Despite being handed his walking papers from Hendrick Motorsports when the team announced at the end of June that Casey Mears would no longer be the driver of the no. 5 car in 2009, it’s not exactly the end of world for Mears. Really, if it had to happen, it couldn’t have happened in a better year with seats still remaining open at Richard Childress Racing, Penske Racing, and technically, even Stewart-Haas Racing for next season.

With Roger Penske and Ryan Newman recently announcing their split at the end of the year, the no. 12 ride at Penske has now become one of the more highly touted rides available for ‘09. Though early signs have indicated that the team may opt take the easy and less negotiable route by signing their current Sprint Cup test driver, David Stremme, to drive the car, one has to wonder if it doesn’t actually just make too much sense for Roger and company to head in another direction and start focusing on a potential deal that would land Mears in that car next season.

For starters, Casey’s uncle - 4-time Indy 500 winner, Rick Mears - spent more than 15 years driving for Penske in the open wheel ranks, and still works as a consultant for the organization. Casey’s father, Roger Mears, also competed in 4 Indy 500’s running a Penske chassis, so there’s definitely some family ties between Penske and the Mears family.

Additionally, upon his retirement from the Penske organization and racing altogether in 2005, the legendary Rusty Wallace petitioned for Roger to look at Casey as a candidate to fill his shoes in the famed no. 2 “Blue Deuce”, though the team ultimately decided to go with 2004 Cup champion, Kurt Busch.

At that time, Mears was still racing for Chip Ganassi Racing, which also runs out of the Dodge Racing camp - the same manufacturer of choice as Penske. Casey failed to put together a winning effort while running for Ganassi as he didn’t reach that pinnacle until 2007 with Hendrick, but he did experience his best points season with them in ‘06 when he finished 14th overall in the points standings.

Mears could arguably be the most established driver on the free agent market available to Penske, pending a fallout in the ongoing negotiations between Martin Truex Jr. and DEI, though the rumor mill there has Truex potentially joining the ranks of RCR should he happen to leave.

It’s no huge secret that Ryan Newman and Rusty Wallace were never exactly the closest of friends during the few short years that they teamed together at Penske Racing earlier this decade, and their relationship was again tested this past weekend at Indianapolis, and it was Rusty that fired the opening shots.

Baffled at the notion that anyone would ever dare leave a man that he has such deep respect for, Roger Penske and his organization, Rusty allegated that it was Penske Racing’s decision to let Newman go and that they’d fired him.

“He didn’t leave,” Wallace stated. “I’ve read many, many stories that said that. Roger Penske called Ryan Newman up to his office and said, ‘I don’t need your services next year.’ Ryan Newman didn’t come to him and say ‘I’m leaving.’ Ok? You all need to write about that. That’s exactly how it went down. Obviously there was some bad blood there when that happened. I love Roger Penske, so I’m going to help clear the story up for him.”

Newman was later addressed by the media about Rusty’s comments. Always the witty one, and never one to let himself get pushed around, Newman’s responses did not disappoint.

When asked if Rusty’s comments upset him, Newman responded, “Was he concious when he said it? …. It doesn’t matter to me. I know Rusty and his personalities - plural - and, everybody is different.”

Rusty was always apprehensive of Newman ever since the day that the Daytona 500 winner joined Penske Racing full-time back in 2002, and the two have never been on the same page ever since. The bad blood there could have a lot to do with the statements that Rusty made, but then again, there are probably few people in the sport as close to Penske as Wallace is. It is a bit shocking, however, that as one of NASCAR’s distinct faces in the broadcast booth now with ESPN taking the helm for the current portion of the Sprint Cup schedule, that Rusty would be so blatant in calling out one of the drivers, particularly one he has a history with. Darrell Waltrip caused quite a stir when he found himself in similar situation when he was bashing on Tony Stewart week after week, and many fans still take an anti-DW stance because of comments he made during that span.

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It came as very little surprise to most fans when Roger Penske announced on Monday afternoon that Penske Racing and Ryan Newman were unable to come to terms in their ongoing contract negotiations, and that Newman would be leaving the team following the completion of the 2008 NASCAR season.

Newman currently sits 16th in points and has been slowly working his way down the points standings ever since winning the season-opening Daytona 500 back in February, which also marks the only victory for the no. 12 team since the end of 2005. Still, with 13 wins and 105 top-ten finishes over 243 starts since making his debut in November of 2005, Newman is heavily viewed as the most sought after free agent still available on the market for next year.

When asked about his future plans, Newman stated that he basically has three options available to him, one of course being the open ride at the newly formed Stewart Haas Racing with fellow “Hoosier”, Tony Stewart. The other two rides that Newman is suspected to be considering are the no. 33 car at Richard Childress Racing and Stewart’s current car, the no. 20 at Joe Gibbs Racing.

“I appreciate Penkse Racing and all that they have done for me,” Newman stated in a press release. “But, more importantly, I appreciate their friendship and what they have done for my career.”

Officials at Penske Racing did not say who they were looking at to drive for the no. 12 team next season, but did say that they would make that announcement in the very near future. Many people believe that the ride will go to their current test driver, David Stremme, or to Casey Mears, who was recently released by Hendrick Motorsports in favor of Mark Martin for the 2009 season.

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With the Sprint Cup Series now just one week away from reaching the official halfway marker of 2008, DYN is going to take a look at the 5 most disappointing teams and drivers in the series so far this year:

5. Ryan Newman - no. 12 car - Penske Racing - After missing out on the Chase for the Cup playoffs in each of the past two seasons, Newman came into 2008 - his contract year with Penske - with high hopes of finding some of the magic that he and the no. 12 team had a little earlier in his career. Things got off to a great start when Ryan gave Roger Penske his first-ever restrictor plate win when he won the season-opening Daytona 500, but the season’s been downhill ever since. Newman’s finished inside the top-five only once more since then, and has slipped down to 15th in the standings.

4. Dario Franchitti - no. 40 car - Chip Ganassi Racing - Nobody should have been expecting this team to tally any marks in the win column in Dario’s rookie campaign in the Sprint Cup Series, but sharing a team with Juan Pablo Montoya, many believed that he would be able to use a lot of the second-hand information from JPM’s transition into stock cars last year to his advantage. That has not been the case thus far, however, as Dario has failed to finish inside of the top-20 in any of the ten races he’s competed in this year. Even more disappointing is the fact that he failed to qualify for the road course race in Sonoma, the place where Montoya picked up his first NASCAR win and many felt that Dario would get his best finish to-date. 

3. Elliott Sadler - no. 19 car - Gillette-Evernham Motorsports - Once considered a perrenial Chase contender while racing for Yates Racing, Sadler came to Evernham Motorsports with high hopes when he relieved Jeremy Mayfield of his driving duties in the no. 19 car. Things haven’t really panned out so far, though, as Elliott just recently picked up his first top-five of the season last weekend at Loudon. They have also been unable to improve on their points position from last year. In 2007 he finished 25th in the standings, which is also where he currently sits 17 races into 2008.

2. Jamie McMurray - no. 26 car - Roush-Fenway Racing: In a NASCAR season that’s been dominated with Silly Season headlines, McMurray is one of the remaining drivers that still finds his name on the potential chopping block. Even if he survives 2008 with a job in-hand, he can pretty count on ‘09 being his last year with the organization unless he performs anything short of a miracle. 17 races into the season, McMurray finds himself with only 3 top-ten finishes, and no top-five efforts to show. 2006 - McMurray’s first season with Roush - marked the worst points season of Jamie’s career when he finished 25th. After climbing up to 17th last season, many people felt that he and the no. 26 team were finally beginning to develop some chemistry, but that has not been the case. He dropped as low as 36th in the standings earlier in the year following Bristol. They’ve been able to find a level of consistency since then, but they still find themselves down in 24th in the points, with very little hope of making the Chase.

1. Kurt Busch - no. 2 car - Penske Racing: After the addition of Pat Tryson as the Crew Chief, the team made a late-summer charge in 2007 to get Kurt into the Chase for the Cup, and the they came into 2008 with high expectations across the board. Kurt just recently picked up his first victory of the season last weekend at New Hampshire, but the car still tremendously lacked the desired performance. Furthermore, the win gave Kurt only his third top-ten finish of the season. The team finished 8th in points in 2007, but currently sit 18th overall and find themselves 222 points behind 12th place, Kevin Harvick.

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They added an extra scheduled lap this year to the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, but it was all for naught as the race was halted for rain on lap 284 of the scheduled 301-lap event, and in the end, it was surprise-winner Kurt Busch standing in Victory Lane to get his first victory of the season, and the second of 2008 for car owner, Roger Penske. Busch was far from the dominant car at any point throughout the day, but some pit strategy and a little bit of luck went a long way in getting the “Blue Deuce” up to the front of the pack after 8 cars stayed on the track during a caution on lap 271.

The race started out with a green flag look to it with Kevin Harvick taking the lead away from polesitter, Patrick Carpentier, just four laps into it. Harvick then dominated the first leg of the race until he surrendered the lead to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 44, but regained the lead after a round of green flag stops brough Harvick back out in front, and shuffled Junior back to fourth.

The first caution flag came out when David Reutimann spun the no. 40 Dodge of Dario Franchitti on lap 88, and that’s when teams first started rolling the dice, as the cars of Casey Mears and Brian Vickers stayed out on the track, pushing Mears out to the front of the field. With the running order mixed up at this points, fans were treated to a little bit of excitement as the Hendrick cars of Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson all raced each other hard for position for the 7th through 9th spots, with Jr. getting loose on lap 94 and nearly taking out all three of the team cars.

The next caution waived for debris on lap 140, putting all of the drivers back onto the same pit cycle. This time it was Tony Stewart winning the race off of pit road after starting all the way back in the 28th position. Stewart maintained the position for the next 132 laps, giving him an extra five bonus points for leading the most laps.

Perhaps the key moment of the race came on lap 217 when Kasey Kahne spun Aric Almirola as the two raced each other hard for position. Almirola nearly made a great save to keep his no. 8 DEI car off the wall - just moments after making another great save - but, he eventually turned all the way around and clipped the wall, bringing out the fifth yellow on the day. With most teams feeling that the caution came just outside their established pit window and that they would still have to stop again later in the race, only a handful of cars came down pit road, to include Kurt Busch.

After watching a great side-by-side battle between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson at the beginning of the next run, the race fell a little stagnant for the next 40 laps. Then, on lap 271, Jamie McMurray got into Earnhardt as the no. 88 car tried to get onto pit road. Both cars spun hard, also picking up the no. 6 of David Ragan in the process.

The majority of the field came into pit, with Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Jeff Burton all beating Stewart off of pit road with fuel-only stops. Stewart made a 2-tire stop and was the sixth car off of pit road, but unfortunately for the no. 20 Home Depot team, eight other cars that stopped on the lap 217 caution all stayed out on the track, and Smoke was stuck way back in 14th for the restart.

Kurt Busch took the green flag on the restart and held onto the lead until the seventh caution flag waived on lap 279 when Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish Jr. got tangled up in a spin. The track then got a little bit messier when Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya started playing bumper cars under the yellow, which eventually led to Montoya making a left turn into the rear end of the points leader, which ultimately sent both cars spinning.

The race never did get restarted, as rain eventually found its way to the track as the field turned laps under the yellow. NASCAR brought out the red flag, and it was only a matter of minutes before officials made the call, handing Kurt Busch his first victory of the season. Behind him were the cars of Michael Waltrip, JJ Yeley, Martin Truex Jr, Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson, and Casey Mears, all of whom pitted on lap 217. Denny Hamlin was the first car in the running order that came down pit road on lap 271, as he finished in 8th, and right behind him was Jimmie Johnson in 9th. Bobby LaBonte completed the top-ten, also making his final stop on lap 217.

Other Notables: Jeff Gordon finished 11th … Jeff Burton continued his streak as the only driver to finish in the top-15 of every race this season. He finished 12th after starting in 31st … Tony Stewart was relegated to a disappointing 13th place run after leading a race-high 132 laps. He also became only the 13th driver in NASCAR history to lead more than 10,000 laps in his career … Kevin Harvick led the second-most laps in the race, but wound up 14th … Carl Edwards was the highest running Roush-Fenway car in the race in 17th, and right behind him was teammate, Matt Kenseth, in 18th. The race marked the end of Kenseth’s run of six consecutive finishes of 8th or better … Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 24th after the accident ended a good run for his team … Points leader, Kyle Busch, suffered a 25th place finish … Polesitter, Patrick Carpentier, led three laps on the day and wound up 31st.

The distorted running order at the end of the race shook up the points standings as one might expect. Kyle Busch held onto the top spot, but saw his lead over 2nd place, Jeff Burton, shrink to just 64 points. 1st through 6th remained unchanged, but Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle swapped spots in 7th and 8th. Behind them, Tony Stewart moved up two spots to 9th, while Kasey Kahne and Clint Bowyer each dropped a position and moved down to 10th and 11th. Kevin Harvick made his way back into the top-12, where he now holds a 15-point lead over 13th place, Matt Kenseth.

Grades:
the Race - 92%
the Drama - 96%
Coverage - 92%
Pre-Race - 88%

Overall Grade: 92.4%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com)

Recommended Reads:
- Kurt Busch Sees Rain, Red and NHMS Win - (Full Throttle)
- Busch (the Other One) Wins at New Hampshire - (Bruce’s Bits & Pieces)
- McMurray Takes the Blame for Wrecking Dale Jr. - (Captain Thunder Racing)

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Utter heartbreak and sheer disappointment. That’s the best way to describe Kurt Busch’s career in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ever since younger brother, Kyle, joined the circuit full-time for Hendrick Motorsports back in 2005 … well, I guess you could throw subtle envy into that equation as well. Since then, it just seems as though the seasons have been getting longer and tougher for the 2004 Cup Series champ.

Okay, so maybe it has less to do with Kyle and more to do with Kurt’s jump from Roush-Fenway Racing over to Penske Racing, but the numbers don’t lie, and the numbers indicate to us that there’s something amiss with the no. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team these days. In his first four full seasons of racing in NASCAR’s premier series, Kurt tallied a total of 11 wins, 34 top-five’s, and 61 top-ten’s and won Jack Roush’s second consecutive Cup for him. Since the beginning of 2005, however, those numbers have taken a severe hit, as he’s put together only 6 more wins, 23 top-five’s, and 45 top-ten’s, with his best points finish in that span coming during his 8th place run last year after having to put together a late-season rally just to make the cut for the Chase field.

To add a little salt to the wound, since Kyle’s emergence onto the Cup scene, he’s beaten big bro in every major statistical category with the exception of pole awards - only due to the 6 poles that Kurt won in his 2006 campaign - and, Kyle appears to be in major contention to win the title this year while Kurt lags back in 21st place in the points standings.

After finding some success with the addition of Pat Tryson as his crew chief late in the ‘07 season - a move that many people feel salvaged the year for the team - many people expected a big year from Kurt this season, but that hasn’t been the case by any means. He was able to finish runner-up to teammate, Ryan Newman, at the Daytona 500 and received many kudos from around the racing nation for the big push that he gave Ryan at the end of the race to push him across the finish line and secure the first restrictor plate win for car owner, Roger Penske.

Since then it’s been downhill, though. He went onto score top-15 finishes at Atlanta, Fontana, and Bristol, but finished outside of the top-20 in the five events that followed, as Kurt plummeted down the points standings. They put together a decent run at Darlington, where they finished 12th, and then they got the car out front last weekend in Charlotte and appeared to be the class of the field through the early portions of the race before that heartbreak and disappointment kicked back in.

After leading 64 laps in the race, Kurt was running second behind race leader, Brian Vickers, on lap 161 when a blown right tire sent him flying into the wall and ended his bid for the win. He was able to get his car back out on the track without losing any laps, but the damage was severe enough to halter any progress he attempted to make towards the front, and ultimately settled for a 16th place finish.

Now, with only 14 races remaining before NASCAR sets their Chase field with the top-12 drivers, Kurt finds himself all the way down in 21st - 668 points back from his brother and current points leader, Kyle Busch, and 262 points separating he and 12th place, Kasey Kahne. This is the furthest back in points that Kurt has ever been at this point in the season. The good news for Kurt Busch fans, though, is that his average finish in races 13 through 26 last year was 13.07 and consisted of 2 wins and 7 top-ten finishes.

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Several rumors have been floating around the internet this week ever since the Los Angeles Times printed an article that two-time winner of the Indy 500 and the recent subject of Dancing With the Stars, Helio Castroneves, stated this past Monday that he had indeed thought about one day trying his hand at the realm of the stock car world, and that he and car owner, Roger Penske, would talk after this weekend’s Indianapolis 500.

On Wednesday, Castroneves refuted the allegations, claiming that the LA Times took his comments out of context, and that even if he were to ever one day make the jump over to NASCAR, that day wouldn’t be today … or tomorrow … or any day on the 2009 calendar.

“Every driver is thinking about NASCAR or new challenges, let’s put it this way. But, it depends on the opportunity, and my opportunity right now is great being here in IndyCar, especially with the merger.” He later added, “The future, I don’t know what’s going to happen. But, right now, the only thing I can say is I’m very much committed to my team. I love where I’m at, and hopefully we can continue.”

When asked about his comments that he and Roger Penske would talk after Indy, Helio responded, “That’s the way we always do it with this team. It doesn’t mean I’m going to go anywhere.”

I think it be great to see Castroneves competing in NASCAR one day, but at the same time, I don’t really see a need to push the envelope and rushing things. NASCAR isn’t exactly hurting for a lack of former open wheel stars these days.

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Sprint Cup Series driver, Ryan Newman, started the 2008 season off in grand fashion by winning the race of all races, the Daytona 500. Things couldn’t be better for Newman at the time. He was leading the Sprint Cup standings for the first time in his career, he’d bolstered the public perception of how well he and teammate, Kurt Busch, could work together after Busch gave him that huge push to win the race, and he’d forever solidified his name in the walls of Penske Racing by giving Roger his first-ever restrictor plate win.

Newman followed up his big win with a 10th place run the following week in Fontana, CA during the Auto Club 500, but things started to turn south real quick after that for the driver that fans once highly regarded as “Flyin” Ryan. Following that race, Newman then embarked on a string of four consecutive races outside the top-ten, including a 33rd place finish at Bristol thanks to mechanical issues.

Things have since started to turn back around for Newman, though. He’s currently pieced together three top-ten finishes in his last four starts, and would probably have four straight if not for another engine failure at Phoenix that caused him to finish dead last. After once looking as though he might slip outside of the top-12 in points, he remains in 11th place with a 56 point cushion between he and 13th place Jeff Gordon, and after ten races, he has been within the Chase field for the entire season now. Looking forward, the immediate future is looking bright for Newman, as he boasts the fourth best driver rating at Darlington according to racingone.com, and has an overall average finish there of 5th place.

It should also be noted that this is a pivotal year in the career of Newman, for both he and Penske Racing. Newman’s contract is up following the 2008 season, and if he fails to resign by the end of the season, he could potentially leave his name out there as the hottest free agent on the market. In the two years prior to ‘08, Newman compiled zero wins and finished outside of the top-12 both years.

In Other News:
- Roush Racing is looking more and more like they will be heading into 2009 with the same driver lineup as they entered this season with, despite having two of their biggest contracts expire at the end of the season. Carl Edwards, who currently leads the Cup Series in victories this year, recently inked a deal with Roush that will keep him with the organization for another three years, reported to be worth approximately $6 million a year. Greg Biffle’s contract is also up after this season, but continues to report that he’s 99% confident that a return to Roush-Fenway Racing is eminent, and that he has not yet begun fielding offers from any other race teams.

- It was recently reported widely across the internet that Bobby LaBonte signed a deal over the weekend with his current team, Petty Enterprises, that will lock up the driver of the no. 43 Dodge with the organization for the remainder of his career. The news came after Richard Childress Racing announced the formation of a fourth race team next season and that they had already signed General Mills to be their sponsor in 2009, and speculation immediately ran rampant that LaBonte would later be announced as the team’s driver. In response to the news of him resigning with Petty, LaBonte told the media Saturday in Richmond prior to the race that, “Unless you’ve heard it from me, it’s probably not true.” To that, there is still no official word as to whether or not these rumors hold true.

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Rumors are once more rearing their head in the NASCAR garage area, and once again the center of attention is NASCAR’s most controversial driver, non-other than Tony Stewart – or, the man we’ve come to know as “Smoke”.

It’s become public knowledge that Tony’s contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires at the end of 2008, but when posed with the question as to whether or not he had any interest in driving RCR’s newly added no. 33 Chevy Impala next year, Stewart implied that he was quite happy at JGR and had no intention of leaving the organization.

Now, there is another rumor … one that insinuates that Stewart could potentially have interest in a partnership with Haas CNC Racing as a driver/owner. Such a venture wouldn’t mean necessarily that Stewart would have to stop racing for Gibbs, but the interesting factor in this equation is that while JGR has made the jump to Toyota this year, Haas CNC is currently committed to General Motors.

While Stewart has joked that he doesn’t feel as though he’s politically correct enough to be a team owner in NASCAR’s highest ranks, many in the garage area feel that he’s exactly the kind of owner that NASCAR needs. One veteran driver felt that since the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr, there hasn’t been a driver/owner in the garage that could stand up for the drivers’ concerns in a manner that NASCAR would take seriously.

In Other News:
- Anticipation in the media is that Penske Racing will announce on Tuesday that David Stremme will take on the task of being their new test driver. Stremme currently drives the no. 64 car for Rusty Wallace Inc. in the Nationwide Series – a team that still has strong ties to the Penske organization – but, hasn’t driven in the Cup Series since being relieved of his ride in the no. 40 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge in favor of rookie Dario Franchitti. Many people feel that Roger Penske may decide to field Sam Hornish Jr, the driver of his no. 77 Cup entry, into the Indianapolis 500, which could open the doors for Stremme to drive the Cup car that weekend.

It feels like NASCAR has already put us on one heck of a roller coaster ride just three weeks into the young 2008 Sprint Cup season, and a very large part of that has to do with the constant revolving door of individual media attention that’s been given to specific drivers. With the exception of those few controversial stories that we’ve run into – ie, Robby Gordon’s Daytona penalty – it seems that for the last four weeks the media frenzy has been focused solely on one individual driver, and it’s been a different driver each week.

The week heading into Daytona, everything was all about Dale Earnhardt Jr … Junior switched teams, Junior has a new number and new sponsors, Junior won the Shootout, Junior won the Gatorade Duel, Junior’s gonna win the Daytona 500, Junior’s might actually compete for a NASCAR Sprint Cup title … should I keep going with this, or do we all get the point? Basically, as we sat and waited through Speed Weeks, Earnhardt could do no wrong, and there was very little doubt that anyone other than Junior could win the 50th running of the Daytona 500. It was basically a stacked deck …

Then, we get through the Daytona 500 and Ryan Newman is standing in victory lane with car owner Roger Penske and Earnhardt Jr finished in ninth place. It was the first win for Newman since 2005, the first-ever restrictor plate win for Roger Penske, and it was also the first time Penske had ever had two of his own cars finish 1st and 2nd at the end of a race. Out with Junior and in with Newman, cause if you’re buying into the media hype, suddenly Flyin’ Ryan is back on track and now we’re all talking about Newman’s averages at Fontana even though the numbers aren’t that great.

So, California ends after a wet and miserable weekend. Forget about the race winner or where Newman and Earnhardt finished, because the big story here is that after Kyle Busch scored his second straight top five victory, he’s now the points leader in the Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck Series’, and he’s second in the Nationwide Series. Between the three series, up to this point he’d run six total races and finished in the top five in all six events. We can’t get enough of how much this young cat’s matured since coming over to Joe Gibbs Racing, and now we can all forget about Junior altogether, because it’s obvious that Gibbs walked away with the best pickup of the off-season. Busch’s hype is then only glorified that much more when he takes the Pole at his hometown track of Las Vegas and becomes the odds-on-favorite to walk away with the checkers.

Well, the UAW-Dodge 400 is over, and we’re not really talking about Junior, Newman, or Busch anymore despite the fact that Busch is still second in points, Newman’s  third, and Junior finished second in the race. Why? Because Carl Edwards has just won his second race of the year and is now the new points leader barring any penalties from NASCAR for a missing oil lid found in post-race inspections. But, basically after a lackluster performance in Vegas, people have settled down over the theory that Toyota’s running an ample amount more of horsepower, and Penske’s miracle run at Daytona is slowly being relegated to the back of most people’s minds as something that likely may not happen again. Now, the talk of the town is about how Roush-Fenway Racing has really gotten a handle on the new race car, and they’ve shown up to rival Hendrick Motorsports as the class of the field.

The point of this post is not to put any of these people down or to diminish the credibility of their accomplishments by insinuating that they don’t deserve the public eye that’s been cast their way. Rather, my intention is to simply point out that the bandwagon frenzy that’s become so commonplace in professional sports has never been illustrated quite as clearly in NASCAR until now. Every week we’re jumping all over this person or that based on what they’ve done in the last week or two rather than maintaining an impartial view of the big – or complete – picture. Will Ryan Newman have a better year in 2008 than he has in either of the last two seasons? Well, he didn’t win a race or make the Chase in ’06 or ’07 and he’s already won a race this year, so I think the answer’s obvious. Will Junior run more successfully with HMS than he did with DEI? Yes, because Hendrick Motorsports has a history of allowing their drivers to run half their races without engine or mechanical failure. Has Kyle Busch matured since the 2007 season? Last I checked, as a general rule of thumb, most folks do tend to mature just a little bit more with each passing year. The point is, yes, these guys deserve their time in the spotlight when they’re running well, but as I go from site to site, it’s become abundantly clear to me that, yes, media overkill does exist.

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

1) Will Dale Earnhardt Jr. live up to his pre-season hype and contend for a championship with Hendrick Motorsports in 2008?

2) Was Ryan Newman’s Daytona 500 victory a fluke, or do he and teammate Kurt Busch stand a legitimate shot at competing for the title this year?

3) Is Kyle Busch good enough to continue this momentum for the entire year? Does he have a shot at winning any of NASCAR’s three main series championships in 2008?

4) Has Roush Racing turned their COT program around enough to compete with Hendrick Motorsports in the long run this year, or is Carl Edwards just on a hot streak?