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

Carl Edwards was named the winner of Saturday night’s Camping World RV Rental 250 at the Milwuakee Mile, and pulled into Victory Lane in the Nationwide Series for the first time since winning in Nashville last June, but the 250-mile race was hardly one that lacked emotion, excitement and controversy.

The first half of the race was dominated by polesitter, Brad Keselowski, who was looking to his second win for JR Motorsports in a three-week span, but despite leading the most laps on the evening, it just wasn’t meant to be. Last week’s race winner, 18-year-old Joey Logano, caught Keselowski at the front of the field and the two raced side-by-side with 79 laps remaining in the books. Logano drover underneath the race leader to take the position through turns 3 and 4, but a slight bobble slid him up into Brad’s fender and took him out of contention for the win.

Then, during the final round of pit stops, Logano made contact with points leader, Clint Bowyer, on pit road as the two rubbed fenders and shuffled Joey back to fourth while Carl Edwards took the lead. Bowyer then passed Edwards with 39 laps to go and held the position until the next caution flag. The restart came with 25 circuits remaining. Edwards got underneath him on the restart and knocked him sideways and drove away for the win.

Logano was able to pass Bowyer as well, as he wound up finishing 2nd, and Bowyer had to settle for 3rd. Fellow Sprint Cup regulars, David Ragan and David Reutimann completed the top-five in 4th and 5th. Scott Wimmer continued with his recent success with another top-ten finish in 6th, and Mike Bliss came home in 7th. Brad Keselowski rebounded from his earlier adventure with Logano and was relegated to an 8th place run, while Jason Leffler and Jason Keller rounded out the top-ten finishers.

There were no changes amongst the top-four spots in the standings, as Bowyer now stretches his points lead to 188 points over second place, Brad Keselowski. David Ragan and Mike Bliss each jumped up a spot to 5th and 6th over Kyle Busch, whom did not attend the race this weekend.

Check here for complete Camping World RV Rental 250 race results.

Nationwide Series Standings:

Image details: Camping World RV Sales 200 served by picapp.com

After losing the race last weekend to Erik Darnell in hearbreaking fashion, Johnny Benson won the Camping World RV Sales 200 at the Milwuakee Mile for the third straight year, also giving he and Bill Davis Racing their first win of the season in the Craftsman Truck Series.

Benson exited the pits with the lead after a caution for light rain on lap 146, and then NASCAR again stopped the race, this time red-flagging it for lightning with only fifty laps remaining. From there, Benson went unchallenged as he raced his way to a 2.5 second win over Matt Crafton, who finished the race in 2nd. Making only his fifth start in the truck series, Landon Cassill finished third, and behind him was last week’s race winner, Erik Darnell.  Todd Bodine finished fifth.

Benson started the race from the pole position and had a 3.3 second lead over Rick Crawford 70 laps into the race when the field began cycling through their green flag pit stops. A caution came out on lap 78 as Benson was pulling out of pit road, and because of the timing, only seven lead lap trucks were scored behind him, with the others being considered the tail end of the lead lap and were placed in front of Benson, including Crawford. Crawford would later regain his track position on a lap 96 caution, and then rallied from 16th to 8th in the closing 56 laps of the race.

Other race notables: Michael Annett made his first start of the season for Bill Davis Racing, and finished 6th; Ron Hornaday dropped another spot in the standings after finishing 7th; Mike Skinner finished 10th; Jack Sprague finished 13th; Making only her 2nd start in the series for Germain Racing, Chrissy Wallace finished 20th.

The victory was the 10th in the series for Johnny Benson, all of which have come in the last 3 seasons, and it opens up a 50 point lead now over 2nd place, Todd Bodine.

Click here for complete Camping World RV Sales race results.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings:

Image details: Meijer 300 served by picapp.com

In only his third start in the Nationwide Series, 18-year old Joey Logano was nothing but masterful during Saturday’s Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway en route to picking up his first career victory in the series. Logano passed teammate, Kyle Busch, for the lead on lap 147 and stayed there for the ensuing 53 laps to become the youngest winner in Nationwide history at 18 years, 21 days (the former record was held by Casey Atwood at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days in 1999 at Milwuakee). The victory also gives Joe Gibbs Racing their leading 10th victory on the season.

Logano finished 2.259 seconds ahead of Scott Wimmer, who ran second in the race, with veteran, Mike Wallace, coming home third. Fourth place went to last week’s race winner, Brad Keselowski. Rounding out the top-five was rookie driver, Bryan Clauson. Sixth place was taken by second year Nationwide driver, Marcos Ambrose, and David Ragan, Mike Bliss, Clint Bowyer, and Jason Keller completed the top-ten finishers.

Kyle Busch had a great day turned sour. After flying into Kentucky Speedway late, he was forced to start the race dead last in 43rd. Forty laps later, however, Busch found himself with the lead and went onto lead a race high 85 laps on the day. After surrending the lead to Joey Logano on lap 147, Busch tried to fight back from the second spot, but he lost control of his car on lap 164. The spin sent Busch slamming into the outside retaining wall down the backstretch, and he went onto finish 30th.

Clint Bowyer retained control of the points lead, and now leads Brad Keselowski by 170 points. Keselowski jumped three spots in the standings to take over 2nd over David Reutimann and Carl Edwards, who finished 13th and 20th. Kyle Busch’s run dropped him from third to fifth in the standings.

For Logano, he has now led laps in each of his first three starts in the series. Those three starts have resulted in a win, 2 top-ten’s, and 2 pole awards. Between Logano’s driving abilities and the dominant team that Joe Gibbs has assembled for him over in that no. 20 car, the rest of the series could be in for a very long, agonizing season.

Click here for the complete results from the Meijer 300.

Nationwide Series Standings:

Image details: 92nd Indianapolis 500 served by picapp.com

Making her fourth Indianapolis 500 appearance this past Sunday, Danica Patrick started the race from the fifth position, but was taken out of contention on lap 171 of the 200 lap event when the no. 6 Team Penske car of Ryan Briscoe got into her as they attempted to exit pit road. The damage that the incident left on Danica’s car was too extensive for her to continue on, and she was left with a 22nd place finish after running up around the top-ten for most of the day.

Following the accident, Danica stormed out of her wrecked race car and immediately went looking for Briscoe’s pit as she proceeded to remove her gloves. The confrontation was stopped short by track security, and eventually cooler heads prevailed before it could progress any further.

“I was ready to take it all off, my helmet and everything, because it’s hard to talk through the helmet,” she said following the race. “It’s probably a better idea that I didn’t make it all the way down there anyway because, well, as you guys know, I’m a little emotional.”

After watching the replays on video, Briscoe remains adament that he left Danica plent of room, and was unwilling to offer up any sort of an apology. This could be a feud to keep an eye on as the series heads to the Milwuakee Mile on June 1st. After four attempts now, Danica’s best Indianapolis finish remains to be her fourth place run in her rookie season back in 2005.

Recommended Reads:
- Wrapping the Weekend That Was (Full Throttle)

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

Mark Martin is regarded by nearly every driver, fan, and anyone associated with NASCAR as being one of the greatest drivers in the history of our sport, despite not having a Cup Series championship on his resume. He’s won 35 Cup Series points races, has the Nationwide Series record for wins with 48, and has finished 2nd in the Cup Series points standings on four occasions … so, yes, like him or not, I would be inclined to agree that he does indeed rank amongst NASCAR’s all-time elite.

Mark Martin’s status in this sport’s history, however, is not what is in question. Rather, I question his status in racing as it stands today. Following the 2006 season in which Martin finished the year 9th in points, he made a concious decision to part ways with long time car owner and friend, Jack Roush, and simultaneously retire from racing … or, so it seemed. After a long farewell tour that seemed to hit every track on the NASCAR season, in the offseason between ‘06 and ‘07, Mark announced that he would return to the track on a part-time schedule to help the no. 01 team in the DEI camp. This “part-time” schedule, however, included a 24 race tour out of the Cup Series’ 36 races - that’s 2/3rd’s of the complete schedule, and it has since carried over into 2008, despite the fact that he’s abondoned the 01 car and now races Dale Earnhardt Jr’s former car, the no. 8.

At first glance, the typical fan would probably say, “so what, what’s the big deal?”, and rightfully so. But, about the side-effects that Martin’s lingering presence is having on the sport? After NASCAR hit an all-time boom in production of young talents in the late 90’s and earlier in this decade, the manufacturing of standout prospects has been relegated to a minimum these past couple of years, and for a guy that’s presented himself as an ambassador for doing what’s good for the sport, Martin hasn’t been much of a help in that department.

The rise of young David Ragan into the Cup Series ranks was delayed for a year or two with Martin’s uncertainty as to whether or not he would return year after year, but he finally earned that opportunity last year after Martin had finally departed from the no. 6 car, and now it appears to be happening all over again with Aric Almirola.

Almirola fell into a spot with DEI after the purchase of Ginn Racing at the end of the season, and was immediately slotted to share driving duties in the no. 8 Army Chevrolet with Mark. Prior to this season, the 23 year-old Almirola’s professional driving experience had been minimal. He competed in a few truck races in 2005 and 2007, and full-time in 2006, though with very little success. He also raced in 21 Nationwide Series events from ‘06 to ‘07, and was credited with a win in Milwuakee for Joe Gibbs Racing, though Denny Hamlin actually finished that race. The bulk of his racing this scheduled is slated to come in the Sprint Cup Series, racing in only 12 races, while Martin handles the other 24.

Almirola impressed the masses by finishing 8th at Bristol in the Food City 500 in his first Cup Series start of the season, and seventh overall (he raced in 6 events in 2007). Since then, he’s finished 42nd at Martinsville due to engine failures after starting 3rd and running near the top-ten all day, and most recently settled for a 33rd place finish at Talladega.

Meanwhile, Martin has finished in the top-ten in four of his seven races this year, and is currently riding on a streak of three consecutive finishes of 8th or better, including a 3rd place run last weekend at Richmond. This now totals 15 top-ten’s for Martin in only 31 races for Martin since joining DEI, and he has been in contention for a win on several occasions.

So, it’s not that I question whether or not Mark’s still got it. It’s not that I question whether or not turning 50 next January will slow Martin down at all. Heck, I’m not even questioning whether or not Aric Almirola is more suited for a full-time Cup ride these days than Mark Martin. What I do question, though, is should we view this as Mark Martin getting to race 2/3rd’s of the schedule, or as Aric Almirola being forced to miss 2/3rd’s of the schedule?

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Is it still beneficial at this stage for DEI to have Mark Martin run a 24-race schedule, and, thus, eliminate one of their cars from competing for a spot in the Chase?
2. If Mark Martin were to run a full schedule, could he still compete for his first Sprint Cup championship?
3. What rate of success should we expect from Aric Almirola once he does have the opportunity to compete full-time in the Cup Series?
4. Should Mark Martin go into full-time retirement?

For a glimpse of Mark Martin’s entire 2008 Sprint Cup schedule, please visit Bruce Simmons’ post, Mark Martin’s Race Schedule for 2008 - the Full Details, over at Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces.

Image details: Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

The Sprint Cup Series was off this past week while the Nationwide Series took to the streets of Mexico City for the Corona Mexico 200 as Kyle Busch cruised to his third consecutive Nationwide Series victory. That, however, was not the headline that the sports world took away from auto racing on that day because while Kyle Busch was debating whether or not to dump Scott Pruett, Danica Patrick was out in Japan making history en route to winning the first IRL race of her career, as well as becoming the first female driver to ever win a race in that series.

In a pure incident of coincidental timing, just days before Danica broke down the barriers for females in racing, Chrissy Wallace inked a deal with Germain Racing that will have her competing full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2009.

Chrissy made her NASCAR debut just a few weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway in the Truck Series’ Kroger 250. Despite starting that race all the way back from the 35th position, she was able to find her way up to 18th by the final lap of the race. Her run was impressive enough to force the hands at Germain Racing to offer her up a contract, and they finalized the deal this past Wednesday. Chrissy will run another six races this year in the no. 03 Toyota Tundra – the first of which will be on June 20th in Milwuakee, and from there she will begin to prepare for her 2009 rookie campaign.

Regarding her signing with Germain, Chrissy stated, “I’m extremely excited. This is a big deal for us. When I saw my name on that contract, I almost couldn’t believe it. But, I’m thrilled about this opportunity.”

Chrissy comes from a long line of racers in her family, to include her father Mike Wallace, and uncles Rusty and Kenny. She has spent the majority of her amateur career racing late model stock cars, and became the first female driver to win at Hickory Motor Speedway in 57 years.  She has also earned herself the backing of the unofficial NASCAR spokesman himself, Tony Stewart, and that just simply can’t hurt matters.

The official signing of Chrissy Wallace is a huge step for NASCAR as they continue to work on building diversity within their garage areas. In recent years, the sport has added a number of drivers with foreign backgrounds, to include such names as Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, and Patrick Carpentier. They have also created and contributed to a multitude of diversity programs in an effort to help this cause. Although Chrissy certainly is not the first female to dawn a NASCAR firesuit, it certainly appears as though that she may potentially be the first to have the necessary combination of talent AND proper equipment afforded to her that it takes to win at NASCAR’s highest levels.

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You Nascar also asks its readers …

1) Do you think that Chrissy Wallace will be successful in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2009, and will she win Rookie of the Year?

2) Are female drivers often given some of their driving opportunities simply because of their market value as women?

3) Have NASCAR’s diversity programs been successful, and is the diversity they’ve added been good for the sport?

4) What could NASCAR do to expand their diversity programs?