Last night I was tooling around nascarmedia.com trying to find a topic that interested me to talk about on the blog. As soon as the browser opened up, I saw this:

Dario Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya

It was like it was some sort of sign. So I started browsing around to find out why Franchitti and Montoya were featured right there on the main page. Then I saw the full transcript of an interview with Jacques Villeneuve, Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti.

One of the questions asked was why all of the sudden are F1 drivers coming to NASCAR. It was a question that I have thought about for a while. I've heard some people say it has to do with money. But after reading the transcript, I don't think it is.

Patrick Carpentier answered the question with it has to do with the Car of Tomorrow (COT).

He said that with the old car, team owners looked more for "experienced" drivers. He said: "It's almost impossible to come in and keep up with these guys with all the experience and technical background they have."

Regarding the COT: "But I think the reason for that is because the switch to the Car of Tomorrow and you see that there's a opportunity for guys to learn and adapt and be able to be up there with these guys later in the year."

Makes sense to me.

Sometimes the headlines on nascar.com crack me up. Here's a few that stand out:

"Bowyer not backing down from the Chase challenge" - Seriously, does anyone think he would really back down? Come on now!

"With four races left, some drivers need fan support" - huh? Oh, right...Clint Bowyer is going to do much better knowing that Jenny Lizotte from Pownal, Maine is on his side.

"Jarrett ready to run up front with leaders at AMS" - hasn't he been ready all year? I mean, he has been NOWHERE near the leaders, that is, until they lap him on the track.

Honestly, I did not read any of those articles that I mentioned above. I was just skimming nascar.com's headlines to see if anything jumped out at me and these did, just not in the way that I think NASCAR wanted them to.

Seriously NASCAR, thanks for the chuckle this morning. What a great way to start my day.

I know I said that I was hoping for a bit of bad luck for the Hendrick boys but I will admit that when I learned that Jimmie Johnson was going to donate his winnings from the race to the fire victims out in California, I wanted him to have a solid finish. Others were going to join in and match his contribution including his primary sponsor, Lowe's, and car owner Rick Hendrick. I am pretty sure this put the total donation above $1 million.

Johnson had a solid car all day, as did Kyle Busch. Busch had a bit of bad luck in one of the craziest restarts that I have seen this year. With only a handful of laps to go on the restart, Denny Hamlin ran out of gas even before making it to the green flag and all the cars stacked up behind him. (Excuse me, what was his crew chief thinking not bringing him in the pits to get gas?) Martin Truex Jr. slammed right in the back of Hamlin, ending his day. Kyle Busch jerked the car to the left to miss hitting Truex Jr. and spun into the infield. He ended up with a 17th place finish.

Others in the Chase:
Tony Stewart had a terrible night. He finished right where he started, 30th position. He had to make two unscheduled pit stops. One because he was really loose and they thought there wasn't enouh air pressure in the tires. And the other because he mysteriously lost oil pressure. He went in to the pits and the crew put the hood up, he restarted the car and the oil pressure was fine and he went on his way, 5 laps down.

Kevin Harvick pretty much ran like a brick all day long. He is lucky to have finished 15th. Carl Edwards had a good run finishing 2nd, Matt Kenseth - 4th, Jeff Burton - 5th, Clint Bowyer - 6th, Jeff Gordon - 7th, Kurt Busch - 8th.

A few more thoughts:

• It should be of no surprise that the first caution of the race happened during a commercial. What ever happened to “if caution breaks out, we’ll break in?”
• I cannot handle the color graphics of how the air works. Blue=clean air, yellow=dirty air. It takes me back to my very early years...Yellow plus Blue makes Green.
• The “here, kitty kitty” is being overused. I am sick of it.
• It was looking like Dale Earnhardt Jr. was going to finally have an engine that didn’t expire. Only, his bad luck continues and he couldn’t keep the tires on it. A left rear tire literally just fell off his car during a restart. The only luck he has had this year is BAD luck.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Data
Race #: 33 of 36 (10-28-07)
Track Size: 1.54 miles
Race Length: 325 laps/500.5 miles
• Banking/Corners: 24 degrees
• Banking/Straights: 5 degrees
• Frontstretch: 2,332 feet
• Backstretch: 1,800 feet

I think the last couple days I have been so busy at work that I just threw up a couple blogs regarding the Carl Edwards/Matt Kenseth confrontation without commenting on what I thought about the whole thing. So here's my take:

First, as I have stated, I didn't see the altercation when it initially happened. So thank you, racefan, for bringing it to my attention. When I first watched the video, I have to admit, it made me smile. I never could have seen this coming. And apparently, neither did Kenseth. He looked a bit surprised.

I like knowing that there's still a fire in Cousin Carl. I like that he acted on his frustration and let Kenseth, his own teammate, know of his discontent. He may regret it now, but I still like knowing that spark is still alive in him.

Drivers get so expressionless and robot-like that it's a breath of fresh air to see this type of behavior every now and then. It shows me that there's still some passion out there.

I think I now have a better understand of why folks like Tony Stewart so much. I suspect with a teammate like Kyle Busch in 2008, I will be busy uploading a lot of video. The only difference that I am predicting is that if Tony is that close to Busch, I think his fist will make contact. I don't think he's afraid to follow through.

I am sure good ol' Jack Roush will get things all ironed out between the boys before the race this weekend at Alanta Motor Speedway.

I'll be back tomorrow with stats, facts and my picks for this weekend's race.

I don't have all that much to chat about today. I have the transcript from yesterday's teleconference with Carl Edwards.

Here's the complete transcript and a short piece of the audio from Carl Edwards teleconference that was held yesterday. The audio is 58 seconds long.

I'll be back tomorrow with some stats and facts for the race this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Racefan had asked in yesterday's blog entry about the altercation between Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. I never saw this altercation.

I contacted Adrian Parker from Roush Fenway who said: "At this point, we don't have anything to add to what you see on the video." Here's the video:

Parker also said, "Carl Edwards will be on NASCAR's National Teleconference today at 2:00 PM Eastern."

So there you have it. That's all I know.

Jimmie Johnson's win at Martinsville is his seventh victory this year. It also gave him some bragging rights in joining an elite few that have won 3 or more consecutive races there: Fred Lorenzen, winning 4, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace and now Johnson, all winning three in a row.

As a matter of fact, this victory gives Hendrick Motorsports a total of 15 wins this year, nearly half of all the races run. It's no wonder I am sick of seeing Gordon or Johnson celebrating in victory lane.

Ten of the Chasers finished in the top 15. Not bad, considering it is the shortest track on the circuit and there was a record number of cautions, 21.

Kurt Busch was the biggest loser in the Chase, finishing 31st and I'm not even clear on what happened to him. I guess I missed it. Can anyone fill me in? Martin Truex Jr. couldn't keep his car going straight. He spun around a handful of times. He managed to finish 19th.

Just an observation a bit off topic: Maybe it was nerves, but during one of the last cautions of the day the camera went to Jeff Gordon's wife, Ingrid Vandebosch. It looked to me like she would rather have been anywhere other than at that race. She didn't look all that enthused at all. Like I said, it was just a thought that crossed my mind when I saw her on the television. Did anyone else think that or was it just me?

Simply put, the new Busch Series logo is ugly. Not that it matters a whole lot. I don't watch too many Busch races because as I have said before, it is basically just another Cup practice/race.

Did any of you hear that rumor about Rusty Wallace being replaced as analyst for ESPN/ABC? I am sitting here wondering just how I could have missed such a rumor. So I started reading some forums and some of them were saying that he was going to be replaced by Dale Jarrett, as Jarrett is retiring in 2008. But it was just that, A RUMOR. Rusty's not going anywhere.

Would it be nice to not have to listen to him during a race? Yup. I get sick of listening to him. But then again, I get sick of Boogety, Boogety, Boogety...

Speaking of Jarrett, kudos to him for saying he will be making a clean break after his retirement. He says he will not be an on again, off again driver. I hope that he does it. I hate the provisionals. Jarrett will however, race in the Bud Shootout and the first 5 races. He will also be in the All-Star race in May.

Here's the weekend schedule from nascar.com:

As we head into this weekend's race at Martinsville, I thought I would share some stats that I recieved from NASCAR.

	1 – Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) The File: • 36 years old, Vallejo, Calif., 81 career wins • Six wins, 19 top fives, 25 top 10s this year • Six poles • Average finish of 7.5 • Led 21 of 31 races for 1,112 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Seven wins, 17 top fives, 23 top 10s; five poles • Average finish of 7.3 • Finished second at Martinsville in April • Led 21 of 29 races for 2,298 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • Series-best Average Running Position of 9.2
	2 – Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) The File: • 32 years old from El Cajon, Calif., 29 career wins • Six wins, 16 top fives, 19 top 10s; three poles • Average finish of 12.1 • Led 19 of 31 races for 1,069 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Three wins, seven top fives, 10 top 10s; one pole • Average finish of 6.6 • Won the Martinsville race in April • Led five of 11 races for 724 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • Series-high 819 Fastest Laps Run
	3 – Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet) The File: • 28 years old from Emporia, Kan., one career win • One win, five top fives, 15 top 10s; two poles • Average finish of 13.4 • Led 12 of 31 races for 386 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Average finish of 18.7 in three races • Finished 11th in April Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • Fifth-best Closer – 46 positions improved over the last 10% of races
	4 – Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet) The File: • 36 years old from Columbus, Ind., 32 career wins • Three wins, 10 top fives, 22 top 10s • Average finish of 12.4 • Led 20 of 31 races for 980 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Two wins, six top fives, 10 top 10s; three poles • Average finish of 12.2 • Finished seventh in April • Led 10 of 17 races for 1,193 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • 589 Fastest Laps Run, second-most
	5 – Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) The File: • 28 years old from Columbia, Mo., seven career wins • Three wins, nine top fives, 13 top 10s • Average finish of 13.4 • Led 11 of 31 races for 428 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Average finish of 22.2 in six races • Finished 17th in April Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • 6,449 Laps in the Top 15, sixth-most
	6 – Kyle Busch (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet) The File: • 22 years old from Las Vegas, Nev., four career wins • One win, nine top fives, 17 top 10s • Average finish of 14.5 • Led 16 of 31 races for 300 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Two top fives, three top 10s • Average finish of 15.0 • Finished fourth in April • Led one of five races for 10 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • Fifth-fastest average Green Flag Speed
	7 – Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) The File: • 29 years old from Las Vegas, Nev., 17 career wins • Two wins, five top fives, 11 top 10s • Average finish of 15.7 • Led 18 of 31 races for 760 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • One win, two top fives, four top 10s; one pole • Average finish of 19.6 • Finished 12th in April • Led six of 14 races for 358 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • Series-high 1,664 Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 under green flag conditions)
	8 – Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) The File: • 31 years old from Bakersfield, Calif., 11 career victories • One win, four top fives, 12 top 10s • Average finish of 16.1 this season • Led 11 of 31 races for 270 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Four top 10s • Average finish of 20.1 • Finished 41st in April • Led four of 12 races for 147 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • Fourth-best Closer – 51 positions improved over the last 10% of races
	9 – Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet) The File: • 26 years old, Chesterfield, Va., three career wins • One win, 11 top fives, 16 top 10s; one pole • Average finish of 13.7 • Led 15 of 31 races for 839 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Two top fives, three top 10s; one pole • Average finish of 12.5 • Finished third in April • Led two of four races for 153 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • 422 Fastest Laps Run, sixth-most
	10 – Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet) The File: • 40 years old from South Boston, Va., 19 career wins • One win, eight top fives, 14 top 10s • Average finish of 14.7 • Led six of 31 races for 28 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • One win, nine top fives, 13 top 10s • Average finish of 15.0 • Finished sixth in April • Led six of 26 races for 574 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • 2,542 Green Flag Passes, seventh-most
	11 – Martin Truex Jr. (No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet) The File: • 27 years old from Mayetta, N.J., one career win • One win, six top fives, 11 top 10s • Average finish of 16.9 • Led 13 of 31 races for 355 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • Average finish of 28.0 • Finished 29th in April • Led one of three races for one lap Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • Series-high 2,795 Green Flag Passes
	12 – Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford) The File: • 35 years old from Cambridge, Wis., 15 career wins • One win, eight top fives, 17 top 10s • Average finish of 14.6 • Led 17 of 31 races for 561 laps Martinsville Speedway Outlook: • One top five, four top 10s • Average finish of 16.3 • Finished 10th in April • Led six of 15 races for 60 laps Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight: • 8,166 laps run on the lead lap, second-most

As much as I hate to say it, I have to go with Jeff Gordon for the win this weekend. He has won here 7 times, so I don't know how you couldn't pick him.

The other driver I will be watching is Ricky Rudd who has won here three times and finished just outside the top 10 in April .

If you haven't seen it. Take a look at what the 8 car will look like next year:

Change is always hard for me. However, the new appearance of the 8 car for 2008 is SO different that it will make it a lot easier for me to disassociate Dale Earnhardt Jr. from it.

So now the only thing I will have to be concerned with in regards to this car is who is driving it ... Aric Almirola or Mark Martin.

It is a far nicer looking car than the one that Junior will be driving next year. (just my opinion, of course)

What do you think of the new look?

Jeff Gordon does it again. He raced to his second victory in a row. The end of the race had so many different possible endings that you couldn't help but sit on the edge of your seat. It was fantastic.

Honestly, I didn't really think that Kyle Busch had it in him to be a level-headed good boy, but he was. He was sitting in second spot right behind Gordon on a restart. It was a prime opportunity for him to give Gordon a little love tap and go for the lead.

I have to say the exact same thing about Clint Bowyer, only I think Bowyer just plain and simple screwed up. He did nudge him, just not enough to bump him out of the way. Instead, it sent Gordon souring for the win. Even though I think Bowyer screwed up, he impressed me the most in the race. He hasn't been know to have good results here. He started in 25th position and by lap 45 - 50, he had worked his way up to the 6th spot.

I don't know what the hell happened to Ryan Newman. It looked like it was his race to win and then he just spun out and wrecked, giving Gordon the lead.

Jimmie Johnson, my pick to win the race, spun out. It looked like he got a bit too high, got into the marbles and tapped the wall damaging his right rear bumper.

Tony Stewart had some bad luck in the pits. He was leaving his pit box, and had a near miss with Paul Menard. He started going again and Kasey Kahne hit him trying to get in to his own pit box. It damaged Stewart's right front. I would have loved to listen in on that radio communication. Just bad luck in really tight quarters.

Kurt Busch had a similar incident in the pits as Stewart and later in the race dropped a cylinder. He ended up finishing 26th.

Kevin Harvick has to be one of the unluckiest drivers in the Chase. He thought he had a right front tire go down so he made a green flag pit to change right side tires. He went back out on the track but the car still didn’t feel right. He went back in the pits to change all four and found it was a left rear tire that was the cause of the problem. That put him 3 laps down. He finished 33rd.

Where do I begin with Matt Kenseth? He had so many wrecks that I lost count.

Denny Hamlin had transmission issues, finishing 20th.

The rest of the Chasers: Jeff Burton finished 4th, Carl Edwards - 5th, Martin Truex Jr. - 17th.

I'll be honest with you. I didn't watch the race from start to finish. I kept flipping over the Red Sox game the entire time. I just had to.

This is simply unbelievable. I just had to share...

Imagine seeing this during a Cup race? And NO, the kangaroo was not injured in any way.

Enjoy your weekend folks!

Here are some facts and stats from NASCAR on Lowe's Motor Speedway:

Race #: 31 of 36 (10-8-07)
Track Size: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 334 laps/500 miles
• Banking/Corners: 24 degrees
• Banking/Straights: 5 degrees
• Frontstretch: 1,980 feet
• Backstretch: 1,500 feet

Based on the info above, I have to go with either one of the Hendrick boys to win, Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon. I typically go with an underdog also. And this race is no different. My third pick will be Kasey Kahne who has won here twice.

Here's the viewing schedule for this weekend.

The sandbagger, a.k.a. Jeff Gordon, is your whiner, whoops I mean winner from yesterday. He was also the one crying the most about Jacques Villeneuve debuting in the Cup race yesterday at Talladega Superspeedway.

I couldn't help but feel bad for Villeneuve. Starting his first Cup race and having all this drama unfolding that he should not start at Talladega because well, it's Talladega. Get over it people!

He had a solid qualifying run in which he should have started the race in 6th but because everyone was nervous about the rookie being there, he made the decision to go to the back of the pack to start the race. I think they said he did it to gain the respect of the other drivers. Admirable, but in my opinion, not necessary and unfair.

As stated above, the sandbaggers, Gordon and Jimmie Johnson hung in the back of the field all day until the very end. A lot of the "racing" was one big freight train. It was a bit b-o-r-i-n-g to watch.

More bad luck for Jeff Burton, he blew a motor as did Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr., my pick to win. I should have known better.

Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch were involved in a wreck and finished 26th and 36th, respectively.

The rest of the Chase drivers: Denny Hamlin finished 4th, Kurt Busch - 7th, Tony Stewart - 8th, Clint Bower - 11th, Carl Edwards - 14th and Kevin Harvick, who dropped a cylinder finished 20th.

Here are some facts and stats provided by NASCAR:

Talladega Superspeedway Data
Race # 30 of 36 (10-7-07)
Track Size: 2.66 miles
• Banking/Corners: 33 degrees
• Banking/Frontstretch: 16.5 degrees
• Banking/Backstretch: 2 degrees
• Frontstretch: 4,300 feet
• Backstretch: 4,000 feet

Going into the weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, I didn't really look at any statistics and/or facts to decide who I was going to pick to win. Although, I will say that being the first Car Of Tomorrow appearance at a superspeedway, one never knows just what is going to happen.

My pick this weekend will be Tony Stewart...to come in second, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win it. How could you not pick an Earnhardt to win at a superspeedway?

Here's the schedule for the weekend.

Another name change

Starting in 2008, Busch Series will be referred to as the Nationwide Series. All I think of when I say Nationwide is that commercial... "Nationwide is on your side." I can't get that little melody out of my head.

Honestly, I don't care all that much about what they call the Busch series. It's just a second race for the Cup drivers.

Move over Boris Said
There's a new woman in town...Ashley Judd. Man or woman, who doesn't just love Ashley Judd?!

Her husband, Dario Franchitti, will be joining the Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 40 car for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2008. He will be joining teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Reed Sorenson. For more on Dario joining Ganassi, visit www.chipganassiracing.com/

Tomorrow, he will be debut in the ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway. For more on Franchitti racing in the ARCA series, check out this article.

Another Formula One driver will also be debuting next year, Jacques Villeneuve, driving for Bill Davis Racing. He will actually be racing in the Cup race this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. Some Cup guys, such as Jeff Gordon are not so pleased that he will be in the field on Sunday.

Thirsty?
Coors Brewing Company will be the new Official Beer of NASCAR, replacing Budweiser in 2008. This year, the drivers raced for the "Bud" pole award. Coors will not sponsor the Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. But in 2009, I would guess it will be called the Coors Shootout.

RCR
Richard Childress Racing will not be fielding a fourth car in 2008. He was too busy sheep hunting in Mongolia and not busy enough trying to secure a driver in that fourth car.

And finally...
M&M's will be the main sponsor for Kyle Busch. When I think of M&M's I think yummy and sweet which is completely opposite of what I think of Kyle Busch.

I'm sorry folks, but this should be your winner from yesterday's race at Kansas. As much as it would have been nice to feel warm and fuzzy with Greg Biffle getting his first win of the year, that is just not going to happen. He never should have been rewarded the victory.

Here's a statement from Ramsey Poston, NASCAR Managing Director, Corporate Communications:

“When the caution came out on Lap 207 the field was frozen. At the time of the caution, the 16 was in the lead and maintained a reasonable speed and was declared the race winner. There is no passing under caution.

“By rule, cars under caution need to maintain a reasonable speed, which the 16 did. If it hadn’t maintained a reasonable speed or the car had come to a stop, then that car would not have won the race. In this instance the 16 maintained a reasonable speed, crossed the finish and won the race.”

Despite what he says, I really don't think he maintained a reasonable speed. I do realize that they freeze the field under caution but he absolutely did not maintain speed, the pace car was leaving him.

As a matter of fact, Johnson and Bowyer had to pass him while he was down on the apron. When was the last time you watched a race and saw others cross the finish line BEFORE the "race winner?" I think that's another load of BS from NASCAR. What do you think?

Moving on...because I'm getting all worked up and grumpy all over again as I type this.

It was another wild race for a lot of the Chase drivers. Here's a few notes on what happened to some of them:

Kyle Busch - Crashed into the wall early on. (thanks to Dale Earnhardt Jr.)
Martin Truex Jr. - Was involved in a wreck shortly after the restart from being red-flagged due to heavy rain.
Matt Kenseth - Victim of the same wreck that Truex was involved in.
Jeff Burton - He got caught pulling a fender out while uncovering his car from the rain delay. He got penalized and sent back to the longest line on the restart of the race. Then to make matters worse, later in the race he lost fuel pressure.
Tony Stewart - He blew a tire. He was checked up on the race track and Kurt Busch hit him. (And no, I don't think it was Busch's fault.)
Car Edwards - He got collected up from Stewart's wreck.
Denny Hamlin - It looked like Jamie McMurray got into Paul Menard then Menard got into Hamlin. Just a victim of circumstance.

Bowyer, Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick all finished in the top 10. Kurt Busch finished 11th.