Dangerous sports and activities are always under review, but often changes come only after the ultimate loss is felt and someone dies during the execution. Sunday’s crash during the final lap of the Aaron 499 at Talladega Superspeedway has reawakened cries for changes to NASCAR, changes to blocking and aggressive driving that many see as the ultimate cause of the crash. NASCAR has responded by suggesting they may implement harsher penalties as a result of their analysis of Sunday’s crash, but stopped short of blaming the drivers’ tactics for the crash that propelled Carl Edward’s car into the track’s restraining fence.

NASCAR studies crash

Debris from the crash injured seven people sitting in the stands by the restraining fence, Blake Bobbitt is listed in fair condition at UAB Hospital and another fan was transported to Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham for undisclosed medical reasons but was later released. All additional injured fans were able to be treated and then released at the track, so they got lucky today when you think about it, it could have been much worse.

NASCAR has a history of innovative and cutting edge safety implementation that has certainly saved lives and will continue to analysis and implement safety improvements when appropriate. They have taken an aggressive approach lately as regards aggressive driving on restrictor-plate venues, even installing “no zones” to mark areas of certain tracks where excessive bump-drafting and other aggressive driving techniques are forbidden.

NASCAR has stated that further restrictions resulting from Sunday’s crash will probably be in the form of penalties served by drivers during races for infractions to the rules instead of a hit to race points or monetary penalties after the crash has occurred. They mentioned that the safety systems in place at Talladega did work as designed, the roof flaps on Edward’s car did deploy, and his car was about to settle before it was struck again and propelled into the restraining fence that did its job, although a few pieces of debris did fly through the fence.

NASCAR hopefully will properly analysis this situation and the knowledge they gain will help to prevent and lessen the possibility of future crashes and save a few lives that might be gone accept for the changes they make.

Image: Newscom

Talladega Superspeedway is a track that fills all drivers with energy, especially a veteran driver like Dale Earnhardt Jr. can look back through the years of his racing career to days at Talladega that he will never forget. In fact, Earnhardt has had some of his finest days as a NASCAR racer at this storied venue that has a history that will be remembered in the annals of NASCAR. Earnhardt has won a total of five Cup Series wins at this fast and dangerous track 2.66 mile race course and on race driving in the Nationwide Series, and he would surely like to add to his list of victories at Talladega.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. likes his chances in the Aaron 312

Taking the checkered flag in Saturday’s Aaron 312 driving his JR Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet would be a victory that would be unique in even his career and a truly amazing feat. Earnhardt has raced four times on the Nationwide Series this year, he finished seventh at Daytona, fifth at Las Vegas, and 20^th at Texas, so he has had a slow start in the Nationwide Series season, and is certainly thinking of winning this time. He finished sixth in last seasons Aaron 312, so he has run pretty fast and steady on this track before, and should have a better idea of the necessary car set-up.

Earnhardt will certainly know about the possible perils of restrictor-plate racing and the possibility of being taken out of the race with a rub or two, so will temper his optimism with realism, but you can’t win if you don’t try.

He’s always been lucky enough to stay out of major mishaps at this venue, so we don’t want to jinx him, and hopefully his luck will hold and his driving skill will keep him out of any major problems and he’ll finish strong once again.

Image: Newscom

The winless streaks by drivers such as Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick have ranked amongst some of the biggest stories so far this season. They came into this week’s race at Watkins Glen as some of the odds-on-favorite to win, but alas, Kyle Busch shut the door on those plans yet again. This week’s “List of the Week” will feature the 10 longest winless droughts amongst the drivers inside the top-20 in points.

10. Matt Kenseth - 22 races - Last Win: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Fall 2007
9. Jeff Gordon - 27 races - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Fall 2007
8. Greg Biffle - 29 races - Kansas Speedway, Fall 2007
7. Tony Stewart - 36 races - Watkins Glen International, Summer 2007
6. Jamie McMurray - 40 races - Daytona International Speedway, Summer 2007

5. Martin Truex Jr. - 45 races - Dover International Speedway, Spring 2007
4. Kevin Harvick - 57 races - Daytona International Speedway, Spring 2007
3. David Ragan - 60 races - No NSCS wins
2. Brian Vickers - 68 races - Talladega Superspeedway, Fall 2006
1. Elliott Sadler - 141 races - Auto Club Speedway, Fall 2004

Image details: UAW-Ford 500 served by picapp.com

In the face of all of the scrutiny that has overcome NASCAR’s recent development, the Car of Tomorrow, there have also been quite a few tracks that have seen improved racing this year, largely attributed to the new car. Based on what we’ve seen this season and in the limited number of COT races in 2007, here are the tracks that have seen the most improvement:

5. Phoenix International Raceway - Though the racing was never terrible at Phoenix, it wasn’t great, either. The Subway Fresh Fit 500, however, ranks amongst my favorite races of the first half of the season, and that’s even with the outcome being determined by fuel mileage (which is something I can easily get tired of).

4. Infineon Raceway - While road course racing has never been my favorite, I always had a particularly bad perception of Infineon out in Sonoma, CA. While I still didn’t think the Toyota Save/Mart 350 in June was great by any means, I did think that the track had found significant improvement from where it was in years past.

3. New Hampshire Motor Speedway - While the Car of Tomorrow setup doesn’t seem to agree with the 1.5 mile “cookie cutter” tracks thus far, it seems to have done wonders for the action at the 1.0 speedway in Loudon, NH. While I would typically dread the very thought of NASCAR’s visit to New Hampshire, I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased with the action in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 just a couple of weeks ago.

2. Daytona International Speedway - Despite it being the most hyped and celebrated of all tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule, more often than not, the hype seemed to out perform that actual races themselves. That no longer seems to be the case, however, as both the Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400 rank amongst the best and most exciting races through the first half of 2008.

1. Talladega Superspeedway - There was quite a bit of uncertainty when the teams unloaded the COT at Talladega for the first time earlier this Spring, but in the end, the Aaron’s 499 resembled something along the lines of an actual race instead of just the crapshoot that it normally is (or was).

Image details: Daytona 500 served by picapp.com

This week, NASCAR returns to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400, one of the biggest races of the year on the Sprint Cup schedule. With Daytona being one of NASCAR’s two restrictor plate courses, the track has fallen under quite a bit of scrutiny over the years. While it’s still loved by many, there are still those that feel as though things tend to get a bit overhyped whenever the series heads down to Florida. But, whether you love it or you hate it, one thing cannot be denied, and that is that the 50th running of the Daytona 500 held here this past February was one that brought plenty of excitement. In fact, some believe that race was actually one of the Car of Tomorrow’s shining moments to date.

Recent Winners:
2008 - Ryan Newman
2007 - Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick
2006 - Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson
2005 - Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon

Recent Pole Winners:
2008 - Jimmie Johnson
2007 - “Cancelled Qualifying”, David Gilliland
2006 - Boris Said, Jeff Burton
2005 - Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett

the Usual Suspects:
Despite the fact that he hasn’t won a Cup race all season long and that he’s been under the microscope this season in regards to his contract situation, Tony Stewart remains one of the favorites to win this Saturday. Along with boasting the highest driver rating over the last 7 races at the track, Tony has also won this race twice before (’05 & ‘06), and also holds the track record for most laps led in a 400-mile race when he led 151 circuits back in 2005. Additionally, Smoke leads all active drivers in the series with wins between June through August since 2003 with 12 of them to his credit. He also led the most laps at this year’s 500, only to lose the lead on the final lap of the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is certainly considered the fan favorite to win the race this weekend, and rightfully so. Dale owns two Cup victories at Daytona himself, and has recorded 10 top-ten finishes over 17 starts. He ran very well during the Daytona 500 in February and at times appeared as though he might grab a victory in his very first start with Hendrick Motorsports, but eventually faded away near the end. Now that he’s finally broken his winless streak by taking the checkered flag at Michigan, perhaps the no. 88 team’s been able to relieve themselves of enough pressure to regain Jr’s status as the master of restrictor plate racing.

Both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have seen their share of dominant days at Daytona. Gordon leads all active drivers with 6 wins here, and Johnson had a stretch of five consecutive Daytona races with a finish of 6th or better, which also included a win at the 2006 Daytona 500. Since that win, however, Johnson has recorded only one top-ten finish in the four races since, and he finished 27th here in February. Gordon’s last Daytona victory came at the 500 the year before.

Amongst the other favorites to win this weekend is Kevin Harvick, winner of the 2007 Daytona 500. Harvick has struggled at the track since then, finishing 34th last July and 14th earlier this year. He’s also had his struggles over the last few weeks of the season, but also known as one of the best night racers in the series, a return to Daytona could be just what the doctor ordered … Kyle Busch’s over all numbers at Daytona seem to be about middle of the road, but you can pretty much chalk that up to a few bad runs earlier on in his career. He’s finished inside the top-five in 3 of the last 4 trips to Daytona, to include a pair of runner-up finishes, and he finally picked up his first restrictor plate win earlier this year at Talladega … Kurt Busch may have gotten the monkey off his back with his win last weekend at New Hampshire, and it could’ve come at just the right time. With the number 2 time finding themselves in a much deeper hole than they could’ve ever expected to have to climb out of this late in the season, there might not be a track they’d rather visit more than Daytona. He has still yet to add a Daytona victory to his championship resume’, but he’s always considered a favorite here with 7 top-five finishes over 15 races. He has finished as the runner-up here on three occassions.

the Unusual Suspects:
When you start to think about sleeper picks at Daytona, probably the first name that jumps out to you is the guy that beat Kyle Busch to the line in this race last year, Jamie McMurray. The 2007 victory was only Jamie’s second top-five finish at the track in his career, but don’t let the numbers fool you. McMurray’s been a solid performer here ever since he started running full-time in the Cup Series, but as has been the case so many times throughout his career, he has been the unfortunate victim of bad luck more often than not.

Elliott Sadler has run well here at times, especially as of late. He has finished 6th in three of the last four Daytona races, and also scored a pair of top-five’s here back in 2001 … Brian Vickers has had a great run for his Red Bull Racing team over the past couple of months, and Vickers is especially known for his restrictor plate prowess. Though he typically runs stronger at Talladega, he does have a pair of top-ten’s at Daytona, and finished 12th here in February … Robby Gordon typically isn’t associated with many tracks other than road course races, but you may be surprised to learn that he is currently working on a string of five consecutive top-15 finishes at Daytona.

the Unusual Slackers:
It’s not very often that folks will make it a point to drop Denny Hamlin from there fantasy rosters for an upcoming race, but a trip to Daytona could call for such action. Not only has Denny failed to record a single top-15 finish in his five trips to Daytona, but his average finish of 27.0 actually matches that of JJ Yeley … Carl Edwards has been one of the top performers of the season, and is heavily considered to be amongst the true championship contenders this year. That does not mean, however, that he’s necessarily solid at every track on the schedule. Carl has only one top-ten finish in 7 Daytona races, which was a 4th place run here last July. He was unable to use that for any kind of momentum, however, as he then finished 19th here in February … Carl’s teammate, Matt Kenseth, hasn’t had much better luck taming Daytona, either. With only one top-five to his credit and an average finish here of 22.9 over 17 races, Daytona ranks amongst Matt’s worst tracks … Martin Truex Jr. is in dire need of a good run if he wants to return to the Chase for the Cup field this year, but if you ask him, Daytona’s not the best place to be given the current situation. Martin’s 13th place run here last July ranks as his best finish over six races at Daytona.

Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Tony Stewart - 108.1
2. Ryan Newman - 98.6
3. Jimmie Johnson - 95.5
4. Kyle Busch - 95.3
5. Kurt Busch - 93.0

Best Average Finishes (from racingone.com):
1. Clint Bowyer - 13.0
2. Jimmie Johnson - 13.2
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 13.8
4. Sam Hornish Jr. - 15.0
5. David Gilliland - 15.7 

Daytona Facts:
- A Cup race at Daytona has gone without any lead changes on two different occassions, the last of which came back in 1963.
- The race has gone caution-free 12 times, most recently the Daytona 500 in 1971.
- The most drivers to ever finish on the lead lap at Daytona is 33. Eight races have seen only one driver finish on the lead lap, most recently in 1976.
- In 122 Cup Series races at Daytona, only 10 times has the winner come from outside of a top-15 starting position. 55% of the races have been won from the top-five, and 23 winners have started from the pole.
- Only four drivers have ever won both the Daytona 500 and the July race at Daytona in the same year: Fireball Roberts, Cale Yarbrough, LeRoy Yarbrough, and most recently, Bobby Allison in 1982. Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500 this year, giving Penske Racing their first-ever restrictor plate victory. 

Storylines for the Weekend:
Hendrick Motorsports has recently announced the release of Casey Mears from the no. 5 car next season. They’re expected to make an announcement on Friday in regards to whom will fill the seat in 2009, and heavy speculation at this point is that the announcement will involve the legendary Mark Martin … Though he is not on this weekend’s driver entry list, DEI has named the young Aric Almirola as the full-time driver of their no. 8 car in ‘09 … In a surprise move, Chip Ganassi Racing announced earlier in the week that they would be forced to shut down operations on their no. 40 car, which until then had been driven by 2007 Indy 500 winner, Dario Franchitti, due to a lack of sponsorship opportunities … This weekend’s Cup entry list includes Boris Said (making his 2nd start of the season) and Sterling Marlin (making his 6th start). Marlin leads all drivers on the entry list with 589 laps led at Daytona - 57 more laps than Tony Stewart, and 78 more than Jeff Gordon … Kerry Earnhardt will run the no. 8 entry in the Nationwide Series this weekend, marking his first official start in a DEI car in a NASCAR event.

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner - Tony Stewart
2nd Place - Jimmie Johnson
3rd Place - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4th Place - Kurt Busch
5th Place - Kyle Busch
6th Place - Greg Biffle

Lock of the Week - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sleeper Pick - Brian Vickers
Steer Clear of - Martin Truex Jr.

Video - Jamie McMurray wins the 2007 Pepsi 400

Okay, so they’re actually pretty good friends and probably the furthest thing from being rivals with one another, but still. It’s pretty abnormal for Smoke to run this deep into the season without a Sprint Cup win to show for it, but so far in 2008, he’s managed to do just that. Of course, the racing Gods haven’t really seemed to help Stewart out much in that department, either. What … a pit road speeding violation during the last round of stops at Pocono … the cut tire at Charlotte … the late race wreck at Talladega … the mid-race wreck at Vegas … and, of course, the last lap pass at Daytona … all races that Stewart could have won - but, didn’t.

But, wait … I believe there’s two more, the most recent of which came this past Sunday at Infineon Raceway at the Toyota Save/Mart 350. With only a small handful of laps remaining and Stewart 2nd and Kevin Harvick in 4th, Harvick got into the turn to fast and clipped the no. 26 Ford of Jamie McMurray. McMurray then got into Stewart, once again taking a winning opportunity out of Smoke’s hands, though he did somehow manage to come back for a top-ten finish.

That wasn’t the first time that Harvick took the race out of Harvick’s hands this year, though. When the series ran at Bristol back in March, Harvick was racing Stewart for 2nd place in the last five laps of the race when Harvick got down on the apron going through turn 2, and he climbed up the track and got into Tony, sending him from 2nd to 14th just like that.

Despite attempts from the media, Stewart refused to show any angst towards Harvick following the incident at Sonoma this past Sunday, and all indications are that the two are still on good terms. But, of course, anytime they feel that their friendship has hit a rough patch, I’m sure Kevin will be more than willing to wax Tony again. Eeeewww.

Recent Winners:
2007 - Juan Pablo Montoya
2006 - Jeff Gordon
2005 - Tony Stewart

Recent Pole Winners:
2007 - Jamie McMurray
2006 - Kurt Busch
2005 - Jeff Gordon

Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Juan Pablo Montoya - 115.3
2. Tony Stewart - 113.9
3. Kurt Busch - 109.3
4. Ryan Newman - 104.3
5. Boris Said - 103.9

Best Average Finishes (from racingone.com):
1. Juan Pablo Montoya - 1.0
2. Jeff Gordon - 8.7
3. Mark Martin - 9.2
4. Ryan Newman - 9.8
5.  Tony Stewart / Clint Bowyer - 10.0

Most Wins - Jeff Gordon (5)
Most Wins (Active) - Jeff Gordon (5)
Most Poles - Jeff Gordon (5)
Most Poles (Active) - Jeff Gordon (5)
Most Top 5’s - Ricky Rudd (10)
Most Top 10’s - Mark Martin (13)
Most Manufacturer Wins - Chevrolet (9)
Track Qualifying Record - Jeff Gordon (75.950 seconds / 2005)

Odd Facts:
- A Sprint Cup race at Infineon has never seen more than 9 different leaders in any one race, and has never had more than 10 lead changes. Compare that to Talladega, which sometimes sees more than 50 lead changes in a single race.
- Michael Waltrip holds the record for the most laps run at Infineon and the most starts at the track without a DNF (18 races). His best finish at the track, however, is 4th, which came in 2004.

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner - Tony Stewart
2nd Place - Juan Pablo Montoya
3rd Place - Jeff Gordon
4th Place - Boris Said
5th Place - Jeff Burton
6th Place - Scott Pruett

Lock of the Week - Juan Pablo Montoya
Sleeper Pick - Marcos Ambrose
Steer Clear of - Kasey Kahne

If you talked to most race fans last week, you probably didn’t pickup on a ton of excitement heading into this weekend’s action. The Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck Series were both heading to Michigan, and the Nationwide Series was set to take to Kentucky Speedway … two tracks that probably don’t rank up there on most fans’ list of favorites. Yet, somehow, someway, NASCAR is coming off of one of its most historic weekends in recent memory.

It all started with the Truck Series’ Cool City Customs 200 on Saturday afternoon. With a late race caution bunching the field up with just six laps left, Johnny Benson tried to rundown Erik Darnell for the win. It proved to be futile, as Darnell escaped with the win, but Benson was edged by just 0.005 seconds at the finish line - the closest winning margin in the history of the Craftsman Truck Series (or, at least since they began using electronic scoring in the 90’s). The win was the second in Darnell’s career.

The next big moment came at the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway, when the young Joey Logano - in only his third career Nationwide Series start - became the youngest winner in series history at just 18 years, 21 days old. The victory also gave Joe Gibbs Racing their tenth win of the season in the Nationwide Series (15th overall between the NNS & Cup Series), and many non-believers are now beginning to believe in the youngster’s talent and potential future in the sport. His nickname “Sliced Bread” is becoming to appear more and more appropriate.

NASCAR then topped off their big weekend as Dale Earnhardt Jr. used fuel strategy to overcome a largely anticipated Roush-Fenway Racing victory in the Lifelock 400 at Michigan. Roush had won 6 of the last 12 events held at MIS, and appeared to be in position for another with Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards looking very strong late in the race. In the end, though, it was Dale Jr. reaching Victory Lane for the first time in 76 races. Perhaps most impressive about the victory was the fact that it didn’t come at the track that people expected it to. Earlier in the season everyone had predicted Earnhardt to win at tracks that he’d enjoyed tremendous success at in the past such as Daytona, Talladega, Richmond, and Darlington. He’d come close on several occassions, but in the end, the victory finally came when Junior Nation had least expected it.

Throughout the season, there have been many races that I’d been very much looking forward to, only to find myself utterly disappointed after 400 or 500 miles. On the flip side of that, there have also been a few tracks that didn’t particularly excite me, but the end result turned out to be much better than expected. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s a product of the Car of Tomorrow, or if it’s just one of those off deals, but it just goes to show you than anything can happen on any given Sunday.

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

1) How many NNS races will Joey Logano win in 2008?
2) How many Sprint Cup races will Dale Earnhardt Jr. win in 2008?
3) Which race was the most exciting of the weekend?
4) Which driver’s win means the most to his career?

We all know that Joe Gibbs Racing has established themselves as the powerhouse of the field at this point in time. We know that Roush-Fenway Racing has come a long way in figuring out this new car and that Hendrick Motorsports seems to have lost the edge that they had on everyone else last year. We’ve analyzed potential contractual signings every which way we could, and still found ourselves locked in a guessing game. Been there, done that, but perhaps one of the stories that we haven’t talked nearly enough about are two teams that are holding out hope of getting a driver into contention for the Chase for the Cup for the first time in their team’s history, and another that hasn’t fielded a Chase contender since 2004.

Once considered one of the top organizations in NASCAR, Yates Racing last visited Victory Lane back in the Fall of 2005 when Dale Jarrett drove the no. 88 car to a win at Talladega and the last time they were able to land a driver inside the top-12 in points was with Elliott Sadler back in ‘04. Since those days, the team has gone through a horrendous rebuilding stage and continue to struggle week in and week out to find primary sponsorship of their cars driven by Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland. Both are highly regarded as “underdogs” every Sunday when the series hits the track, and both have failed to land a top-five finish all season long. Still, they’ve continued to push forward, and have managed to turn a few heads along the way, particularly Kvapil. Coming into the season as a driver that nobody really paid much attention to, Travis admittedly got off to a rather slow start. But, something seems to have clicked within this team ever since a solid run at Phoenix turned sour and he finished 22nd. After that race, Kvapil sat 24th in points, but four finishes of 16th or better in the last six races - highlighted with a 6th place run at Talladega and an 8th place run in Darlington - have now moved Travis up six spots in the standings. He’s now 18th in points and trails 12th place, Tony Stewart, by only 150 points.

Red Bull Racing has been the team that quite a few people have been talking about as of late. With Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger behind the wheel for the organization, the team managed to qualify for only 40 races in a combined 72 attempts in their inaugural season in 2007. Coming into the season with both cars outside of the top-35 in points and forced to qualify on time, Allmendinger again missed out on the first three events of ‘08 before being replaced temporarily by veteran driver, Mike Skinner. Despite failing to finish inside of the top-25 in any of the five races that Skinner filled in, the move appears to have paid dividends. AJ has been able to take what he’s learned from Skinner and put it to good use on the track, first winning the All-Star Showdown at Lowe’s to make the cut for the All-Star event itself, and then scoring a career best 12th place finish last week at Pocono. Still, the focus of the media on this team has been placed with Brian Vickers, who appears to be on the verge of scoring the second Cup victory of his career. After a disappointing 2007 that brought him only 1 top-five and 5 top-ten’s, Vickers has been impressive on several occassions this year, though it may not always show up in the results column. He’s been strong on all of the superspeedways, but the team really started to turn heads when they established themselves as one of the dominant cars in the Coca Cola 600 before an equipment failure ended their day. Since then he’s bounced back with a 13th place effort at Dover and finished 2nd last week at Pocono. Brian has now moved up to 17th place overall and trails 12th by a mere 112 points.

Rounding out the list of underdogs making a charge towards the Chase is non-other than Petty Enterprises. Despite the fact that this team has more wins than any other organization in the history of the sport and a slieu of championships from when “the King” himself, Richard Petty, drove the car, the company hasn’t celebrated a win since 1999 when John Andretti won at Martinsville, and the closest they’ve come to a bid for the Chase was an 18th place finish in the standings last year from Bobby LaBonte. Now, nobody’s really sure who will drive the no. 45 car next year as Kyle Petty, Chad McCumbee, and Terry LaBonte have all failed to do much with the ride, but Bobby continues to press forward. Though he’s failed to score a top-ten all season long, he does have seven top-15’s and has gone the entire year without a DNF, something that has hindered the team in recent years. Additionally, he’s got six finishes of 18th or better in the last eight races, which started with a 12th place run at Phoenix, and LaBonte now resides in 19th in the standings, trailing his former Gibbs teammate in 12th by 159 points.

As many of the drivers in the top-12 continue to experience their share of misfortunes as they bounce back and forth between the bubble spots, this could be a prime opportunity for one of these teams to capitalize. But, with the recent emergance of guys like David Ragan, the resurgance of Matt Kenseth, and other perrenial Chase hopefuls such as Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr. standing between them as well, the guys currently in the top-12 may not be all they’ll have to contend with.

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

1. Which driver in these 3 organizations will be the first to score their first / next win?
2. Are consistent top-15 and top-20 runs going to be enough to land a driver in the Chase field?
3. Which of these teams has made the best organizational move(s) in the last 2 years?
4. Will any of these 3 teams get a driver into the 2008 Chase? If so, who?

*Credit photos to Newscom.

Ahh, yes, it’s another Friday, and Spring is in the air (though it’s starting to feel a bit like Summer!). But, it’s the end of the week, nonetheless, and we all know what that means. I’m joined here by Bruce Simmons from Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces, and the infamous Charlie Turner from On Pit Row for our weekly rendition of “Loose in Turn Three”.

This week here at Do You NASCAR, we’re going to take a look at the Toyota lineup and determine if anyone other than Joe Gibbs Racing is going to win them some races this year. We’re also going to play Jury on Denny Hamlin’s involvement in the huge accident this past weekend at Dover over at Bruce’s website, and we’re going to reveal some of the most underrated drivers in NASCAR over at On Pit Row.

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

Q: Joe Gibbs Racing has won four times in the Sprint Cup Series this season, but in two years, they are the only Toyota team to win a race in Cup racing. Will a non-JGR driver reach Victory Lane in 2008?

TZ: Ya know, with the way that Kyle Busch and the rest of the Gibbs cars have been running, sometimes I wonder if another team at all will win again this year! In all seriousness, though, I think the dominance of the JGR cars has really overshadowed just how much the rest of these guys have really improved as organizations. After failing to qualify for all of those races in 2007, now they’ve got a bunch of drivers up in the top-35 in owner points, and they’ve run strong at a bunch of tracks. There’s one guy that’s really caught my eye, though, and that of course is Brian Vickers. I do in fact think he’ll win this year, and I think it will happen at either Lowe’s or Talladega in the Fall.

Charlie: Probably not.  JGR is Toyota’s “A” Team in Cup. Only Chevy has more than one “A” Team. Ford has only one. Dodge may not have even one. I think that Brian Vickers is capable of a win.  Dave Blaney is fast enough if all the stars line up somewhere like Pocono or Michigan. But the odds are long. Waltrips teams are more worried about top 30 finishes than wins.

Bruce:  I think JGR has the Toyota win column locked up.  I like Vickers also for a win, but reasonably, I only think he’ll get there via a lucky stroke of the fuel mileage window or weather god.  Toyota made a good deal, no matter what it was or how expensive it was to get their nameplate in the circle of winners..  Not to mention big name drivers associated with them now.

Follow the rest of this discussion:
- What happened with Denny Hamlin in the Dover wreck?

- Who is the most under-rated driver in NASCAR and how is he over-looked relative to his talent/value?

*Credit photo to Newscom.