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.

First off, I would like to thank all of the readers of this site for their continued support. To me, it’s amazing just how many pageviews and comments I continue to get each and every month in the short time since I’ve taken over writing for this site (October, 2007). Each of the past two months has brought more than 250 comments to DoYouNascar, with as many as 277 two months ago in May. As a small token of my appreciation, I will be offering a small, nominal prize via a random contest once a month. The prizes typically won’t be much to get too excited about, but should be fun nonetheless.

This month’s prize, and the first from this site, is a paperback copy of Rick Barry’s Super Sports Trivia Game (Buzztime Trivia). I have not actually viewed the book myself, but I am told it features sports trivia from all genres, and is not limited to just basketball, as the name Rick Barry might suggest.

I thought it fitting that the winner be determined by … well, answering a little sports trivia. And, just to make it a little more tasking for you all, the questions will not be NASCAR-related. Just be the first one to respond here with the correct answer to both of the questions below, and we will ship you the book free of charge courtesty of b5 Media. Enjoy!

Q: Who was the first Major League Baseball player to reach the upper-deck twice in one game in what it now known as Cinergy Field?

Q: Who was credited as holder of the NFL’s single-season reception record when training camp began for the 1990 season?

Image details: LENOX Industrial Tools 301 Practice served by picapp.com

Every now and then, thing happen in the sport that make guys like me stand up and just flat-out say, “I was wrong.” Well, this could be one of those moments …

I received a phone call this morning asking me if it was true that two-time Sprint Cup champion, Tony Stewart, had made it official that he was in fact leaving Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of this season. With all the hooplah concerning this story over the past few months, I could neither confirm nor deny the statement, but apparently on the Sirius pre-race show today, they said that it was a done deal. This, of course, contradicts the TNT pre-race show where the entire broadcast booth still feels as though it’s all up in the air, but something they said on Sirius intrigued me … they said that Stewart was holding off pursuing team ownership until he officially retired from driving. What does this mean? It means that could very well take Haas CNC Racing off the table, and make the recently opened no. 5 car over at Hendrick Motorsports the new frontrunner for a Stewart deal.

Now, all along, I’ve been a huge advocate of the fact that JD Gibbs had already stated that the team would not allow Stewart to exit his contract early, but one of the variables is whether or not there is a buyout clause included in Tony’s contract, which has yet to be confirmed. This was something I’d taken into consideration in my previous assessments of the situation, but I just didn’t feel that Haas CNC was in a position where they could really afford to buyout the final season of Tony’s contract … but, Hendrick Motorsports most certainly could.

Now, it’s no secret that Tony has expressed interest in rekindling his relationship with General Motors in the Sprint Cup Series, but I wonder how different things would be if it was Stewart that had garnered the first Cup victory for Toyota. Instead, Tony is winless in the series under the Toyota banner, and the manufacturer has since made points leader, Kyle Busch, the posterboy for their NASCAR program. Now, a move to Hendrick Motorsports probably wouldn’t make Tony the #1 guy in the organization as he once was with Gibbs, but he would be joining an all-star lineup. In fact, the addition of Stewart to a lineup that already includes Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. would have so much star power within the ranks that they would likely be looked upon in comparison to the New York Yankees of baseball, or the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. It would essentially take a dynasty organization and turn it into the dynasty organization … and, what driver wouldn’t want to have their name on that list?

I feel like the deal isn’t quite done yet at this point, but I do feel the need to retract some of my earlier comments and apologize to the folks at ESPN, as Sirius also reported that ESPN has been granted the exclusive power to sit in on some of these meetings. And, if all of this does in fact hold true, then the Stewart deal would very well dictate how the remaining dominoes fall in NASCAR’s Silly Season, as drivers like Ryan Newman are reportedly holding out to see how this one plays out. The story there is that Haas CNC could wind up with both drivers in their camp next season, which would be a dramatic turnaround for that organization from where they are now. Very interesting to see how this all sorts itself out, and how much Tony has truly effected the lives this season of so many involved in NASCAR.

 Ahh, yes … another glorious Friday morning, and I think you all know what that means!.  Yup, once again here with me are Bruce Simmons from Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces, along with Charlie Turner from On Pit Row, and we’re about to get  ”Loose in Turn Three” yet again!

We’re coming off a pretty big weekend in NASCAR, and it’s given us plenty to talk about throughout the week despite a bit a slower week as it relates to the news itself. Right here at Do You NASCAR, we’re going to rehash a bit of the same. With Joey Logano coming off his first Nationwide win in only his third start, we’re going to look at the statements made by Joe Gibbs Racing and question whether or not the 18-year old kid is truly ready to take some seat time in NASCAR’s premier series. Over at On Pit Row, we’ll analyze the validity of Dale Earnhardt Jr. snapping his winless drought, and at Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces, we look at the recent statements made by NASCAR and decide whether or not they’re right to ask their drivers to keep quiet as it relates to their grumbles on the Car of Tomorrow.

So, sit back and buckle up tight. Three questions, three voices, and three different answer … we’re about to get Loose in Turn Three!

Joe Gibbs Racing has stated that we may see Joey Logano in a Cup car by the end of ‘08. Logano’s proven himself to be a rare talent, but is 2008 too early?

TZ: I’m usually a pesimist when it comes to issues like this, and it really all stems from watching Rick Ankiel come up as a Starting Pitcher with the  St. Louis Cardinals organization back in 2000, only to watch him go through a meltdown in the post-season and ultimately ruining his pitching career. For me, this can easily happen with any athlete in any sport, even if they are named “Sliced Bread.” Logano’s going to be a star one day … it’s a given. But, when JGR’s already got 3 cars that could and should make the Chase and Logano working his way into the Nationwide Series, I don’t see the need to push him so early into a Cup car

Bruce:  I’ve been dwelling on this very premise.  If a driver is ready to compete on the emotional and talent level, then have at.  If everyone things Logano is ready, then no, 2008 is not too early to test the waters.  Yet I don’t think it matters when someone starts their burst onto the scene.  It seems that some drivers flare big onto the scene and then become mediocre. If they manage to keep a multi-year flare going, it is still going to flare out as the sport keeps bringing in the young guns as the next latest fad, shuffling the drivers down a hierarchy of ‘fizzle and fade’.  I think the new guys charge onto the scene and take chances.  Then, they get smacked down when they cross the line, and they tone down.  Then they comfortable and that’s when things change.  But that’s MHO.

Charlie:  The last young driver to have as much early buzz as Logano was probably Kyle Busch. Before that, Casey Attwood, maybe. Kyle went to Hendrick Motorsports and has been a star ever since. Attwood went to a new start-up team and new manufacturer - Evernham Motorsports in Dodge’s return to the sport - and it all fell apart.  Joey Logano is going to start for one of the top two teams in the sport with maybe the best manufacturer.  He’s already shown he can drive anything. He has actually had more testing time in CoT’s than Nationwide cars.  He’s ready now. He’ll look good in that #20 next year too.

Follow the rest of this discussion:
- NASCAR has asked teams and drivers to tone down their complaints about the COT. Do you think NASCAR has a valid point?
(Bruces NASCAR Bits & Pieces)

- Dale Earnhardt Jr broke a NASCAR rule at the end of Sunday’s race at MIS, went unpunished and won the race. Do you have a problem with that?
(On Pit Row)

*Credit photo to Newscom.

At this point, I’m not really sure what can be said about Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports that hasn’t already been stated a million times by now. It’s safe to say that Rick hasn’t built race teams or simply just an organization, he’s crafted and molded together a dynasty in oh, roughly twenty years time. To put it mildly, they’re NASCAR’s version of the New York Yankees … and, like I said – that’s putting it mildly.

In addition to the countless records that HMS has to their credit, they’ve also won 7 Sprint Cup Championships (4 with Gordon, 2 with Johnson, and 1 with Terry LaBonte) and also sit second on the all-time list for winningest teams in NASCAR with 167 Cup victories. Having won 6 Daytona 500’s would probably make any other car owner blush, but Hendrick Motorsports may be the only organization with a resume’ thick enough to make that accomplishment run second-fiddle to a list of others.

Moving away from the historic data for a moment – because quite frankly, we could go on with that for days as it pertains to this particular team – the recent success of HMS has been simply earth shattering. In 2006, Rick’s four teams combined for a 9 wins and three of the teams made the Chase field – Jimmie Johnson, who won the Championship, Jeff Gordon (finished 6th), and Kyle Busch (finished 10th). Brian Vickers was the only of the drivers not to make the playoff field, though he did finish the year off in a very respectable 15th … yet, those numbers paled in comparison to 2007. Last year, HMS compiled a total of 18 victories – half of all the points races run on the schedule – and, again placed three cars in the Chase field, this time finishing 1st, 2nd, and 5th with Casey Mears – who replaced Vickers in the no. 25 car – coming home in 15th. As if that all weren’t enough, another tidbit you may find interesting is the fact that in both of those seasons all four of the race teams won at least one race.

In 2008 the organization loses Kyle Busch but replaces him with the most popular driver in all of motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Between the four drivers that now compile the Sprint Cup roster at Hendrick Motorsports, they have a combined 132 wins in 1200 career starts, giving them a history of winning approximately 11% of their starts. It’s a star-studded lineup, and you’re going to have to search high and low to find any race fan that doesn’t believe that they’ll produce a star-studded season in 2008.

Cup Series Roster:

5: Casey Mears – With the departure of Kyle Busch from the HMS lineup, this year Mears makes the move from the no. 25 to the no. 5. In his first year with Hendrick Motorsports, Mears dropped one spot in the rankings from ’04 despite improving both in top-five and top-ten finishes, not to mention picking up his first-ever Cup Series victory (Spring race at Lowe’s). Despite having a career-high points finish of only 14th (2006), Casey continues to show extreme potential, and it goes without saying that if he could find a certain level of consistency, he’d undoubtedly be a very strong Chase candidate. Consistency isn’t a very hard commodity to find within the Hendrick organization, but with Junior replacing Kyle Busch this season, Casey will not only remain the fourth team in line in terms of priority, but it’s a very distant fourth. While some believe that the fourth car at HMS is better than the second car virtually anywhere else, I’m not often of the same opinion. Despite the fact that he deserves it, I believe that the attention HMS will give towards getting Junior off to a hot start, trying to get Jimmie back to a third consecutive championship, and the effort they’ll give to making Gordon a strong contender again this year will prove to be too much. Casey falls just shy of making the Chase class yet again this year.

24: Jeff Gordon – The man, the myth, the legend. Arguably the greatest driver this sport has seen in the last 15 years, and undoubtedly one of t he best of all-time, Gordon fell just short in his quest for his “Drive for Five” last year and heads into ’08 with only one thing on his mind … winning his fifth Cup Series Championship. After missing the Chase altogether in 2005, many fans had given up on Gordon and believed that he had passed his prime and was merely a shell of his former self. Well, he proved the critics wrong by bouncing back with a 6th place finish in 2006 with 2 wins, 14 top-five’s, and 18 top-tens, and then absolutely stunned the masses last year by finishing runner-up to Johnson in a season that brought him six victories, 21 top-five’s, and a record-setting 30 top-ten finishes. He also led the points standings by a wide margin for the majority of the year, and if not for a late-season rampage by Johnson, Gordon would have very-well accomplished his goal. This year I expect much of the same from JG, and I still expect him to fall shy of his goal yet again … barely. He finishes runner-up to the Championship yet again, this time losing it to Kenseth.

48: Jimmie Johnson – 15 victories, 33 top-five’s, 48 top-ten’s, and 2 Cup Championships. Those are Jimmie Johnson’s statistics for the last two seasons, and those two years alone already put Johnson into NASCAR’s elite driver class of all-time. This year he will attempt to become only the second driver in the sport’s history to win three consecutive championships, but I truly believe that quest will be denied. Will Johnson dominate parts of the season? Without a doubt. I just don’t see three-in-a-row for Johnson, though, just like I didn’t see a perfect season for the New England Patriots. I know most won’t agree with it, but Johnson finishes fourth this year.

88: Dale Earnhardt Jr – Junior has gotten off to a marvelous start with his new team already, and it’s started quite a buzz with the fans and media alike. He won the Budweiser Shootout and then the Gatorade Duel, and now he walks into the Daytona 500 as the heavy favorite to win … and, he is very likely to do that. It’s got many people believing that he can finally win his first Cup Championship this season, but I think that may be asking a little too much of the guy. I mean, he hasn’t won a points race in about two years, and now we want him to win a championship just because he has a new team? Junior’s performance will improve dramatically in 2008, no doubt about it … and, he will make the Chase for the Sprint Cup platform … he’s going to win races. But, win a championship he will not. There’s a lot of tracks that Dale will run well at, but the combination of the media frenzy surrounding everything that he’s done leading up to this season combined with trying to figure out the HMS setups and the COT, he’s going to have some difficulties that popup along the way. He will finish 2008 in the second half of the Chase field.

Driver Roster: A+
Off-Season: A
2008 Outlook: A+

What’s happening around the Sports Channel? More than you can imagine!

David Kindervater of Every Morning Quarterback is in Phoenix for Super Bowl Media Day, while the rest of us are busy writing about some of the Top 10 things in sports.

This week in the b5media Sports Channel round-up, we offer some amazing lists assembled by our fabulous group of bloggers. Don’t miss out on any of these terrific Top 10 lists.

• Learn more about playing poker in Tunica from Blake Butler at All Poker Addicts.
• Allison Boyer from BCS Frenzy explains the Top 10 things you girlfriend doesn’t know about football.
• In case you missed the best college basketball jerseys, Rich Carlson tells you about the ugliest ones too at College Fast Break.
• Al Bianchi shares with everyone, the Top 10 sounds of sports at Dejuiced.
• Tim Zaegel recaps 2007 with a list of the biggest headlines in NASCAR at Do You Nascar.
• At Getting Reel, Don Zaegel talks about the Top 10 reasons BWS will survive.
• Jodie Boduch answers the question, Where is Tom Brady? at Gossip On Sports.
• Planning a golf vacation? Sandy Mitchell at Green Posse tells you all about the Top 10 spots.
• Hockey fans will love Jeanne Dupuis’ Top 10 hockey goal celebrations at Hockey Beat.
• Don’t miss out on the list of best fantasy basketball players under 25 from Stephen Kersey at Hoops Fantasy.
• Kori Ellis provides information on the Astros single-season batting leaders in Hunter Pence’s blog at Inside the Ballpark.
• Geoff Young from Knuckle Curve provides an amazing list of indispensable baseball resources. Don’t miss this!
• Joe Ruiz writes about the Top 10 WNBA games to watch at Ladies Court.
• Sasha Manuel from Light the Torch offers the Top 10 Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
• James Edwards breaks down the Top 10 teams in the league right now at NBA Obsessed.
• Erica Beck gives you the Top 10 moments from the Australian Open at Rackets and Balls.
• Dinsa Sachan from Six and Out provides a list of the Top 10 weird dismissals in cricket
• James Edwards at Squib Kick writes about the Top 10 reasons the Patriots are 18-0.
• Here are the Top 10 fantasy football quarterbacks from Kori Ellis at the The Fantasy Kickoff.
• Who’s making all the money? Jyle Dupuis gives us the scoop with the list of the highest paid soccer players at The Footie.
• Place your bets on the Super Bowl with T.O. Whenham’s advice at Ultra Sports Bet.
• T.O. gives us even more insight with the Top 10 Things That Won’t Effect the Super Bowl.