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

Much to pretty much everyone’s surprise, Patrick Carpentier won his first career Sprint Cup pole award when his no. 10 Gillette-Evernham Dodge turned the fastest lap during Friday’s qualifying session, clocking in at 29.349 seconds. Patrick, whom some people feel may be in danger of losing his ride next season, will start Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway from the pole position, lining up on the front row next to Bobby LaBonte, whose fastest lap came in 0.163 seconds slower than Carpentier.

Lining up on the inside of Row 2 will be Scott Riggs, whom like Carpentier, enters Sunday’s race outside of the top-35 in owner’s points, and is in dire need of a good finish. Next to him will be 2006 New Hampshire winner, Kevin Harvick. Row 3 consists of fan favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Reed Sorenson, who returns to the no. 41 Chip Ganassi Dodge after sitting out last week at Infineon. Dario Franchitti and Martin Truex Jr. qualified 7th and 8th, and Matt Kenseth and AJ Allmendinger round out the top-10 starters.

Last year’s race winners at New Hampshire, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer, qualified 12th and 18th respectively. Carl Edwards qualified 17th; Jeff Gordon qualified 19th; Jimmie Johnson qualified 23rd; and for the second week in a row, Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart turned in lackluster qualifying efforts and will start the race in 27th and 28th. Also for the second consecutive week, the majority of the top-ten starters are drivers currently outside of the top-12. The only drivers to accomplish the feat this week were Earnhardt and Kenseth.

Only two drivers failed to qualify for Sunday’s race. Tony Raines was scheduled to make his first start of the season in the no. 34 Furniture Row Motorsports Chevrolet, but came in 0.020 seconds too slow and failed to make the show. Marcos Ambros was slated to make his second start behind the wheel of the no. 21 Wood Bros. Ford, but was the slowest car on the track and was 0.233 seconds slower than 43rd place qualifier, Joe Nemechek.

Click here for the complete starting grid for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301.

Post from: EveryJoe

Carpentier Wins First Career Pole

Through 55 years of racing at NASCAR’s top level, the Wood Brothers have established themselves amongst the all-time winningest teams in the sport’s history with an accumulated 97 wins amongst the organization. The organization has housed such legendary names as Cale Yarbrough, David Pearson, Davey Allison, AJ Foyt, Tiny Lund, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, and Dan Gurney. The team made history in the late 70’s when they were invited to the White House by former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter … Yet, Wood Brothers Racing has not visited Victory Lane since Elliott Sadler’s 2001 win at Bristol Motor Speedway, and the organization has been relegated to one of stock car racing’s proverbial laughing stocks in recent years.

With the team struggling, and the evolution of the NASCAR economy seeming to work against them and the Ford Racing program, team owner Glen Wood sought to keep the driving program afloat by signing veteran drivers Bill Elliott and Ken Schrader to drive the no. 21 Ford for the team in 2007. The end result, however, was less than desirable as the combination failed to net the Wood Bros. a single top-ten finish, and much hasn’t changed in 2008 with Elliott again behind the wheel this year, this time being complimented by Jon Wood on occassion.

So, what does a team do when they’ve fallen so far off of the mark of excellence that they themselves established so long ago? They go out and fetch themselves the 31-year-old Aussie that’s largely credited with the revival of Ford Racing in Australia - Marcos Ambrose. Adequately named the “Tasmanian Devil,” Ambrose, a former Formula Ford Euro Cup and 2x former V8 Supercar Championship Series champion, broke into the NASCAR scene in 2006 when the Wood Brothers / JTG Racing partnership signed Ambrose to compete in full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series. Not being cleared by NASCAR to compete in the first three races of the season, Ambrose was limited to 22 races in which he garnered 4 top-ten finishes, including a pair of 3rd place runs at Nashville and Kansas.

The team then set Ambrose’s sights on the Nationwide Series in 2007, where Marcos tallied 6 top-ten runs through 35 events and ultimately finished 8th in the overall points standings, and was the third highest ranked non-Cup regular in the standings. 2008 has gotten Marcos off to a bit of a slower start in the series, where he currently sits 13th in points, but a 2nd place run at the road course in Mexico earlier in the season prompted a callup from the Wood Brothers this past weekend at Infineon.

Slated to make his long-awaited Sprint Cup debut behind the wheel of the famed no. 21 Ford Fusion, Ambrose got the weekend off to a great start when he was the 7th fastest during qualifying, and then led the final practice session on Saturday. Looking to prove his road course prowess was no joke and that he belonged at NASCAR’s premier level, Ambrose then established himself as one of the top cars in the field and definitely one of the guys to beat on Sunday, though looking at the box score following the race, you’d have never known it unless you’d watched the race yourself.

Marcos ran with the leaders and stayed up around the top-five all day long, even when pit strategies shuffled several of the other race leaders back into the pack. Only some unprovoked contact from Elliott Sadler late in the race kept him from getting the finish he deserved, and yet, even after a 42nd place run, both Ambrose and the Wood Brothers organization were rather upbeat following the race.

“Just awesome,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. Here I am, passing Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, racing with Earnhardt Jr, it’s just fantastic. It’s what I dreamed about, what I dreamed it would be like. It’s certainly like that. It’s just fantastic. It’s just a real shame we couldn’t finish the race.”

While most people probably find it tough to see the silver lining in a 42nd place finish, those that have followed the Wood Brothers throughout the years know that they’ve been far from competitive the last few years, and that even though the finish wasn’t indicative of the good run, it’s a huge morale booster for the organization to have a car run as well as Marcos did on Sunday. Ambrose is now scheduled to compete in seven more Cup events in the no. 21 car, including next weekend at New Hampshire and the August road course race at Watkins Glen.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Is Ambrose the Ticket for the Wood Bros.’ Return to Prosperity?

Heading into Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway, most people weren’t talking about points leader Kyle Busch as a favorite to win, especially since he was starting all the way back from the 30th position … well, they were wrong. Busch put his no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota out front on lap 32, and then held the position for the remainder of the race, with the exception of 2 laps that were led by Carl Edwards during green flag pit stops.

Busch gained his track position due to some good fortune when he and nine other cars made their first pit stops just prior to the first caution of the day on lap 30. Up to that point, the race had been dominated by Jimmie Johnson, who took the lead from polesitter, Kasey Kahne, back on lap 5. The caution forced all of the cars that hadn’t yet stopped into the pits, and marred the race leaders back into traffic. Greg Biffle inherited the lead at that point, but his string of misfortunes continued as he spun through the dirt going through turn 3. Busch was riding in third at that point, but the second place car of Juan Pablo Montoya had to check up during Biffle’s spin, and Kyle made the pass on both cars.

Carl Edwards, who had been in second when the first caution came out, had worked his way back up into the top-five prior to the next round of pit stops, but was again the victim of another untimely caution. He was handed the lead after Kyle Busch and several other cars had pitted, but the caution waived again on the following lap when Kurt Busch and Robby Gordon made contact on lap 70, and Gordon was unable to get his car restarted. Once the remaining cars came in for their stops, Edwards found himself outside of the top-20, and Busch was once again named the race leader.

The next bit of excitement came on lap 78 when Marcos Ambrose – making his Sprint Cup debut – got into Juan Pablo Montoya as the two raced for position inside the top-five. The contact sent Juan spinning on the track, but he was able to maintain position inside the top-15. The damage was very minor to Ambrose’s car as well, but the no. 19 of Elliott Sadler got into the back of him with just 26 to go. No caution came out for the incident, but Ambrose pulled his car onto pit road, and the no. 21 Wood Bros team called it quits for the day.

The final 10 laps in the scheduled 110-lap race saw three separate cautions brought out. The first of which came when Michael McDowell cut down a left side tire that sent him screaming into the wall on lap 101. The field lined up with Kyle Busch still out in front, followed by Jamie McMurray, Tony Stewart, and Kevin Harvick. The trio behind Busch brought out the fifth caution of the day when Harvick got into the turn a bit too hard and clipped the rear end of McMurray, who was already loose. McMurray then clipped Stewart, and all three cars went spinning.

With the field bunched up, a bunch of cars got into one another around the middle of the pack, and Tony Stewart just sort of drove through all of them. Receiving the most of the damage was the no. 41 Dodge of Scott Pruett, who drove his wrecked race car off the track as NASCAR waived the final caution of the day, and eventually red flagged the race as they cleaned up the mess. The field lined up for one final restart in NASCAR’s fifth green-white-checkered finish of the season, but it was all for naught. Kyle Busch did as he had all day long and drove away from the field yet again, and eventually landed himself in Victory Lane for the fifth time in 2008.

David Gilliland held onto the 2nd spot and earned himself the best finish of his career, and only his second top-five in his three seasons with Yates Racing. Behind him in third was Jeff Gordon, who had a miserable start to the day, but managed to fall in-line with the pit stops and the cautions and pickup a much-needed top-five for his team. In 4th was Clint Bowyer, and 5th place went to Casey Mears, who picked up his first top-five finish of the season.

Juan Pablo Montoya rebounded from his earlier incident with Marcos Ambrose, and the no. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team salvaged a 6th place run. 7th place went to Ryan Newman, who started in 9th and went virtually unnoticed the entire afternoon as he hung around just outside of the top-ten for most of the day. Matt Kenseth probably had an even quieter day than Newman, but still managed to finish in 8th, which was also good enough to move him back inside the top-12 in points. Despite having one of the best cars all day, the pit strategies did not fall in the favor of the no. 99 Roush team, and Carl Edwards was forced to settle with a 9th place finish. And, Tony Stewart – who restarted in 19th on lap 108 – managed to fight his way back up through the field to in the last couple of laps to finish 10th.

Other Notables: Greg Biffle recovered from his earlier spin to finish 11th … Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished with a satisfactory 12th place run … Jeff Burton continued his streak of top-15 runs with a 13th place finish … Defending Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, was dumped by Greg Biffle on lap 100, but was able to rebound with to 15th … Terry LaBonte finished 17th for Petty Enterprises … After running inside of the top-five most of the day, the late race mishap relegated Jamie McMurray to 18th … Elliott Sadler also had a good run going, but had a tire go down after the final restart that sent him from 4th to 19th … Kevin Harvick wound up in 30th … Polesitter, Kasey Kahne, dropped like a rock after giving up the lead on lap 5 and wound up finishing 33rd.

The top five spots in the points standings remained unchanged, while Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle leap-frogged Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne to move into 6th and 7th. Clint Bowyer went from 12th to 10th, while Tony Stewart remained 11th. And, as previously mentioned, Matt Kenseth finally made his way into the Chase field, taking over the 12th spot in the standings, while Kevin Harvick dropped from the cut for the first time this season. He sits in 13th now, just 2 points behind Kenseth.

Grades:
the Race – 72%
the Drama – 78%
Coverage – 90%
Pre-Race – 84%

Overall Grade: 78.0%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

 
Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Recommended Reads:
- Busch Wins Toyota Save/Mart 350 – (the Lead Lap)
- Kyle Busch Dominates in Sonoma – (Racing for the Win)

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Rating the Race: Infineon – Toyota Save/Mart 350

If you ask any driver or any team owner, they’ll be the first to tell you that every race is a big deal, and nobody can deny that. But, as I take a look at the starting grid for the Toyota Save/Mart 350 and then look at the points standings, when I combine that with everything that I know has already taken place in this crazy season, I can’t help but think that it especially holds true this weekend at Infineon Raceway, and it all starts right there at the top of the field.

Kasey Kahne has been on a helluva roll ever since he won the All-Star Race in Charlotte about a month ago. Of the four points races that have taken place since then, he’s won two of them and finished 2nd in another, with his only hiccup coming when he got caught up in the big pileup at Dover. Yet, the typical race fan would be quick to discount Kahne as a legitimate threat to win the championship this year, and would chalk it up as nothing more than a hot streak. Kasey must be privvy to these statements, though, because he didn’t let the fact that he’s never scored higher than 23rd at Infineon stop him from pacing the field during Friday’s qualifying runs and taking the pole for Sunday’s race. Now, with all of the momentum going in his favor, a win – or, even a top-five – could and probably would establish Kahne as the real deal … for this season at least.

The most disappointing team in 2008 has without a doubt been Penske Racing, where Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch are currently 17th and 19th in the points standings. Since pulling off their dramatic 1-2 finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, the duo has combined for only one more top-five and five more top-ten finishes. Looking to turn their seasons around, a stop at Infineon could be just what the doctor ordered. Both Newman and Busch rank amongst the series’ top-ten full-time active drivers at Infineon in terms of best average finishes, and both will be starting Sunday’s event from top-ten starting positions.

Perhaps the buzz of the town this weekend surrounds Marcos Ambrose, who will make his Sprint Cup debut when the green flag drops in Sonoma. Stepping inside of the no. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers this weekend, Ambrose will be looking to use his road course expertise to turn a few heads at Sonoma in hopes of landing a ride in the series next year. He qualified 7th and led the final practice speeds, though he did lose control of the car about halfway through the practice session and ran into the tire barriers. There was a bit of damage sustained to the left side of the car, but the crew was able to repair the car, and there seems to be little concern over the mishap for Sunday.

And, of course every team owner in the garage will be expecting top results from their former open-wheel stars that have since joined the ranks of NASCAR full-time. Afterall, if these guys are unable to get the job on the road courses – the one place they’re expected to do well – then what kind of results should they really expect from their drivers on a weekly basis going forward? Just ask Dario Franchitti how secure he feels his job is now after the 2007 IndyCar Series champion failed to qualify for Sonoma. With that in mind, you can bet that fellow Ganassi teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, will be looking to rebound from his 21st starting position and recapture some of the glory that helped him win this race last year. But, at least he doesn’t have it near as bad as Patrick Carpentier, whom has been rumored to be on the chopping block over at Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. Carpentier, a former IRL driver himself, will start Sunday’s race from the 37th position.

Road course racing has been on the receiving end of more than its chare of criticism from NASCAR fans over the years, and often finds itself on the losing end of such debates. Whether you’re a fan or not, though, one thing cannot be denied, and that’s the fact that this drama-filled season is sure to play a part at Sonoma.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

There’s A Lot Riding on Sonoma

In a combined 10 starts at Infineon Raceway, Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson have a total of two top-ten finishes, but that didn’t stop them from running the two fastest laps during Friday’s Sprint Cup qualifying session. Kahne, whose best Sonoma finish was 23rd last year, turned a lap of 77.740 seconds to take his second Coors Lite Pool Award of the season, with the first coming just a couple of weeks ago at Pocono in a race that he dominated. Johnson has a top-five and 2 top-ten finishes in his six starts at Infineon, but he finished just 17th here last year.

Kahne and Johnson are two of only four drivers currently in the top-12 in points that will start Sunday’s race from one of the top-ten starting spots. Qualifying 3rd and 4th were Kurt Busch and Bobby LaBonte, whom sit 19th and 20th in points Qualifying 5th was Jeff Gordon, and 6th went to Elliott Sadler. Marcos Ambrose, making his first start in the Sprint Cup Series, ran his Wood Bros no. 21 Ford fast enough to start 7th on Sunday and was the highest qualifier of all the “ringers.” The next quickest in line was Robby Gordon, and starting 9th and 10th are Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle.

Last week’s race winner, Dale Earnhardt Jr, qualified 15th. The winner of the Save Mart 350 last year, Juan Pablo Montoya, will start 21st. Meanwhile, things are not looking so bright for the camp over at Joe Gibbs Racing, where points leader, Kyle Busch, qualified 30th and Tony Stewart earned himself his worst starting position of the season and will start 39th. The other Gibbs driver, Denny Hamlin, did manage to qualify 13th, however.

Of this year’s Road Course Ringers, Ambrose is the only one starting from a top-ten position. Boris Said will start from 14th, but all of the other ringers qualified outside of the top-20. Failing to qualify for the race were Brandon Ash, Dario Franchitti, JJ Yeley, and Scott Riggs.

Click here to view the complete Starting Grid for Sunday’s race.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Kahne Will Hit the Road in Sonoma With the Pole

As you tune into TNT this Sunday afternoon to watch NASCAR’s Cup race, your first inclination may very well be that you mistakenly tuned into the IndyCar Series race … but, wait … why are they driving stock cars, right? Well, don’t try to adjust the set or flip the channel, because that, my friend, is indeed the Sprint Cup Series, and that’s what we call road racin’.

See, for as long as I can remember, twice a year team owners go out and fetch themselves an experienced road course racer in an effort to tame the mountains in Sonoma, CA or the hills at Watkins Glen, NY, replacing their less-than-adequate Cup drivers that have never driven anything other than a stock car since the day they graduated from go-karts and late models.

Scrolling through this year’s entry list for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, though, at first glance it doesn’t really seem that bad. Of the 47 entries, all 7 of them are fairly familiar names to viewers that follow the Cup Series exclusively, but this year is unique in that there are also four drivers entered for the race that are full-time Cup drivers, yet they actually have more open-wheel and road course racing experience than they do driving the ovals (Patrick Carpentier, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr), not to mention two more drivers that also have their share of experience in the open wheel ranks (Robby Gordon, AJ Allmendinger).

The most notable of the changes taking place amongst the teams this year is no doubt within the ranks of Chip Ganassi Racing, where Reed Sorenson – in his second season of Cup racing – has been replaced by one of the most famous road course ringers of all, Scott Pruett. Pruett has driven in 11 road course races in the Cup Series that have resulted in 3 top-five’s and 5 top-ten finishes, and also finished 3rd earlier this year in the Corona Mexico 200 in the Nationwide Series. He does not currently compete full-time in any of racing’s premier series, and is frequently used as a hired gun of sorts, often by Ganassi. Pruett’s also won three Daytona Prototype races this year alone, including the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

My gripe on this one doesn’t necessarily lie so much with the addition of Pruett to the team for the road course race, but moreso with the seclusion of Sorenson. I’m a huge advocate of the theory that if you hired a guy to be your driver, then for Pete’s sake, let him drive! It may seem like an unlikely scenario at this point in Sorenson’s career, but what happens if the day comes that Sorenson is competing to make the coveted Chase field? You can’t pull him from the race at that point, but with minimal road course experience under his belt, you’re hurting his chances of salvaging a decent finish and moving onward to stay competitive for the Chase. Granted, that’s far from the case this season as Reed currently sits 32nd in points, but to me it’s a clear cut case of Ganassi being near-sighted … meaning that he’s only looking at the here and now, wanting to increase his odds for a win on Sunday. But, whatever happened to planning for the future? Of course, they’re doing the exact same thing over at DEI where they’re replacing young Regan Smith this weekend with the likes of Ron Fellows. Different team, but I hold the same opinion.

One driver that I’m very particularly interested to see this weekend, however, is Marcos Ambrose who will be making his Sprint Cup Series debut behind the wheel of the no. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Early in his career, Ambrose had driven in the open-wheel circuit, garnering the Formula Ford Euro Cup championship in 1998 and two V8 Supercar Championship titles in ‘03 and ‘04. He broke into the ranks of NASCAR through the Craftsman Truck Series in 2006 and then progressed to the Nationwide Series last year, where he finished 8th in points.  This year he currently sits in 13th with only 3 top-ten finishes through 16 races, but there have been several occassions where he’s looked promising, including his near-victory at the Corona Mexico 200 road course race where he finished 2nd.

And, of course, we cannot mention road course ringers without including the beloved Boris Said. Boris’ last attempt to compete in a Cup race came at the beginning of the year when he failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, but he did compete in the Nationwide Series race in Mexico, and as some of you may recall, Marcos Ambrose’s road to second traveled through the Boris’ back bumper. If you don’t remember what I’m talking about, go back and read “Ambrose is the Latest Said Head.” With no points on the line, if these two happen to cross paths at some point during the race, well, let’s just say things could get exciting really fast.

Other road course ringers on the entry list for this weekend’s race include Brian Simo, Max Papis, and Brandon Ash.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Road Course Ringers Flood Sonoma

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Post from: EveryJoe

Let’s Talk Contracts

Right from the start of the practice sessions for the Budweiser Shootout, everyone in the garage area was talking about how loose the cars had felt on the track, as this was the first time that the COT would be run at Daytona. This no doubt played a small role in causing an accident during the Friday practice session that sent several teams to backup cars for the Shootout the following day. One has to believe that the loose feelings and the bump stops generated in the COT setup will no doubt play a vital role in today’s race, and many people believe that it’s inevitable that “the Big One” will occur at some point between mile one and mile five-hundred by the end of today.

Shortly after that accident that I was just talking about, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch made contact with one another, and as a result, decided to rekindle their feud that stemmed all the way back to last year’s Daytona 500. After a friendly visit on pit road by Busch, Stewart decided to admire Busch’s bodywork prior to entering the garage, and it’s since then been alleged that Stewart kindly introduced his fist to Kurt’s face. The result? Both drivers have been placed on a six-race probation by NASCAR, but one has to wonder if that will make any difference in the most prestigious race on the schedule.

Dale Earnhardt Jr then went onto win his very first race under the Hendrick Motorsports banner, albeit not a points race. That hasn’t stopped Junior Nation from going crazy with anticipation, though, as many of his fans now believe that the switch to HMS will reignite Junior’s on-track performance. After bringing home another checkered flag in the first Gatorade Duel and then finishing third in the Nationwide Series race, Earnhardt is a very heavy favorite to win today’s race and get his newly-found relationship with Hendrick off to an amazing start.

Also making headlines throughout the entire off-season was the move of Joe Gibbs Racing from racing for Chevrolet to joining the Toyota bunch. Most fans and critics thought Gibbs had gone off the deep end by even contemplating such a move, but the addition of Gibbs to the Toyota fold seems to be doing wonders for them already. After looking very impressive throughout the pre-season testing, Toyota has since gone onto finish 2nd in the Budweiser Shootout (Stewart), win the outside pole for the Daytona 500 (Waltrip), finish 1st & 2nd in the second Gatorade Duel (Hamlin, Stewart), finish 1st through 4th in the Craftsman Truck Series race (T. Bodine, Ky. Busch, J. Benson, D. Starr), and then finish 1st, 2nd, & 4th in the Nationwide Series race (Stewart, Ky. Busch, Vickers). The Toyota bunch is now being heavily viewed as the only potential threat to keep Hendrick Motorsports out of victory lane this afternoon.

The Gatorade Duels also made several other shocking revelations. Several cars expected to start in the Daytona 500 were left out in the cold thanks to NASCAR’s Daytona qualifying procedures, including the rides of Boris Said, AJ Allmendinger, Bill Elliott Sterling Marlin, Ken Schrader, and rookies Patrick Carpentier and Jacques Villeneuve, amongst others. Elliott’s inability to make the race marked this year as the first time in 46 years that the Wood Bros organization failed to place a car in the Daytona 500. Villeneuve’s performance not only knocked him out of the 500, but also out of the no. 27 car for Bill Davis Racing altogether as a result of failing to produce financial backing from sponsors. He will be replaced by Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson beginning next week.  In an odd string of events, Kurt Busch transferred his car’s owner points over to Penske Racing rookie Sam Hornish Jr. to ensure he would get starts in the first five races of the season. Busch then suffered electrical problems during the first Gatorade Duel event, forcing him to rely on the “Past Champion’s Provisional” to earn his spot in the 500. This meant that the provisional was no longer available to Dale Jarrett, who failed to finish inside the top 35 in points last season and he would have to finish second amongst the “go or go-home” cars in the second Duel. The race started off rough for Jarrett as he sank to the back of the pack, but then car owner Michael Waltrip dropped from the front of the pack all the way to the back to give his teammate a boost. He pushed DJ all the way up to the third spot by the time a caution waved with only a few laps remaining. The push was enough, and despite finishing 9th in the race, DJ still qualified for his final run at the Daytona 500. The events leading up to such, however, has raised several questions surrounding the validity of the past champion’s provisional and the ability of a driver to transfer owner points to another car.

Folks, I’ve barely scratched the surface here with this post, as there’s been so, so much more that’s taken place in both the off-season and during the NASCAR speedweeks that has made this Daytona 500 the most highly anticipated that I can actually recall. This race is sure to live up to the expectations, and I’m extremely confident that it will give us plenty more to talk about come Monday morning!

Post from: EveryJoe

‘08 Daytona Not Shy on Drama