Motorsports journalist David Poole died Tuesday of a heart attack at age 50. He spent the past 13 years as the NASCAR writer for the Charlotte Observer. He also hosted a daily show on Sirius NASCAR Radio and was highly respected throughout the industry.

Here are some of the reactions on Poole's contributions to the sport:

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to David's family. He was a friend of everybody in the garage area. He could be controversial from time to time but he always wrote and spoke what he believed. He didn't pull any punches with anybody and that's what people respected about him. He was good for the sport and will be missed." -- Richard Childress, President and CEO Richard Childress Racing

"David worked his ass off for our sport, whether it was in his writing or on his radio show. His life revolved around the sport and we're obviously very saddened by the loss. He will be missed." -- Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet

"David had the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of legendary motorsports journalist Tom Higgins. His success came from bringing his own style, direction, unique vision and perspective to his coverage of motorsports. David always spoke his mind and wasn't afraid to hold people accountable. He was always fair and made us better at what we did. We will miss David's spirit, generosity, principles, and friendship. We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife, Karen, and his entire family." -- Jerry Gappens, Executive Vice President and General Manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway

"The NASCAR community is stunned and saddened by the loss of David Poole. David was as passionate about NASCAR as anyone and had very definitive opinions about the sport. He served the industry, and most importantly the fans, through his reporting and commentary in the Charlotte Observer and Sirius Satellite Radio. Our thoughts and prayers go out to David's family and friends. He will be missed." -- Brian France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO

"David was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, and he was exceptionally passionate about this sport that we all care so deeply for. His voice was unique, his opinions were his own, and his abilities as a writer and journalist were unsurpassed. He had the courage to say what others would not, and he was deeply respected for it. Without driving a car or turning a wrench, David Poole was a racer, and he will be sincerely missed." -- Rick Hendrick, owner Hendrick Motorsports

"I've gotten to know (David) Poole really well over the years. He spent a lot of time with the No. 31 team every weekend and would sit and have conversations with us on just about everything. He was fun to agree and debate with. I admired his professionalism and work ethic and he did a great job of reporting our sport to the fans. He's someone I have a lot of respect for and he will definitely be missed." -- Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet

Rest in peace, David. You will be missed.

A big shake down in the Richard Childress Racing stables. Childress is swapping crews and crew chiefs between Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears following this weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway. I say, why not. They haven't been performing up to par at all so far.

Childress did a complete overhaul with Clint Bowyer this year and he's been the strongest RCR car this season. He has four top-five finishes in the eight races run thus far and is the highest RCR car in the point standings, sitting in sixth place. I think this crew/crew chief swap is a good gamble.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is going green. Between now and April 30, if you purchase a ticket, NHMS will plant a tree on their 1,200 acre facility. Tickets for the LENOX Tools 301 weekend are on sale now. You can purchase tickets by calling the Ticket Hotline at 603-783-4931 or go online at www.nhms.com.

Jeff Gordon will be sporting a new paint scheme this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.





Photo credit: Alex Stamper, Hendrick Motorsports

For a larger view each photo click here for the side view and here for the front view.

According to the press release, the last time this yellow paint scheme was on the track was over 25 years ago. Darrell Waltrip drove the No. 11 car and took the Pepsi Challenger car to victory lane six times during the 1983 Winston Cup season.

"Driving the Pepsi Challenger paint scheme that Darrell Waltrip drove back in 1983 is a great honor for me," said Gordon. "Darrell is a legend of NASCAR and visited Victory Lane several times with that car -- and I hope we can duplicate that success at Talladega. I was really excited when Pepsi brought this opportunity to us. Although the cars are very different, we wanted to make sure our paint scheme closely matched the one that was out front so often in 1983."

All for now. I'll be back tomorrow with my pick and preview for Dega.

During an ALMS race on Saturday in Long Beach, Calif., Boris Said's Corvette burst into flames. He got out, but not before sustaining several second degree burns to his arms and eyes.

I first learned about the wreck from The NASCAR Files while I was checking out updates on Twitter yesterday. TNF reported this statement from car owner, Lou Gigliotti: "Boris is OK but he will have a few weeks of sleepless nights with the burns on his arms and eyes. His face is swollen today and he is not happy."

Check it out:

If you have read or heard that Obama was ordering GM and Chrysler out of NASCAR, it's a hoax, folks. It was a stupid April Fools' joke.

I cannot imagine how anyone could be so distasteful to write such an article given the economy being what it is -- the auto industry is on edge as it is. But alas, someone was.

Car and Driver posted a story, "Obama Orders Chevrolet and Dodge Out Of NASCAR - Car News." They have since removed the story from their Web site and left a note that read:

Sorry! - Car News

Car and Driver has a proud tradition of April Fools' Day jokes stretching back 30 years. We regret if this year's went too far.


If you didn't get a chance to read the FAKE story and want to, you can find it here on Orlandosentinel.com.

Racing PR representative Denny Darnell of Darnell Communications had this to say:

"I've been in this business more than 30 years and I have never seen a story so irresponsible. It cannot be passed off as a joke. Lighten up? There's a time for jokes. Not with the issues our country faces today. Serious damage was done here. The auto industry. NASCAR. Our profession. I urge you to voice your opinion to the publication, pro or con."

Let me know what you think. Do you think it was distasteful or just a funny April Fools' Day joke?

I've never missed an episode of The Biggest Loser. In fact, I'm a TBL junkie. Last night's episode was great. Maybe even one of the best one's I've seen yet. Here's a clip of the episode with Clint Bowyer:

Tara, the smallest contestant on the show, won the event. As you saw in the video, the contestants had to pull a two-ton car with extra weight added by the other contestants. Tara had the most extra weight added to her car, 257 pounds. Even with the additional weight, she managed kick everyone's butt in the challenge. It was priceless.

In addition to the ride, the burnout, and let's not forget that hug with Bowyer (by far the best part of the win), Tara will get to watch the Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway on Oct. 11 in style. She'll get to watch the race from a luxury suite and have her picture taken with the winner of the race in victory lane. Very cool.

Maybe I'm a bit biased, because all you regular readers know he's my fave, but I thought Bowyer did a really good job on the show last night. Typically, I think it can be comical when drivers try to do things like this. They tend to look and act like a fish out of water. But he looked really relaxed and acted like he really enjoyed being there the entire time.

Did you watch? What did you think?

Tonight, Clint Bowyer will make an appearance on The Biggest Loser. He'll be giving an inspirational pep talk to the contestants before their challenge of pulling a two-ton car. The show airs on NBC, 9-11 p.m.

As much as I LOVE the fact that I get to watch Bowyer tonight on TBL, I would think the show could have picked a driver with a healthier sponsor or at least no food sponsor at all. Last time I checked, Hamburger Helper wasn't the healthiest meal to be eating while trying to lose weight.

Having said that, I'll leave you with this:

Next up: Casey Mears will get in his Jack Daniels driver's suit and give inspirational talk to folks on Celebrity Rehab.

All right, so I've got a bit of the Twitter bug. On Sunday I tried tweeting a bit while watching the race. I am great at multi-tasking but this was pushing the limits.

Between watching and taking notes on the race for this blog, getting up to get a drink here and there, tweeting and trying to carry on conversations at home, my blood pressure likely wasn't within the normal limits.

Normally during commercial breaks is my time to do various things like change over laundry, talk with family and friends ... etc., etc. But I found that during commercial breaks (especially at Bristol) was the BEST time to sit there and watch all the tweets, so I stayed glued to the chair. The first three cautions happened during commercial breaks on Sunday and I knew about all three almost instantly from people tweeting from the racetrack.

As much as I felt a bit overwhelmed, I am a glutton for punishment and will do it all over again during Sunday's race at Martinsville. You should check it out and let me know what you think.

Yesterday Jeff Burton made a guest appearance on General Hospital. If you missed it, here's the clip:

I couldn't help but think that if he doesn't start winning, this scene could become more of a reality to him. Just sayin.

I'll be back tomorrow with my Bristol pick and preview.

Yesterday I was doing some reading as I always do. I read one of my friend's blogs: Hopelessly Devoted: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Changes His Tune And Gets The Love Treatment From Fox. I was surprised by the number of comments over there, or should I say the lack of comments. He did write about Junior, right? I would have thought there would have been many more comments. Where in the heck is Junior Nation?

There's been scores of blog entries and columns around Junior causing the wreck at Daytona but I'm not seeing many comments anywhere, or at least the number I am used to seeing around him as the topic. It used to be that if someone mentioned the name Junior, there would be droves and droves of comments.

Is it possible that even Junior Nation knows what a brain-dead move he pulled in the Daytona 500 race? Are you guys hiding under some rock? Where are you? Come out, come out wherever you are.... Tell us what you think. Make up some excuse for him like you always do when he does something wrong. I enjoy reading some of your comments more than I enjoy reading the articles themselves. They're sometimes hilarious.

The economy may hinder some from attending a race but seriously, you must still be reading about NASCAR and NASCAR's most popular driver, right? Cat got your tongue?

I do like Dale Junior. I consider myself a fan and always want him to do well in every race. The same is true for me with Clint Bowyer, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray. But if one of them should do something wrong on the track, I have no qualms about admitting it. I think that's the difference between me and the Nation.

Bring that passion back, Nation. I want that fire back. NASCAR needs it.

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It's hard to believe with the economy as bad as it is that there would be new racing teams popping up. With the unofficial layoff count that Jayski has posted on its website showing the number of layoffs since the end of 2008 season, it made me wonder who in their right mind would want to start up a new team.

Just announced yesterday was Jeremy Mayfield's return to Cup as team owner and driver for the #41 All Sport Toyota for Mayfield Motorsports.

Then we have Larry Gunselman who formed a new team for himself and the Bodine brothers, Geoff and Todd. Todd and Geoff will share driving the No. 64 Toyota. I can't figure out what the name of the team is though... Can anyone help me out?

We also have the new Cup team, Prism Motorsports, owned by Phil Parsons and Randy Humphrey. After the Daytona 500, the #66 Toyota will be driven by Dave Blaney full-time. (Terry Labonte is entering the 500 for the team)

One good thing about new teams forming...there are a lot of folks out there without a job. There's likely quite a bit of talent looking for work. Let's hope these new teams can truly make a go of it and stay for the long haul.

Only 11 days until the Daytona 500. I can't wait!

Elliot Sadler had signed an extension to his contract with Gillett Evernham Motorsports through 2010 only to hear through the grapevine that they were going to put AJ Almendinger in the No. 19 Dodge this year.

That is, until Sadler called his lawyer and was going to sue for breach of contract. So now he's staying. It's funny how those legal contracts work. So what if he hasn't done squat for GEM? A contract is a contract. That simple. Don't you think GEM should have thought about his performance before signing him on through 2010? Seriously.

I've been curious as to what position Kyle Busch would be in with the old points format. After all, he dominated the first 26 races of the season with eight wins in the Sprint Cup Series.

I went looking to see if anyone did a comparison in the points systems for any of the races in the CHASE and found this article. It shows the comparison after the completion of the race at Kansas.

I used the article mentioned above as my starting point to figure the rest out. Here's hoping I did my math correctly. This is what I came up with:

Current Points System (After Lowe's Motor Speedway)
1. Jimmie Johnson 5878
2. Jeff Burton 5809 -69
3. Greg Biffle 5792 -86
4. Carl Edwards 5710 -168
5. Clint Bowyer 5693 -185
6. Kevin Harvick 5671 -207
7. Tony Stewart 5650 -228
8. Jeff Gordon 5633 -245
9. Kyle Busch 5552 -326
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5524 -354
11. Matt Kenseth 5518 -360
12. Denny Hamlin 5498 -380

Old Points System (After Lowe's Motor Speedway)
1. Jimmie Johnson 4414
2. Kyle Busch 4350 -64
3. Carl Edwards 4331 -83
4. Jeff Burton 4183 -231
5. Greg Biffle 4072 -342
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 4002 -412
7. Kevin Harvick 3954 -460
8. Tony Stewart 3939 -475
9. Jeff Gordon 3854 -560
10. Clint Bowyer 3799 -615
11. Denny Hamlin 3723 -691
12. Matt Kenseth 3652 -762

I really hate the format of the points system. It's not fair to the driver who dominated the first 26 races and built a major lead in the point standings. It's not fair to the driver who was sitting just barely outside the top 12 in points.

NASCAR should have just left well enough alone. I wish for once, they would see the error in their ways and go back to the way it was.

Is there anyone out there who actually likes the CHASE format?

There's nothing like a good scuffle in the garage to stir up some excitement. In this corner, Kevin Harvick. In this corner, Carl Edwards. Ring, ding, daddy!

We need something like this every now and then to make sure these drivers actually have a pulse. I did have to read this article twice to make sure that I was reading it correctly. Harvick shoved Edwards on to his No. 33, Nationwide car? Harvick shoved Edwards? Huh?

I didn't think there was a driver out there that could push and shove King Kong around. Let's face it folks, he's buff.

Almost exactly one year ago Edwards had a confrontation with his teammate Matt Kenseth. Remember?

Edwards is a scary dude, period. He's a clean-cut version of a bully. I'd almost prefer a Tony Stewart over him. At least with Stewart, you know what you're getting all the time. Edwards just snaps.

I would have loved to have had front-row seats to see Harvick shoving Edwards around. Further, it must have been a hilarious sight to see Harvick's motor-home driver putting Edwards in a headlock.

Last week I wrote a blog entry, "What's Junior's excuse this year?" and I heard all about it from Junior Nation.

All season long, I have said much worse about Kyle Busch and various other drivers and not gotten the response that I received when I wrote about Dale Earnhardt Jr. But if I say something about precious Junior, then I'm accused of not being a fan. I'm accused of wanting blog hits.

Is this not an indication that some of you Junior Nation folks may be a bit out of touch? Losing some sight of reality? I've got news for you folks, you can be a fan and be critical of any athlete all at the same time.

Here's a couple of classic comments from last week:

From Ginger: "If you loved Dale Jr, you wouldn't have written this column. You evidently don't know Jr or his fans very well, but in order to get hits you write an article about him anyway....just shows your lack of knowledge."

Thanks, Ginger. You're a little off the mark here though.

From CJ WAX: "Give Junior a break; this is a new team to him and a new environment. He definitely needs to get rid of Eury Jr; it's too close a relationship; he needs some who will mentor, not take abuse from him. I'm a JJ fan, but Juniour has the personality. Iw wish him luck in his teething year at HMS. Let's see how things jell next season because then there will be no more excuses."

Well, at least CJ WAX gave an excuse as to why he thinks this year isn't full of wins as predicted at the end of the season last year. But I am sure something else will come up next year and this comment will be posted yet again by another Nation fan.

And lastly, from Pres of JR Nation: "Wow, with fans like you, who needs haters? Go be a Kyle Busch fairweather fan and get the heck out of The Nation!"

Speaking of Kyle Busch, I have heard from more than a few people that Busch IS the Dale Earnhardt Sr. of today. I think I have to agree. He drives with passion like Senior did. I still don't like Busch all that much, but it is probably true. Like it or not.

I love Dale Earnhardt Jr., I do. Just look at who I chose to have my picture taken with for this blog. (Even if it's a cardboard cutout and a bit outdated.) But each week, I'm left wondering what is his excuse this year?

Last year, we could chalk the poor season up to a bunch of blown motors each week. Plus, the distraction of his feud with his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt.

But now that he is driving for Rick Hendrick, what's going on? Yeah, he's in the Chase but he's had a mediocre year at best with one win, nine top fives and 14 top 10's. Compare that to Jimmie Johnson who's had four wins, 11 top fives and 16 top 10's.

Sure, you could say that half the drivers in the Chase have had a mediocre year. But they also don't have the fan base that Junior does. That's what I'm getting at.

Junior Nation also excuses his rude, belligerent behavior towards his cousin and crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. He throws temper tantrums similar to Tony Stewart but yet he still sits up on a pedastal to Junior Nation. Why? I just don't get it. I know, I know, we just chalk it up to it's Junior and Eury have always talked to one another during a race.

I'm truly left wondering if people, including myself, follow him because of his amazing father, Dale Earnhardt Sr. Is it because he's his father's son and we want Senior's legacy to live on no matter what? I just don't know.