Transactions:
- Hendrick Motorsports has announced the release of Casey Mears for next season.
- Richard Childress Racing has extended Clint Bowyer’s contract through 2011.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has extended Greg Biffle’s contract through 2011.
- Gillette-Evernham Motorsports has signed Elliott Sadler through 2010.
- Richard Childress Racing has announced the addition of the #33 car as a fourth Cup team in 2009.
- Petty Enterprises has signed Bobby LaBonte through 2012.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has signed Carl Edwards through 2011.
- Due to a lack of sponsorship, Chip Ganassi Racing is forced to shut down the no. 40 car driven by Dario Franchitti for the remainder of the season.
- Hendrick Motorsports has signed Mark Martin to drive the no. 5 car full-time in 2009 and part-time in 2010.
- Tony Stewart announced his departure from Joe Gibbs Racing to go to Stewart Haas Racing (formerly Haas CNC Racing) as a 50% owner and a full-time driver in 2009.
- Ryan Newman has announced that he will not re-sign with Penske Racing for the 2009 season.
- JTG Dougherty Racing has signed Marcos Ambrose to drive their new no. 47 entry in the Sprint Cup Series next year.
- Martin Truex Jr. has re-signed with DEI for the 2009 season.
- HOF Racing has released JJ Yeley and will replace him with Brad Coleman in the no. 96 car.

Teams Without an Assigned 2009 Driver:
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 01 car
- Penske Racing - No. 12 car
- Stewart Haas Racing - No. 4 car
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 15 car
- Joe Gibbs Racing - No. 20 car
- Wood Brothers Racing - No. 21 car
- Bill Davis Racing - No. 22 car
- Yates Racing - No. 28 car
- Richard Childress Racing - No. 33 car
- Furniture Row Motorsports - No. 34 car
- Chip Ganassi Racing - No. 41 car

Drivers Without a Definitive 2009 Ride:
- Regan Smith
- Casey Mears
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Dave Blaney
- Travis Kvapil
- Tony Raines
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Riggs
- JJ Yeley
- Johnny Sauter
- Jeremy Mayfield
- David Stremme
- Jacques Villeneuve
- Kenny Wallace
- Ken Schrader
- Ward Burton
- Dario Franchitti

Transactions:
- DEI has picked up the 2009 option on Martin Truex Jr, though Truex disputes the legality of the verbiage in the contract.
- Hendrick Motorsports has announced the release of Casey Mears for next season.
- Richard Childress Racing has extended Clint Bowyer’s contract through 2011.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has extended Greg Biffle’s contract through 2011.
- Gillette-Evernham Motorsports has signed Elliott Sadler through 2010.
- Richard Childress Racing has announced the addition of the #33 car as a fourth Cup team in 2009.
- Petty Enterprises has signed Bobby LaBonte through 2012.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has signed Carl Edwards through 2011.
- Due to a lack of sponsorship, Chip Ganassi Racing is forced to shut down the no. 40 car driven by Dario Franchitti for the remainder of the season.
- Hendrick Motorsports has signed Mark Martin to drive the no. 5 car full-time in 2009 and part-time in 2010.
- Tony Stewart announced his departure from Joe Gibbs Racing to go to Stewart Haas Racing (formerly Haas CNC Racing) as a 50% owner and a full-time driver in 2009.
- Ryan Newman has announced that he will not re-sign with Penske Racing for the 2009 season.
- JTG Dougherty Racing has signed Marcos Ambrose to drive their new no. 47 entry in the Sprint Cup Series next year.

Teams Without an Assigned 2009 Driver:
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 01 car
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 1 car
- Penske Racing - No. 12 car
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 15 car
- Joe Gibbs Racing - No. 20 car
- Wood Brothers Racing - No. 21 car
- Bill Davis Racing - No. 22 car
- Yates Racing - No. 28 car
- Richard Childress Racing - No. 33 car
- Furniture Row Motorsports - No. 34 car
- Chip Ganassi Racing - No. 41 car
- Stewart Haas Racing - No. 66 or No. 70 car

Drivers Without a Definitive 2009 Ride:
- Regan Smith
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Casey Mears
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Dave Blaney
- Travis Kvapil
- Tony Raines
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Riggs
- Johnny Sauter
- Jeremy Mayfield
- David Stremme
- Jacques Villeneuve
- Kenny Wallace
- Ken Schrader
- Ward Burton
- Dario Franchitti

Transactions:
- DEI has picked up the 2009 option on Martin Truex Jr, though Truex disputes the legality of the verbiage in the contract.
- Hendrick Motorsports has announced the release of Casey Mears for next season.
- Richard Childress Racing has extended Clint Bowyer’s contract through 2011.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has extended Greg Biffle’s contract through 2011.
- Gillette-Evernham Motorsports has signed Elliott Sadler through 2010.
- Richard Childress Racing has announced the addition of the #33 car as a fourth Cup team in 2009.
- Petty Enterprises has signed Bobby LaBonte through 2012.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has signed Carl Edwards through 2011.
- Due to a lack of sponsorship, Chip Ganassi Racing is forced to shut down the no. 40 car driven by Dario Franchitti for the remainder of the season.
- Hendrick Motorsports has signed Mark Martin to drive the no. 5 car full-time in 2009 and part-time in 2010.
- Tony Stewart announced his departure from Joe Gibbs Racing to go to Stewart Haas Racing (formerly Haas CNC Racing) as a 50% owner and a full-time driver in 2009.

Teams Without an Assigned 2009 Driver:
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 01 car
- Penske Racing - No. 12 car
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 15 car
- Joe Gibbs Racing - No. 20 car
- Wood Brothers Racing - No. 21 car
- Bill Davis Racing - No. 22 car
- Yates Racing - No. 28 car
- Richard Childress Racing - No. 33 car
- Furniture Row Motorsports - No. 34 car
- Chip Ganassi Racing - No. 41 car
- Stewart Haas Racing - No. 66 or No. 70 car

Drivers Without a Definitive 2009 Ride:
- Regan Smith
- Casey Mears
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Dave Blaney
- Marcos Ambrose
- Travis Kvapil
- Tony Raines
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Riggs
- Johnny Sauter
- Jeremy Mayfield
- Brad Keselowski
- David Stremme
- Jacques Villeneuve
- Kenny Wallace
- Ken Schrader
- Ward Burton
- Dario Franchitti

Other Potential Rides & Drivers that Could Become Available
(Pending variable circumstances):
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 1 Car - Current Driver: Martin Truex Jr.
- Gillette-Evernham Motorsports - No. 10 Car - Current Driver: Patrick Carpentier
- Roush Fenway Racing - No. 26 Car - Current Driver: Jamie McMurray
- Penske Racing - No. 77 Car - Current Driver: Sam Hornish Jr.

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

*UPDATED* 

Sources are reporting that two-time Sprint Cup Series champion, Tony Stewart, has been granted his release from the final year of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. Stewart is expected to make the announcement on Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway his plans to move to Haas CNC Racing as a driver and 50% owner next season, and the company will reportedly change its name to Stewart Haas Racing.

 The deal will also make Stewart the highest paid driver in NASCAR, and Office Depot will be named as the car’s primary sponsor for 2009. A deal may also be in the works to add Old Spice and possibly Jack Daniels as associate sponsors, but they have yet to nail down a sponsor for the team’s other car.

Additionally, Haas CNC Racing, which currently features the no. 66 and no. 70 cars driven by Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter, may change their car numbers. Though no numbers have yet been settled on, some believe that they may opt to change one of the car numbers to no. 14, the same number as former racing legend, AJ Foyt. Ryan Newman - in the final year of his contract with Penske Racing - is rumored to drive the car opposite of Stewart, and that deal is also expected to happen sometime in the coming weeks. 

As for Joe Gibbs Racing, they have not yet named a driver for the no. 20 car next year, but popular belief is that it will be Nationwide Series rookie standout, Joey Logano. Greg Zipadelli - Stewart’s longtime friend and Crew Chief - is already locked up to a long-term deal with Gibbs, and has stated that he will remain the organization, despite his disappointment with Smoke’s departure.

We will continue to track this story as it develops throughout the day.

NASCAR officials confiscated and impounded the no. 1 DEI Chevy driven by Martin Truex Jr. on Thursday afternoon when the car failed multiple attempts during the opening day inspections, as the roof failed to meet the inspection templates. The incident forced Truex to miss out on the first practice session after the team was unable to beat the roof into submission and NASCAR mandated that the team unload their backup car. Crew Chief, Kevin Manion, then decided to change the engine on the backup car, costing Martin valuable time on the track. Now, with rainy skies hovering over the Daytona infield, practice will be at a premium for this weekend’s Coke Zero 400, and there’s a very good chance that Truex will not have the opportunity to touch the track until the field is ready to qualify for the race.

“Somebody made a big mistake,” said Truex. “Shouldn’t happen in this level of auto racing, but people make mistakes. We’ll go on.”

Vice President of DEI, Johny Story, was less diplomatic about the situation. When asked about the situation, he replied, “The car fit our templates when they left the shop. Then they got down here, and apparently the greenhouse was too narrow for NASCAR’s liking. We worked on it as much as possible, but the more you work on it - well, basically we weren’t able to get it fixed.”

NASCAR is expected to examine the car at their R&D Center in Concord, NC sometime next week, and a decision as to whether or not any fines and penalties will be assessed are likely to be made at that time. This is the fourth time that NASCAR has impounded cars during opening day inspections since the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were each penalized 100 points, fined $100,000, and the Crew Chiefs were suspended for six weeks at Infineon Raceway last year for altered front fenders. Robby Gordon was then caught with an illegal nose cover prior to the Daytona 500 this year, but he appealed the penalty, and lost no points as a result. The Haas CNC Racing cars of Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter were impounded by NASCAR at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May for wing-mount violations, and each of those drivers were penalized 150 driver points.

Truex is currently 14th in the points standings and sits only 71 points behind 12th place, Kevin Harvick. A penalty of 100 or 150 points would drop him to 18th in the standings as they sit now, not to mention that the points he accrues in the Coke Zero 400 will likely suffer as well as a result of a lack of track time.

Transactions:
- DEI has picked up the 2009 option on Martin Truex Jr, though Truex disputes the legality of the verbiage in the contract.
- Hendrick Motorsports has announced the release of Casey Mears for next season.
- Richard Childress Racing has extended Clint Bowyer’s contract through 2011.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has extended Greg Biffle’s contract through 2011.
- Gillette-Evernham Motorsports has signed Elliott Sadler through 2010.
- Richard Childress Racing has announced the addition of the #33 car as a fourth Cup team in 2009.
- Petty Enterprises has signed Bobby LaBonte through 2012.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has signed Carl Edwards through 2011.

Teams Without an Assigned 2009 Driver:
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 01 car
- Hendrick Motorsports - No. 5 car
- Penske Racing - No. 12 car
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 15 car
- Wood Brothers Racing - No. 21 car
- Bill Davis Racing - No. 22 car
- Yates Racing - No. 28 car
- Richard Childress Racing - No. 33 car
- Furniture Row Motorsports - No. 34 car
- Chip Ganassi Racing - No. 41 car
- Haas CNC Racing - No. 66 car
- Haas CNC Racing - No. 70 car

Drivers Without a Definitive 2009 Ride:
- Regan Smith
- Casey Mears
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Dave Blaney
- Marcos Ambrose
- Travis Kvapil
- Tony Raines
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Riggs
- Johnny Sauter
- Mark Martin
- Jeremy Mayfield
- Brad Keselowski
- David Stremme
- Jacques Villeneuve
- Kenny Wallace
- Ken Schrader
- Ward Burton

Other Potential Rides & Drivers that Could Become Available
(Pending variable circumstances):
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. - No. 1 Car - Current Driver: Martin Truex Jr.
- Gillette-Evernham Motorsports - No. 10 Car - Current Driver: Patrick Carpentier
- Joe Gibbs Racing - No. 20 Car - Current Driver: Tony Stewart
- Roush Fenway Racing - No. 26 Car - Current Driver: Jamie McMurray
- Penske Racing - No. 77 Car - Current Driver: Sam Hornish Jr.

Image details: Coca-Cola 600 Practice served by picapp.com

The NASCAR Commission announced on Tuesday their ruling on the appeal from Haas CNC Racing and their decision to uphold the penalties handed out for violations incurred at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Coca Cola 600. During practice for the race, NASCAR officials confiscated both of the team’s cars - the #66 driven by Scott Riggs and the #70, which at the time was driven by Johnny Sauter - for violations of the upper rear wing mounting points.

NASCAR docked both drivers 150 driver points and car owners, Jack Custer and Margaret Haas, 150 owner points. They also suspended both Crew Chiefs, Bootie Barker and David Skog, as well as both Car Chiefs for the duration of six races and fined each Crew Chief $100,000. NASCAR has also kept both of the cars that they confiscated at Lowe’s and has sent them to their R&D Center in Concord, NC.

Haas CNC was not appealing the infractions themselves, but rather the severity of the penalties, which is regarded as the most severe penalties in the history of the sport. It has been a trend in NASCAR over the past two seasons that they continue to hand out stiffer and stiffer fines and penalties the more teams continue to get caught with such infractions, particularly pertaining to any alterations to the body of the car itself, which is something NASCAR was very adament about when they first launched the Car of Tomorrow program. This should send a loud and clear message to the teams in the NASCAR garage area, and it’s not likely that we’ll see Haas CNC making any further alterations anytime soon.

Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 served by picapp.com   

Saturday night’s running of the Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 was one of dominance, heartbreak, surprise, and all-around pure excitement, and the Sprint Cup Series manage to squeeze it all into just 400 laps at Richmond International Raceway. In fact, there hasn’t been any official report published on it, but I’d be willing to bet that at least a handful of fans at Richmond suffered from anxiety attacks, and the rest of them were probably focusing their efforts on tracking down the driver of the no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing car.

Denny Hamlin started the race from the pole position, set a track record for laps lead, and looked as though he was well on his way to becoming only the fifth driver to win at Richmond from the pole since the track was reconfigured and only the third to ever sweep the weekend series at RIR, but it was Clint Bowyer standing in Victory Lane after the checkered flags waived.

Hamlin started the race off in grand fashion by quickly establishing himself as the class of the field right off the bat en route to leading 381 of the first 382 laps at his hometown track, with the other being led by AJ Allmendinger on lap 207 under caution.

Hamlin held onto the lead until there were only 18 laps left in the race when he felt a tire going down, and he not only gave up the lead, but dropped deep into the field. The grandstands went crazy as the no. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed him for the lead with Kyle Busch right next to him. Hamlin finally stopped his car on the track to draw the caution flag with 10 laps to go, but NASCAR threw the rulebook at him and parked him for two laps for intentionally bringing out a caution.

The race restarted, and Earnhardt and Kyle Busch battled for the lead. Earnhardt - who hadn’t won a race in two years - took the high side of the track, while Busch drove around the bottom. The two cars were running virtually neck and neck, and just when Earnhardt Nation thought their hopes were about to come true - the heartbreak kicked in. The two cars just sort of met in the middle of the track, and Busch sent Junior spinning with only 3 laps left to bring out the final caution of the race. The surprise was that as all of this was going on, Clint Bowyer snuck right past both cars to take the lead, and eventually the checkered flags. Kyle Busch would eventually finish 2nd.

Mark Martin started the race in second and ran inside the top-five the entire evening to finish in third. Tony Stewart had a solid day inside the top-ten, and was eventually rewarded with a fourth place effort. Martin Truex Jr. had a pretty quiet evening, but finished fifth. Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, and Kasey Kahne completed the top-ten. Junior went onto finish 15th.

The first real bit of excitement occurred on lap 231 when JJ Yeley got tapped by Dave Blaney and Carl Edwards to set off a huge multi-car accident that involved thirteen drivers to bring out the 6th caution of the evening. Blaney and Edwards escaped the melee, but it forced Yeley down the track into Patrick Carpentier who took a spin around the track, running into several cars. The wreck included the cars of Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, David Gilliland, Juan Pablo Montoya, Johnny Sauter, Regan Smith, Michael McDowell, and Jeff Burton, though Burton was able to escape with minor damage and stay on the lead lap.

With 48 laps remaining, Casey Mears slid up the track and pinched Michael Waltrip, who had just pitted for four tires and gas. The pinch wound up wrecking both cars, and out of frustration, Waltrip just sort of clung to the back of Mears’ car, pushing him down the track. The incident warranted a call from NASCAR ordering Waltrip to park his car for the rest of the night.

Jeff Burton - after salvaging his racecar from the earlier accident - managed an 11th place finish, and continues to be the only driver in the series to successfully complete every lap this season, but surrendered the points lead to Kyle Busch. Burton now trails Busch by 18 points. Dave Blaney replaced JJ Yeley in the 35th points position.

For Bowyer, it is only the second Cup Series victory of his career, and the first since winning in New Hampshire from the pole position last September. He started Saturday’s race from 31st, making him only the eighth driver in series history to win a race at Richmond after starting from outside the top-20. The win moves Bowyer up three spots to fourth overall.

For a transcript of the race as it unfolded, please check out Richmond: “Live” on Type Delay over at Reverend Jim’s Rants ‘n’ Raves.

Grades:
the Race:  94%
the Drama:  98%
Coverage:  91%
Pre-Race:  86%

Overall Grade:  93.4%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Image details: Aaron’s 499 Qualifying served by picapp.com
 

It’s admittedly WAAAY too early in the season for NASCAR’s silly season to already have gotten as it deep as it has, that’s for sure … but, alas, I must do my small part in life to contribute to this nonsense, because - well, quite frankly it intrigues me.It all started just a few weeks into the ‘08 season when Richard Childress Racing announced the addition of a fourth team to their arsenal next year, and immediately everyone started pointing towards Bobby LaBonte to fill the seat in that ride due to his ties with RCR and Kevin Harvick Inc. in the Nationwide Series. While nothing has come of that since then, RCR has gone ahead and already secured the current #1 sponsor over at Petty Enterprises in General Mills.

RCR got the ball rolling with contract talks, and then a small focus within the media shifted over to Roush-Fenway Racing. Roush will be forced to part ways with one of their team cars after 2009 due to a new rule that will be implemented in NASCAR that will limit to teams limiting no more than four cars. However, two of their five current Cup Series drivers - Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle - have contracts that currently run only through the end of this year. While there’s not really much speculation that Edwards has any plans of leaving the organization - and, may in fact actually nab one of NASCAR’s largest sponsors next season in UPS - Biffle was earlier reported to be about “90% done with his contract renewal.” Talks since then appear to have slowed a bit, and now there’s some minor speculation lingering out there that the Biff may be headed in a new direction. Of course, then you also have the notion that Roush may work out a deal with Yates Racing that would send one of their cars over to that organization in somewhat of a partnership deal, in which case Roush could essentially really wind up not losing anyone after next year.

Fast forward a bit, and then you’ve got Tony Stewart reportedly looking into all sorts of offers, though his contract doesn’t officially end at Joe Gibbs Racing until after the 2009 season. The most widely known offer that seems to be on the table right now for Stewart is a deal that would give up as much as 50% ownership at Haas CNC Racing, and would also return Smoke to his long-tenured relationship with General Motors. There’s been a lot of speculation that Tony has been trying to get out of his contract with JGR following this season, but both parties claim that no such talks have taken place. Additionally, Joe Gibbs himself has stated that their organization is pretty much set the way that it is in terms of ownership, but if that’s something that Tony was interested in, something could possibly be worked out that would set Stewart in the right direction for such a venture.

There was some question regarding Martin Truex Jr’s contract at Dale Earhardt, Inc, which only went through the end of this season. With the team struggling early on, there was a bit of doubt whether or not the organization would pick up the option they had on Martin for 2009, but they recently inked that deal earlier this week and our now working on a deal that would keep Truex at DEI beyond 2010.

Staying somewhat out of the public eye in terms of contract negotiations has been Ryan Newman, who has driven for Penske Racing since entering the Sprint Cup Series, but his contract also expires at the end of the year. Newman has stated that he hasn’t been talking to any other teams about potential options, but he also admitted that he has yet to sign a renewal with Penske and that they haven’t really talked about it. It’s also no huge secret that Newman hasn’t been happy with some of the engines that have been handed to him through the Penske garage, so who knows?

There are also some rumors that Casey Mears could be let go from his ride with Hendrick Motorsports, which would not only free up another driver for a potential signing, but would free up another seat for one of these other guys. And, let’s not forget the blowout that occurred within Chip Ganassi Racing not all that long ago. If Chip’s not happy with his race teams, then who knows who might be available for signing by the time we roll into 2009.There’s a lot of circumstantial talk within these rumors, and I’ll admit that this post is probably somewhat premature, but all the same - it looks like we’re going to have plenty to keep talking about as 2008 pushes forward.Current Rides Available:
#12 - Penske Racing (Ryan Newman)
#16 - Roush-Fenway Racing (Greg Biffle)
#21 - Wood Bros. (Bill Elliott / Jon Wood)
#33 - Richard Childress Racing (new team)
#43 - Petty Enterprises (Bobby LaBonte)
#70 - Haas CNC Racing (race-by-race)
#99 - Roush-Fenway Racing (Carl Edwards)

Peyton Sellers won the season-opening Camping World East Series event this past weekend at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, SC for Andy Santerre Motorsports. Following the race, however, NASCAR officials found that the 16-year-old’s car was in possession of an illegal shock, and NASCAR in turn stripped him of his victory. This is the first time in recent memory that I believe NASCAR has stripped a driver in any series of a win for any rules infraction, but the team definitely feels like they’re being made an example of.

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.