Back to the Beach. No, it's not vacation time yet. First we take care of some business on the high banks at Daytona. The Pepsi...er, Coke Zero 400 will have some fireworks of it's own Saturday night. Highlights and downlows...

I'm a big believer in a free market and survival of the fittest, but seeing Coke on this race instead of Pepsi is damn hard to get used to. Pepsi has been with NASCAR at Daytona since day one. About a half a century (HR13's got neckties that old). Of all the #### that Brian France has pulled, this irks me the most for some reason.

Some breaking news from earlier today (Thursday). Kurt Busch had the fastest time in Cup practice at Daytona. That would have been great, except he totaled the car and will go to the backup. Martin Truex Jr's #1 DEI Chevy failed inspection twice. NASCAR kept the car, and Truex, also will be in a backup. Randy Moss has bought half of Mogan Dollar Motorsports CTS team. It will be renamed Randy Moss Motorsports and sport #81 on the Chevy Silverados. Their first race will be at Kentucky in two weeks. Sponsors and divers will be announced soon. Excuse me if I don't hold my breath waiting on the sponsor announcement.

On to this week's silly season updates. Hendrick Motorsports has a press conference scheduled for noon Friday, July, 4. They will be announcing that Mark Martin will be driving the #5 HMS Chevy full time next year. Bad idea. Tony Stewart is scheduled to make his big announcement when NASCAR hits Indy later this month. Expect Tony to take over CNC HAAS Racing with Office Depot as a sponsor. Ryan Newman is still rumored to be Tony's teammate/employee in the second car. I don't see that. These two do not get along at all.

Heard that General Mills wants Casey Mears in RCR's new fourth car, #33, next season. Petty Enterprises may have to drop one of their cars next year due to lack of sponsorship. But wait, Jamie McMurray may go to the #45 with a sponsor in his pocket. Or, Michael Waltrip may bring the one sponsor he'll have left, when his three car team goes under, to his best friend, Kyle Petty's team.

Aric Almirola has been named as the full time driver of DEI's #8 Cup car for next year. Double A, don't be surprised when you show up at Daytona next February, and you're the only one from DEI there. Current DEI driver, Paul Menard, may take his sponsor to #26 at RFR next year. Funny, his family's name is the same as his sponsor. BAM Racing says they'll be back with Ken Schrader driving at Indy. Guess when 43 or less cars show up, BAM can make a race.

New sponsor/paint schemes for this weekend. Kevin Harvick will be in an orange, Reece Cup Chevy Saturday night. Dale Earnhardt Jr's #88 HMS Chevy will have a special camo paint job to celebrate the 4th of July. Truex's #1 will have the new movie 'Swing Vote' on board . The #96 of J.J. Yeley also features a new movie, 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'. Polaroid will be on Reed Sorenson's #41. Jamie McMurray's car will have Irwin on it. Irwin was on the car last year when J Mac won this race. Don't expect lightning on Saturday night. Kerry Earnhardt will be in the DEI #8 in the NNS race Friday night. Just wondering, is Kerry part of the Nation?

Chip Ganassi Racing shut down the #40 team this past week. Rookie driver Dario Franchitti is among the 70 some employees out on their ####. Lack of sponsor was the official cause of death. Chip has offered Dario a NNS ride, or become Chip's third driver in the IRL. That's a tough choice. Learn stock cars in a lower series, like he should have to start with, or go get shown up by Scott Dixon every week. On the bright side (besides Ashley) he's got a $30 million contract with Ganassi. So expect him to be somewhere in a Ganassi car.

Just like the other major racing series, it takes a tragedy for the NHRA to begin closing the barn door. After Scott Kalita's senseless death the NHRA is evaluating, and analyzing the implementation of potential changes. In the meantime they have reduced the race track length from 1/4 mile (1,320 ft) to 1,000 ft for Top Fuelers and Funny Cars. Do they really think Kalita would have survived if the track had been 320 feet shorter?

Finally, a holiday weekend right in the middle of the long hot summer. Thank you Continental Congress. Stay thirsty, and keep an extra fifth for the Fourth.

Welcome to RSO on this Cupless weekend of racing. The Nationwide guys are South of the Border. Mexico, not that cheesy tourist trap on the NC-SC border. On to the highlights and downlows.

First up, because you gotta love this. The original Skoal Bandit is back, baby. Stanton Barret---Son of Bandit---is letting his 65 year old dad, Stan Barrett try to qualify one of his cars at the Rodriguez Brother's road course. Stan was the original Skoal Bandit driving the #22 in Winston Cup for Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds. Stan started 19 Cup races and had two top ten finishes. Stan last raced Cup in 1990. He completed every lap and finished 17th for HMS at Sonoma that year. Stan also was the first man to break the sound barrier on the ground, in 1979.

                           

In other Nationwide ride changes for Mexico, Truck Series regulars, Ron Hornaday will drive the KHI #33, and Erik Darnell will be in RFR's #17. for his first NWS start. Truck Series rookie, Colin Braun will be in the RFR #16 for only his second NWS start. Road aces Boris Said and Patrick Carpentier will also be in the race, as will Sam Hornish.

                               

                                              
                                       Every Said Head's Hero, Boris Said

Three weeks ago I almost wet myself because BAM Racing announced a big new sponsor, and changed manufacturers. Ken Schrader qualified the new Toyota seventh in the first---and only---race since the big announcement. Bam hasn't tried to make a race since then, and I'm hearing that, no matter what they may be saying about returning, they have closed up shop, and laid off their employees. Meanwhile, Schrader has moved on to the HAAS CNC #70 Chevy.

Chip Ganassi swapped crew chiefs between two of his cars. Donnie Wingo leaves #42 and Juan Pablo Montoya, to go to the #41 driven by Reed Sorenson. Lucky Jimmy Elledge gets to take over with JPM. Yeah Chip, this should cure everything.

                               

                                              
                                                              Ashley Force

Move over Danica. Ashley Force has made NHRA history. She is the first woman to lead the funny car points standings, ever. Like Danica, she still hasn't won a race, but it's just a matter of time.

Finally, Mike Skinner and ESPN/ABC talking head, Jamie Little are both entered in the ToyotaPro/Celebrity Race this Saturday. It's part of the preliminaries for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Wonder if Mike knows it's a street course? Doesn't make any difference, he'll just use the car in front of him for brakes. Like he does in the Truck Series.