Anyone who has ever been an attendant in someone else’s wedding probably has a pretty good idea of how California’s Auto Club Speedway and plenty of other race tracks across the country feel right about now.

The movie “27 Dresses” featured a character, played by Katherine Heigl, who had served as a bridesmaid in the same number of weddings featured in the title. Despite the fact that she owned a closetful of fancy gowns as a result, the film’s premise was that she had somehow fallen short of the mark because none of them were bridal white.

It brought to mind the old joke that the sole purpose of a bridesmaid’s dress is to make the bride look good. Some things can simply seem too daunting to overcome.

Somehow over the years, NASCAR has acquired the habit of running its most famous and glamorous event to begin the Sprint Cup Series season rather than conclude it. This reasoning is brilliant in a lot of ways. Drivers, fans, the media, advertisers, sponsors, take your pick; they all get excited about each new year of racing thanks to the dazzling Daytona 500. You could actually describe it as frenzy.

But then comes that feeling of letdown. When you begin an adventure at the very top, isn’t there only one direction left for you to go?

That is a fair and logical question, which fortunately has a satisfactory answer. That answer is no. Any true and even slightly knowledgeable race fan will tell you that each individual track is the center of its own celebration, sometimes two, and they use every weapon in their arsenals to make sure their event is a big one.

Atlanta has its high speeds, for example, while Darlington promotes racing history and tradition. Talladega always offers nail-chewing drama. Bristol sells itself on … well, just being Bristol. That seems to be enough.

Every race track gets its moment of glory, the chance to be the beautiful, if not always elegant, center of attention, to roar down the aisle trailing smoke and sheet metal, with superstars as attendants and tens of thousands of excited guests cheering her on.

Still, it is never easy being second. Traditionally, race number two on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule has been a bit of a tough sell. Fans don’t just travel to Florida when the Daytona 500 rolls around for a day or two. They set up camp, fire up the grill and stay up late for more like a week or two, and when it’s over, they’re exhilarated, but worn out at the same time.

The idea of turning around and doing it all over again the very next week is exhausting. These days, it’s probably cost-prohibitive, too. Vacations tend to do that to a person.

NASCAR understands this, and in an attempt to compensate, they move their show all the way across the country for the season’s second event. Race fans are everywhere, but it’s a safe bet there aren’t a vast number of them driving across the country to attend the Daytona 500. Ask.com says the trip is 2,475 miles and would take more than 36 hours to complete. One way.

So, since Mohammed can’t come to the mountain, the mountain comes to him.

California ranks high among places in the country that are difficult, if not impossible, to intimidate. It is a place that has literally built its reputation and its fortune on creating tough acts, and then finding a way to follow them.

Other places might have rolled over, changed their nickname to “The Track With the Race After the Daytona 500,” but not Auto Club Speedway. The track has embraced the date, and the challenge it represents. They do their best to take away any reason for any fan to stay at home. They bring movie stars, big-name entertainers and temperate California weather to the table. They take their star and make it shine as brightly as they possibly can. They work hard; they do a good job.

The same can be said for each and every race track on the NASCAR circuit.

So don’t be tempted to feel a bit blue just because you’ve seen the checkered flag wave over the Daytona 500 on February 15. It’s okay to take a nap – you probably need one – but plan to wake up excited.

Here come the brides … and they’re ready to rumble.

Ant-sy (adj): restless, fidgety. Also impatient, eager.

You think?

The 2009 testing ban at non-NASCAR-sanctioned tracks turned the NASCAR Nationwide Series off-season into one of at-shop preparation instead of gauging on-track performance.

Now, drivers and teams are finally set to lay down their first laps of 2009 at Daytona International Speedway this week for the season-opening Camping World 300 on Valentine’s Day afternoon. But just because everyone’s giddy to be back at the track, doesn’t mean there won’t be any love lost between the competitors when it comes time to race.

Carl Edwards (No. 60 Scotts Ford) is a favorite to win his second series championship and can also become the first to win a NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in the same season.

Kyle Busch (No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota) also is planning to pull full-time double-duty. Busch has accomplished everything in the NASCAR Nationwide Series except win a championship. The 2004 Raybestos Rookie of the Year tied the record for most wins in a season last year with 10 despite running in 30 of 35 races.

A particularly strong group of veteran series-only regulars will mount challenges to Edwards and Busch, particularly Brad Keselowski (No. 88 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet), Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips Toyota), Mike Bliss (No. 1 Miccosukee Resorts Chevrolet) and Jason Keller (No. 27 Kroger-Scott Products Ford).

Steve Wallace (No. 66 US Fidelis Chevrolet) should build on his 12th-place finish in the 2008 standings; he also has Brendan Gaughan (No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet) — who moves from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — as his teammate giving Rusty Wallace Racing a nice 1-2 punch.

2009 Owner Championship Should Equal Driver Title Drama

The NASCAR Nationwide Series has recently become a dual championship series — one where the driver and owner titles are shared by different teams.

Over the last two seasons and three times overall, the championships have been split. The first occurrence came in 2003 when Brian Vickers won the driver title with Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing took the owner crown with Kevin Harvick and Johnny Sauter sharing the No. 21 Chevrolet.

In 2007, Carl Edwards won the driver title, but RCR, with the duo of Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer, claimed the second such owner championship in the No. 29 Chevrolet.

Last year, Clint Bowyer won the driver championship while the No. 20 Toyota won the owner title, the first NASCAR Nationwide championship for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Not only does that scenario linger as the 2009 season gets underway, but the hunt is shaping up to be the most competitive ever for the owner crown. It’s a given the driver and team that wins the championship hopes to “unify” the title. Edwards is still smarting from losing the driver title to RCR two years ago. Busch is a threat to bring the two championships together for the first time since Harvick / RCR in 2006.

The reigning champion is back with Joey Logano, Brad Coleman and Denny Hamlin sharing driving duties; Logano starts the season in the No. 20 GameStop Toyota. The No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet has Burton, Bowyer and young Stephen Leicht at the controls this year; Bowyer gets the honors at Daytona.

The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford will be in the mix with David Ragan — who gets the Daytona start in the No. 6 Discount Tire entry — sharing with Erik Darnell. Vickers and Burney Lamar will double up in the No. 32 Dollar General Toyota for Braun Racing.

The dark horse team to watch is the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet crew. Harvick has a strong stable of drivers including himself, Ryan Newman, Ron Hornaday Jr., Cale Gale and Tony Stewart (for one race).

Majority Of 2009 Raybestos Rookie Class On Display At Daytona

Seven drivers are vying for the 21st annual Raybestos Rookie of the Year award in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Six will be on display for the first time in series competition in 2009 at Daytona.

The group averages 24.6 years of age and has collectively made 33 starts in the series since Brendan Gaughan made his first and only series start in 2001.

Scott Lagasse Jr. (No. 11 America’s Incredible Pizza Co. Toyota), with 14 starts over three seasons, is the on-track veteran of the group. Lagasse, 28, is a native of nearby St. Augustine, Fla., and will make his Daytona debut in series competition.

Ditto for the series track debuts by Lagasse’s fellow rookies Justin Allgaier (No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge), 22; Michael Annett (No. 15 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota), 22; Gaughan, 33; Michael McDowell (No. 47 Toms’s Toyota), 24 and John Wes Townley (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford), 19.

Townley got the go-ahead to compete in the Camping World 300 following his career-best fourth-place finish in last Saturday’s ARCA race at Daytona. Travis Kvapil was originally announced to drive that entry.

Annett won at Daytona in the ARCA race last year while Allgaier finished second.

Only McDowell, who started this race one year ago, has series experience on the historic superspeedway Lagasse started last year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race here while Gaughan also has raced at Daytona in the trucks and also during his one season in NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Erik Darnell is the seventh member of the 2009 Raybestos Rookie class but isn’t scheduled to make his season debut until the April event at Richmond International Raceway.

Nine former NASCAR Nationwide Raybestos Rookie winners are entered at Daytona: David Ragan (2007); Danny O’Quinn Jr. (No. 0 www.sponsordavis.com Chevrolet — 2006); Carl Edwards (2005); Kyle Busch (2004); Greg Biffle (No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford — 2001); Kevin Harvick (2000); Tony Raines (No. 34 Long John Silver’s Chevrolet — 1999); Joe Nemechek (No. 87 NEMCO Chevrolet — 1990) and Kenny Wallace (No. 28 U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet — 1989).

The 2009 rookies will be available at a press conference on Friday, Feb. 13 at 1:30 p.m. in the DIS Media Center Deadline Room.

Logano Also Carries Rookie Stripe At Daytona; Shepherd Can Set Standard As Oldest Starter

Joey Logano may not be in the running for 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors, but the 18-year-old will still carry a rookie stripe when he makes his Daytona points race debut in NASCAR national series competition Saturday in the Camping World 300.

Logano, running a partial NASCAR Nationwide schedule in addition to his full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup ride, didn’t compete at either of Daytona’s two races or Talladega Superspeedway last year among his first 19 NASCAR Nationwide races.

Logano will have the most seat time of this year’s series first-timers at Daytona, though. In addition to finishing second in last Saturday’s ARCA event, Logano also started the Budweiser Shootout later that night. He will also have participated in the Gatorade Duels on Thursday.

Logano, who will be the youngest driver to start a Daytona 500, will be the eighth-youngest to start a season-opener at Daytona in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Logano’s rank among young drivers at Daytona is at the opposite end of the age spectrum where Morgan Shepherd (No. 89 Lagina Plumbing Chevrolet) stands.

With a start at Daytona, Shepherd, 67, would be the oldest driver to start a season-opener at the track. The 2009 season also is Shepherd’s 42nd consecutive year as a driver in NASCAR-sanctioned races.

“Formers” Come To the Forefront For Camping World 300

Two former NASCAR Nationwide champions make their full-time returns to the series in 2009.

David Green (No. 07 SK Motorsports Toyota), the 1994 champion and Lakeland, Fla., native Joe Nemechek, who won the title in 1992, are prepared to turn their first laps in the series at Daytona since 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Green will drive for the new SK Motorsports organization while Nemechek returns in his own NEMCO Motorsports equipment.

Both drivers have had success at Daytona — Nemechek won this race in 1998. He also is the all-time leader in series poles at the track with five; four have come in this event, the last in 2005.

Green won the pole for this race in 1991; it was the first of his series career.

Green’s brother Jeff (No. 05 31W Insulation-Tobacco Free Florida Chevrolet), won the series title in 2000; he brings the total of former series champions entered in the event to nine drivers representing 11 titles.

Five former winners of the season-opening race at Daytona are also entered, led by defending race winner Tony Stewart (No. 80 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet).

Additionally, four former Daytona 500 winners are entered in the Camping World 300 — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 5 Hellman’s Chevrolet); Kevin Harvick (No. 33 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet); Michael Waltrip (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) and Derrike Cope (No. 41 MetalJeans-Fw1Wax Chevrolet. Harvick swept both races in 2007; Earnhardt did so in 2004.

The Director’s Take: Back To Racing At Daytona

Enough of the “honey-do” list.

Joe Balash, like the teams in the NASCAR Nationwide garage he patrols as series director, is ready to get back to racing.

“The off-season was great, I got a lot done around the house,” said Balash, now in his fifth year. “But now we get back to it at Daytona.”

Some of Balash’s off-season was spent continuing preparation for the introduction of the new car in the series, targeted for 2010. “We went to the wind tunnel again in late January and the results were positive,” he said. “We’re still planning on having the new car in our series a year from now but could potentially hold until a future date. If our teams feel they’re prepared to move forward as their business models dictate, we’ll do that. If not, we’ll re-assess our timetable.

“We also haven’t been to all track types yet to test. A superspeedway would be in our future at the appropriate time. We need that test before we would launch a car at Daytona.”

Balash also noted two competition changes for the NASCAR Nationwide Series for 2009.

“Like the Truck Series, excluding Daytona and Talladega, teams can’t compete in more than three consecutive races without using an engine that has been used in a previous race. Teams can’t go four races in a row using a new motor. It has to be a motor that’s been sealed by NASCAR.

“Teams can adjust when they want to run their fresh engines. Any time a team runs a sealed motor, NASCAR will re-set the count. Seals will be supplied, installed and removed by NASCAR.”

Balash also said a steel anti-intrusion plate is a mandatory 2009 addition to the left side of the roll cage.

In The Loop: Valentine’s Day Race Could Be Sweet For Keselowski

Brad Keselowski finished third in the final 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, an improbable ending and a stellar full-time debut.

He had shown signs of promise in running 27 of 35 races in 2007, racking up five top 10s. But Keselowski, who turns 25 Thursday, burst out last season with two wins, 11 top fives and 20 top 10s while running all 35 races.

Now he has to prove that last year was no fluke – while running for the series championship.

That task starts now at Daytona. Keselowski finished 16th and fifth in his first two career Daytona races, and posted solid statistics in the process.

At Daytona, Keselowski has a Driver Rating of 94.6, an Average Running Position of 10.5, 199 Green Flag Passes, five Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 72.4%.

But this is Daytona, and his competition is tough. A number of double-duty drivers will attempt to thwart a Keselowski visit to Victory Lane. Most notably, last year’s winner, Tony Stewart.

Stewart has three series victories at Daytona, and in his six races there since the inception of Loop Data, he has a Driver Rating of 109.1, an Average Running Position of 10.4, 20 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 71.7%.

As usual, Dale Earnhardt Jr. should be a factor at Daytona. Statistically, he’s clearly the fastest there. He has 54 Fastest Laps Run at Daytona since 2005, more than any other driver in the series. He also has a Driver Rating of 107.8 and an Average Running Position of 9.4.

In his 15 series races at Daytona, Earnhardt has five wins, eight top fives and nine top 10s.

Kyle Busch will run triple duty at Daytona. No driver has won a NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck race in the same weekend. Busch has a shot at doing so. In the NASCAR Nationwide Series, he has a solid 102.2 Driver Rating at Daytona.

NNS Etc.

Name Game: The drivers of the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet have created an interesting challenge. Whoever wins the most races or has the best average finish after the July race at Daytona will have his name shown above the driver’s side door for the rest of the season, no matter who’s driving.

“I’m really hoping to win because I know I’d hear it from (Jeff) Burton and (Stephen) Leicht every time I stepped foot into the car about seeing their name,” said Clint Bowyer. “It’s an incentive for each of us to do our best each time we’re in the car.”

Series Connected to Daytona 500 Front Row: The NASCAR Nationwide Series will literally be front and center for the Daytona 500. Pole winner Martin Truex Jr. made his jump to NASCAR Sprint Cup following consecutive NASCAR Nationwide championships in 2004-05. Outside polesitter Mark Martin is the all-time series leader in wins (48) and poles (30).

“Incredible Hero” Hits Daytona: America’s Incredible Pizza Co., sponsor of Scott Lagasse Jr.’s No. 11 Toyota, launches its “Incredible Heroes” campaign Saturday at Daytona.

The season-long program recognizes people who have done “incredible” acts in the venue cities where the NASCAR Nationwide Series races. Daytona Beach resident Adam Clatterbuck is the inaugural honoree. Last summer, he donated one of his kidneys to his brother-in-law. He and his wife will be guests of CJM Racing.

Keller “Faces” Daytona: Jason Keller, will carry a special paint scheme for his series-leading 458th start upcoming at Daytona. His primary sponsor, Kimberly-Clark, will help retail partner Kroger recognize employees who have provided exceptional service by featuring numerous photos of those employees on the car.

Up Next — Stater Bros. 300: The NASCAR Nationwide Series is the second event of the unique doubleheader race day with the Camping World Truck Series next Saturday, Feb. 21, at Auto Club Speedway beginning at 7:45 p.m. ET.
Fast Facts

The Race: Camping World 300
The Place: Daytona International Speedway
The Date: Saturday, Feb. 14
The Time: 1:15 p.m. ET
The Distance: 300 miles / 120 laps
TV: ESPN 2, noon ET
Radio: Sirius NASCAR Radio / MRN
Track Size: 2.5-mile tri-oval
2008 Winner: Tony Stewart
2008 Pole: Tony Stewart

Event Schedule: Wednesday-Practice 3-4:50 p.m.; Thursday-Final Practice 9:30-10:50 a.m.; Friday-Qualifying, 3:10 p.m.

Kernersville, North Carolina (February 10, 2009) – Kevin Harvick Inc. has launched “Kevin Harvick Fan Central,” an online community and social networking site for fans of Kevin Harvick, driver of the Richard Childress Racing No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and the co-owner of Kevin Harvick Inc.

Kevin Harvick Fan Central is an online community allowing Harvick fans across the globe to interact in a wide variety of ways. Fans can create a personalized page, post and contribute to forums and blogs, participate in online chats, share and comment on pictures and videos, create groups and add events. Members of Fan Central can also add more than 142 additional applications, including feeds from other Web sites (like Twitter), streaming music and more. The fully interactive Fan Central has replaced the message board system formerly located on KevinHarvick.com.

“I feel like we always try to be cutting edge with everything we do at KHI,” Kevin Harvick said. “While the old fan area, message board and sites served an important purpose for the last nine years, we knew it was time to step it up.”

The site launched on January 26, 2009, and more than 1900 fans have already signed-up. An average of 170 new fans join every day. Members have joined from nearly every state and across Canada.

“The Kevin Harvick Fan Central has definitely exceeded my expectations,” Harvick continued. “I have always said that I have the greatest fans and now I believe they have the greatest place to come together. I’m really proud that KHI has once again taken a huge step outside the box with our online community and social networking site.”

Fan Central was created from the Ning Platform by TrendyMinds, an Indianapolis-based, full service advertising and public relations agency. The agency is also in the process of redesigning KevinHarvick.com and KevinHarvickInc.com. KevinHarvick.com will focus on the No. 29 Sprint Cup car that Harvick drives and feature media, statistics and facts about the 2007 Daytona 500 champion. KevinHarvickInc.com will feature media, sponsor, statistics and racing information as it relates to the Kevin Harvick Inc. teams. Both sites will launch in the first quarter of 2009.

For more information on Fan Central or to become a member, visit fancentral.kevinharvick.com.

Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001, is a 70,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. KHI houses two full-time Truck Series teams, including the 2007 series champions, the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado driven by three-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday and the No. 4 KHI All-Stars Chevrolet Silverado driven by Ricky Carmichael and a variety of NASCAR Sprint Cup stars. KHI is also home to the No. 33 Chevrolet Impala competing full-time in the Nationwide Series, with drivers Kevin Harvick (a two-time Nationwide Series champion), Hornaday and Cale Gale. The 2009 season marks KHI’s sixth year of full-time competition in NASCAR’s elite divisions. Visit http://www.kevinharvickinc.com for more information.

TrendyMinds is a highly creative, full-service boutique agency. Our services include media solutions, branding, public relations, interactive services and promotions. With a “lean and mean” passionate and experienced staff, TrendyMinds doesn’t just create ad campaigns, press releases or Web sites — TrendyMinds creates identity. Founded in 1995, TrendyMinds prides itself on exceeding expectations, creating lasting and meaningful relationships with clients and hiring only the best and brightest in the industry. TrendyMinds is located in the Douglass Pointe Lofts of Fall Creek Place in downtown Indianapolis. For more information on our work, staff or services, please visit http://www.trendyminds.com or call 317.926.1727

It sounds like a line from a science fiction movie, but I am not alone. We’re everywhere. From drivers to fans to the press corps that covers the sport, I’m seeing and hearing grown men and women practically jumping out of their skin with anticipation. They’re almost vibrating they’re so excited, like an emergency generator that never shuts down. It’s as if everyone I know has imbibed a cocktail whose ingredients are a triple espresso latte, a couple cans of Full Throttle and a two-pound bag of M&M’s.

In other words, they’re showing telltale signs of over-caffeination. But it isn’t a few too many trips to Starbucks that has us all so jittery. It’s the 51st running of the Daytona 500, on February 15.

Is this year’s “Great American Race” really so different from any other year? The answer is yes. And no.

There is an impressive set of undeniable facts about the Daytona 500. It is the biggest, most prestigious race of the year. The phrase “Daytona 500 champion” carries a certain cachet that other events, however popular, just don’t have; think in terms of Wimbledon or The Masters.

Plus, the paycheck isn’t too shabby, either. The Daytona 500 winner will collect the biggest purse of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

I don’t expect to see any of these things change in my lifetime, and I plan to stick around for a very long time. But let’s be honest. NASCAR, along with every other big business in America, has been affected by the current economic downturn.

Racing’s off-season, despite the fact that it falls during the traditional holiday season, was far from festive. We’ve been hearing less about cars getting together on the track and more about teams merging off of it. Even the seasoned pros among us might need a scorecard for the first two or three weeks of this new season, just to keep track of who is driving what car bearing the logo of which sponsor.

You know how time seems to travel at a different, slower pace when you’re at your job, but seems to fly when you take that rare week off? The off-season has seemed an awful lot like work. But buckle up, friends. It’s time for our vacation to begin.

This year’s jaunt — and it is an ambitious one, spanning 10 months, 36 point races and two coastlines — has all us jumping up and down in our seats.

Even our beloved NASCAR superstars are getting into the act. As I was listening to Daytona 500 Media Day coverage on my radio, and the drivers were being systematically interviewed, one parroted the next almost word for word. “I can’t wait. We need something positive to talk about, like actual racecars and what’s happening on the track. I’m really excited.”

They sound like kids in the back seat, putting a new slant on the old phrases we have heard, and used, so many times during our travels.

“He’s looking at me.”

Well, of course he’s looking at you, son. Actually, he’s focused on you like a laser beam, trying to ascertain whether or not you and your crew chief have managed to find that elusive hundredth of a second that can mean the difference between the winner’s circle and a very bad day. Get used to it.

“Let’s play the alphabet game!”

Excellent suggestion. This is a staple of highway travel, uniquely suited to NASCAR, which when you think about it, is the supreme car trip. A: I see an Allmendinger! B: I see Kyle Busch! C: I see Carl Edwards, (and he’d better back off). D: I see a drafting partner … Oh, wait, maybe not. E: I see an Earnhardt. You get the drift.

Of course, the most popular letters of the day pop up toward the end of the alphabet. Everyone wants to be the driver who says, “V: I see Victory Lane”.

Of course, the most frequently asked questions center not around the journey, but the destination. “How much longer? Are we there yet?” And finally, we are able give the answer that is music to everyone’s ears.

Yes, we are.

THE MODERATOR: We’re going to roll into our post race press conferences here for the Ford 300 at Homestead Miami. I appreciate these guys’ patience up here today. We’ve got three of our competitors, including the team owner.

Our second place finisher in today’s race, Kyle Busch. He drives the No. 18 Z Line Designs Toyota. And our 2008 NASCAR Nationwide series Raybestos Rookie of the Year is Landon Cassill. He drives for J. R. Motorsports. Congratulations to you, Landon; congratulations to you, Dale, Jr.

I’m going to ask Landon right now your thoughts about winning the Rookie of the Year award.

LANDON CASSILL: I’m just really proud of everybody, my whole team, for working so hard for me this year. I ran a limited schedule, and I had some really good races, and at times it didn’t look so good, and at times it looked great.

You know, it was a real compliment to me, and it was flattering when we went to Phoenix, and all my guys knew it was my last race, and their focus was getting me the finish I needed. You know, I can’t thank them enough for that, for being that focused on winning Rookie of the Year.

My guys, National Guard, supported me all year, Dale, Jr. who owns my car and the team, and it’s an honor, and I hope I’m a good rookie.

THE MODERATOR: Dale, your thoughts about Landon winning this award?

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Well, I was proud of Landon. He did a good job for the most part of the year. He got the finishes he needed to win. He had some pretty good competition, I think Brian, and he got some really good finishes at parts of the year and showed a lot of good showed he’s got a lot of talent.

THE MODERATOR: Kyle, you had an outstanding season in the NASCAR Nationwide series, I believe a record tying ten victories, second place finish here today. You’ve got to feel good about how you performed in the series this year and today’s race. Your thoughts?

KYLE BUSCH: It was a good day, I guess, today. But we started behind a little bit this weekend. We unloaded and we weren’t great, so we came a long way and we built a lot of crutch into that car to make it go fast. Unfortunately there in the last run it was too loose to start and then all of a sudden it just flipped a switch and started getting tight.

After the race there was damage on the front end, so I don’t know if there was a culprit or not. Never really had that all day, just unfortunate there that we couldn’t keep up with the 60.

But a solid effort by the team, once again. You know, if somebody goes for the championship in the 18 or the 20 next year, can certainly be a force to be reckoned with.

Q. Kyle, can you talk about the 20 team winning the owners’ championship? Do you feel like you were a significant part of that?

KYLE BUSCH: I wasn’t a significant part of it. I only won one race in the thing. But, you know, they had a great car all year long, as well. You know, for it to come down to the final race like that, it was pretty cool to see, and for Joey to run the amount of races that he ran in the car and to win the races that he won, I believe, at Kentucky, he did his part of the deal.

You know, everybody that was in that car, myself, Joey, Denny and Tony all won, and we’re all a part of that deal. But the big pat on the back and the big support needs to go back to the guys at the shop, Dave Rogers and Jason Ratcliff who weren’t here the rest of the year and for the rest of the guys that stepped up for the rest of the year to make that thing go fast and stay up front.

Q. Landon, how stressful was it to know that your championship, your rookie title, hinged on a race that you weren’t in? And, also, the hopes that this catapults you into something better next year?

LANDON CASSILL: That’s funny because I was spotting for David Green tonight, and one eye on David and one eye on Brian all night. But I was just kind of watching with one eye closed, just kind of cringing the whole time, especially when Brian was in the Top 10. He had a good race car early on.

You know, we really could have easily started and parked a car and gotten the rookie points, but we knew what races we had to run, and we did what we had to do. I’m glad that it turned out the way it did. I had fun up on the spotter’s stand tonight anyways.

Next year you know, the economy is tough right now and everybody is struggling. It’s just tough right now. You know, I think you probably even see the championship team struggling. We’ve seen that in the past.

Rookie of the Year is a very prestigious award. You know, I’ve said before that it’s something that Raybestos has been involved with for many number of years and something that as a child growing up Raybestos Rookie of the Year was a phrase that I had known since I was a little kid. So to be able to have a title like that is awesome, and hopefully it does catapult into a ride or something.

Q. For Dale, I guess it’s kind of the same questions, what does this do for Landon for next year with you?

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Well, we just hope somebody is going to call us here in the next several months so we can put something together for next year and get the 5 car back to a full time program. We’ve been searching around for several different deals, and we actually had a program for 18 races, but it ended up conflicting with something else way, way down the line, so it wasn’t even anything to do with me or my team.

But it’s tough. You find something, you think you’ve got it saved and you think you’re going to have a sponsorship, and it don’t work out. It’s real tough.

Q. Kyle, you led a lot of the race there through the middle portion, and then Carl was able to get by you. Did your car change or the track change? What happened?

KYLE BUSCH: I alluded to it a little bit earlier. I think that the culprit was a piece of damage on the front end. There was a hole in the bottom grille screen, so I’m not sure if that was exactly it or not, what that does in the tunnel as far as front down force goes. But I just got so tight all of a sudden. The guys said they didn’t see that hole there on the final pit stop coming down Pit Road or anything, so we don’t know when it happened. I guess I run over something and got a hole there, which just got me extremely tight, and I couldn’t even get the front end of the car to stick to keep up with the 60. It was just not meant to be tonight. I’m blaming it on the hole.

Q. This is for Kyle and also for Dale. Last night the Truck championship was decided by seven points. It’s determined in a format that includes every race of the season. Tonight the Nationwide championship was determined by 21 points with every race of the season counting. You know, tomorrow is going to be the end of the Chase and a guy is probably going to win it in a runaway. What are your thoughts on maybe going back to a regular points system?

KYLE BUSCH: To me, I don’t know. I mean, you’ve got the guys running NASCAR who run NASCAR for a reason. So we don’t know a whole lot. Looks like there’s more exciting championship format the other way around if you look back at the way Jimmie has come back in the past ten races or whatever, and he still has the lead in the old system, too. But it’s a little bit closer. At least three guys, I think, would have a shot for it here in the final race.

But it is what it is, and, you know, I guess it was broken beforehand and now they thought they fixed it and now it’s broke again. I don’t know what to do to it.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: Yeah, I can’t really add anything to that. You know, you can’t keep tweaking on it and keep messing with it. I mean, it is what it is. The old system would have worked this year, next year it might not have. Maybe if we were in the old system, everything would have been different. But we might have a runaway steal. Kyle was pretty far ahead. Chase makes you race a little differently and things happen, and whatever. I don’t know if you can just it wouldn’t matter. I mean, it is what it is.

Q. For Landon, you and Brian are close friends, and I guess what’s the card game going to be like next Monday?

LANDON CASSILL: He’ll probably beat me, and I don’t know, it’ll be good. We’ve been friends the whole time, all through this, and I don’t see why that would change. I mean, we’re good buddies and good competitors, as well. I hope it doesn’t change. But he’ll probably beat me at cards; they usually do.

Q. Kyle, despite all your success this season with the Car of Tomorrow, is there anything you would do to change it to get a better feel for the car? I mean, can you just kind of give an overview of what it’s been like to drive that model this year?

KYLE BUSCH: Man, that was the wrong question to ask me (laughter). I’m going to keep my mouth shut. It’s very, very frustrating to drive that thing every day or every week. You know, it is what it is, and there’s a lot of things that they could do to help us out to help it drive better. They just never listen, don’t want to listen. They’re going to leave it the way it is, no model change, pretty much because they don’t want to the economy is bad and all that stuff, whatever. They’re not going to change. There’s a new nose for the Ford F 150 and they’re not changing that. All the trucks are staying the same and all the Nationwide series is staying the same, everything because of the economy. The Cup cars might as well stay the same and we’ll have the same shows next year that we had this year probably.

An Interview With:
BRAD KESELOWSKI

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined now by our third place finisher in the tonight’s Ford 300 and that’s Brad Keselowski. He drives the No. 88 Navy Chevrolet for J.R. Motorsports. You had a successful season in this series and closed it out with a good finish here tonight. Your thoughts?

BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, a lot of thoughts. It’s been awesome, it’s been a special year, it really has. It’s been everything I could have asked for and more. So it was cool to get two wins. I had a lot of fun, got a great group of guys and building momentum and going to try and make a run for the championship and celebrate like Clint it right now for next year.

But it’s been a very special season, kind of a bittersweet day for me to see it end. Last race for the Navy.

BRAD KESELOWSKI: This was the last race for the Navy, so I’m going to miss that and all that comes with it. That was pretty much our day, and it’s been a great year.

Q. Brad, you were in championship contention a few races ago but fell out. What did you learn from the last part of the year to maybe help out with a championship run next year?

BRAD KESELOWSKI: Ooh, a lot of things. With the way the points system is, it takes a whole year, and I think if you ask Carl right now, he’ll tell you the same thing.

There are multiple things, you know, California was really mean to us, really mean to us. We lost 220, 230 points at California alone. Both Californias and both Richmonds kind of stunk. You just can’t have bad finishes. I felt like if you look at our stats this year, you know, and our performance, we’ve been just as competitive, if not more than Clint has, but Clint has just done such a great job of executing at the end of the day, and so has his team, not having any failures and all that.

Quite honestly, my team did a great job, too, and just caught some bad breaks. That’s racing. You know, you have to do more than do everything right, you have to have a little bit of luck. But there’s probably room to improve all the way around, room for me to improve, room for the team to improve and room for the luck to improve, and we’re just the tiniest bit off on each bit. I’m just a tiny bit off, the team is just a tiny bit off, the luck is just a tiny bit off, and if we can put all that together next year, we can go win it.

Q. What personally are you going to do to get ready for next year? What are some of the things that you want to see either about yourself or the team in order to be in a position to challenge, say, Carl or Clint if he runs again next year?

BRAD KESELOWSKI: That’s a great question. I’m going to run the Nationwide series full time next year and probably do some kind of limited part time schedule next year on the Cup side, very small amount of races to be determined. I think just work hard on the preparation.

Running double duty has helped my performance drastically on the Nationwide side, and even though the cars are different, it’s huge, it really is. It’s huge to be able to run that other car. It gets you thinking, it gets you physically prepared, mentally prepared. So there’s definitely an advantage to that, and I’m probably going to try to exploit that as much as I can.

To be able to run with Carl next year, I think he’ll probably be the guy to beat if he wasn’t this year. To run with him, we’re going to have to go out there and win races. I think Carl won six races on the Nationwide series and we won two, and I would expect Carl to win about the same next year.

So we have to win a few more races and got to execute, and there was probably three or four races where we had an opportunity to win and just missed that last little bit.

So next year we just need to execute that, and I myself will review those instances and try not to let those happen again, and that’ll probably be the bulk of how I try to prepare to do that. It just comes down to the small things at the end of the day, you know, the last pit stop or all those small intangible things that a lot of people don’t see that just keep you from that separates a seventh place day from a winning day.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

THE MODERATOR: We are pleased now to be joined by our race winner and crew chief and team owner up here on the stage. The race winner for today’s Ford 300 is Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 60 Save A Lot Ford; his crew chief, Drew Blickensderfer; and his team owner, Jack Roush. Congratulations, gentlemen. Terrific job not only tonight but throughout the course of this season.

Carl, your thoughts about winning today’s race? Certainly made a great run at your second consecutive championship falling 21 points short but certainly put on a good show for us.

CARL EDWARDS: It was a great race, a lot of fun. I had a great time racing with Kyle. That was a great race. I know Clint had to be sweating those last few laps when some of those guys behind him had tires, and I thought, man, it can happen.

Drew did a great job, my guys did a great job and we had a car that was fast enough to win and we did everything right. Boy, if I could go back to the season and pick up 21 points, that would be great, but we can’t. It’s a full season. Clint earned the championship. He’ll be a great champion.

You know, it’s neat to see how excited his family was and how excited he is, and I’m as happy as I could be for another guy to beat me, and I hope he enjoys it.

Q. Drew, your thoughts, a lot of strategy had to unfold there towards the end, and it seemed like you made the right calls.

DREW BLICKENSDERFER: Yeah, you know, we had to do what they didn’t do. Basically we wanted to put as much space between us and them as possible. The way it worked out, the 2 pretty much stayed on our game plan and they were running good enough that they could stay within four or five car lengths from us most of the time.

So, you know, it was tough to get off sequence with them. But, you know, at the end I saw last night’s race, took stuff from that and knew that the only way we were going to have a chance to win the championship, let alone the race, was stay out. Hopefully

Clint was far enough back and he would come and get tired, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.

THE MODERATOR: Jack, you’ve got to be proud of this race team and congratulations on a super year.

JACK ROUSH: It’s been a super year. The race team has done a great job coming together. Drew is going to be really good in this business, I think as good as any of the crew chiefs that are famous for their success.

All of our sponsors have hung with us this year. It’s been a great year. It’s been a pleasure to be involved in the Nationwide series and to be this close for a second year.

If I look back, the only thing I was able to do as an owner was to be able to race with Carl and Drew in the Nationwide series, that would be enough for me. It’s been a great pleasure.

Q. Carl, over this last stretch, both the Nationwide and Cup, all you’ve had to do is go out and run for the wins. Was that kind of a relief rather than worrying? I remember the fuel gamble you did in Fort Worth, but how do you feel about just being able to go out and run fast?

CARL EDWARDS: I’m kind of thinking about just racing like that all the time now. I can’t imagine why you’d race for points. We seem to have accumulated a lot of points by just being aggressive. You know, there is a fine line. You have to be careful. I have taken a lot of not very smart chances, chances that were risky, but it has been fun. I’ve enjoyed it.

You know, tonight went as well as it could have. For one race it couldn’t have gone any better. No matter how tomorrow goes, you know, the thing is that this winter I can go into this off season knowing that we’re going to be tough next year. We’re going to be tough here in the Nationwide series and in the Cup Series. We’ve grown a lot and had a lot of fun.

Q. Carl, I just wanted to ask you about the in race reporter stuff on television. We saw you again tonight. Maybe talk about what that’s like for you? It’s such a new thing and very interesting for people watching at home.

CARL EDWARDS: Yeah, a lot of people have commented on it and say they enjoy it, and I’m glad they do. It’s very strange to be talking in your car and know that you’re talking across to millions of people across the world, I guess, from your race car.

It’s pretty neat.

I think Dale Jarrett does a great job with it, and I enjoy doing it. There are times, like tonight, and I think it was in Atlanta when it’s like the last restart, we’re leading the race, and here comes Dale asking me questions, and I think to myself, man, you know, should I be doing this? I don’t know if I should be talking at this point. But it hasn’t seemed to affect the racing, and it’s kind of fun. Takes my mind off of any stress I have.

Q. Carl, you did about everything you could do tonight. You won, I think you almost led the most laps. As you exit here, does that leave you happier or is it frustrating that you came up short?

CARL EDWARDS: Well, definitely it’s frustrating to not win the championship. I mean, that’s what we set out to do this season.

Q. (Question about Clint Bowyer)?

CARL EDWARDS: One time I raced against him in Moberly, Missouri, and I beat him. It was awesome (laughter). That day felt real good. It doesn’t make up for this day, but it felt good. Clint is a really good guy, man. It was so cool, his mom and dad come to the races, and the way he told me the story, he started racing out of the corner of his dad’s tow truck shop, and he’s a great racer.

You know, to get that day in Moberly if you would have told me that Clint and I would be racing for the Nationwide series championship in 2008 I think that was 2001 or something I mean, I would have laughed so hard. We were just a couple dirt racers having some fun there. It’s very neat.

Q. For Drew, next year Carl is probably going to be the favorite to win the championship. Does that at all change your approach rather than coming in halfway through a season like you’ve done?

DREW BLICKENSDERFER: You know, I think it doesn’t change our approach like Carl talked about earlier. He knew things that he could probably look back in the year and think maybe I should do this better. There’s a lot of things I could have done better.

I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve raced for points. My rookie year as a crew chief I was fortunate enough to be with Danny O’Quinn, we won Rookie of the Year, but racing for points in and out against tough competition was new to me. There’s certain things throughout the year that I look back on and think, man, we could have got five bonus points there, or, man, I shouldn’t have been that aggressive with that.

I think the things I’ve learned over the last six or seven months on the 60 car have prepared me for championship battle.

Q. Carl, how long do you want to keep up the pace of doing both series full time?

CARL EDWARDS: You know, I don’t know. I’m enjoying it right now. I mean, racing with Drew and these guys, I mean, Saturdays are a blast. To be able to win races and have my friends and my family here and have a chance to race for championships, it’s good. So as long as Jack will let me do it and NASCAR will let me do it and we’re competitive, you know, I plan on doing it for a while.

JACK ROUSH: That was a great question. I’m glad you asked it. I thought I understood next year was the last year you wanted to do it.

CARL EDWARDS: I’m kind of going a year at a time, but I don’t really know. If I’m sitting here a year from now and we’ve won 10 races and a championship — it’s up to you guys.

Q. (Indiscernible)?

CARL EDWARDS: We’re going to go to London and do the Race of Champions, and then from London we’re going to Thailand and doing some big bicycle ride adventure over there. I don’t have an itinerary yet, but it will be exciting.

Now that we have less time off in January, I don’t know what I’ll do then. We’re going to have some fun, I guarantee you.

We’ll try to take a camera so you guys can see it. It should be exciting. Tom Giacchi in Bangkok is going to be priceless. So I’m excited.

Q. I just wanted to ask Jack, once you toyed with building a test track at some point a few years ago. With what was announced yesterday, have those plans come up in your head at all?

JACK ROUSH: You’re the second person that’s asked me that question. I have neither the money nor the inclination to build a test track and also have had conversations with Mike, and I don’t have any intention to try to get around their test rules.

If we could organize a situation where all the established teams would hold hands and resolve not to test outside of the NASCAR mandated or approved testing, not go to the skid pads, not go to Canada, not to go to Pikes Peak or any of the places they’re checking on, I’d be happier with that than to skirt around.

If everybody else does it, we may have to do it, too, but that’s certainly not in the spirit of trying to save the teams money and trying to operate in these severe economic circumstances.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

THE MODERATOR: We are now pleased to be joined by our 2008 NASCAR Nationwide series champion, driver Clint Bowyer. He drives the No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet. Team and car owner Richard Childress; team crew chief Dan Deeringhoff. Congratulations on a super job and terrific effort tonight.

Clint, what’s it feel like winning the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide series championship, your first series championship in NASCAR?

CLINT BOWYER: Man, it’s just incredible. It makes you think back to how it all started. You know, working in a body shop in Kansas and trying to figure out how to what was the next move. You’re out of money, your parents gave up three retirements to get you where you’re at, and, you know, it was kind of the end of the road.

Out of nowhere, my cell phone rings and it was Richard. It was just unbelievable to think back how my career started with the race in Nashville and then winning my first race in the Nationwide series at Nashville.

You know, to be able to win our first championship with Dan and all the guys on the BB&T Chevrolet and all our partners, very proud to be able to do this for Richard. Kind of feels like giving back for taking a chance on me, and finally it paid off.

It took him a while, took me a while, but I finally had a chance, an opportunity to give back to him and just really proud of everybody at RCR, all the guys on the BB&T, Camping World, Chevrolet, everybody we’re strong.

RCR, it’s fun to be able to roll through RCR as a race car driver and know the guys and know that they’re pulling for you and happy that you’re racing for them. That’s what Richard has formed there is a family atmosphere where a guy can go there and feel like family.

THE MODERATOR: Dan, your second year as chew chief in the No. 2 gets you a championship. What are your thoughts?

DAN DEERINGHOFF: That was pretty neat. I’m at a loss for words. I haven’t eaten for three days (laughter). It’s actually three years I’ve been crew chiefing there.

THE MODERATOR: R. C., you’ve got to feel good about this, this is your fifth NASCAR Nationwide series championship for RCR and the third time that you’ve either had or tied or won the driver car owner championship. So congratulations. What are your thoughts about this No. 2 car?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I’m really proud of the whole team, everybody worked so hard, and BB&T and Camping World. We started the year out to win the championship, and here we are.

I can’t say enough about Clint Bowyer. I see in him what I’ve seen in some other drivers that were great, and I think he’s got everything it takes to be the great one. I’m really proud for him and his family. It’s neat to see a family atmosphere, his brothers and his mother and father and everybody around, and I’m just really proud of it.

And I’d like to congratulate the Gibbs organization. To go out and win owner’s championship with four different drivers is just unheard of. I’m really happy that those guys if we couldn’t win it, I was really proud for Joe and those guys, the way they accomplished it.

Q. What would Elvis say about this one?

CLINT BOWYER: Taking care of business, baby (laughter).

Q. Clint, how nerve wracking was that last restart? And, Richard, were you with him on the radio during that final caution? What did you say?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I think all of us was on at one time. We just told him to be cool and it would be it would all be good, and he did.

CLINT BOWYER: That’s the hardest thing is you knew it was coming. Every time that we get into a deal where we’re going to win a race or we have a good car, that always happens. We always have to go through the adversity for some reason, that last scare, before glory, before the end, whether it’s good or bad.

You know, it’s never easy, it seems like, for us in the Nationwide car. But you know, that’s what championships are made out of. I remember racing at Lakeside and coming down to the last race and battling it out and having to beat the guy like we had last night with the Truck Series. I couldn’t imagine going through that.

I had a 56 point lead and still had trouble with it. But 3 point lead going into that race, it was just incredible to watch that and think, oh, my God, this is fixing to happen to me tomorrow.

Just so proud of it’s all about having good people, and Richard has surrounded me with good people, with Dan Deeringhoff, with everybody on this car. They’re good people, they work hard and they accomplish their goals.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I’d like to throw one more thing in. That last week at Phoenix, I think that was probably the turning point for winning the championship is those guys got in there and dug and dug, and that car was killed in a front end, and if we ever had luck on our side, it was that day, we didn’t lose a radiator. And our Chevrolet Monte Carlo just did a great job, and Clint drove it back to the front, and a couple more laps might have won the race with it.

I think that was a big turning point in winning the championship, being able to come in here instead of being 20 points ahead, being like we were.

Q. R. C., in 2005 you pulled me aside and you said, boy, have I found the guy. And historically you go with veteran drivers so your fab shop is not too busy, but in this case, since Harvick, you had finally found a young guy that you’re like, he’s the real deal. What was it that you saw in Clint even back then that you knew he had championship form?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: Number one, he’s got car control from being on dirt tracks and the type of racing. But I think it’s to be a champion and to be what it takes to be successful in this sport it’s the toughest motor sport I think in the world is you’ve got to have heart. And he has heart, and he knows when to dig, and I seen that even at the first races I watched him run. You’ve got to have heart, and he has it.

Q. Clint, the fact that it came against Carl tonight and that you had a chance to told him off, how special is that? Does it mean anything to you? And does it make it sweeter?

CLINT BOWYER: Absolutely. It was funny, I saw him at the steps leaving here, and he said he shared a story and we both thought it was funny we raced at the same race in Moberly, Missouri. It was my first asphalt race, went over there with a guy named Scott Traylor, his modified he let me have an opportunity. And had an awesome car. I mean, this thing was beautiful, top notch. Show up, and here comes this ragged out, turd of a race car that was way louder than everything else and for whatever reason had different tires than everybody else, and he killed us that day. And I’m like, who in the hell is that guy? It was Carl Edwards.

So we had that moment down there, and I told him, I said, “that’s payback for Moberly.” That was our first race together. We race a lot. He did a better job of wrecking my cars this year than I did. But we had a lot of fun, and still, it comes down to enjoying each other, and Carl is a hell of a race car driver. There’s no way of getting around it.

You know, I’m damn proud to be able to beat a race car driver like that and a team and an organization like he’s got behind him. It says a lot about ours and the people that surround me.

Carl, he’s been a long time friend from those days, and I think it’s a true testament to the stepping stones of NASCAR. We both came from the weekly racing series, went through the regional touring series and he went to the Truck series. Luckily I got the right phone call and went to the Nationwide series. It’s fun to be able to come back here, what, five, six years later and be able to race each other for championships. It really is fun.

Q. For Clint and for Dan, I guess with about ten laps to go, Clint, you went three wide with a couple guys. Just how nervous did that make both of you?

CLINT BOWYER: Who am I talking to?

Q. Upstairs (laughter).

CLINT BOWYER: You know, the whole race I was three wide, behind, knew I had to catch up. You know, Carl has been doing a good job of putting the heat on. You knew he was going to. You knew he was going for it in Carl Edwards’ style. But you knew that you had to stick to your guns, stick to the basics, stick to what got us to this point. And that’s consistency, racing smart, and that paid off. It’s paid off in years every championship I’ve ever won, it’s consistency. It isn’t the races won.

I mean, absolutely we wanted to win more races, but you’ll give up a battle or two to win the war, and I feel like we earned the war.

Q. Same question for Dan.

DAN DEERINGHOFF: Ten laps to go and that caution comes out, it bunches everybody back up and you don’t have time to not go two or three wide, you gotta get what you can. Clint did an excellent job of doing that and making sure we were padded well enough on this championship.

Q. For Clint, they said on TV that you guys had decided before the race not to talk about where Carl was, what position you were in, what the points were. Would that have just been a distraction for you?

CLINT BOWYER: That’s funny you say that because halfway through the Cup practice, I’m sitting there and my Cup car is good and I’m thinking about this Nationwide deal and thinking, we haven’t really talked about this Nationwide deal. Hey, I need to make sure I know where I need to be.

But that’s the way it is. You go out there and do the best you can and race as hard as you can, and if that’s not good enough, that’s not good enough. You know, that’s what got us to this point.

An exception, we made some mistakes, but they made more mistakes. It’s nerve wracking. There’s no way of getting around it. Dan said he didn’t eat. I woke up at 5:30 this morning. Trust me, that doesn’t ever happen (laughter).

Q. Clint, you touched on this just a minute ago. There are times during the season when you got frustrated because you believed you had a car that could win and you didn’t, but when you look back at the year you had like 29 Top 10s and 35 races, never finished worse than 25th. Now that you have this trophy, is it easier to appreciate the ones that you lost earlier in the season?

CLINT BOWYER: It is, but it makes you think back on how much you appreciate the hard work of everybody back at RCR, the engine department. I don’t know when is the last time we’ve had a DNF from the guys’ hard work.

You know, I’ll tell you another funny thing about Richard was he said how did we run here last year, and Danny said it was going good until we broke about two laps to go, and a motor broke is what happened.

You’ve got to push the envelope and make the boss nervous. If the boss isn’t nervous, them guys ain’t doing their jobs, in my opinion. Hat’s off to the engine department, whether it be the Nationwide or the Cup program. They’ve come so far. Everybody at RCR has worked hard to get us to this point. We’re fourth, fifth and sixth on the Cup side, and that’s pretty consistent, pretty solid, and I think that’s overall as an average better than anybody, any organization.

So that all happens back in the shop, and those people digging in the trenches, they don’t get seen and talked about enough. Hopefully they all know that we appreciate this.

Q. For Richard and Clint, what has Dan meant to the team, and how has he been a steadying force this year?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I think he’s one of the silent crew chiefs. You never hear a lot about him or anything, but he’s as solid as any crew chief out there. We’ve got him next year. He’s going to be doing a great job for us again. I’m just proud of what he’s been able to do, and to lead the guys at the shop has really been a major deal, and he’s a leader. That’s what I’ve got to say.

CLINT BOWYER: I second that. I mean, in my opinion he’s a lot like I am. He never shows up until the money is on the line, and then he’s there. I feel like that’s what won us this championship.

If you look at the race tonight, hell, I was nervous. I was like, we’re not that good, how am I going to get up there? We work together, we work hard, and Dan makes good decisions, and by the end of the night we’re where we need to be, and I think that we complement each other well, and I appreciate all of his hard work.

This has been a long time coming. We worked well together last year, had an incredible, consistent year last year, and it showed me that that’s what it took to win a championship this year, and indeed that’s what it was.

Q. Clint, any chance of you running to try to defend this championship next year? Or one is enough?

CLINT BOWYER: You know, with this new testing procedure, I can’t wait for vacation (laughing). I’m going to run as much as I can. I love this series. I love what Nationwide has done for this series. I appreciate them coming in and helping stepping up to the plate. They really did.

I mean, times are tough, and this series is on top, and it’s a lot of fun to be able to participate in this series, and I want to be a part of it as long as I can. Hopefully we’ve got a new guy coming to town, a spotter, Mike Dillon, his son, Richard’s grandson Austin. He’s been doing one hell of a job. He finished in a Top 5, whooped up on me at Memphis and really showed all of us his potential.

Believe it or not, there is a Dillon that can drive, and I think he’s coming (laughter). I hope you print that so Mike Dillon can see that.

Q. I wonder for Richard and Clint, if you could talk about this series and how competitive it is and the opportunities it provides for young drivers.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: You know, I think it was two or three years ago there was a lot of conversation about Cup guys being in this series. Well, that’s what watching these Cup guys race against a Kevin Harvick, when we moved him up, we knew he was ready because he could go out and race and outrun the Cup guys.

Then when Clint came along, to be able to watch him go out and race the Cup guys, we knew we was able to move him up. With Nationwide coming in and taking this series, it gave all of us an advantage to be out there and maybe take a chance on the next young kid. Joey Logano is going to be a star from it. That’s where these guys come from, and you see them sit there and race these Cup guys, that gives the owners confidence to move a guy up.

Q. Am I correct in saying the driver pays for the whole championship party?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: Yes.

CLINT BOWYER: You said you were going to split it with me.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: No, I think the drivers pay for the party.

Q. Richard, to change gears a little bit, right before you came in, Jack Roush said that he would like to get an agreement amongst the Cup team owners to not skirt around the no‑testing issues by going to Pikes Peak, going to places like that, because he says all that’s going to do is defeat the purpose of not testing anyway, you know, finding tracks in Canada, that type of stuff. Would you agree to such an agreement like that?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I think so, but I think what you’re going to see, we’ve talked a lot about it, people doing a lot more in the technology world, and with the equipment and stuff that’s out there and some of the programs and all that you can get today, I think we’ll do a lot more ‑‑ if you’ve got ‑‑ it comes down to the tires. If we don’t have the tires, there’s no need in going.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

THE MODERATOR: This is your fifth overall NASCAR championship in a variety of series and your first NASCAR Nationwide series championship. Congratulations. Your thoughts?

J.D. GIBBS: Thank you. Really for us it was special to have all those guys, Kyle and Denny and Tony and Joey get in that car and run it, and then for the guys at the shop that have worked all year long, it would have been real frustrating to go the whole year and not have something to show for it.

Now to be able to come down to Orlando and celebrate as a team, we’ve never done that before as a Nationwide team. That’s a big deal for us. So we’re real excited about it, and I think for our team, it meant more than I would say most championships mean to other teams. I mean, this was a big deal for us and for the guys that worked so hard, because really, Nationwide you have guys that do a little bit of everything, and they’re not so specialized. They really work their tails off.

Q. Did you ever consider putting Logano in the 18 and putting Kyle in the 20 just because you had that

J.D. GIBBS: Yeah, we did. When we first started way back when, we said, hey, Joey, here’s the deal, obviously this car is way up in points. We can let that ride and you stay in it and go, or we can switch you to the 18. Are you comfortable doing that? He said, I want to learn, and part of learning is the pressure. I’m ready for that. I think it’s going to help me be a better driver down the road. He said from day one, bring it on, and to his credit was able to pull it off under pretty rough circumstances a lot of times.

Q. What do you think is more impressive Richard talked about the ability of your team to win the championship with four different drivers, or being able to do it after the penalty situation that took place, still being able to do it?

J.D. GIBBS: Yeah, I think it’s a combination. You know, that was a hard situation. I think that was encouraging for our guys crew chiefs are now at home. Six other guys are now at home. To go back and have the guys at the shop step up some guys have never been on the road before, and do things that were asked of them that weren’t comfortable and were difficult, I think that was that meant a lot. You know, I think that kind of for us is going to make it a real strong foundation for years to come. Those guys went through hard times together, came out of it and were still able to win that championship.

On top of it, you have a young guy in the car, he’s really good, but he didn’t have much experience. So to put all that together and come out with the championship means more than you know.

Q. What has Steve deSouza meant to this team, to this organization? Is he kind of the unsung hero almost?

J.D. GIBBS: Is Steve up there asking that question (laughter)? I think Steve really ten years we’ve been doing this, and Steve has kind of been guiding us along the way. To have this year is just kind of a testament to all the work he’s put into it as kind of overseeing look, we’ve got a lot of stuff going on in the Cup shop. Nationwide is extremely important to us, but Steve kind of runs that for us. As far as our Diversity team and our Camping World team, I know for him it feels really good, and just having them to be able to celebrate with them next year is going to really be a special time.

Q. There’s a thing about an Asian curse, being born in interesting times. You switched manufacturers, you had many drivers in the cars. As you talked before, you overcame the penalties. Have you ever had a year like this? What does that do for next year?

J.D. GIBBS: Really each year is kind of special and crazy in its own way. You know, I remember back when we won the championship with Tony, the one we won with Bobby in 2000, we were just good and nothing happened all year long. But everything after that, there’s always been some real positives and always been some negatives to go to. I think what that does for us, it helps build a stronger team.

But this year, yeah, it’s a new manufacturer, we had to put a new motor together in a matter of a month, and then you have new drivers in the mix, so it was a lot to ask of all of our guys, but I think the encouragement was they were able to do that.

Again, I go back to what I said before, they’re bonded closer now than they ever would have been if we just went all year and didn’t have any issues. I think that’s the great foundation we have going forward.

Q. Is this the team that you’re going to have Logano paired with next year, and does winning this help at all for him going for the driver’s title next year?

J.D. GIBBS: Yeah, I think right now we’re still trying to figure out what it looks like. I think we’ll probably turn Kyle loose, and we haven’t figured out which team is which right now, but I think we’re probably going to turn Kyle loose and run for the whole thing it looks like, and then we’ll have a combination of Joey will run for a good bit, Denny will probably fit some in, and then we’ll have one more piece of the puzzle to kind of fill. We’ll have two cars next year.

Q. Do you know, does Dave Rogers get to come to the banquet and celebrate with you guys?

J.D. GIBBS: Yeah, Dave does get to come. He has to sit in a room down the hall (laughter). He gets to come and celebrate by himself.

No, we’re going to bring all the guys down to Orlando, even the shop guys and the road guys. We’ve never won a championship in Nationwide. We’ve done it in Cup, but I think it’s going to be real special for those guys to take their families and come down there and enjoy the weekend.

Q. Just wondering if you could comment a little bit on this series as a developmental tool for drivers and for your team and how that’s worked for you.

J.D. GIBBS: Yeah, it’s been invaluable to us, and a lot of it is it’s difficult from a driver’s standpoint because, hey, I don’t care what series you’re in, because it’s expensive, it’s hard. We invest in it because you have the drivers, but just as importantly, we probably have 65 guys in our Cup shop that came through our Nationwide shop. That’s a big deal. That’s a training ground. You get to watch them, how do they work with people, how they communicate, and then when you kind of get them in our mold I’d say, they kind of get indoctrinated; you see the guys ready to go to Cup.

I think the biggest thing for us, all the guys, as well as drivers, putting the pieces together and being able to grow and develop, and then when you put those guys in the Cup Series, they’re attached to that Nationwide series, they appreciate it and they communicate more with those guys and it just grows that bond closer between both teams.

Q. Rick Hendrick was in here yesterday in reaction to the new testing policy saying basically that he would prefer a system where you used telemetry, data acquisition coming into the track on Friday and use that to tune the cars. Is that something you would also be in favor of?

J.D. GIBBS: That’s not a bad idea. I know NASCAR has looked at it before. I think where we are now is we would love to see maybe 12, 14 tests. 24 is probably too many.

The problem is it’s not so much the testing that’s going on, it’s just we just need these teams to survive.

Testing aside, we just need the teams part of it is, look, even if you brought telemetry to the track, you could do that, I’m not sure that helps the teams that are just trying to keep their head above water. I think NASCAR’s decision, let’s just get through this and a year from now kind of reevaluate it and see.

Q. Along those same lines, Jack Roush had said something about perhaps a gentlemen’s agreement among the team owners not to do the go to the tracks that aren’t in the NASCAR series kind of thing and wondered if that was possible, because if they really wanted to save money, the only way you’d really do that is by not testing at all, and Richard Childress appeared to be somewhat open to that. Is that something that you would consider?

J.D. GIBBS: Well, first you have to assume that we’re all gentlemen (laughter). I think for us that is good wisdom, and when it comes to technical things, how the sport works, Jack is probably second to none when it comes to that’s probably good wisdom on that.

I do think the difficulty for us next year is, look, we’ve got a guy who’s never been to these tracks. I agree with the testing, but how do you make it so a young guy at least gets his feet wet and tries some things? Do you do a little bit extra, give him a half hour at the racetrack? What can he do?

So I think for us, I agree with him that that’s probably a good plan. But for our young guy, how does that fit? I would say, too, that I think overall, there will still probably be some testing going on here, Rockingham, just trying stuff out before you hit the track with it. But I do think not having to have all four cars unloaded at a track is going to be a huge, huge savings for all the teams, all the owners. It’s up to the owners to make sure look, it’s expensive for the team. We’ve got to police it ourselves and make sure the value isn’t lost on running here and there, testing odd stuff.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 15, 2008) — Carl Edwards won the battle, but Clint Bowyer won the war.

Edwards took the checkered flag in the Ford 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, depriving runner-up Kyle Busch of a record 11th victory in a single season.

But Edwards couldn’t put enough distance between his No. 60 Ford and the No. 2 Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer, who claimed his first NASCAR Nationwide championship with a fifth-place finish. Bowyer entered the race with a 56-point lead over Edwards and won the title by 21 points.

“We’ve raced each other for a long time,” Bowyer said of Edwards, who won the NASCAR Nationwide championship last year. “He’s from the Midwest (Columbia, Mo.). He’s last year’s champion, and it feels great to be able to beat him.”

Edwards, who won his seventh race of the season and the 20th of his career, beat Busch to the finish line by .639 seconds.

“That’s a great win, to hold off the 18 (Busch), as strong as he’s been all season,” said Edwards, who congratulated Bowyer on his championship. “If I’ve got to get beat by somebody, a dirt racer from Emporia, Kansas (Bowyer’s hometown) is one of the best.

“But we’ll be back next year, and I hope Clint will, too. There’s no shame in giving 100 percent and finishing second. That’s all we could do.”

Brad Keselowski ran third and claimed third in the final series standings. Jason Leffler finished fourth in Saturday’s race, followed by Bowyer, Scott Wimmer, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelly Bires and Joey Logano.

Logano’s 10th-place result was enough to secure the owners’ championship for Joe Gibbs Racing, which used four different drivers in the No. 20 Toyota this year. Logano, Busch, Hamlin and Tony Stewart combined for nine wins in the car, with Stewart accounting for five. The No. 20 car finished 12 points ahead of the No. 2 Chevrolet, driven exclusively by Bowyer.

Notes: Kenny Wallace started his 418th NASCAR Nationwide race, breaking a tie with Tommy Houston for second on the all-time list. Wallace finished 33rd… Though Landon Cassill didn’t race Saturday, he claimed Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. The other rookie contender, Bryan Clauson, entered the race six points behind Cassill but scraped the wall, fell out of the event after 157 of 200 laps and finished 34th.

Jimmie Johnson is on the verge of history, closing in on his third-consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Sunday’s Ford 400 will decide his fate.

In Friday night’s Ford 200, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title will be decided, as only three points separate leader Johnny Benson from second-place Ron Hornaday Jr.

In Saturday’s Ford 300, the NASCAR Nationwide Series will crown either points leader Clint Bowyer or second-place Carl Edwards as its champion.

Storylines follow, but first here’s a look at Florida natives in the NASCAR garage.

In the Garage

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Kenny Francis (Jacksonville) – No. 9 Crew Chief

Alan Gustafson (Ormond Beach) No. 5 Crew Chief

Shane Westerberg (Miami) – No. 07 Mechanic

Allen Mincey (Fort Lauderdale) – No. 19 Mechanic

Dean Mozingo (Tampa) – No. 5 Transport Driver, Pit Support

Adam Cooke (Zephyrhills) – No. 41 Front Tire Carrier

Tony Nicholson (Jupiter) – No. 21 Front Tire Carrier

Ryan Pepe (Orlando) – No. 07 Front Tire Changer

Mark Jacobs (Fort Walton Beach) – No. 42 Jack Man

Ray Gallahan (Lake Helen) – No. 2 Jack Man

Chris Moore (Tampa) – No. 77 Rear Tire Carrier

Tab Boyd (Pensacola) – No. 42 Spotter

Shawn Reutimann (Zephyrhills) – No. 44 Spotter

Bobby Bakeeff (Fort Lauderdale) – No. 16 Pit Support

NASCAR Nationwide Series

Paul Flury (Hollywood) – No. 29 Engineer

Jay Nolan (Jacksonville) – No. 5 Engine Tuner

Shaun Rinaman (Sarasota) – No. 12 Catch Can

Shane Westerberg (Miami) – No. 2 Front Tire Changer

Thomas Costello (St. Petersburg) – No. 2 Gas Man

Jared Branan (Kissimmee) – No. 7 Rear Tire Changer

Kathy Rogers (Pinellas Park) – No. 88 Scorer

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Tim Rice (Lehigh Acres) – No. 7 Truck Chief

Chuck Scott (Tampa) – No. 12 Truck Chief

Jason Overstreet (Clearwater) – No. 9 Crew Chief

Rob Hunley (Ocalla) – No. 30 Engineer

Scott Palmer (Deland) – No. 7 Engine Tuner

Justin Gardner (Zephyrhills) – No. 30 Tire Specialist

Brian McCants (Port St. Lucis) – No. 6 Catch Can

Chris Souza (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Front Tire Carrier

Kyle Kretchman (Bradenton) – No. 5 Front Tire Changer

Everett Jones (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Front Tire Changer

Bill Rock (Cape Coral) – No. 28

James Lowe (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Jack Man

Jeff Wilson (Fort Myers) – No. 7 Rear Tire Carrier

Teddy Steger (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Rear Tire Carrier

Larry Lajoie (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Rear Tire Changer

Tim Rice (Lehigh Acres) – No. 7 Windshield/Driver Support

Morgan Holland (Pensacola) – No. 6 Scorer

Mike Swaim (Daytona Beach) – No. 5 Spotter

Michelle Gosselin (Lake Wales) – No. 12 Spotter

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Johnson Closing in On Third Straight Title

Jimmie Johnson needs to finish 36th or better in Sunday’s Ford 400 to become only the second driver to win three consecutive championships. Cale Yarborough is the only other driver to do so (1976-78).

Johnson now leads second-place Carl Edwards by 141 points. Even if Edwards were to win and lead the most laps on Sunday – a 195-point day – Johnson would clinch with that 36th-place finish.

A phenomenal Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has put Johnson in this position. Over the nine races, Johnson has three wins, six top fives, eight top 10s, an average finish of 4.7 and a Driver Rating of 118.7.

Knaus Cementing His Place in History

Behind every great driver is a great crew chief. That is certainly true when discussing Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. If Johnson and the No. 48 team hold on, Knaus will become the first ever crew chief to win three consecutive championships.

Edwards Holds Out Hope

Anything can happen. That’s Edwards’ mantra going into this weekend. His Roush Fenway Racing team has won the last four Homestead races (three by Greg Biffle, one by Matt Kenseth), so that can give Edwards some optimism.

The good news for Edwards lies at Homestead. The most points Edwards has gained on Johnson in one race is 127, at Homestead in 2005. In that race, Johnson finished 40th and Edwards finished fourth. If Edwards had won that race, he would have gained 147 points – six more than the deficit he now faces.

No matter the outcome, Edwards has had an excellent Chase. In the nine races thus far, Edwards two wins, seven top fives, an average finish of 8.8 and a Driver Rating of 113.2.

Hendrick Aims for Eighth Driver Title

If Johnson holds on to win the championship, it will be the eighth driver championship for owner Rick Hendrick. Thus far, he has won four with Jeff Gordon, two with Jimmie Johnson and one with Terry Labonte.

Additionally, if Johnson does win, it will be Hendrick’s 11th car owner championship across NASCAR’s three national series. Richard Childress currently is the leader with 11 owners championships, and is going for No. 12 this weekend with the No. 2 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The No. 2 is currently second in the owners points.

Gordon Looks to End 2008, Homestead Droughts

Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon looks to end two “slumps” this weekend. Gordon, winless in 2008, has won a race in 14 consecutive seasons. He has one more race to continue that streak. Unfortunately for him, Gordon has not had much success at Homestead. It is one of two tracks at which Gordon has yet to win a race (Texas is the other). His best Homestead finish is third in 2004, and he has finished in the top 10 in seven of his nine races there.

Additionally, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick – both winless this season – are looking to continue season winning streaks. Kenseth has won at least one race in six consecutive season and Harvick has won in three consecutive seasons.

Top 35 Battle All-Important

A race within a race will undoubtedly play out this weekend, as teams around the all-important top 35 bubble look to lock up guaranteed starting spots for next season. All teams in the top 35 in owners points after Homestead are guaranteed spots in the field for the first five races of 2009. Currently, the No. 47 Toyota driven by Marcos Ambrose holds the 35th position. But it is only 17 points ahead of the No. 84 Toyota in 36th-place.

Stewart Ends Championship Run at Joe Gibbs Racing

Tony Stewart will compete in his last race for Joe Gibbs Racing on Sunday, ending a 10-year run that brought 33 wins and two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships to JGR. In 2009, Stewart will drive for his own team – Stewart-Haas Racing.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Homestead-Miami Drips With Championship Drama

Three titles come down to the final race of season with the driver championship to be decided at the last race for the first time since 2005. It will be the 14th time in the 27-year history of the series that the title is decided in the last race. Below are the many championship storylines for the series:

Driver’s Championship

Clint Bowyer, seeking his first NASCAR national series title, leads reigning series champion Carl Edwards by 56 points – the closest one and two have been heading into the final race since 2003 when Brian Vickers led David Green by 22 points. (Vickers won the championship.)

Edwards has made an incredible charge over the last seven races when he was 207 points behind. In that span, he’s won three times, had two runner-up finishes and hasn’t finished out of the top 5.

If Bowyer finishes eighth or better in Saturday’s race, he will clinch the title regardless of how Edwards finishes.

Owner’s Championship

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has a 28-point lead over the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano will drive the No. 20 at Homestead and attempt to bring JGR its first NASCAR Nationwide Series title. Clint Bowyer will try to wrestle the title back for defending owner champion RCR, which is tied with DEI for the all-time lead with four series owner titles.

If the No. 20 finishes second, it would clinch regardless of what the No. 2 does. The No. 2 needs to finish 33rd or better in order to stay in contention until the end of the race.

Rookies

At Phoenix, Landon Cassill took the lead in the rookie race by six points over second-place Bryan Clauson, who gets one more shot as he’s entered at Homestead. Cassill will have to watch – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is entered in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Seven former series Rookies of the Year are entered in the race

Wallace Among Series Elite

Kenny Wallace is set to reach a series milestone at Homestead. A start for the NASCAR veteran will be the 418th of his series career, second only to Jason Keller’s 456. Wallace will surpass Tommy Houston, who held the mark at 417 before Keller surpassed it last October. Wallace started his 400th series race at Milwaukee in July and has 772 combined starts in NASCAR’s three national series.

NNS Etc.

Kyle Busch has one more chance to break the season record for wins he holds with two-time champion Sam Ard. Busch won his 10th race at Texas. … Four former series champions are entered at Homestead, including 1994 champion David Green. He’s vying to make his first start in series since 2007 at Kentucky. …Michael Annett will attempt to make his series debut for Germain Racing. Annett has eight starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with one top five and two top 10s. … Patrick Sheltra, a native of Indiantown, Fla., made his series debut at Phoenix and is also entered at Homestead.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Trucks Set for Closest Finale in Series History

The closest championship battle in series history – and second closest in a NASCAR national series since the current point system was implemented in 1975 – heads for resolution in this week’s Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnny Benson leads Ron Hornaday Jr. by just three points entering the 2008 finale. The closest points battle going into the final race in national series history was 1979, when Darrell Waltrip led Richard Petty by two going into the finale (Petty won the championship).

Benson Looking for First Series Title, Hornaday Aims for Fourth

What’s at stake: Benson’s first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title. He is the 1995 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion. Hornaday would claim an unprecedented fourth championship; become the series’ first back-to-back champion and be the oldest NASCAR national series champion at age 50 years four months 25 days.

Contenders Each Have Homestead Win

The race: Benson is the defending winner of the Ford 200. Hornaday won the race in 2000. There have been 12 consecutive different winners at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 1.5-mile facility was the first track of more than a mile in length to host a series race (in 1996).

Braun Leads Twenty-Something Rookie Class
A pair of 20 year olds top Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings entering the season’s final race. Colin Braun holds a 26-point lead over late-charging Brian Scott, whose fourth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway was his first top-five performance in the series. Braun could become Roush Fenway Racing’s sixth rookie-of-the-year and youngest in series history (50 days younger than 2000 Raybestos rookie Kurt Busch).

Scramble for Top 10 Spot

Erik Darnell in fourth and Rick Crawford in seventh are separated by just 31 points. The two, along with Mike Skinner in fifth and Matt Crafton in sixth will jockey for position this weekend. Also watch for the top 10 battle. Terry Cook holds a 59-point lead over Chad McCumbee for the 10th position.

Owners’ Championship Also on the Line

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owner championship remains a three-way race. Gail Davis (Benson) holds a three-point lead over DeLana Harvick (Hornaday). Billy Ballew, however, remains mathematically in contention. His Kyle Busch-driven Toyota is 98 points off the lead.

Who said the days of the triple-feature were over?

Three NASCAR Nationwide Series titles will be decided Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a series first.

For the first time since 2005, the driver championship comes down to the final race of the season. The driver and owner championships could be split for the second consecutive year. And the Raybestos Rookie of the Year race has its own drama.

Clint Bowyer (No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet) has held the driver standings lead for the last 29 weeks. He’s got a 56-point advantage over reigning series champion Carl Edwards (No. 60 Save-A-Lot Ford).

Edwards has waged a spirited comeback from a 207-point deficit eight races ago to move to within 56 points of Bowyer. The margin is the closest since Brian Vickers led David Green (No. 0 sponsordavis.com Chevrolet) by 22 points heading to Homestead in 2003.

Edwards has won the last two races and registered top-five finishes in his last eight events to put the final-race pressure on Bowyer.

But regardless of Edwards’ result, if Bowyer finishes eighth or better, he’ll claim his first NASCAR national series championship. He leads the series with 28 top-10 finishes this season.

Edwards may be chasing Bowyer, but Bowyer is immersed in his own hunt to unify the owner championship should he hang on to win the driver crown.

Joey Logano will drive the No. 20 DLP HDTV Toyota, which has a 28-point lead over the No. 2 Chevrolet of Bowyer and Richard Childress Racing. A second-place finish for the No. 20 regardless of the outcome for the No. 2 would clinch the first NASCAR Nationwide title for JGR. RCR is chasing its fifth owner championship, which would be a series record.

Bryan Clauson (No. 40 Fastenal Dodge) has a final chance to overtake Landon Cassill in the rookie of the year race. Cassill isn’t entered at Homestead – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in the No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet – but has a six-point lead over Clauson. That’s Cassill’s biggest advantage of the year.

Wallace Prepares For Place Among NASCAR Nationwide Series Elite

For once, Kenny Wallace (No. 28 U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet) may be at a loss for words.

The normally boisterous Wallace was unusually quiet at The Milwaukee Mile this summer when he reflected on his 400th NASCAR Nationwide Series start. He could be even more reserved as he realizes another major milestone in his NASCAR career.

With a start at Homestead, Wallace will surpass Tommy Houston for second on the all-time list with 418 starts. Jason Keller (No. 27 Kleenex Ford) holds the mark at 456 starts and counting.

“It’s a feather in my cap and I’m very grateful that I’ve been able to race for so long in the Nationwide Series,” Wallace said. “This series has always been there for me. It’s been a wonderful time and I look forward to the next 82 races.”

Wallace has 772 starts across each of NASCAR’s national series, but his NASCAR Nationwide start resumé is the longest.

In The Loop: Edwards A Bit Better Than Bowyer At Homestead

Over the last month, Carl Edwards has made things very interesting in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

And the statistics suggest the drama will continue at Homestead.

In winning two of the last three races, Edwards has slashed his championship deficit to 56 points with one race remaining. His statistics at Homestead are phenomenal, and he trumps driver standings leader Clint Bowyer in almost every key category.

Edwards has finished in the top five the last two Homestead races, including a runner-up finish in 2006. Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, he has a Driver Rating of 103.2, an Average Running Position of 8.2, 23 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 87.3%. Those numbers would be even better if not for his 19th-place finish in 2005 where he scored a Driver Rating of 88.6.

Bowyer is solid at Homestead, just not as strong as Edwards. In the last three races there, he has a Driver Rating of 92.3, an Average Running Position of 13.3, two Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 67.0%.

But Bowyer needs only to look at his lead to feel a bit more comfortable. This season, Edwards has beaten Bowyer by 56 points only twice. He bettered Bowyer by 61 at Michigan and by 80 at Memphis. Edwards won and led the most laps in both those races.

But Bowyer is simultaneously being chased – and chasing. His No. 2 Chevrolet is second in the owner championship battle, 28 points behind the No. 20 Toyota.

Bowyer has beaten Joey Logano – who will drive the No. 20 this weekend – by more than 28 points four times this season (Nashville-2, Bristol-2, Kansas and Lowe’s Motor Speedway-2).

Do The Math: Scenarios For NASCAR Nationwide Driver And Owner Championships

What will it take for those involved to claim the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and owner championships at Homestead?

The following are the clinch scenarios for the final chance at title chases:

Driver Championship

Bowyer needs to finish eighth or better without leading a lap regardless of what Carl Edwards does.
Bowyer can finish ninth with one lap led and clinch regardless of what Edwards does.
Bowyer can finish 11th and lead the most laps and clinch regardless of what Edwards does.
Edwards needs to finish 24th or better in order to stay in contention until the end of the race assuming Bowyer starts.
Owner Championship

The No. 20 can finish second with no laps led and clinch regardless of what the No. 2 does.
The No. 20 can finish third with one lap led and clinch regardless of what the No. 2 does.
The No. 20 can finish fourth and lead the most laps and clinch regardless of what the No. 2 does.
The No. 2 needs to finish 33rd or better in order to stay in contention until the end of the race assuming the No. 20 starts.
NNS Etc.

Last Chance For Busch

Saturday’s race is the final chance for Kyle Busch (No. 18 Line Designs Toyota) to pass Sam Ard for most series wins in a season.

Busch tied Ard’s mark of 10 wins three weeks ago with his victory at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ard set the standard in 35 races in 1983.

Back Where He Belongs

This weekend at Homestead, David Green, the 1994 series champion, makes his first appearance in the NASCAR Nationwide Series since June 2007.

Green will drive for Johnny Davis and must qualify the No. 0 Chevrolet on time in order to compete in his 387th career start. Green is fourth on the all-time start list and is one of four former series champions entered.

Burton Back To Defend

Clint Bowyer may feel like the cavalry has arrived.

Jeff Burton (No. 21 Prilosec OTC Chevrolet), last year’s race winner, will drive a third Richard Childress Racing entry at Homestead.

Burton won the 2007 event in the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet; Scott Wimmer will be making his final start for RCR in the No. 29 this weekend. Both drivers shared the stage with owner Richard Childress last year as NASCAR Nationwide Series owner champion.

Catch 22 At Homestead

Michael Annett (No. 03 Germain Racing Toyota) will attempt to make his series debut for Germain Racing at Homestead. Annett, 22, has eight starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with one top five and two top 10s.

Patrick Sheltra (No. Briggs & Case Construction Equipment/Quality Turf Dodge), 22, is also entered. A native of Indiantown, Fla., he made his series debut at Phoenix last week improving to 29th at the finish after starting 36th.
FAST FACTS

The Race: Ford 300
The Place: Homestead-Miami Speedway
The Date: Saturday, Nov. 15
The Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
The Distance: 300 miles / 200 laps
TV: ESPN 2, 4 p.m. ET
Radio: Sirius NASCAR Radio / MRN
Track Size: 1.5-mile oval
2007 Winner: Jeff Burton
2007 Pole: David Ragan

2008 Standings

1 Clint Bowyer 4,977
2 Carl Edwards 4,921
3 Brad Keselowski 4,624
4 David Ragan 4,431
5 Mike Bliss 4,397
6 Kyle Busch 4,281
7 David Reutimann 4,264
8 Mike Wallace 4,019
9 Jason Leffler 3,926
10 Marcos Ambrose 3,921

Schedule: Friday–Practice 1:15-3 p.m.; Final Practice 6:45-7:25 p.m.; Saturday–Qualifying, 11:35 a.m.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (October 25, 2008) — Memphis Motorsports Park is quickly becoming known for providing unique races. Last year there were 25 caution flags, just one shy of the record 26, and this year, the NASCAR Nationwide Series race saw only seven cars on the lead lap at the end of the Kroger 250.

That left little competition for Carl Edwards as he claimed his fifth win of the season and cut 80 points off of Clint Bowyer’s lead in the championship standings. He now trails by 116 with three races remaining.

Neither Edwards nor Bowyer had turned a single lap at Memphis prior to the start of the 250-lap race, having flown in from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition in Atlanta.

The difference between the two was the handling on their machines. Bowyer struggled with a tight condition all race long while Edwards owed thanks to Bobby East for a spot-on setup in his No. 60 Ford. East practiced and qualified in place of Edwards.

Bowyer got into the rear of Marcos Ambrose to bring out the second caution flag of the afternoon. That caution changed the face of the race. Edwards was one of few lead lap cars to pit under the yellow, on Lap 29.

The race had an extended green flag run with Edwards clicking off positions with his fresher tires. On Lap 69, he took the lead in Turn 3.

Just over 30 laps later, the field took part in a green flag round of pit stops. After stops cycled through, Edwards had a 10-second lead over Joey Logano.

As Edwards set sail, Bowyer’s troubles continued. On Lap 124, the sour handling on the No. 2 Chevrolet lingered and Bowyer lost control of his machine, spinning in Turn 2.

The time of the caution, just after the cycle of green flag pit stops, left only five cars on the lead lap and not much competition for Edwards. That was, until the closing laps and one last restart.

Last year’s race winner, David Reutimann regained his lost lap under a caution flag on Lap 213. He challenged Edwards after a green-white-checkered restart on Lap 251. For the final two laps, Reutimann stayed locked onto Edwards’s bumper but was unable to make the move.

Reutimann finished second while Kenny Wallace was third. Austin Dillon, in only his second NASCAR Nationwide race, was fourth, and Logano was fifth.

Bobby Hamilton, Jr. spun in Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag. Hamilton blamed Landon Cassill for the incident and after climbing from his car on pit road, approached Cassil’s machine, leaned into the driver’s side window and appeared to throw a punch at the young driver.

“I couldn’t tell what he said,” said Cassill, who finished 13th. “He had his shield down. He was nodding and shaking and nodding and shaking. What happened on the last lap, was just short track beating and banging… It was just hard racing.”

An Interview With:
MARC DAVIS
KEVIN HARVICK

JOSH HAMILTON: Good afternoon, everybody and we will could come today’s NASCAR CAM VIDEO teleconference in advance of Sunday’s event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Pep Boys Auto 500, race No. 7 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Today we are joined by two special guests. Only up we’ll have Marc Davis, who finished fifth in the NASCAR Camping World Series East and will be attempting to make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut on Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park in the No. 18 DLP HDTV Toyota. After Marc at approximately 2:00 PM we’ll be joined by Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Marc is joining us from the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, while Kevin will be at Richard Childress Racing headquarters in Welcome, North Carolina.

Marc, you finished 16th in your national series debut in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series earlier this season; how did this race help prepare you for this weekend?

MARC DAVIS: It was definitely a great opportunity for us and a lot better race the way we finished off. We ran around 10, 11, 12 the whole race and it was a pretty good run for us and I’m really excited about the opportunity with DLP and Joe Gibbs Racing for our Memphis Nationwide debut.

Q. You already have a NASCAR start under your belt, is there a sense of confidence since this is not truly a big debut for you, but also with as good as the 18 car is, do you have a lot of confidence going into this race at Memphis?

MARC DAVIS: Yeah definitely, Joe Gibbs Racing organization had an awesome year this year, and especially the 18, as well. So I’m looking forward to being in the DLP car this weekend and go out there and perform my best and go out there and stay out of trouble and get way up front.

Q. Just kind of curious, you’ve actually I think been with Gibbs racing for a while through their development program. Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with Gibbs Racing and what they have meant to your career so far?

MARC DAVIS: Yeah, definitely, just everyone over here at Joe Gibbs Racing is like a huge family. This is my third year under contract with them. I started back in 2006 racing late models and two years in the Camper World Series, and now a good opportunity to make our Nationwide debut. So I’m really excited for these guys and looking forward to it.

Q. Also, I think you’ve been doing this for a while, but yet you are still so young at the same time. Talk about what it was like kind of growing up as a kid, racing, and just not what your average kid when they were in school, and I think you even might have switched high schools so that racing would be a little more convenient for you. Can you just talk about what it was like growing up and racing at the same time?

MARC DAVIS: Well, I started racing when I was six years old, and I’ve been in this sport for 12 years now and started out having fun with my dad racing in midget cars and did well, and it was all about having fun. That’s what it’s all about right now.

So moved up to the series and ended up moving to North Carolina. I’m from Maryland originally, so it was a big change to come up from Maryland and come down here, but I knew a lot of people already and so it was just one of those things that you got to do to commit to it.

Q. And also, Joe Gibbs obviously has a great stable of drivers and things. What kind of advice have you got maybe from some of the other Job Gibbs drivers, and you’re obviously going to be filling the seat for Joey Logano, who has set things on fire since he started this year.

MARC DAVIS: It’s really great to have such great teammates here. It’s good to be able to bounce ideas off of each other. Joey Logano and I, we grew up together racing all the way back in core midget cars, and so it’s good to have a good teammate like that to kind of relate to myself with.

Q. Obviously this is a massively huge opportunity for to you get a top-tier team like this. How did the whole deal originally come about? Did Joe or JD contact you and did you believe it was them on the other line?

MARC DAVIS: Yeah, definitely, we knew we were going to get a whole season in the Camper World Series again and hopefully up for a championship, and we fell short of that this year. And we had been talking about doing some Nationwide racing earlier in the season and just came up that Memphis happened to be the right time for us. And got that deal put together and really excited about that and go out there and have some fun and perform.

JOSH HAMILTON: You finished fifth in the Camping World Series East this year, your second full year in the series; how do you think that driving those cars the past two years has prepared to you drive in the Nationwide Series this weekend?

MARC DAVIS: It’s definitely a great series to be in. The whole Camping World Series has definitely changed from what it used to be, and even between the last two years, definitely the competition level has gotten a lot better between last year and this year. There’s a lot more Cup-affiliate teams in the series and a lot more development drivers.

So it’s definitely a good series to step up to and get out with the stock cars and having the spec motor, it’s definitely a good motor and really reliable. So go out there and we get to run on some of the big tracks; ran good at Phoenix and Loudon and Iowa and Dover, as well. It’s definitely a good developmental series and looking forward to some more drivers coming out of it.

Q. What do you think will be the steepest part of the learning curve as you move up to this level?

MARC DAVIS: Well, with the whole Nationwide Series, the big thing is probably just going to be getting used to the longer races. We have run some longer races in the past and just try and get the whole strategy deal worked out. And there’s more pit strategy involved in the Nationwide races and the Cup races than there in the Truck Series or Camper World Series like I’m used to. That’s going to be a learning curve, but I’m on a good team and good sponsors and good teammates, so I’m looking forward to it.

Q. What do you think that you’ve learned along the way already that’s going to adapt the best when you start to race with some of the top racers in the league?

MARC DAVIS: Well, at Joe Gibbs Racing, they have the best racehorses, and the people around me, so I feel like I’m surrounded by some of the best people in the sport. And that’s definitely something to learn from, so I’m looking forward to it, and all of these guys are helping me get to the point right now, and still a long way to go but it’s definitely getting closer.

Q. We talked to Joey yesterday, and he said that since he’s going to be coming back from Atlanta in the first lap, he’s going to see the first lap of the face – he’s been doing a lot of practice on the video games. Have you been doing that sort of same kind of preparation, or are just going to come straight in and hit the practices really hard once you get to Memphis?

MARC DAVIS: Definitely. We use them a little bit to get used to the racetrack. It’s not exact details but gives you a good game plan to go to the race track. You know what to expect somewhat. So done that and watched some of the Memphis tapes from the previous years and go out there and get some practice going. So I think we’ll be pretty good and definitely, the 22 will probably use us a little bit to bounce ideas off of since Joey won’t be in the car for practice.

Q. Just kind of curious, have you sat down yet and really looked at the rest of the year and then looked on to next year and kind of come up with some kind of game plan or have you got your own personal goals ahead to the future? And I guess Joe Gibbs Racing, have they handed you some goals of what they would like to see you achieve in the future?

MARC DAVIS: Well, we have been sitting down the last week or two and trying to – helping me put some goals together and get some game plans going since the off-season is coming up pretty soon here. Looking at some more races for the end of the season. Not sure what all going to happen exactly. We are looking at some deals next year being outsourced from Joe Gibbs Racing to some of our tier teams (indiscernible). So nothing is laid out in stone yet, but it’s looking that way right now.

JOSH HAMILTON: Marc, thanks a lot for your time today, thanks for joining us, and good luck this weekend attempting your first Nationwide Series race.

We welcome Kevin Harvick. Kevin comes into Atlanta sixth in the series standings. Kevin, is it safe to say that Atlanta is a special place for you to return to as you got that first memorable NASCAR Sprint Cup win there back in 2001?

KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, it’s definitely a cool place to go back to just for the fact that your first win is something that you only do one time. Obviously every time we go back there, that’s what a lot of people want to talk about, and we are excited that we ran good in the first race there this year, so we are looking forward to going back this week.

Q. Had a question for you about Shane Wilson, since he’s been named crew chief for Clint next year and you worked with him during the 2006 Nationwide championship season, how do you think those two will fit together?

KEVIN HARVICK: I actually did not know he had been named the crew chief, so I guess I’m a little bit out of the loop. Obviously Shane has done a great job with everything that’s gone on in the Nationwide Series. We had a lot of success over the couple of years that I ran the car and won a lot of races.

I think he and Clint are going to have some success together, and I’m really excited for Shane just for the fact that he’s had so much success at RCR and been able to accomplish so many things that he definitely deserves the opportunity on that car.

Q. Do you think NASCAR should change up the tracks from year-to-year just to make things a little interesting?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, you know, obviously I think it’s tough to build a consistency in knowing where you’re going and what you’re doing and put the schedule together so many months in advance. That would be probably something that’s pretty hard to do and probably take a couple years in advance to make those things happen.

Obviously I think the schedule is mixed up a little bit next year, not a whole lot, but you know, it’s hard to tell what the right mixture of what racetracks are in the Chase, but they have Talladega and leading up to the race you have the Bristol and Richmond races that obviously have a lot of excitement.

You know right now, I think our Chase format is really good for our sport and leads up to the 26th race and has a lot of excitement over the 13th, 14th, 12th, 11th place guys that, you know, sometimes we don’t get the exposure if we’re not racing for a championship and we’re not up in the points. I think it’s created a lot of excitement in races in the past that have not had that.

Q. Have you heard anything about the tire this weekend since I guess the racing was awkward in the spring race; do you expect it to be better this weekend?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t know about the tire to be honest with you. Obviously I’m not a Goodyear engineer, so I didn’t build the tire, and obviously the race at the beginning of the year was tough to drive. But that’s what we get paid to do. So it all depends on what you’re looking for when you’re watching the race I guess.

Q. In 2006, you won 14 races between Cup and Nationwide but did not win the title, and I guess somewhat overshadowed what you really accomplished that year. Do you think Kyle Busch is going through the same thing this year because he’s not going to win the Cup title this year; that the 20 wins he had will be overshadowed?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think obviously he’s had a really good year. The way that our sport works is if you’re not hot at the right time, you don’t come out on top and win the championship. It’s all about being consistent through the whole year, no matter whether it’s the old-style points or the new-style points, with the year he had, he would not be on top.

When you have a year like that, obviously you want to finish it off with a championship and we were fortunate to finish our year off with a Nationwide championship, and I think we finished third or fourth in the Cup points.

It’s obviously going to be tough for him to have won that many races and not win the championship, but that’s just how tough our sport is.

Q. Looking back at 2005, Carl Edwards burst on scene by winning the Atlanta race and following up in Texas to get into Chase contention; what do you remember about him as a driver and person there, and what do you think of him now?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t remember much, so I guess I’m the wrong person to ask that question.

Q. I would like to ask you about Shane Wilson, because Richard Childress Racing named him today as Clint Bowyer’s crew chief for ’09, and you have experience with him; did you talk a little bit about that?

KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, I guess have I would liked to have been in that RCR loop with the naming of Shane Wilson as the crew chief, but I guess I was a little bit out of the loop here.

Obviously Shane has earned that right to get that opportunity with the 33 car and I’m excited for him as a person, and he’s a good friend of mine and I think obviously with Clint’s situation, I think Shane will be a good fit. It’s great to see people get promoted within the company and get the opportunity to do that.

Q. Are you saying you didn’t know about that until now?

KEVIN HARVICK: That’s what I’m saying.

Q. Wow, okay. Well, what did you like about him so much? What can you tell us about him as a crew chief?

KEVIN HARVICK: Shane is just a really, really organized person. He’s really good with his people and understands what it takes to keep his people headed in the right direction, and that’s the majority of the battle of what we do on a week-to-week basis is keeping our people happy and keeping them understanding what you want to do next to accomplish on that side of it.

So he’s really good with that and always has done a really good job on the Nationwide side of it. I think he’ll do a good job in the Cup Series.

Q. You’ve done so much for the feeder series and Craftsman Truck Series and Nationwide, can you talk about the health of the Craftsman Truck Series particularly with both Ford and Dodge pulling back their financial support?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think as I look at the entry list for the races this weekend, and obviously the Truck race is pretty solid. And you look at the Nationwide Series, I think there’s 50 cars in it for the Memphis race. Obviously this is a tough time in our economy and sponsors are waiting a little bit longer than what they had before to place their sponsorship than in the past.

So everybody is just kind of wait and see on who the president is going to be and where the economy is going to turn. I really feel confident in the fact that we have been through this before with the manufacturers supporting the Truck Series.

The Nationwide Series has really never had any manufacturer support other than technical support. So it’s going to be more like it was before Toyota came into the Truck Series and kind of be back to the same formula as far as sponsorship dollars that you need to make your Truck team function.

Q. Do you feel like you’ve gotten a strong return on investment?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t really look for investment to be honest with you. I race because I like to race in the Truck Series, and you know, the main reason that we race the trucks is to win races and make sure that on the day, had something to do; that was the biggest reason that we stayed in it in the past. I thoroughly enjoyed being in the Truck Series garage, and that’s what I like to do in my spare time.

We don’t necessarily look – we don’t look for investment at all on a return for the Truck Series.

Q. Some drivers and some professional stick-and-ball players think that butterflies are a good thing to get before race day or a big day. Do you agree with that, and do you still get butterflies, and is there a best way to handle them I guess?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t necessarily know that there’s ever butterflies anymore. But there’s definitely that anticipation of what’s going to happen that day and what you need to do with your car depending on how it was in practice and how you think the track is going to change for that particular race.

I would say the anticipation of what you need to do to your car and the things inside that you can relay back to the team are more on your mind than being nervous for sure.

Q. Yesterday Yarborough was on and we were talking about the drivers of the past without the benefits of power steering and stuff like that; do you think the drivers of the past had to be a little bit more athletic to handle those cars?

KEVIN HARVICK: I would definitely say the drivers of the past are not near as athletic as the drivers of today, for sure. Obviously the guys that raced in the past are just pretty much just brute, strong guys and that was just kind of the nature of the sport at the time.

So I would definitely say that today’s drivers are more athletic than the drivers of old.

Q. I’m totally thrilled to see that you’re putting Ryan Newman in a truck this weekend. I cannot personally wait to see him race in a truck. I talked with him today and he was so psyched. Can you talk a little about Ryan racing a truck?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, Ryan and myself and our wives are really good friends and we are really excited to have Ryan in there. We’re excited to make the change. We’re just excited as an organization to kind of have fun with the two trucks as we head towards the end of the year here.

Ryan was able to drive the truck, and so it will be fun to just kind of share that experience with your friends, and he gets his first experience with a truck and obviously taking him to Atlanta for the first time is probably the best place that we can take him with all of the success that he’s been able to have with the poles and as well as he runs there.

It will be fun to watch and we are excited to give him his first start.

THE MODERATOR: Kevin, thanks a lot for your time today. We certainly appreciate you joining us and good luck on Sunday.

In The Garage

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Atlanta Natives
David Ragan (Unadilla) – No. 6 driver
Reed Sorenson (Peachtree City) – No. 41 driver
Bill Elliott (Dawsonville) – No. 21 driver
Jason Jones (Rhine) – No. 5 mechanic
Jayme Christianson (Marietta) – No. 83 media relations
Chris Golder (Alpharetta) – No. 88 shock specialist
Jacob Norman (Marietta) – No. 45 front-tire changer
Adam North (Sonoraville) – No. 31 jack man
Paul Craven (Summerville) – No. 45 jack man
Kenneth Purcell (Savannah) – No. 48 jack man
Jason Jones (Rhine) – No. 5 rear tire carrier
Sheila Lumpkin (Atlanta) – No. 9 scorer
Mike Brown (Statham) – No. 22 spotter
Shane Bourgeois (Peachtree City) – No. 41 pit support
Byron Goggin (Tifton) – No. 20 pit support

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Atlanta Natives
Scott Brook (Carrollton) – No. 15 mechanic
Jerel Dawson (Danielsville) – No. 6 pit support
Kevin Gravitte (Conyers) – No. 13 jack man
Billy Ballew (Atlanta) – No. 51 owner

NASCAR Nationwide Series Tennessee Natives
Bobby Hamilton Jr. (Nashville) – No. 24 driver
Marty Oody (Loudon) – No. 5 front tire changer
Tim Whelan (Nashville) – No. 5 gas man
Brett Jones (Lebanon) – No. 27 gas man
John Reese (Mt. Juliet) – No. 27 jack man
Butch Waugh (Murfreesboro) – No. 27 rear tire carrier
Danny Rankin (Chattanooga) – No. 2 rear tire changer

Johnson Dominates, Lead Grows
Two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson won his 13th career Chase race this past weekend at Martinsville. The Johnson-specific storylines:

• The list of superlatives grows: dominant, relentless, unstoppable. With his fifth career Martinsville win, Johnson extended his standings lead to 149 points. Johnson now heads to Atlanta, where he has three wins and a series-best Driver Rating of 113.4.

• All season long, Johnson’s quest was to match Cale Yarborough’s record of three consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series titles. Yarborough did in from 1976-78, besting some of the all-time greats: Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip. Johnson’s competition is likewise stout: fellow series champions Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth.

• What makes Johnson so good is his ability to handle playoff pressure. Thus far, the series has returned to five of the six Chase tracks (New Hampshire, Dover, Talladega, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Martinsville). During the “regular season” races at those tracks, Johnson averaged 126.8 points. During the Chase at those tracks, he has averaged 167.6 points per race.

Biffle, Edwards Optimistic
The task looks daunting. But it’s not impossible by any means. Greg Biffle trails Johnson by 149 points with four races remaining. The largest deficit overcome since the current points system was implemented in 1975: 144 points. In 1992, eventual champion Alan Kulwicki trailed Bill Elliott by 144 points with four races remaining.

Biffle, as does teammate Carl Edwards in fourth and Jeff Burton in third, needs strong finishes and no mistakes.

The schedule shakes out favorably for the Roush Fenway Racing duo of Biffle and Edwards. Three of the four remaining tracks are 1.5-miles in length, a Roush favorite.
Edwards has two Atlanta wins, while Biffle finished fourth there in March.

The Ratings Game: Cream Rises at Atlanta
This Sunday’s Pep Boys Auto 500 should feature the best-of-the-best in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series running up front. The top-10 drivers in Atlanta Driver Rating are all Chase contenders, led by points leader Jimmie Johnson. Take a look:

Jimmie Johnson 113.4
Tony Stewart 104.4
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 103.6
Carl Edwards 102.8
Greg Biffle 102.3
Jeff Gordon 96.6
Matt Kenseth 94.1
Jeff Burton 92.8
Clint Bowyer 89.4
Kyle Busch 88.5

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

JGR Future On Display At Memphis
Marc Davis and Joey Logano, both 18, will comprise the Joe Gibbs Racing team at Memphis this weekend. Logano is the “seasoned veteran” of the two, having started 15 races this year including his series debut.

Davis, meanwhile, seeks his first series start after making his NASCAR national series debut last month at Gateway in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (he finished 16th). He’ll have to qualify on time to make the race at Memphis, but will have a stout ride in a No. 18 Toyota that’s totaled nine wins with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin this year. Davis finished sixth in the NASCAR Camping World Series East this season; Logano was the champion of that series last year.

Memphis Home To Young Talent, Series Debuts
Davis and Logano will have plenty company in the youth movement this weekend at Memphis. Fellow 18-year-olds Austin Dillon and James Buescher are in the mix along with Landon Cassill, 19, who trails Bryan Clauson by two points in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. Chase Miller, 21, and Cale Gale, 23 are entered along with Steve Wallace, 21, who made his series debut in 2005 at Memphis. Other notable series debuts at the track are Juan Pablo Montoya (2006) and Dario Franchitti (2007).

Last Stand-Alone Of Season
Memphis is the last of nine stand-alone races on the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule and the final time this year double-duty drivers will make the back-and-forth trek, this time from Atlanta. Series-only regulars have won three of the previous eight stand-alone races this year. David Reutimann is the defending winner at Memphis, his first NASCAR national series win.

Elvis Fan Bowyer Seeks Title “Unification”
Four races are left and Clint Bowyer’s lead over Carl Edwards in the driver championship is at 196 points. Brad Keselowski remains in the hunt, 286 points behind in third. The largest deficit overcome to claim the driver championship with four to go is 127 points by Rob Moroso (who was in fifth place) in 1989.

Bowyer – a huge Elvis Presley fan – has the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet back in first place in the owner point standings over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the first time in 21 races. After a split decision in the driver and owner championships last year, RCR looks to unify the title and claim its third consecutive owner crown. Childress and Teresa Earnhardt are tied at four.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Benson Back on Top
Johnny Benson carries a 65-point lead into the E-Z-Go 200. That’s the sixth-largest lead after 21 races in series history. When Benson won for the fifth time of the year at Martinsville Speedway this past weekend, it marked the ninth time in 2008 the No. 1 spot has changed hands. Ron Hornaday Jr. entered the race with a lead of 39 points and finished 29th. He also lost the lead at Martinsville a year ago but recovered to win his third championship.

Busch Looks for Atlanta Record
Kyle Busch goes for his third consecutive victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway and fourth overall, which would match the series’ single-track record. His owner, Billy Ballew, is from the Atlanta area and still has a chance to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owners’ title. Ballew currently is third, 209 points behind leader Gail Davis.

Newman Makes NCTS Debut
Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman set to make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut this weekend, driving the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet. His new boss, Harvick, won the 2007 Daytona 500.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (October 21, 2008) – When discussing battles, a line from Napoleon fits well – “Victory belongs to the most persevering.”

Over the last 21 weeks, the No. 2 Chevrolet of Richard Childress has indeed persevered. And heading to Memphis, it is now locked in a battle with the No. 20 Joe Gibbs RacingToyota for the owner championship in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

The No. 2 leads the No. 20 by one point following the Oct. 10 race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, giving the RCR flagship car its first advantage since the series departed Mexico City in late April.

Both owners are looking to make history. Childress is after his third consecutive title – only William Baumgardner (1995-97) has accomplished the feat – and his record-breaking fifth overall.

Gibbs, meanwhile, is chasing his first owner crown in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition and his first with Toyota as the team’s manufacturer.

The two owners have reached the top of the standings in different ways. Childress has used only driver standings leader Clint Bowyer (No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet) while Gibbs has had four drivers: Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano (No. 20 Game StopToyota) – each have at least one win this season.

Memphis Again A Main Stage Future Of NASCAR

Memphis Motorsports Park, celebrating its 10th season as host to NASCAR Nationwide Series events, is known as a NASCAR career launching pad.

Over that span, drivers like Steve Wallace (No. 66 5-Hour Energy Chevrolet); Scott Wimmer (No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet); Juan Pablo Montoya; Dario Franchitti, Stephen Leicht and Jamie McMurray made their NASCAR Nationwide or NASCAR national series debuts there.

This year is no different. A handful of drivers, including Marc Davis (No. 18 DLP HDTV Toyota) and Jarit Johnson (No. 22 Fitz Motorsports Dodge), brother of two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, are vying to join that list.

Davis, 18, finished fifth in the NASCAR Camping World Series East this year and was 16th at Gateway International Raceway last month in his national series debut in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

He’ll team with fellow 18-year-old Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing at Memphis as one of four drivers age 19 or under. As many as 10 drivers entered are 23 or younger.

Davis has to make the race on time and has the added pressure of driving one of the top cars in the series. His No. 18 is tied with Logano’s No. 20 with nine wins.

“When you get in that car you expect to run well,” he said. “The most pressure I’ll feel is from myself to perform well. That’s something I think I need to do.”

In the Loop

David Reutimann (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota), has fond memories of Memphis, 2007. It was the spot of his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory.

He posted a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0, led 194 laps, had an Average Running Position of 2.2, 66 Fastest Laps Run and spent 251 of the 253 laps in the top 15.

He will try to duplicate perfection this weekend, a tough job considering the competition he’ll face.

Chief among them is Clint Bowyer, who did not race at Memphis during Reutimann’s 2007 triumph. Bowyer has three starts at Memphis, all resulting in top fives.

Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Bowyer has run two Memphis races, with tremendous results. Over the two races (2005 and ‘06), he has a Driver Rating of 134.3, an Average Running Position of 5.5, 108 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 88.9%.

Also watch for a strong run from Mike Bliss (No. 1 Miccosukee Resort Chevrolet), who finished second to Reutimann last season. Though overshadowed, Bliss also had strong statistics with a Driver Rating of 118.8, an Average Running Position of 5.7 and ran 245 of the 253 laps in the top 15.

If Carl Edwards (No. 60 CitiFinancial Ford); wants to catch Bowyer and repeat as series champion, he’ll have to bounce back from last year’s Memphis performance. When he finished 25th, posting a Driver Rating of just 68.9.

In his three career Memphis races, Edwards has a Driver Rating of 94.1, an Average Running Position of 13.8, 36 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 68.2%.

Jason Keller (No. 27 Cottonelle Ford), also has had past Memphis success. He has finished in the top 10 in six of the last seven Memphis races. Over the last three, he has a Driver Rating of 92.8 and an Average Running Position of 13.2.

Tick-Tock: Bowyer’s Countdown Clock Running On Edwards, Keselowski

Coming off the last open week of the season, driver standings leader Clint Bowyer is 196 points ahead of Carl Edwards and 286 in front of third-place Brad Keselowski (No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet).

As if time to catch Bowyer isn’t short enough, Edwards and Keselowski have to overcome history and Bowyer’s success at the remaining tracks on the schedule.

He owns wins at three of the last four stops – two in NASCAR Nationwide competition (Memphis, 2005; Phoenix, 2007) and his only career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory (Texas, 2006).

Bowyer also has experienced the pressure of a close championship chase. He challenged Martin Truex Jr. for the series title in 2005, the last time the standings lead was under 200 points with four races left.

Catching Bowyer isn’t out of the question but it would set a new precedent if accomplished.

The largest deficit overcome to claim the driver’s championship with four races to go is 127 points by Rob Moroso in 1989. He was fifth in the standings at that stage before overtaking Tommy Ellis.

Keselowski is going for a “Tennessee Trifecta” at Memphis. His two wins this year came at Nashville Superspeedway (June) and Bristol Motor Speedway (August).

Bowyer does have wins at all three Tennessee tracks in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition.

Last Stand-Alone Of Season For Double-Duty Drivers

The race at Memphis represents the last of nine stand-alone events for the NASCAR Nationwide Series this year.

Six drivers will pull double duty this weekend, traveling between Memphis and Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

Clint Bowyer; Carl Edwards, David Ragan (No. 6 Discount Tire Ford) and defending race winner David Reutimann, who run full-time in both series, will be joined by NASCAR Nationwide-only regulars Marcos Ambrose (No. 59 Kingsford Tailgate at Home Ford), who won his first career pole last year at Memphis, and Joey Logano in Atlanta.

Substitute drivers on hand to practice and qualify the cars at Memphis due to probable schedule conflicts at both tracks are Stephen Leicht for Bowyer; Bobby East for Edwards; Auggie Vidovich for Ragan; Josh Wise for Reutimann and veteran Robert Pressley for Ambrose.

Logano’s substitute drivers had yet to be announced by the team as of Tuesday.

2008 Manufacturer’s Championship Standings

Toyota 226
Chevrolet 185
Ford 166
Dodge 105

Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with six wins at Memphis. Toyota, behind David Reutimann, won last year.

Advantage Cassill: Clauson’s Absence Presents Big Opportunity In Rookie Race

Two weeks ago at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Landon Cassill (No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet) was on the outside looking in.

As the Raybestos Rookie standings leader, he wasn’t entered in that race but his closest challenger, Bryan Clauson, was. Clauson took advantage and claimed the lead by two points over Cassill.

However the tables are turned this weekend. Cassill will compete at Memphis while Clauson will not. Kevin Hamlin will be in the No. 40 Fastenal Dodge as Clauson attempts to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut at Atlanta .

Cassill and Clauson, both 19 and close friends to boot, will compete in two of the season’s four final races. They may provide the closest battle for the rookie title since 2006 when Danny O’Quinn Jr. (No. 35 Team Rensi Motorsports Ford) bettered John Andretti by one point.

Raybestos Rookie Of The Year Standings

Rank Driver Points
1 Bryan Clauson 177
2 Landon Cassill 175
3 Dario Franchitti 159
4 Cale Gale 137
5 Brian Keselowski 92

Results following the Dollar General 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway

The Director’s Take: Things Can Get “All Shook Up” In Memphis

The last stand-alone race of the season might well be called the “last stand.”

Memphis produces closed-quarters racing, and that could be a formula that doesn’t bode well for drivers in the running for the championship.

“This is one of those old-school NASCAR tracks,” said Joe Balash, the NASCAR Nationwide Series director.

“You’ve got to stay up on the wheel for every lap. Cars are going to run nose-to-tail, side-by-side. Everybody’s going to be digging for every inch of track position they can get.

“It has the potential for affecting our driver and owner points races based upon not getting caught up in any of the events that may happen during the race.

“This is truly where we’re going to have a mix of our young guns versus our series veterans.”

That scenario looms large, especially as the six double-duty drivers will most likely have to race their way to the front after starting in the back of the field.

NNS Etc.

ESPN Classic, SPEED To Simulcast Race From Memphis: Saturday’s race from Memphis will be simulcast live on ESPN Classic and SPEED. Online broadcasts of the race also will be streamed live on ESPN360.com and NASCAR.com.

The NASCAR Countdown prerace show will air Saturday on ESPN Classic from 3-3:30 p.m. ET followed by the race simulcast at 3:30 p.m. ET. Immediately upon completion of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, SPEED will move directly into coverage of the race at Memphis.

ESPN Classic also will carry live NASCAR Nationwide final practice from 4:30-6 p.m. ET on Friday and qualifying on Saturday from 10:30 a.m.-noon ET.

Pre-Race Promotion: Drivers Landon Cassill and Cale Gale (No. 33 KHI Chevrolet), along with Memphis Motorsports Park and Kroger will join forces to hold a media event to promote the race.

The event will be held Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. at the Kroger located at 2835 Kirby Parkway in Memphis.

Cassill and Gale, who is fourth in the rookie standings, will also be making stops at different local TV and radio stations Thursday morning before they head to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to pay a visit to the young patients.

“Design A Dream” Back At Memphis: For the second consecutive year, patients at St. Jude’s took part in the “Design-a-Dream” contest where their ideas for paint schemes would be judged and the winners’ schemes displayed on select cars.

Drivers carrying the schemes during the race will be led by Stanton Barrett (No. 30 St. Jude Chevrolet) and D.J. Kennington (No. 81 Joe Michael/St. Jude Children’s Hospital Dodge).

Also participating include Carl Edwards, David Reutimann, Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips Toyota); Scott Wimmer, Scott Lagasse Jr. (No. 11 America’s Incredible Pizza Co. Chevrolet), Mike Wallace (No. 7 GEICO Toyota) and Kevin Hamlin .

Crew Chiefs On The Move: Todd Gordon, who has served as crew chief for Jason Keller on and off since 2002, has been reunited with the series’ all-time starts leader. Gordon had worked with Keller at CJM Racing over the last two seasons, but Keller moved to Baker Curb Racing three weeks ago and Gordon has now followed.

Shane Wilson, the 2006 series champion crew chief is currently working with Austin Dillon (No. 21 RCR Chevrolet) and will move up to NASCAR Sprint Cup next season to lead Clint Bowyer’s new No. 33 Chevrolet team.

“(Clint) and I have worked some in the Nationwide Series and we’ve tested together so there’s already a comfort level established,” Wilson said. “I appreciate the opportunity and look forward to the chance to prove myself.”
Up Next: O’Reilly Challenge @ Texas Motor Speedway

The next stop on the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule is Texas Motor Speedway, site of the O’Reilly Challenge on Nov. 1.

ESPN2 will carry the race live beginning at 3 p.m. ET.

Two-time series champion Kevin Harvick won at Texas last November, his record fourth victory at the track. In nine starts at the 1.5-mile speedway, Harvick owns four top fives, seven top 10s and one pole, which he captured in April.

David Reutimann is the defending pole sitter for this event while Jeff Green is the only driver to win multiple poles at Texas.

FAST FACTS

The Race: Kroger On Track For The Cure 250 presented by the Southern Dodge Dealers
The Place: Memphis Motorsports Park
The Date: Saturday, October 25
The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
The Distance: 250 laps / 187.5 miles
TV Simulcast: ESPN Classic and SPEED ( NASCAR Countdown prerace show on ESPN Classic only, 3 p.m. ET)
Track Size: .75-mile oval
2007 Winner: David Reutimann
2007 Pole: Marcos Ambrose

2008 Standings

1 Clint Bowyer 4,552
2 Carl Edwards 4,356
3 Brad Keselowski 4,266
4 Mike Bliss 4,017
5 David Ragan 4,013
6 Kyle Busch 3,931
7 David Reutimann 3,882
8 Mike Wallace 3,633
9 Jason Leffler 3,599
10 Marcos Ambrose 3,574

Schedule:
Thursday–Practice 1:30-3 p.m.; Final Practice 3:30-5 p.m. Saturday–Qualifying, 9:35 a.m.

Also this weekend, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race Saturday at Martinsville. The NASCAR Nationwide Series has its final off-week of the season.

Storylines for this weekend follow, starting with a look at “in the garage” local angles for the Martinsville Speedway weekend, a group highlighted by two Chase competitors from Virginia – Jeff Burton and Denny Hamlin.

In The Garage

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Jeff Burton (South Boston) – No. 31 driver
Denny Hamlin (Chesterfield) – No. 11 driver
Elliott Sadler (Emporia) – No. 19 driver
Robert “Bootie” Barker (Brookneal) – No. 66 crew chief
David Bryant (Farmville) – No. 88 car chief
Todd Brewer (Manassas) – No. 96 car chief
Jeff Curtis (Fairfax) – No. 31 engineer
Darian Grubb (Floyd) – No. 88 engineer
Tom Stewart (Hampton) – No. 88 engineer
Brandon Evans (South Hill) – No. 48 engineer
Rick MacGowan (Reston) – No. 96 engineer
Kevin Kidd (Tazewell) – No. 19 engineer
Tommy Wallace (Richmond) – No. 07 mechanic
Jim Jenkins (Hampton) – No. 88 mechanic
Alan Howard (Covington) – No. 84 shock specialist
Todd Bosserman (Waynesboro) – No. 48 shock specialist
Tracey Ramsey (Fredericksburg) – No. 31 tire specialist
Charles Moles (Floyd) – No. 07 tire specialist
Franky Nester (Ridgeway) – No. 31 transporter driver
Barry Sheppard (Stuart) – No. 07 transporter driver
Kirk George (Ararat) – No. 24 transporter driver
Jay Hackney (Haysi) – No. 2 front tire changer
Curt Bowman (Meadows of Dan) – No. 31 gas man
Caleb Hurd (Pulaski) – No. 24 gas man
Rodney Rhodes (Hickory) – No. 10 gas man
Andy Pope (Midlothian) – No. 21 gas man
Ed Watkins (Richmond) – No. 19 jack man
Ben Surface (Pulaski) – No. 96 rear tire carrier
Mark Robertson (Richmond) – No. 20 spotter
Ryan Quann (Richmond) – No. 42 pit support

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Jim Harris (Lynchburg) – No. 59 owner

Jeff Hensley (Ridgeway) – No. 16 crew chief
Trip Bruce (Chester) – No. 23 crew chief
Hal Ralston (Staunton) – No. 6 engineer
Chuck Day (Alexandria) – No. 33 engine tuner
Curtis Key (Chesapeake) – No. 40 general manager
Dan Mrak (Woodbridge) – No. 11 catch can man
Curtis Martin (Rocky Mount) – No. 23 rear tire changer
Scott Blackburn (Mechanicsville) – No. 16 rear tire changer
Mary Quay (Halifax) – No. 22 scorer
Kevin Riddle (Martinsville) – No. 5 pit support

Halfway: Chase Reaches Its Mid-Point
Five races are complete in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The plot thickens – in a variety of directions. Check it out:

• Coming into Sunday’s event, the top three drivers – Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle – are separated by only 86 points.

• Jimmie Johnson has the points lead coming into a track where he has seriously excelled. Johnson has won four times at Martinsville since 2004. His chances of winning a third consecutive series championship look more realistic all the time. Only one driver has ever pulled off that trifecta – Cale Yarborough from 1976-78.

• Jeff Burton is in the sport’s top echelon – for the second time. The South Boston, Va. native was one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ premier drivers from 1997-2000, posting 15 wins during that four-season span, driving for car owner Jack Roush. After a several-season slump, Burton has returned to prominence the last few years with owner Richard Childress, who he joined in 2004.

• Two weeks ago, the Chase made an always-precarious stop at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ biggest track, 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. This week, the Chase comes to the series’ smallest track, .526-mile Martinsville Speedway. Those two disparate layouts have one undeniable common denominator – unpredictability, due to close-quarters racing. A bump here, a spin there … and the standings could easily be altered drastically, this Sunday.

• When the Chase’s top seed, Kyle Busch, fell far behind after the first two Chase races, Carl Edwards looked like the smart pick to win the title. With five races to go, however, Edwards’ title chances are on the ropes. He crashed at Talladega and had engines problems this past week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – resulting in finishes of 29th and 33rd. He comes into Martinsville fourth in points, 168 points behind Johnson. Edwards has one top 10 in eight races at Martinsville, and a Driver Rating of 72.4 over his last seven races there.

The Ratings Game: Hendrick Duo Top Martinsville Driver Rating
Clearly, Hendrick Motorsports has figured out Martinsville Speedway. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson rank one-two in Driver Rating over the last seven races at Martinsville, one of the trickiest tracks in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Over that span, Gordon has an average finish of 2.3, while Johnson has a 3.0. Below are the top 10 drivers in pre-race Driver Rating at Martinsville. (x-denotes non-Chase driver)

Jeff Gordon 124.5
Jimmie Johnson 121.2
Tony Stewart 116.3
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 100.7
Denny Hamlin 100.6
Kyle Busch 93.3
x-Jamie McMurray 87.9
Kevin Harvick 87.4
x-Ryan Newman 85.8
Jeff Burton 85.3

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Testing….1,2,3
This final open week of the season begins with the final “new car” test of the season, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Seven teams are expected for the session. It’s the first test at an intermediate track for the car following the inaugural test at Richmond International Raceway in early September. Seven teams are expected to participate including Joe Gibbs Racing which did not test at Richmond last month. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Roush Fenway Racing (two teams), Richard Childress Racing, JD Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing tested at Richmond and are back at LMS.

Championship Battle: Bowyer Maintaining Series Lead
Clint Boywer’s lead in the series points over Carl Edwards remains at 196 points. Third-place Brad Keselowski is still in the hunt, 286 points behind. in third.

Championship Battle, Part 2: RCR Entry Takes the Lead
Clint Bowyer’s second-place finish this past week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway also helped his car owner, Richard Childress, take the lead in the car owner championship standings. The No. 2 entry driven by Bowyer has a one-point lead over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that has had a variety of drivers this year. Joey Logano drove the No. 20 at LMS, finishing 14th.

Record Chasing: Kyle Busch Eyes Ard
Kyle Busch’s win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last Friday night was his ninth victory of the year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The series record is 10 set in 1983 by two-time series champion Sam Ard.

Busch is not expected to compete in the next event, the final stand-alone of the season at Memphis Motorsports Park on Oct. 25, but is planning on running in the following three events to close out the year at Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won the fall race at Phoenix last year and also won at Texas and Phoenix earlier this year. With Busch out at Memphis, JGR development driver Marc Davis, 18, will attempt to make his NNS debut.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Championship Battle Picks Back Up
Ron Hornaday Jr. reassumed the championship lead with a second-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Johnny Benson, who entered the season’s 20th race with a single-point advantage, is 39 points out after finishing 11th. The lead changed hands for the seventh time in 2008.

Hornaday’s lead is fourth-closest in series history following the season’s 20th race. Point leaders after 20 races have won the championship in three of the past four seasons and nine times in the series’ 13 previous years. The last 20-race leader failing to become champion was Dennis Setzer in 2005.

Setzer Looks for Four Pack
Dennis Setzer won Martinsville Speedway’s March 31 race, matching Mike Skinner’s record of three victories at the .526-mile track. Setzer attempts to become the series’ third different driver to win four races at a single track. (Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine, Texas Motor Speedway).

Contenders Looking for First Martinsville Win
Coming into Martinsville, the last short-track race of the NCTS season, Hornaday and Benson are among five short-track winners in 2008. While neither Hornaday nor Benson has a victory at Martinsville despite a combined 22 starts, the two have victories at the tracks on the remainder of the schedule. Hornaday has wins at Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami; Benson at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami.

Youngest Skinner to Debut at Martinsville
Dustin Skinner, youngest son of 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck champion Mike Skinner, will attempt to make his first NCTS trace this weekend at Martinsville, running the No. 03 Germain Toyota. Dustin, 23, follows in his father’s and brother Jamie’s footsteps — both made their NASCAR debut at Martinsville.

Several other new names will be behind the wheel of some trucks this weekend: Hermie Sadler (No. 48 Chevrolet), Jamie McMurray (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford), Kevin Harvick (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet), Sam Hornish, Jr. (No. 4 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge).

Then, there are some series veterans set to strap into new rides. Terry Cook will pilot the No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota for the remainder of the season while Jack Sprague will be in the No. 60 Wyler Racing Toyota.

Also this weekend, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race Saturday at Martinsville. The NASCAR Nationwide Series has its final off-week of the season.

Storylines for this weekend follow, starting with a look at “in the garage” local angles for the Martinsville Speedway weekend, a group highlighted by two Chase competitors from Virginia – Jeff Burton and Denny Hamlin.

In The Garage

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Jeff Burton (South Boston) – No. 31 driver
Denny Hamlin (Chesterfield) – No. 11 driver
Elliott Sadler (Emporia) – No. 19 driver
Robert “Bootie” Barker (Brookneal) – No. 66 crew chief
David Bryant (Farmville) – No. 88 car chief
Todd Brewer (Manassas) – No. 96 car chief
Jeff Curtis (Fairfax) – No. 31 engineer
Darian Grubb (Floyd) – No. 88 engineer
Tom Stewart (Hampton) – No. 88 engineer
Brandon Evans (South Hill) – No. 48 engineer
Rick MacGowan (Reston) – No. 96 engineer
Kevin Kidd (Tazewell) – No. 19 engineer
Tommy Wallace (Richmond) – No. 07 mechanic
Jim Jenkins (Hampton) – No. 88 mechanic
Alan Howard (Covington) – No. 84 shock specialist
Todd Bosserman (Waynesboro) – No. 48 shock specialist
Tracey Ramsey (Fredericksburg) – No. 31 tire specialist
Charles Moles (Floyd) – No. 07 tire specialist
Franky Nester (Ridgeway) – No. 31 transporter driver
Barry Sheppard (Stuart) – No. 07 transporter driver
Kirk George (Ararat) – No. 24 transporter driver
Jay Hackney (Haysi) – No. 2 front tire changer
Curt Bowman (Meadows of Dan) – No. 31 gas man
Caleb Hurd (Pulaski) – No. 24 gas man
Rodney Rhodes (Hickory) – No. 10 gas man
Andy Pope (Midlothian) – No. 21 gas man
Ed Watkins (Richmond) – No. 19 jack man
Ben Surface (Pulaski) – No. 96 rear tire carrier
Mark Robertson (Richmond) – No. 20 spotter
Ryan Quann (Richmond) – No. 42 pit support

NASCAR Truck Series
Jim Harris (Lynchburg) – No. 59 owner

Jeff Hensley (Ridgeway) – No. 16 crew chief
Trip Bruce (Chester) – No. 23 crew chief
Hal Ralston (Staunton) – No. 6 engineer
Chuck Day (Alexandria) – No. 33 engine tuner
Curtis Key (Chesapeake) – No. 40 general manager
Dan Mrak (Woodbridge) – No. 11 catch can man
Curtis Martin (Rocky Mount) – No. 23 rear tire changer
Scott Blackburn (Mechanicsville) – No. 16 rear tire changer
Mary Quay (Halifax) – No. 22 scorer
Kevin Riddle (Martinsville) – No. 5 pit support

Halfway: Chase Reaches Its Mid-Point
Five races are complete in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The plot thickens – in a variety of directions. Check it out:

• Coming into Sunday’s event, the top three drivers – Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle – are separated by only 86 points.

• Jimmie Johnson has the points lead coming into a track where he has seriously excelled. Johnson has won four times at Martinsville since 2004. His chances of winning a third consecutive series championship look more realistic all the time. Only one driver has ever pulled off that trifecta – Cal Yarborough from 1976-78.

• Jeff Burton is in the sport’s top echelon – for the second time. The South Boston, Va. native was one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ premier drivers from 1997-2000, posting 15 wins during that four-season span, driving for car owner Jack Roush. After a several-season slump, Burton has returned to prominence the last few years with owner Richard Childress, who he joined in 2004.

• Two weeks ago, the Chase made an always-precarious stop at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ biggest track, 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. This week, the Chase comes to the series’ smallest track, .526-mile Martinsville Speedway. Those two disparate layouts have one undeniable common denominator – unpredictability, due to close-quarters racing. A bump here, a spin there … and the standings could easily be altered drastically, this Sunday.

• When the Chase’s top seed, Kyle Busch, fell far behind after the first two Chase races, Carl Edwards looked like the smart pick to win the title. With five races to go, however, Edwards’ title chances are on the ropes. He crashed at Talladega and had engines problems this past week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – resulting in finishes of 29th and 33rd. He comes into Martinsville fourth in points, 168 points behind Johnson. Edwards has one top 10 in eight races at Martinsville, and a Driver Rating of 72.4 over his last seven races there.

The Ratings Game: Hendrick Duo Top Martinsville Driver Rating
Clearly, Hendrick Motorsports has figured out Martinsville Speedway. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson rank one-two in Driver Rating over the last seven races at Martinsville, one of the trickiest tracks in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Over that span, Gordon has an average finish of 2.3, while Johnson has a 3.0. Below are the top 10 drivers in pre-race Driver Rating at Martinsville. (x-denotes non-Chase driver)

Jeff Gordon 124.5
Jimmie Johnson 121.2
Tony Stewart 116.3
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 100.7
Denny Hamlin 100.6
Kyle Busch 93.3
x-Jamie McMurray 87.9
Kevin Harvick 87.4
x-Ryan Newman 85.8
Jeff Burton 85.3

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Testing….1,2,3
This final open week of the season begins with the final “new car” test of the season, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Seven teams are expected for the session. It’s the first test at an intermediate track for the car following the inaugural test at Richmond International Raceway in early September. Seven teams are expected to participate including Joe Gibbs Racing which did not test at Richmond last month. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Roush Fenway Racing (two teams), Richard Childress Racing, JD Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing tested at Richmond and are back at LMS.

Championship Battle: Bowyer Maintaining Series Lead
Clint Boywer’s lead in the series points over Carl Edwards remains at 196 points. Third-place Brad Keselowski is still in the hunt, 286 points behind. in third.

Championship Battle, Part 2: RCR Entry Takes the Lead
Clint Bowyer’s second-place finish this past week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway also helped his car owner, Richard Childress, take the lead in the car owner championship standings. The No. 2 entry driven by Bowyer has a one-point lead over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that has had a variety of drivers this year. Joey Logano drove the No. 20 at LMS, finishing 14th.

Record Chasing: Kyle Busch Eyes Ard
Kyle Busch’s win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last Friday night was his ninth victory of the year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The series record is 10 set in 1983 by two-time series champion Sam Ard.
Busch is not expected to compete in the next event, at Memphis Motorsports Park on Oct. 25, but is planning on running in the following three events to close the season at Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won the fall race at Phoenix last year and also won at Texas and Phoenix earlier this year.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Championship Battle Picks Back Up
Ron Hornaday Jr. reassumed the championship lead with a second-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Johnny Benson, who entered the season’s 20th race with a single-point advantage, is 39 points out after finishing 11th. The lead changed hands for the seventh time in 2008.

Hornaday’s lead is fourth-closest in series history following the season’s 20th race. Point leaders after 20 races have won the championship in three of the past four seasons and nine times in the series’ 13 previous years. The last 20-race leader failing to become champion was Dennis Setzer in 2005.

Trucks Back In Action
The series returns to action at Martinsville Speedway for the Kroger 200 on Oct. 18. This will be the season’s sixth and final short track race. The event begins a three weekend stretch on tracks visited earlier this year: Martinsville, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

Setzer Looks for Four Pack
Dennis Setzer won Martinsville Speedway’s March 31 race, matching Mike Skinner’s record of three victories at the .526-mile track. Setzer attempts to become the series’ third different driver to win four races at a single track. (Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine, Texas Motor Speedway).

Contenders Looking for First Martinsville Win
Hornaday and Benson are among five short track winners in 2008. While neither Hornaday nor Benson has a victory at Martinsville despite a combined 22 starts, the two have victories at the tracks on the remainder of the schedule. Hornaday has wins at Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami; Benson at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami.

New Faces Visit The Series
Several new names will be behind the wheel of some trucks this weekend: Hermie Sadler (No. 48 Chevrolet), Jamie McMurry (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford), Kevin Harvick (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet), Sam Hornish, Jr. (No. 4 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge).

Then, there are some series veterans set to strap into new rides. Terry Cook will pilot the No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota for the remainder of the season while Jack Sprague will be in the No. 60 Wyler Racing Toyota.

The 10-race sponsorship package will be divided amongst four popular Unilever brands – Hellmann’s® mayonnaise, Ragu® pasta sauce, Klondike® ice cream, and Lipton® tea. Three different drivers will compete in select races in the Unilever-branded No. 5 car – two-time series champion Earnhardt Jr., all-time wins leader Mark Martin, and current Raybestos Rookie-Of-The-Year contender Landon Cassill. Martin and Earnhardt Jr. alone combine for 70 NASCAR Nationwide Series victories.

“Unilever is thrilled to associate our brands with two of racing’s most popular and respected drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin, and with one of the sport’s top rising talents, Landon Cassill,” said Marc Shaw, Director of Integrated Marketing for Unilever. “By partnering with Dale Jr. and JR Motorsports, we are expanding an already successful history with NASCAR – especially with a driver whose popularity transcends motor racing with wide appeal and recognition. We are extremely pleased that Dale, Mark and Landon will represent our brands in the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series.”

The select races that will feature Unilever brands on the No. 5 Chevrolet are still being finalized. However, it is confirmed that Earnhardt Jr. will kick off the partnership by piloting the No. 5 Hellmann’s Chevy in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 14. Five of Earnhardt Jr.’s 22 NASCAR Nationwide Series victories have come at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

“I am really excited to partner with Unilever and continue what we’ve been able to accomplish with JR Motorsports,” said Earnhardt Jr., who co-owns the No. 5 team with Rick Hendrick. “In a short amount of time, we’ve gone from an upstart, single-car team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series to having two highly competitive teams that won races in 2008. When we merged our Nationwide Series operations with Hendrick Motorsports last year, it really elevated our program to the next level. Having Unilever come on board will help us continue that momentum.”

The 2009 campaign will mark the second consecutive year that Earnhardt Jr., Martin and Cassill share driving duties in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Martin, whose 48 Nationwide Series victories are the most of any driver, kick-started JR Motorsports’ breakout season with a win in the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 1. It was the first of two wins achieved by the No. 5 team this year, and the first of four that JR Motorsports has celebrated among its two full-time teams thus far in 2008.

Like Martin, Cassill has played a contributing role in the team’s success this year. The 19-year-old driver from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, scored a career-best finish of sixth at Gateway International Raceway on July 19, and he won the pole for the June 28 race at New Hampshire International Speedway. Cassill currently holds a one-point lead in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.

“We know that NASCAR fans crave real food that tastes great and is made from simple, ingredients; we’re all about real food for real fans,” said James Fish, Senior Brand Manager for Hellmann’s and Best Foods. “One of the main platforms for our involvement in NASCAR has been to search for and reward ‘real’ fans, and we plan to continue and even expand our campaign with Dale Jr., Mark Martin, and Landon Cassill, three NASCAR drivers who are real in every sense of the word.”

Season Hits Stretch Run
When Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 is complete, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will have reached its halfway point. Time grows short, with only six races remaining in the season.

What to watch for in terms of the Chase, on Saturday night:

• Two-time defending series champion Johnson retained the points lead despite an up-and-down Talladega afternoon that culminated in a ninth-place finish. Johnson has five career victories at LMS and a series-high Driver Rating of 116.5 there. He is trying to become only the second driver to win three consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup titles. Cale Yarborough (1976-78) holds that record.

• The top four drivers in the standings this week are separated by only 99 points. First place Jimmie Johnson leads Carl Edwards by 72, Greg Biffle by 77 and Jeff Burton by 99.

• Roush Fenway Racing had a tough go of it at Talladega, with its three championship contenders – Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth –getting caught up in a lap 175 accident. All is not lost, as all three are solid at LMS. Kenseth has a win there, Biffle finished second in May and Edwards has an average finish of 7.6.

• Jeff Gordon is the defending champion of the Bank of America 500 but get this: That event, in October 2007, was the last time he visited Victory Lane – 35 races ago. Gordon finished a disappointing 38th this past Sunday Talladega, and comes in this week eighth in points.

• Tony Stewart’s win at Talladega jumped him four spots in the point standings and gave him some new life in the championship race. The two-time champion sounded optimistic in his post-race comments from Talladega, saying “We’re not even halfway through the Chase yet. Anything can happen.” Stewart looked like the Coca-Cola 600 winner in May, but a tire problem on Lap 397 crushed any hopes of victory.

Kasey Kahne Involved In A Personal Chase – Of History
Kasey Kahne isn’t part of the 12-driver Chase field, but that won’t prevent him from being one of the favorites Saturday night. No driver has ever swept all three Lowe’s Motor Speedway events in a single season. Kahne has a chance to do so; in May, he won the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 on successive weekends.

New Faces Attempt to Make NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Debut
Brad Keselowski and Scott Speed will attempt to make their NSCS debut this weekend for Hendrick Motorsports and Red Bull Racing, respectively.

Keselowski is a two-time winner on the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season and Speed has won once on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this year, is the ARCA/REMAX points leader and is a former Formula 1 driver.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

500 For Finch
Nineteen years ago this week, at this race in Charlotte, James Finch watched driver Jeff Purvis start the first NASCAR Nationwide Series race for his Finch Racing team. Purvis finished 40th due to a blown engine, but Finch’s series foundation was set.

It’s fitting that Finch, one of the longest-tenured owners in the series, will have veteran Mike Bliss in his No. 1 Chevrolet Friday night in Charlotte. Finch has accumulated 11 wins and eight poles in his series career and Bliss could be a dark horse contender to bring the colorful owner a victory on his big night. Bliss’ lone win in the series to date came in this race in 2004.

Keselowski Comes Full Circle
Last May at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski practically grew up in front of everyone’s eyes. The 24-year-old had finished third, his career best. He was also involved in a late-race scrape with Denny Hamlin that led to a post-race confrontation by each driver’s team on pit road. Keselowski, however, kept his composure and gained plenty of respect in the process.

Since that night, Keselowski’s career has blossomed. He’s won two races, his first pole and stood as high as second in the standings (he’s currently third). Saturday at LMS, he’s set to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut for Rick Hendrick. He’ll drive the No. 25 Chevrolet and will need to qualify on time in order to make his first start.

Friday Night, Under The Lights, At Home In Charlotte
After an open week, standings leader Clint Bowyer brings a 196-point lead over his main competitor, reigning champion Carl Edwards, to the always-anticipated Friday night “home” race in Charlotte.

There are five races left for Edwards to reel Bowyer in. Edwards has won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway before and is coming off four consecutive top-five finishes this season. But since his win in 2006, Edwards hasn’t finished better than 13th in his last four races at LMS.

Final New Car Test At LMS
The final open week of the season starts with on-track activity next Monday and Tuesday with the final scheduled test of the year for the series’ new car. It made a successful debut for each of the four manufacturers last month at Richmond. The garage opens at 7 a.m. each day with practices from 9 a.m. – noon and 1 – 5 p.m. The garage closes at 5:30 p.m. each day. This test also is the last for each of the three national series in 2008.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Hornaday Back on Top
Ron Hornaday Jr. reassumed the championship lead on Saturday, finishing a second at Talladega Superspeedway. Johnny Benson, who entered the season’s 20th race with a one-point advantage, is 39 points out after finishing 11th. The lead changed hands for the seventh time in 2008.

Defending Champ in Prime Position
Hornaday’s lead is fourth-closest in series history following the season’s 20th race. Point leaders after 20 races have won the championship in three of the past four seasons and nine times in the series’ 13 previous years. The last 20-race leader failing to become champion was Dennis Setzer in 2005.

First an Off Week, Then Familiar Territory
Teams take their final one-week break of the season before heading for Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 18. The Kroger 200 is the season’s sixth and final short track race. The event begins a three weekend stretch on tracks visited earlier this year: Martinsville, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

Championship Contenders Yet to Visit Martinsville Victory Lane
Hornaday is the last champion to win a short track race in his title season (O’Reilly Raceway Park in 2007). Hornaday and Benson are among five short track winners in 2008. Neither Hornaday nor Benson has a victory at Martinsville despite a combined 22 starts.

Setzer Looking for Fourth Martinsville Win
Dennis Setzer won Martinsville Speedway’s March 31 Kroger 250 matching Mike Skinner’s record of three victories at the .526-mile track. Setzer attempts to become the series’ third different driver to win four races at a single track. (Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine, Texas Motor Speedway).

In The Garage: North Carolina Natives In NASCAR

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Raymond Fox (Concard) – No. 43 car chief
Mike Bumgarner (Huntersville) – No. 5 car chief
Steve Lane (Winston-Salem) – No. 40 crew chief
Tony Eury Jr. (Kannapolis) – No. 88 crew chief
Todd Berrrier (Kernersville) – No. 29 crew chief
Rodney Childers (Mooresville) – No. 19 crew chief
David Hyder (Trinity) – No. 21 crew chief
Luke Lambert (Mt. Airy) – No. 31 engineer
Jeremy Bullins (Walnut Cove) – No. 07 engineer
Andy Street (Kernersville) – No. 29 engineer
Craig Griffitts (Thomasville) – No. 22 engine tuner
Cameron Brown (East Bend) – No. 07 engine tuner
Alan Morgan (Aberdeen) – No. 16 engine turner
Billy Davis (Charlotte) – No. 88 engine tuner
Claude Queen (Robbinsville) – No. 10 engine tuner
Kevin Grubb (High Point) – No. 96 engine tuner
Billy Hinkle (Thomasville) – No. 07 mechanic
Wes Motsinger (Winston-Salem) – No. 07 mechanic
Johnny Owens (Kannapolis) – No. 07 mechanic
Jeremy Price (East Bend) – No. 07 mechanic
Mike Scearce (Lexington) – No. 07 mechanic
Tyler Stutz (Walnut Cove) – No. 07 mechanic
Jason Hunt (Greensboro) – No. 5 mechanic
Shannon McGlamery (Winston-Salem) – No. 24 mechanic/spotter
Clint Pittman (Lexington) – No. 29 mechanic
David Cropps (Mt. Airy) – No. 10 mechanic
Ben Cook (Denton) – No. 84 pit crew coach
Mark Mauldin (Spencer) – No. 5 pit crew coach
Tony Tolley (Dobson) – No. 96 pit crew coach
Hartwell Pritchett (Durham) – No. 10 shock specialist
Chris Rivers (Concord) – No. 84 tire specialist
Jim Pollard (Greensboro) – No. 42 transporter driver
Rocky Boggs (Burlington) – No. 42 transporter driver
Randy Davis (Shelby) – No. 9 transporter driver
Jeff Craven (High Point) – No. 29 transporter driver
Rick Ogborn (Lenior) – No. 44 transporter driver
Don Angel (Maiden) – No. 21 transporter driver
Greg Gunnell (Mt. Airy) – No. 31 engine builder
Heath Silver (Ashville) – No. 42 catch can man
Eric Hoyle (Ashville) – No. 41 catch can man
Britt Goodrich (Gastonia) – No. 12 catch can
Jason Dalrymple (Concord) – 88 catch can man
Jamie Frady (Hendersonville) – No. 24 catch can
Michael Warren (Mt. Airy) – N o. 77 front tire carrier
Jonathan Wallace (Elizabeth City) – No. 31 front tire carrier
Dail Long (Thomasville) – No. 07 front tire carrier
Austin Craven (Wallburg) – No. 43 front tire carrier
A.J. Heister (Asheboro) – No. 45 front tire carrier
Scott Reiniger (Salisbury) – No. 12 front tire carrier
Colin Pasi (Concord) – No. 16 front tire carrier
Mike Houston (Concord) – No. 24 front tire carrier
Alex Smith (Cary) – No. 96 front tire carrier
Dustin Coonfield (Statesville) – No. 77 front tire changer
Ben Brown (Charlotte) – No. 12 front tire changer
Jason Pulver (Lexington) – No. 29 front tire changer
Nick Hensley (Asheville) – No. 77 gas man
Randy Hildreth (Charlotte) – No. 41 gas man
Matt Sauer (Concord) – No. 45 gas man
George Whitney (Chocowinity) – No. 12 gas man
Ike Snead (Bakersfield) – No. 77 jack man
David Cox (Statesville) – No. 41 jack man
Eric Wilson (Taylorsville) – No. 9 jack man
Carey Wimbish (Hickory) – No. 07 jack man
Michael Klein (Monroe) – No. 16 jack man
Jason Hunt (Greensboro) – No. 5 jack man
Jeff Cook (Charlotte) – No. 24 jack man
Trey Burklin (Charlotte) – No. 84 jack man
Chip Goode (Statesville) – No. 42 rear tire carrier
Jason Fowler (Winston-Salem) – No. 31 rear tire carrier
Dustin Stanley (Lewisville) – No. 07 rear tire carrier
Trent Cherry (Charlotte) – No. 12 rear tire carrier
Jeff Knight (Matthews) – No. 24 rear tire carrier
Jody Fortson (China Grove) – No. 20 rear tire carrier
Aaron Smith (Denton) – No. 31 rear tire changer
Jim Carbon (Catawba) – No. 9 rear tire changer
Jake Lind (Welcome) – No. 07 rear tire changer
Ben Bowdon (Julian) – No. 43 rear tire changer
John Oehler (Mooresville) – No. 9 windshield/driver support
Yolanda Grubb (Asheboro) – No. 24 scorer
Marcia Bradshaw (Charlotte) – No. 48 scorer
Leslie Britton (Charlotte) – No. 29 scorer
Cam Hall (Salisbury) – No. 19 scorer
Joel Edmonds (Dobson) – No. 16 spotter
Eddie Masencup (Winston-Salem) – No. 5 spotter
Keith Barnwell (Hudson) – No. 10 spotter
Mike Chance (Hope Mills) – No. 4 pit support
Tim Hussey (Ramseur) – No. 22 pit support
Gary Stoots (Thomasville) – No. 31 pit support
Wayne Harron (Lexington) – No. 07 pit support
Jim Williams (Edenton) – No. 88 pit support
John Hudgins (Statesville) – No. 19 pit support
Coy Hedrick (Lexington) – No. 07 second gas man
Rick Tulbert (Lexington) – No. 29 second gas man

NASCAR Nationwide Series

Cam Strader (Wilson) – No. 5 car chief
Gary Showalter (Huntersville) – No. 31 car chief
Shane Huffman (Hickory) – No. 66 car chief
Jake Lind (Welcom) – No. 2 chassis specialist
Tony Eury Sr. (Kannapolis) – No. 88 crew chief
Bob Schacht (Mooresville) – No. 75 crew chief
Tommy Morgan (Mooresville) – No. 31 crew chief
Ronald Jones (Roanoke Rapids) – No. 29 engine tuner
Scott Larson (Denver) – No. 31 engine tuner
Edgar Aleman (Troutman) – No. 27 engine turner
Danny Earnhardt Jr. (Mooresville) – No. 88 mechanic
Tim Taylor (Statesville) – No. 31 mechanic/transporter driver
Cruz Gonzales (Yadkinville) – No. 2 tire specialist
Chris Justice (Greensboro) – No. 24 tire specialist
Thomas Goodman (Mooresville) – No. 32 tire specialist
Brian Carrigan (Taylorsville) – No. 7 tire specialist
Gary Hartley (Goldsboro) – No. 2 transporter driver
Dennis Gammons (Mt. Airy) – No. 29 transporter driver
Mark Konzer (Mooresville) – No. 24 transporter driver
Mike Myers (Salisbury) – No. 33 transporter driver
Nathan McGuire (Mooresville) – No. 24 catch can man
Jeff O’Farrell (Mooresville) – No. 31 catch can man
Jeff Shoaf (Salisbury) – No. 5 front tire carrier
Michael Sandlin (Mooresville) – No. 88 front tire carrier
Shane Stevenson (High Point) – No. 2 front tire carrer
Phillip Norris (Knightdale) – No. 29 front tire changer
Cory Ott (Mooresville) – No. front tire changer
Donald Colwell (Greensboro) – No. 33 front tire changer
Nick Deal (China Grove) – No. 88 gas man
Alvin Chodora (Huntersville) – No. 31 gas man
Chad Koontz (China Grove) – No. 12 jack man
Nick Sutton (Franklin) – No. 11 jack man
Chris Martin (Mt. Airy) – No. 29 rear tire carrier
Steve Bailey (Brevard) – No. 12 rear tire carrier
Brandon Blake (Charlotte) – No. 5 rear tire changer
Ricky Turner (Albemarle) – No. 11 rear tire changer
Richard Boyles (High Point) – No. 88 rear tire changer
Daniel Morgan (Mooresville) – No. 31 rear tire changer
Tyler Green (China Grove) – No. 70 spotter

Daytona Beach, Fla (October 6, 2008) – Last May at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski (No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet) finished third. At the time, it was his career-best result in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

But since that memorable race where he – and his JR Motorsports team – refused to back down from a late-race on-track dust up and post-race scuffle with Denny Hamlin (No. 10 Dollar General Stores Toyota) and his Joe Gibbs Racing team, Keselowski has come full circle in his racing career.

The 24-year-old gained plenty of respect in the garage for the way he handled himself in the tense moments following the race.

He also seemed to gain immeasurable confidence, which quickly began to show.

He won his first series race two weeks later at Nashville Superspeedway, then his first pole. Before capturing his second victory, he moved into second place in the standings and held that spot for six out of seven races before recently ceding to reigning series champion Carl Edwards (No. 60 Scotts Winterguard Ford). Keselowski is currently third in the rankings.

Two weeks ago, owner Rick Hendrick tabbed Keselowski to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at … Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

“Certainly a lot has happened, and it’s all been pretty good,” Keselowski said. “Seems like I went for about two years and couldn’t catch a break, and now it all seems to be pouring down at once.

“It’s hard to describe it.”

Keselowski will have to qualify the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet on time if he’s to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup race debut Saturday night. He’s also scheduled to compete in the premier series at Texas Motor Speedway next month.

Back To Where It Began: Finch Reaches Start No. 500 At LMS

In October 1989, owner James Finch stood by while driver Jeff Purvis prepared to make the NASCAR Nationwide Series debut for fledgling Finch Racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Purvis started 14th but a blown engine would relegate him to a 40th-place finish.

Undeterred, Finch continued on. Through the following 20 years, he posted 11 wins — the first by Purvis in 1996 — and a 25 percent top-10 finish success rate in what will be 500 series races on Friday night, again at LMS.

It’s fitting that Finch’s driver will be veteran Mike Bliss (No. 1 Miccosukee Resort Chevrolet), who will compete in his 415th NASCAR national series race.

Bliss has one win in series competition and it came at LMS in the fall race of 2004. Currently fourth in the standings, Bliss has been one of the hottest drivers in the series over the last quarter of the season and is the choice of many to break through for a win before the year ends.

“It’s an honor to be driving for James in his 500th start as a team owner,” Bliss said. “James has contributed a lot to this sport and it would be nice to celebrate this momentous occasion with a trip to Victory Lane.”

Majority Rules: Most Drivers Have “Home Field Advantage” In Charlotte

With the bulk of NASCAR Nationwide Series race teams based in North Carolina and the Charlotte area, Friday night’s race is basically a “home game.”

Series teams are coming off an open week and with the race in their backyard plus the season beginning to dwindle down, the adrenaline certainly will be flowing.

“With so many drivers and teams being home, it really puts emphasis on winning at this track,” said series director Joe Balash.

Clint Bowyer (No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet) comes back from the open week with a 196-point lead over Carl Edwards in the driver standings. Edwards won at LMS in 2006 but hasn’t finished better than 13th there since.

Bowyer has five top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile track including his last four in a row.

Bowyer’s also got added impetus as he’s moved the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevy to within 33 points of the first-place No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the owner standings.

Childress has won four series owner titles – two of those have been split championships. A fifth owner crown will break the tie he shares with Teresa Earnhardt who also has four trophies as a NASCAR Nationwide Series owner.

Do The Math: Time Running Short For Top-10 Standing

There are 10 seats available for drivers at the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Awards Banquet. But with five races left, there are five drivers vying for positions 8-10 and a post-season trip to Orlando, Fla.

The scramble is among a solid group of veterans with a total of 12 top-10 championship finishes between them.

Mike Wallace (No. 7 GEICO Toyota) holds the eighth position, but Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips Toyota) is nine points back in ninth. Wallace is looking for his first Top-10 final ranking while Leffler finished third last year, his first ranking in the final Top 10. He’ll be driving the same car that Kyle Busch (No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota) drove to victory for Braun Racing in May.

Marcos Ambrose (No. 59 Kingsford Tailgate Ford) made his first foray into the Top 10 in 2007, his first year in the series. He comes to Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 10th, 34 points behind Leffler; it took him 24 races to finally climb into the Top 10 this year. But he’s forced to pay attention to Jason Keller (No. 27 Viva Ford), who is 72 points out in 11th.

Keller – who has been in the Top 10 in each of the previous nine years he’s competed full-time in the series – can’t solely concentrate on catching Ambrose, though. He’s got David Stremme (No. 64 Chevrolet) lurking only six points behind in 12th.

Final Open Week Highlighted By New Car Test At LMS

Following Friday night’s race, the final open week of the season will be up for the drivers and teams in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, but not before some head back to Lowe’s Motor Speedway Monday, Oct. 13- Tuesday, Oct. 14 for the second official test for the NASCAR Nationwide new car.

This also is the last scheduled test for each of NASCAR’s three national series in 2008.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series’ new car made its official debut at a test at Richmond International Raceway last month. The five teams representing the four series manufacturers were excited with the initial data.

Where Richmond was a manufacturer test, LMS will be an open test. Series Director Joe Balash anticipates six teams will participate. Drivers still are to be named.

The garage will be open from 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. each day with on-track activity from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m.

Interview opportunities for NASCAR executives and drivers will be announced later.

In The Loop: Johnson Struggles In NNS Competition In “His House”

Something strange happens to Jimmie Johnson (No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet) when he climbs into a NASCAR Nationwide Series car at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He becomes very un-Jimmie Johnson like.

Whereas Johnson has five LMS wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, he has zero – and only one top five – in 12 starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

His Loop Data stats at LMS likewise fall well short of his lofty standards. In his last seven NNS races at the Concord track, Johnson has a Driver Rating of 78.2, an Average Running Position of 22.8, 20 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 43.9%.

Compare that to his NASCAR Sprint Cup stats at LMS over the same span: a Driver Rating of 116.5, an Average Running Position of 7.7, 260 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the top 15 percentage of 88.5%.

They’re not even close.

Then there’s the case of Kyle Busch, who’s won twice at LMS in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, but has yet to win there in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition (although he does have success there).

Busch, after winning in the No. 32 Toyota will be in the No. 18 Toyota this weekend, and boasts some of the top stats at LMS in the series.

In the seven LMS races since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Busch has a Driver Rating of 107.4, an Average Running Position of 12.0, 87 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 73.5%.

For Busch to sweep, he’ll likely have to contend with Jeff Burton (No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet), who is the defending champion of this race. In four of the last five races, Burton has finished in the top 10. Over that span, he has a Driver Rating of 103.7, an Average Running Position of 12.8, 61 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 74.0%.

The Director’s Take: Home Is Where The Competition Is

With 53 drivers — most of them from the Charlotte area — vying for 43 starting spots, Friday night’s race will carry a bit more drama than usual.

“The field is the largest we’ve had this season and obviously will be tougher to make,” said Joe Balash, the series director. “We’ve got a number of drivers who are working toward next year in the approval process so they need to be able to make this event (on time) and have a good run. That way they can continue that process as they make their way toward the 2009 season.”

One of those drivers is Justin Allgaier, 22, a seven-time winner this year in ARCA who recently signed to drive limited schedules for Penske Racing in the No. 12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge the remainder of this year and next year.

Balash also noted that of the five remaining tracks on the schedule, three – including LMS – are 1.5 miles.

“With all the testing done at these kinds of tracks, now it’s all up to good calls by the crew chiefs to make sure the cars are prepared. “They’ll practice and qualify during the day, yet race at night so every note they’ve taken is critical.”

2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champions Week & Awards Banquet Information

The 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Awards Banquet will be held Saturday, Nov. 22 at the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando, Fla.

Once again, Champions Week Media Day activities will take place prior to the Awards Banquet at the ESPN Club located on Disney’s BoardWalk.

The event is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 21 from 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. The driver champion, representative(s) from the owner champion (if applicable), other drivers who finish in the Top 10 and the Raybestos Rookie of the Year are scheduled to participate.

Media can contact Tracey Judd, senior manager of communications for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at tjudd@nasar.com or (386) 947-6733 for further information on the event and overall Champions Week activities.

RSVP’s should be made to Sue Redstone, NASCAR Nationwide Series communications assistant, at sredstone@nascar.com or (386) 947-6870. Broadcast media should contact Ginnie Pritchett, coordinator of broadcast communications at vpritchett@nascar.com or (386) 681-4409 with any questions.

The Portofino Bay has rooms available to media members for $214 plus tax. The reservation deadline is Oct. 31. Contact Kristy Kling, senior coordinator hospitality, NASCAR Corporate Events at kkling@nascar.com or (386) 239-2749 for hotel information.

Champions Week activities are open to all media; however, the Awards Banquet is an invitation-only event.

Raybestos Rookie Of The Year Standings

Rank Driver Points
1 Landon Cassill 175
2 Bryan Clauson 174
3 Dario Franchitti 159
4 Cale Gale 137
5 Brian Keselowski 92

Results following the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. Bryan Clauson (No. 40 Fastenal Dodge) is entered at Lowe’s Motor Speedway; Landon Cassill is not.

2008 Manufacturer’s Championship Standings

Although Toyota has clinched the 2008 Bill France Performance Cup and won the May race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Friday night’s event doesn’t seem to have a clear-cut favorite.

Chevrolet and Ford are tied with 15 wins at LMS but over the last five races, all four manufacturers have won at least once with Chevy winning twice in that span, including Jeff Burton capturing last year’s event.

Up Next: Open Week No. 5

Following the fifth and final open week of the season, the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads for its final four races of the year starting Saturday, Oct. 25 at Memphis Motorsports Park.

That event is also the last stand-alone event of the 2008 season.

David Reutimann (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) won the 2007 race at Memphis, the first of his series career.

The race is also scheduled to be the first series start for Marc Davis, another of the fine young drivers with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Davis, 18, made his NASCAR national series debut last month at Gateway International Raceway where he finished 18th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

FAST FACTS

The Race: Dollar General 300
The Place: Lowe’s Motor Speedway
The Date: Friday, October 10
The Time: 8 p.m. ET
The Distance: 300 miles / 200 laps
TV: ESPN2, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN; Sirius NASCAR Radio
Track Size: 1.5-mile oval
2007 Winner: Jeff Burton
2007 Polesitter: Greg Biffle

2008 Standings

1 Clint Bowyer 4,392
2 Carl Edwards 4,196
3 Brad Keselowski 4,124
4 Mike Bliss 3,906
5 David Ragan 3,886
6 David Reutimann 3,791
7 Kyle Busch 3,736
8 Mike Wallace 3,499
9 Jason Leffler 3,499
10 Marcos Ambrose 3,456

Schedule (all times local / ET):
Thursday–Practice, 1:15-2:20 p.m. Final Practice, 6-7 p.m. Friday–Qualifying, 3:05 p.m.

When I was a kid, there was a popular game we often played. It goes by several different names depending on where you live, but in our neck of the woods we called it “Gossip”.

You’ve probably played this game. One person whispers a story into the ear of the person sitting alongside, and that person in turn passes it along to the next ear in line. When the story has traversed the entire room, the last person in line must repeat it out loud to everyone.

Usually, the story is barely recognizable as its former self. Verbal plastic surgery performed during its travels has filled in a few cracks here and there, enhanced some parts, and eradicated others. The skeleton of truth is in there, but you’d need the archeological skills of Indiana Jones to dig it up.

Apparently, some folks over at Michael Waltrip Racing were engaged in their own version of the game recently.

Here’s what happened. Kenny Wallace was preparing to run the #00 car for MWR in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega, so he went over to the shop to be fitted for his seat. According to an article by Wallace, which was posted on SPEEDTV.com, several MWR crew members approached him while he was there and told him a rumor was going around that Rusty Wallace, Kenny’s brother, would be driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. next season.

You can’t help but wonder at this point whether Kenny told the car builders that seat was feeling a little hot.

Here’s an edited version of Kenny’s comment: “Everyone wants to know if my brother Rusty Wallace is coming out of retirement to drive for Dale Earnhardt Inc. next season … All I can say is that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And he is definitely considering stepping back into a racecar. He’s considering this huge move because he watched Brett Favre come out of retirement in the NFL and his good friend Mark Martin is giving it another shot next year at Hendrick …”

This was on a Tuesday night. Imagine what the story began to sound like as it worked its way into the ears and out of the mouths of various media outlets and everyone who reads, watches and listens to them – people like you and me, in other words.

Not to mention the NASCAR garage, where rumors and opinions fly around so fast and furiously you need a crash helmet to ensure the safety of your sanity, and even that isn’t a completely sure thing.

On the Wednesday morning following Kenny’s comment, Rusty Wallace released his own statement, which might be construed as somewhat of a rebuttal: “I love Kenny to death; he’s been trying to get me back in a car ever since I retired after 2005. While any rumors like this are certainly flattering, they’re untrue. I have a long-term commitment to ABC and ESPN and I really love what I’m doing right now,”

Phrases like “I love so-and-so to death” or the perennial favorite “Bless his little heart” are like those lipstick-wearing pigs and pit bulls we’ve been hearing so much about lately. They’re trying to be one thing, but they’re really something else altogether. Often they serve as disclaimers, refuting the words of others without coming right out and saying they were wrong.

Rusty’s rejoinder seemed pretty definite, but when I put my power of perspicacity to work, I have to admit I’m leaning more toward Kenny’s version of the story.

It seems nearly surreal that some folks may be familiar with Rusty only in his current role as a television broadcaster. I do realize, however, that there are some very new fans who may not have those cherished NASCAR memories of classic battles between Wallace and guys like Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt. So here’s the Rusty Wallace primer.

Rusty had 55 career NASCAR wins. He was the 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, and in 1998, he was named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers of all time. He was handsome, brash, mouthy and pure adrenaline-filled fun to watch on the track. He retired after the 2005 season, after winning a race that year and finishing eighth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. He went out on top, as a great athlete should, celebrating his departure from the No. 2 Miller Lite car with a final season branded “Rusty’s Last Call”. He was controversial and cool, and NASCAR lost a great personality the day he ran his final race.

Lipstick on a pig, indeed. In the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper, those true colors will always come shining through. Brett Favre came out of retirement and threw six touchdowns in a single game. Michael Jordan came out of retirement and won three additional NBA championships. Lance Armstrong is coming out of retirement, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t picture him in any color jersey other than yellow.

As for Rusty Wallace, who knows? We can’t predict what might happen, but we know for sure that one thing never changes. You can take the boy out of the race car, but you can never, ever take the racer out of the boy.

The Miller Brewing Company and its various products grace the hood of another driver now, but no matter. Whatever Rusty Wallace is serving us next year, bartender, set me up. I’m ready for another round.

Storylines for this weekend follow, starting with a look at “in the garage” local angles for the Talladega weekend.

In The Garage: Alabama Natives In The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Kane Relogle (Dothan) – No. 24 engineer
Ronny Crooks (Hueytown) – No. 20 shock specialist
Todd Foster (Birmingham) – No. 20 rear tire changer
Jimmy Kitchens (Hueytown) – No. 07 spotter

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Rick Crawford (Mobile) – No. 14 driver
JR Norris (Mulga) – No. 15 truck chief
Jeremy Lewis (Mobile) – No. 2 truck chief
Greg Passen (Birmingham) – No. 51 tire specialist
Kelly Stewart (Theodore) – No. 7 transporter driver
Randy Armstrong (Mobile) – No. 2 rear tire changer
Kevin Ray (Eastaboga) – No. 11 spotter

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

Talladega: Unpredictability Personified
When the inherent unpredictability of close-quarters restrictor-plate racing meets the inherent drama of the Chase, anything can happen. That makes Talladega arguably the ultimate “wild-card” race in the 10-race Chase.

On Sunday, no lead will be safe, as first-place Jimmie Johnson continues his drive to win a third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

Johnson has one win here (2006), while his closest competitors struggle. Edwards has an average Talladega finish of 24.0 and Biffle has a 25.3.

Johnson Shines Brightest on Biggest Stage
Put Jimmie Johnson right there with Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods. Not only do they all handle big stage pressure, they embrace it – and thrive on it.

Johnson shines in the playoffs – his 12 Chase wins are by far the most of any driver. Add big race crew chief Chad Knaus and the flawless work of his crew, the No. 48 team becomes almost unbeatable when it counts the most.

This season, there may be more pressure than ever before. Johnson no longer is merely chasing history – he is stalking it. Johnson’s victory at Kansas gave him the lead in the points. He is trying to become the second driver in history to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship three consecutive years. Cale Yarborough is the only driver to have achieved that trifecta, via a 1976-78 sweep.

Edwards, Biffle All Out on Final Lap
Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle know the importance of each point. The proof was in the final half lap at Kansas Speedway. Edwards attempted a daring dive to pass Jimmie Johnson for the win on the final lap at Kansas, but momentum forced him back up the track and into the wall. Then seconds later, Biffle darted past Gordon to finish third – and grab an extra five points.

The Earnhardt Factor: It Can’t be Overlooked
Talladega is the track where Dale Earnhardt Jr. has enjoyed his most success in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, with five victories. It’s obviously a good time for this week’s trip to the big track, as Earnhardt comes in eighth in the series points, 190 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Are the stars aligned for an Earnhardt victory? His team’s sponsor is also the race sponsor. And rest assured the usual pro-Earnhardt crowd will be in full vocal force at Talladega for the Amp Energy 500, knowing that Earnhardt’s championship chances need a serious boost.

Gordon Quietly In Position, Could Make Some Noise
Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon comes into Talladega sixth in the points, but somehow, he remains winless in 2008. He’s 143 points behind Jimmie Johnson.

Gordon won both of last season’s Talladega races, and leads all active drivers with six Talladega wins, so a late-season charge toward a fifth title could start on Sunday.

Joe Gibbs Racing Have Something to Prove
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch ranks 11th and 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, respectively, but Talladega may offer a silver lining in an otherwise dismal Chase.

Talladega is one of four tracks at which Stewart has yet to win, but he’s come close. The two-time champion has six runner-up finishes at Talladega. Teammate Busch won the spring Talladega race, and is looking for three consecutive restrictor plate wins (he also won the July Daytona race).

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Bowyer’s Championship Assault On Hold With Open Week
NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers and teams have off this weekend, but pick up again Oct. 10 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. They then enter an extended work week with the second and final scheduled new car test of the year Oct. 13-14.

Clint Bowyer’s runner-up finish at his home track at Kansas cushioned his championship points lead over Carl Edwards. Bowyer goes into the open week with a 196-point advantage over the reigning series champion with five races to go.

Owner, Rookie Title Races On Edge
The owner championship and Raybestos Rookie of the Year races aren’t so cushy, though. Bowyer’s second-place finish at Kansas closed the No. 2 Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing to within 33 points of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the owner standings. Childress has his eyes on his second consecutive owner title and fifth overall.

Meanwhile Bryan Clauson has moved to within one point of leader Landon Cassill in the rookie race. Clauson finished 21st at Kansas, taking advantage of Cassill’s absence from the event. The 19-year-olds each have at least two races remaining on their 2008 schedules to decide the rookie winner.

Get A Grip: Top 10 Spots Up For Grabs
There’s also a scramble among drivers in the bottom half of the top 10 in points. They look to keep themselves entrenched, while some are just on the fringe looking to make a late-season move for a coveted top-10 spot in the series standings.

Mike Wallace holds the eighth position but Jason Leffler is only nine points back in ninth. Marcos Ambrose is 10th, 34 points behind Leffler. Veteran Jason Keller is in 11th, 72 points out of 10th. Keller, meanwhile, can’t concentrate solely on catching Ambrose – David Stremme is lurking only six points behind Keller in 12th.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Bodine Looks for Big Track Sweep
Todd Bodine goes for three consecutive victories on the series’ two biggest race tracks. Bodine is the defending winner of the Mountain Dew 250 and captured the 2008 season opener at Daytona International Speedway. No driver has been able to win three straight races on such tracks.

Crawford Aims for Home Track Win
Alabama native Rick Crawford came within .014 seconds of winning the biggest race in his home state, finishing second to Bodine at Talladega a year ago. He’s already won at Daytona; a victory would make him the third series competitor to win races at both tracks.

Championship Battle Back On
Every one of the final six races figures to be crunch time for championship leader Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday Jr., who trails Benson by a single point. At stake: Benson’s first series title; for Hornaday, becoming the series’ first four-time and back-to-back champion.

Logano Makes Truck Debut
Joey Logano will get some more seat time this weekend, as he makes his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut. He will drive the No. 59 Toyota. Logano, as he prepares to run full-time next season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has already run two NASCAR Sprint Cup and 14 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.

No ‘Dega Love for Young Guns
Who will step up at Talladega – a veteran or one of the series’ “young guns.” In 11 races at Talladega and Daytona, only one driver (Carl Edwards, 24, Daytona 2004) under the age of 40 has been able to crack Victory Lane at either track.

Busch, Wallace On Talladega Entry List
Two visiting drivers could spoil the party for series regulars. Kyle Busch finished second at Daytona and won Talladega’s spring NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron’s 449. Mike Wallace makes his 2008 debut. Wallace won the series’ inaugural Daytona race in 2000.

Daytona Beach, Fla. (September 30, 2008) – Ask NASCAR Nationwide Series leader Clint Bowyer and he’d probably say second-place finishes have been the bane of his existence this year.

Bowyer has one win and four runner-up results. The first three — at Nashville Superspeedway in March; at Darlington Raceway in May and at Bristol Motor Speedway in August — caused him great angst because he led each race and arguably should have won two of them.

But last Saturday at Kansas Speedway, a second-place finish in front of his home crowd may have actually been a bright spot for the Emporia, Kan., native.

Bowyer didn’t lead a lap but came home second after starting 17th, one of only eight times he’s started outside the top 10 this year.

He also increased his standings lead by 10 over Carl Edwards and heads into the series’ fourth open week of the year 196 points ahead the reigning series champion with five races left.

“You can’t ask for much more — obviously a win — but to beat the 60 car (Edwards) is what we’ve got to do,” Bowyer said following the Kansas race.

“We want to win more races, but we want to win a championship. If I don’t win another race and I have that championship trophy on my mantle, I won’t be a bit sorry; I won’t feel bad about it.

“In the grand scheme of things, (we need to) put cars in between us so we can gain points on (Edwards).”

Open Week Leads To Open Doors For Series Drivers At Talladega

The ladder system through NASCAR’s national series usually has steps for drivers from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to the NASCAR Nationwide Series and ultimately to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Joey Logano has done an unconventional two-step on that ladder to debut in a third national series this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

With the open week in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Logano, 18, is taking the opportunity to get big-league experience on a superspeedway and will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck debut Saturday.

He made his highly-anticipated debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in May followed by his first NASCAR Sprint Cup start in September.

Logano also is entered in the ARCA event at Talladega set for Friday.

Ditto for Landon Cassill, 19, who will run the ARCA race for JR Motorsports before competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race. Cassill has one top five and two top 10s in six series events this year.

Mike Wallace, who is eighth in the NASCAR Nationwide standings, is pulling double duty as well this weekend in Talladega.

Known for his restrictor-plate prowess, he’s entered in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race and also is entered in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in a third car for Richard Childress Racing. Wallace last ran in both series at Talladega one year ago.

In The Loop: Series-Only Regulars Maintain Strong Stats Throughout The Year

Just two races ago, Brad Keselowski’s season suddenly looked in shambles.

He had come off two consecutive finishes outside the top 20, had fallen out of second place in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings and looked as if he were in a 2008 free fall.

In actuality, the mini-slump was a minor blip in what has been an extraordinary season for Keselowski. He followed up those two poor runs at Auto Club Speedway and Richmond International Raceway with finishes of third and sixth at Dover International Speedway and Kansas, respectively.

Keselowski is still in third, and has some of the top Loop Data statistics in the series this season. He has a Driver Rating of 95.6, an Average Running Position of 12.1, 250 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 73.8%.

His passing numbers are phenomenal. He leads the series in Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 under green) with 820, and has the best Pass Differential (passes minus times passed) with 187.

He heads a list of series-only regulars enjoying strong years. Another is Joey Logano, who has made his transition into the NASCAR Nationwide Series with ease. In 14 races, Logano has a win, three poles and 10 top 10s. He also has racked up some impressive Loop Data statistics.

Logano has a Driver Rating of 103.9, an Average Running Position of 10.1, 150 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 82.0%. His Pass Differential is a strong 48.

Another series-only regular quietly having a strong year is Mike Bliss. The veteran — who is fourth in the standings — has 13 top 10s on the year, and finished second two races ago at Dover.

Bliss has a Driver Rating of 91.5, an Average Running Position of 13.0, 184 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 75.2%.

He also claimed his only series win to date in October 2004 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the site of next week’s race.

NNS Etc.

Owner, Rookie Chase Slowed Only By Open Week: The open week is about the only thing to slow down the momentum of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team and that of Bryan Clauson (No. 40 Fastenal Dodge).

The No. 2 Chevy has drawn to within 33 points of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the series owner standings, while Clauson has closed the gap to one point on his good friend Landon Cassill (No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet), 175-174, in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year chase.

Joey Logano will be in the No. 20 Toyota for the remainder of the year and will have to fend off the charge of Clint Bowyer, who is attempting to bring the series driver and owner titles together after last season’s split between Carl Edwards’ driver championship and RCR’s fourth owner crown.

Clauson ran at Kansas and has three more races left, including at LMS in two weeks. Cassill deferred to Mark Martin at Kansas and has two more races to go, but won’t be competing next week.

2008 Manufacturer’s Championship Standings

Denny Hamlin’s win at Kansas secured the 2009 Bill France Performance Cup for Toyota, its first manufacturers’ championship in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Chevrolet holds the series record with 24 wins set in 1999. That mark will stand for at least another season — Toyota has won 18 races this year; five remain.

Toyota is the fourth manufacturer to win the Bill France Performance Cup since the inception of the award in 1991.

Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings

Rank Driver Points
1 Landon Cassill 175
2 Bryan Clauson 174
3 Dario Franchitti 159
4 Cale Gale 137
5 Brian Keselowski 92

Results following the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.

Up Next: Lowe’s Motor Speedway

This is the fourth open week of five on the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide schedule. The series resumes racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the home track for many teams, Oct. 10.

The week of Oct. 13 will be the final open slot on the schedule this year, but will be a work week nonetheless.

The second and final test for the series’ new car will be at LMS Oct. 13-14.

FAST FACTS

Next Race: Dollar General 300
The Place: Lowe’s Motor Speedway
The Date: Friday, Oct. 10
The Time: 8 p.m. ET
The Distance: 300 miles / 200 laps
TV: ESPN2, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio: Sirius NASCAR Radio; PRN
Track Size: 1.5-mile oval
2007 Winner: Jeff Burton
2007 Pole: Greg Biffle

2008 Standings

1 Clint Bowyer 4,392
2 Carl Edwards 4,196
3 Brad Keselowski 4,124
4 Mike Bliss 3,906
5 David Ragan 3,886
6 David Reutimann 3,791
7 Kyle Busch 3,736
8 Mike Wallace 3,499
9 Jason Leffler 3,499
10 Marcos Ambrose 3,456

Lowe’s Motor Speedway NNS Schedule (Oct. 9-10):
Thursday – Practice, 1:15-2:20 p.m. Final Practice, 6-7 p.m. Friday – Qualifying, 3:05 p.m.

During a paintball event with media in Fort Worth, Kyle Busch poses with the Dickies 500 trophy that he’ll attempt to win at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 3.

FORT WORTH, Texas (Sept. 30, 2008) – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Busch took plenty of shots at the Dallas/Fort Worth media Tuesday, and all they did was smile. And fire back.

Busch captained a Texas Motor Speedway squad that included President Eddie Gossage and took on the local media in a friendly game of paintball warfare at Fun on the Run Paintball Park in Fort Worth to promote the upcoming Dickies 500 NASCAR tripleheader weekend. Busch, making his official debut in paintball competition, seemed as comfortable – and talented – with a paintball gun as he is with a steering wheel in his hands.

And much like his NASCAR season, he piled up some victories. Busch went undefeated against his media counterparts in three games and in the process walked away unscathed. Releasing some of his aggression against the media was quite rewarding and entertaining for the 23-year-old Las Vegas native.

“I let off a little steam, especially against the media so that was fun,” Busch said. “It was pretty fun there at the end. I think I knocked out the last three on the other team (in the final game). I’m not bragging, but I’m saying that was cool to do it.”

At the end of the day, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver proudly posed with his team and the prize – the Dickies 500 trophy. That trophy will be the most prestigious he will chase during the Dickies 500 race weekend, but he wants more than just that one.

Busch will look to win three as he will attempt another unique “triple” by competing in the Chevy Silverado 350k Craftsman Truck Series race Friday evening (Oct. 31), O’Reilly Challenge Nationwide Series race Saturday (Nov. 1) and the Dickies 500 Sprint Cup Series race Sunday (Nov. 2). Busch has completed the “triple” every year since the inaugural Dickies 500 weekend in 2005, making this his fourth attempt.

He has been a dominant force in all three of NASCAR’s top-tier series, combining for 19 victories thus far. He owns a series-leading eight in Sprint Cup, a series-leading eight in Nationwide and three wins in just 12 starts in the Craftsman Truck Series.

“I like it (triple duty) because you get to go out there and drive and do what you love to do,” Busch said. “For me, I just enjoy getting out there on the race track. To run the triple with the truck, the Nationwide and the Cup stuff it always helps, at least for me. You get a sense of the track, air pressure adjustments, and things to change on the vehicles throughout the race.” His recent performances at “The Great American Speedway!” clearly show that he is a threat to win all three races as he has posted a win and finished in the top three in all three NASCAR series races at TMS this season.

Busch earned his first Nationwide Series victory of the season in April by winning the O’Reilly 300 and earned a third-place finish the next day in the Samsung 500 Sprint Cup Series race. He returned in June during the Bombardier Learjet 550k IndyCar Series weekend to compete in the Sam’s Town 400 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and finished runner-up to Ron Hornaday Jr.

After a slow start to his Sprint Cup career at Texas Motor Speedway where he finished outside the top 20 in his first two events, Busch has adapted to the 1.5-mile track and has finished inside the top five in three of the last four events. Now he is considered an annual contender. “It used to not be so much,” Busch said. “Things have gone well recently. I have learned how to drive it a little bit better, and I know what I need in my race car to make it easier. I finished third or fourth the past couple times in the Cup Series and I won the Nationwide Series race here earlier this year. I can’t seem to get past second place in the truck series, so hopefully that’s something we can change.”

Busch, the points leader for 21 of the first 27 races, owned the championship lead heading into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, but mechanical demons have virtually extinguished his title hopes after just three Chase events. A broken sway bar at New Hampshire (34th place) followed by engine woes at Dover (43rd) and Kansas (28th) has dropped him to the 12th and final spot among the Chase drivers. He trails leader Jimmie Johnson by 311 points with seven races remaining.

“I would probably be more frustrated getting wrecked by other drivers or screwing up and ruining the chance for the team than this,” Busch said. “It is stuff that has happened out of everyone’s control. It’s just bad luck. I don’t know where that came from, but it is here right now. It’s way too far to come back now. Even if the entire field wrecked at Talladega (on Sunday) and we were the only one to finish we would still be pretty far back.”

Hamlin led every lap of a 36-lap green-flag run to finish the race and crossed the finish line 1.407 seconds ahead of Bowyer. Hamlin claimed his fourth Nationwide victory of the season and the ninth of his career, as Toyota locked up the manufacturers’ championship in its second year in the series.

David Ragan finished third, followed by Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski. With five races left on the schedule, Bowyer leads second-place Edwards by 196 points and third-place Keselowski by 268.

“We made adjustments on every pit stop,” said Hamlin, who took the lead for the first time on Lap 94 and led a race-high 99 laps. “We didn’t have the best car in qualifying, and we didn’t have the best car early in the race, but we just kept making it better.”

Hamlin had opened a lead over Kevin Harvick that exceeded two seconds when Harvick fell off the pace with an ignition problem on Lap 139. That handed the second position to Kenseth, who trailed Hamlin by more than four seconds when contact from Mike Bliss’ Chevrolet sent Kyle Busch’s Braun Racing Toyota into the Turn 4 wall.

“Left a lug nut loose (on the previous green-flag pit stop) and got run over by the 1 (Bliss) trying to get back to pit road,” Busch said.

Harvick, who had led 88 of the first 93 laps, lost a lap in the pits during the cycle of green-flag stops while his crew changed batteries in the No. 33 Chevrolet. NASCAR called the caution for Busch’s accident with Harvick still on pit road.

Edwards had an early problem with the front valance on his No. 60 Ford but fought back to finish fourth.

“The car just was not as fast all day as I thought it was going to be,” Edwards said. “We got a good finish, but we didn’t close any points on Clint. He did his job today and stretched out his lead.”

Note: Nationwide career victory leader Mark Martin looked to be a contender for the win until he blew a left rear tire exiting Turn 2 on Lap 44 and slammed into the outside wall driver-side-first. Team owners Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had an anxious moment when they couldn’t reach Martin on the radio. As it turned out, the impact had knocked the radio out of commission. Martin later was released from the infield care center with a clean bill of health. He finished 38th.