 2 wins, 21 top-five’s, and 38 top-ten’s, and finished 5th in the points last season.

Above is a picture of the new love in Kyle’s life, Samantha Sarcinella, who seems to have put Kyle’s focus in the right direction. So far in 2008, Kyle has won 7 races in the Sprint Cup Series and has finished in the top-five 12 times through the first 19 races of the season. Additionally, he has won 5 Nationwide Series races through 19 events run there, and has also won twice in just 8 Craftsman Truck Series attempts.

And, the winner is ……

Seriously, guys ….. haven’t we been going through this all season long? Kyle Busch wins again ….. as usual!

*Credit Erica Dewey photo to Newscom.

Image details: New England Patriots Mini Camp served by picapp.com

After Super Bowl runner-up, Randy Moss, announced last April that his latest endeavours would include the creation of a full-time NASCAR Craftsmant Truck Series team, the star WR for the New England Patriots has indeed made good on his promise. Moss has announced that he will debut the #81 Moss Motorsports truck on July 19th at Kentucky Speedway for the Built Ford Tough 225, though the team’s manufacturer, sponsors, and even their driver have yet to be announced.

We do know that Moss has recently purchased a major portion of Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, a team that currently fields Willie Allen in the no. 46 Chevy in the series. There has been some speculation that the team could simply rename their existing operations as Moss Motorsports, but that has yet to be determined. Either way, this more than likely means that Moss has established a relationship with GM, and odds are that when the green drops at Kentucky, we’re probably going to be looking at a no. 81 Chevy somewhere on the track.

There are also rumors that the driver of the truck in the team’s debut race could very well be a “prominent” Sprint Cup standout. My first inclination would be that if this is in fact true, then it would probably be someone with some past experience in the Truck Series. But, as I skim through the current Cup roster, there’s no Chevy drivers that fit both bills, so really, I don’t even know where to speculate in terms of who that driver will be. If the GM thing doesn’t hold true, though, then I’d look for someone out of the Gibbs camp, probably Denny Hamlin. But, again, that’s all speculation.

Moss is expected to make an official announcement concerning the team’s plans in a press conference this Thursday at Daytona.

Image details: O’Reilly 200 served by picapp.com

Ron Hornaday started Saturday night’s O’Reilly 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park from the third position, but took the lead on lap 76 of the scheduled 200-lap race, and overcame a green-white-checkered finish to lead the final 129 laps and 139 laps overall to pick up his third win of the season for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the Craftsman Truck Series. In doing so, Hornaday also jumped up three spots in the rankings, moving past Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine, and Matt Crafton, to take over the top spot in the standings. It also extended Hornaday’s all-time record in the series to 36 career victories.

Hornaday took the lead on lap 76 as he battled side-by-side with Johnny Benson, and the two passed then-race leader Stacy Compton to take the position. On the next restart just seven laps later, however, Benson’s truck didn’t accelerate, and he was forced to retire for the day with a blown engine, finishing 33rd after leading 43 laps in the early goings.

Hornaday then held off Erik Darnell on the final restart of the evening to pickup the win. Darnell finished 2nd, giving him three consecutive top-five finishes now for Roush-Fenway Racing, and moving him up to 7th in points. Matt Crafton, Rick Crawford, and David Starr rounded out the top-five finishers, with Hornaday’s teammate, Jack Sprague, finishing 6th.

Following the race, Hornaday told reporters, “Benson had the truck to beat. He needed to break for us to win. I don’t know if we want to be in the points lead. Everybody who gets in it seems to have problems.”

Click here for the O’Reilly 200 Complete Results.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings (from nascar.com):