---

Heading into the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Kurt Busch, the 2004 Sprint Cup Series Champion, had struggled all season, with just two top-10's. Busch spent most of the race outside the top-10, but came to the pits on lap 217 for fuel, with plans to stay out the rest of the way.

After a wreck by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 271, Busch gained the lead as the rest of the leaders came into the pits for fuel. Busch's concerns were making it to the end of the race with the remaining fuel in his tank, and holding off the pack in the final 25 laps.

However, just a couple of laps after the restart, Sam Hornish Jr. made contact with Clint Bowyer, sending the two spinning in turns three and four. The caution came out for the seventh time, and then the race was red-flagged for rain. Less than ten minutes after the red flag was thrown, Nascar called the race, giving Kurt Busch his first victory since August of last year.

"These guys made an awesome call," Busch said. "Sometimes you just don't win 'em the right way, I think we can honestly say that, but we had a lot of work and a lot of effort put in today and we'll take it."

The win vaulted Busch from 22nd to 18th in points. Busch is still 215 points behind Bowyer, who sits 12th in points, but this win was the first step towards a possible rebound for the team that has finished 32nd or worse five times in 17 races.

Behind Busch was Michael Waltrip, who earned his best finish since April of 2005, and J.J Yeley, who's third place finish tied the team's all-time best.

Meanwhile Tony Stewart dominated the race, leading 132 of 284 laps, but fell to 13th when Busch and others stayed out on the track or took fuel only on the last stop, and when the race ended just a couple laps later he was left with another disappointing finish.

"It's just been the oddest year I've ever seen for this race team," Stewart said. "It's just frustrating. There isn't anybody that's going to tell you any different than that. There's nothing you can do. If there was something we could do about it we'd change it."

Stewart's teammate Kyle Busch was involved in a late-race conflict with Juan Pablo Montoya. The two had bumped and ####ed in the laps before the final caution. Several moments after the field had slowed to caution speed, the two exchanged bumps on the front straightaway before Montoya turned into Busch, who's spinning car came back and made contact with Montoya and sent him spinning as well.

Montoya would be penalized two laps for reckless driving, and finished 32nd, while the points leader Busch finished 25th.

With just nine races left before the Chase begins, the battle to be in the top-12 is heating up, with 9th to 14th place seperated by just 97 points. 12th place Clint Bowyer is just 8 points ahead of Matt Kenseth who sits 13th.

After the challenging road course in Sonoma the Sprint Cup Series heads northeast to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This may be a one-miler but this speedway is known for bumping and ####ing, along with exciting finishes. With an extra lap added onto this race, that's and extra lap of excitement.

1. Kyle Busch

After briefly giving up the top spot the Shrub returns to the top of the rankings off his dominating win at Sonoma. Kyle has shown that he can and will win anywhere, and he'll be a favorite again this weekend at Loudon, where he won in 2005.

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt was happy to leave Infineon with a decent finish of 12th, considering his previous performances there. Earnhardt can look forward to the Magic Mile, however, where he's earned seven top-10's, including a 4th here last year.

3. Carl Edwards

Carl had a car capable of earning the win at Infineon, but when he fell back in the pack due to pit strategy the deficit was just too much to overcome, though Edwards came back for a 9th place finish. Carl hasn't enjoyed much success at Loudon though, where he only has one finish better than 12th in seven career starts.

4. Matt Kenseth

Kenseth earned his best career finish at Infineon, surviving all the madness happening around him to finish 8th. Matt should improve on that at Loudon, where he has ten top-10's in the last 11 races.

5. Greg Biffle

The Biff led briefly at Infineon, but made a mistake on the restart and went spinning, sending him to the back of the pack. He stuck with it all day and came back to finish 11th. He's been hit or miss at Loudon, earning three straight top-5's but then following that with three straight finishes outside the top-10 in the past six races.

6. Jeff Burton

Burton had another average day at Infineon, riding along in mid pack before finishing 13th. He should improve on that at Loudon, where he's earned four top-10's in the past five races.

7. Brian Vickers

Vickers finished a solid 14th at Infineon, tying his career best finish there, to keep himself in contention to make the Chase. WIth 12 races left before the Chase starts, Vickers sits 104 points out of the top-12. Vickers earned a top-5 here in 2006, but only made one of the races last year, finishing last.

8. Jeff Gordon

Gordon earned a much needed 3rd place finish after struggling throughout the day, vaulting him back up to sixth in the points standings. Last year Gordon was just off in both races, finishing 2nd to Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer.

9. Jimmie Johnson

Johnson led early, but after he fell back in the pack he failed to make any progress, and stayed there at the finish, coming across the line 15th. Johnson should be a contender at Loudon, however, where he swept the races in 2003 and has four top-10's in the past five races.

10. Tony Stewart

Stewart tip-toed his way through the pack after starting 39th, making his way to 2nd with just a few laps to go. However he was caught up in an incident that started behind him and fell to 19th with just a couple laps left. Stewart charged through the pack on a mission though, making up nine of the lost spots before the checkered flag. He should have a good day at Loudon, where he's won twice and has 11 top-10's.


Other Notables:

11. Kasey Kahne- After three finishes of 2nd or better in four races it looked as though Kahne was going to again contend at Infineon when he earned the pole. However Kahne fell to the back from the start and stayed there, finishing 33rd. Kahne needs to right the ship this weekend.

12. Clint Bowyer- Bowyer earned a much needed 4th place finish last week, and he should add on to that at Loudon, where he earned his first career victory last year.

13. Denny Hamlin- Hamlin was involved in a late race crash at Infineon and finished 27th, but he should rebound at Loudon, where he is the defending winner of this race.

14. David Gilliland- Gilliland earned his best career finish at Infineon, finishing 2nd behind Kyle Busch. Gilliland has been improving all year, and should earn a solid finish at Loudon.

15. Kevin Harvick- After sparking a late race wreck that involved four cars, Harvick finished 30th, his sixth consecutive finish outside the top-10. Worst of all he fell outside the top-12 in points. Harvick needs to get something going this weekend at Loudon, where he won in 2006.

---

Kyle Busch ended a brief slump by winning at the Infineon Raceway in dominating fasion, leading 77 of 112 laps. He won from the 30th starting position, only the second driver to win from farther than 13th at Infineon in Nascar history. After Friday's practice and qualifying, Busch wasn't hopeful o####ood finish, but he credited his crew with making the car as dominant as it was.

"These guys worked so hard," said Busch. "This is really special. We came a long ways with this thing. That's what makes me so proud of this team."

All day long Busch's competitors fell from contention one after the other, most notably after restarts. Among the drivers who were spun from contention were Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose, Kurt Busch and Robby Gordon, whose chances of winning were lost in four separate incidents.

However on penultimate restart, four top-10 cars, including second through fourth, were all taken out in one incident in turn 7 when Kevin Harvick got loose heading into the corner and made contact with Jamie MacMurray, who then spun into Busch's teammate Tony Stewart, who was running second.

Ron Fellows, who was running 6th, also became involved when he tried to avoid the incident and went into the sand, getting stuck and relegating him to a 29th place finish.

A frustrated Stewart simply said after the incident, "I haven't seen it, so it's not fair to comment on that."

Stewart would recover to finish 10th, gaining nine positions on the final restart while McMurray would muster an 18th place finish, but Kevin Harvick suffered the most as he finished 30th, and at the end of the day he had fallen three positions in the points standings to 13th, outside the field of drivers eligible for the Chase.

That incident set up one final restart, with Busch running away from the field in the final two laps to win easily. He's won on just about every type of track this year, winning at the 1.5 mile Atlanta, the sweeping banks of the Talladega Superspeedway, taming the Lady in Black and at Dover, and now at the road course in Sonoma, his first finish better than 7th on a road course.

Behind Busch was David Gilliland in 2nd, the best finish of his career, and road-course ace Jeff Gordon, who was impressed by Busch's performance.

"I am really impressed with Kyle," Gordon said. "I've been around him, and I didn't think he's a really good road racer. So I think you've got to give that guy a lot of credit for his talent."

Kasey Kahne earned the pole on Friday, indicating that he would be able to continue his hot streak that has seen him earn three top-2 finishes in four races. However, after leading the first four laps was never a factor, as he finished 33rd.

Marcos Ambrose's day didn't end any better than Kahne's, though Ambrose had run up front all race in his first Sprint Cup start before being spun by Elliott Sadler, leaving him with a disappointing 42nd place finish.

After several weeks of racing on the ovals the Sprint Cup Series is presented with a unique challenge this weekend in the form of the Infineon Raceway. Just under two miles in length the course challenges a driver's ability to out-brake and out-shift their opponents, along with the challenging left and right handed corners they will negotiate through 110 times.

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Maybe you haven't heard, but Earnhardt snapped a 76-race winless streak this past weekend at Michigan, making the trip to victory lane in a points race for the first time since his win at Richmond in 2006. Earnhardt has had solid cars in almost every race this season, look for him to earn his first top-10 finish at Infineon this weekend, maybe even another win.

2. Carl Edwards

Edwards had a solid car all day long at Michigan, spending 21 laps in the lead before settling for a 7th place finish, his sixth straight top-10 finish. Edwards isn't known for performing well on the road courses, but he has earned a top-10 at Infineon in 2006, along with a good run at Watkins Glen last year.

3. Kyle Busch

Busch led early from the pole, but after that wasn't much of a threat for the win, as he eventually settled for a mediocre 13th place finish. Look for him to do better at Infineon, where he's improved in every race since his first start, finishing 40th in 2005, 11th in 2006 and 8th last year.

4. Matt Kenseth

Kenseth was a contender all day long, but had to settle for a 3rd place finish behind Earnhardt and Kasey Kahne, who used fuel strategy to get in front of him. Kenseth's team is back on track, but Infineon isn't a course he specializes in by far, in eight career starts he has no top-10's, and an average finish of 23.5.

5. Jeff Burton

Burton was a little off at Michigan, where he had to settle for a 15th place finish, snapping a streak of four consecutive top-10's. However Burton has done well at Infineon lately, with three top-10's in the past four races there, including his first career top-5 at the track last year when he finished 3rd.

6. Greg Biffle

Biffle has good cars week in and week out, but there's always something that happens to ruin his day. The most recent let-down for the BIff was when he ran over the air hose on the final round of pit stops, forcing him to serve a drive-through penalty under green. Biffle would have to settle for a 20th place finish after having a car capable of a top-5. Biffle isn't known for being a good road-racer, but he has placed in the top-5 in the past two races at Infineon.

7. Kasey Kahne

Kahne nearly won his third race in the past four weeks at Michigan, but a caution saved the leader Earnhardt from running out of gas before the finish. It was still a good weekend for Kahne, who earned his eighth top-10 of the season. However, Kahne hasn't placed better than 23rd in his four career starts at Infineon.

8. Jimmie Johnson

After his blown engine in the Coca-Cola 600, Johnson has reeled off three straight finishes of 7th or better, including his 6th place finish at Michigan, which has allowed him to climb to 5th in the point standings. In his career Johnson has been hit or miss at Infineon, where in six starts he has two top-10's, but an average finish of 20th.

9. Brian Vickers

Vickers has had cars capable of winning for the past several weeks, and he was again a contender at Michigan, finishing 4th. Last year he earned his best career finish at Infineon, a 14th, in sub-par equipment. Look for him to improve on that this weekend.

10. Jeff Gordon

If it weren't for his road-racing prowess he wouldn't have made the top-10, but Gordon is the road-course king. After a miserable day at Michigan where he finished 18th, Gordon goes to a track where he's earned five wins in 15 starts, including 11 finishes of 7th or better.



Other Notables:

11. Tony Stewart- Stewart ended his slump with a 5th place finish at Michigan, and he's no slouch on the road courses. At Infineon he's earned two wins in nine starts, and an average finish of 10th.

12. Boris Said- Said is always solid on the road courses, especially Infineon, where he's earned four top-10's in the past five races.

13. Scott Pruett- Pruett is an excellent road racer, though he hasn't faired as well at Infineon as he has at Watkins Glen. He did earn a 3rd place finish here in 2004.

14. Robby Gordon- Gordon swept the road course races in 2003, but hasn't perfromed as well at Infineon since, with a best finish of 16th. Look for him to change that.

15. Marcos Ambrose- Ambrose will be making his first Cup start this weekend for the Wood Brothers, and last year he had the Busch race at the Montreal road course won before Robby Gordon spun him out.

---

It had been 76 long races since Dale Earnhardt Jr. had gone to victory lane heading into the Lifelock 400 at Michigan. That all went away after 400 miles of racing, as Earnhardt stood victorious in victory lane for the first time in over two years.

Earnhardt was able to earn the victory using fuel mileage, surving a green-white-checkered that extended the length of the race, as he ran out of fuel just after crossing the finish line.

"It is what it is man," Earnhardt said in victory lane. "We were going to stay out there no matter what. They can write what they want, but we won one."

Behind Earnhardt was Kasey Kahne, who earned his third top-5 in four races, which has allowed him to climb to 7th in points, while 3rd and 4th place finishers Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers have pulled within 14 and 97 points of 12th in points.

Meanwhile, it was yet another disappointing day for Greg Biffle, who had been running in the top-10 all day long until his final pit stop with 15 laps to go. While exiting his pit stall, he ran over the air hose, and had to serve a drive-through penalty while under green. The latest bit of misfortune left Biffle with a 20th place finish, dropping him to 8th in points.

But as Biffle's struggles have continued, Tony Stewart's may have finally ceased. Stewart ran a clean race and was able to finish 5th, his first finish higher than 18th in four races. The top five allowed Stewart to get a little bit of breathing room between himself and David Ragan in the points, who sits 13th.

Earnhardt's win came also thanks to Patrick Carpentier, whose spin on the last lap saved Earnhardt from running out of gas.

"We were going to stumble to the finish and probably not win the race. We weren't going to finish. The yellow saved us," Earnhardt said after the race.

While Earnhardt's fuel strategy payed off, it didn't for Mark Martin, who was third on the final restart when he ran out of fuel. When it was all said and done, Martin was 25th, one lap down.

Steve Letarte, crew chief for four time Cup series champion Jeff Gordon, is commonly called "Poptart." However, Letarte is no poptart.

You see, a poptart is delicious and never fails to satisfy, where as Steve Letarte, well, you see where this is going.

Letarte became Jeff Gordon's crew chief when Robbie Loomis, who was Gordon's crew chief during his 2001 championship season, left to manage at Petty Enterprises at the start of the 2005 Chase for the championship. Gordon had missed the Chase after a miserable season that was highlighted by struggles on 1.5 mile tracks.

Just six races into this new relationship Gordon and Letarte were in victory lane together at Martinsville, but honestly, was that Letarte, or was it Gordon, who had won three of the last five races heading into that event at Martinsville, including coming from three laps behind to win in the first race of that year. And of course there is the fact that Loomis had come up with great setups for Martinsville in the past few years, and those notes were at Letarte's disposal.

Now, in my mind Letarte hasn't proven himself at this point, but to his credit when he came on board the 1.5 mile program did improve, though before he came on board Gordon had made strong runs at those tracks that ended with wrecks and mechanical issues that were out of his control. Nonetheless, the performance improved greatly.

In 2006, Letarte managed to get Gordon to victory lane at Infineon, though again that's a track he's dominated in years past. But my hopes soared when Gordon ran up front all day at Chicagoland, a track that just one year earlier had plagued him, and captured the victory.

Though the team went winless throughout the rest of the season, the team ran well at several tracks and made the Chase, though bad luck plagued them and left them with a 6th place finish in points.

Now until this point in time Letarte has done a pretty good job, and in 2007 he led Gordon's team to great finishes week in and week out. This was thanks to great set-ups at the 1.5 mile tracks, something Gordon lacked for years. Gordon would finish 2nd in points after a great season, but it could have been more if Letarte had some common sense on top of the box during the race.

Now, before I continue, I will admit Letarte has brought Gordon great cars, but I think that he is incompetent during the race.

Right now you're probably saying, "But wait, didn't Letarte earn Gordon some wins with good strategy in 2007?"

Yes he did, to the naked eye....

The Phoenix race Gordon had a car that was good on a long run, but didn't have the track postition to contend for the win, until that final round of pit stops when the caution came out during green flag pit stops. Letarte was praised for making the call to finish the pit stop, but the team was already in the middle of the stop, and Letarte just made a call that any crew chief that hadn't inhaled too many exhaust fumes would make.

Then there was the Darlington race, where Gordon was able to win despite a geyser of water escaping his car. Letarte is praised for leaving Gordon on the track, but again, what else would you do? At that point in the season, Gordon is running away from the rest of the field in the points, and can gamble if he wants. When with 30 laps to go Gordon's car is overheating and is losing water you have two choices if you're Letarte: bring Gordon in the pits, raise the hood and pump more water into the car and lose a bunch of time and finish 20-somethingith, or leave the car on the track and hope for the best. No brainer.

Now Pocono was actually a well thought out race, and they played that fuel strategy perfectly and the weather came at the right time. I'll give credit to Letarte on that one, he made the right call.

Gordon went on to win races at Talladega through sheer driving ability, and won at Lowe's in the fall thanks to issues by Ryan Newman.

So overall, 2007 was a good season, but Letarte didn't do anything fantastic while calling the races. And if this were January 2008 and I were writing this, I might say that Letarte was a crew chief that could lead Gordon to a 5th championship, but now I highly doubt that will happen after the miserable season I've witnessed.

Of course, Gordon has been in a few crashes and had some mechanical woes, but when he hasn't Letarte has let him down.

And right now I'm disregarding the fact that Letarte can't provide a car better than 15th to save his life, that is just ridiculous, and until now that's the only thing Letarte has been good for, and now he can't even do that.

On top of the bad cars, Letarte has made horrible calls that have put Gordon way behind the pack when track position is vital or left him out to be a sitting duck after a long run. There was no exception to this at Sunday's race at Pocono.

Until the second round of pit stops, Gordon had made his way up to 13th without pit strategy after starting 38th. Gordon actually had a good car, but never had the opportunity to show it because of Letarte.

On that second round of pit stops, Letarte gave the order to take two tires, and considering at that point not too many people behind Gordon were doing that, that wasn't that great a decision. However, easy to make that decision after the fact. Gordon would fall back to about 11th during the before the next pit stops, so it still wasn't that bad, but Gordon's car fell off at the end of that run.

Apparently, the fact they fell back behind a bit on that run told Letarte he should never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever take two tires no matter how far back in the pack he may be. Throughout the race Letarte took four tires, four tires, four tires, even after short runs of just 10 or 12 laps. Others would take two, while Gordon had four. While tires are nice, passing ain't easy at Pocono, and Gordon was left in the low 20's for most of the race. Hard to make up all that lost ground.

However, by using fuel strategy, Gordon was 3rd in line with a group that was on a different pit sequence, one that saw them able to make it to the end on fuel after having made pit stops just 10 or so laps earlier. Everyone else had to pit, and at this point I'm thinking, "All right, at least Gordon's going to be 3rd when this all shakes out, so we should get a solid finish out of this."

Then to my dismay I see a flamed car coming to the attention of it's pit crew, getting four tires and fuel......

Why?

Instead of restarting that race in 3rd place with 20 laps to go and a few cars behind you with older tires between you and the guys who just took four, you're now 27th with about 20 cars on the same tires as you on a track that is known for being hard to pass at, let alone with the COT.

All I can do is sit as I watch Gordon make up as much ground as possible, shockingly coming in 14th, good for the circumstances, but not what it could have been.

This isn't the only time Letarte's done this either, he did it last year at Atlanta,Texas and Phoenix, taking four when everyone else took two on late pit stops and getting crappy finishes and losing points toJimmie Johnson. Maybe if he had taken a little chance and taken two tires (which I was screaming back then just like I was Sunday at Pocono) he would have had a top-5 finish and been closer to Johnson headed into that final race. Heck, he lost around 70 points because of it.

So now I'm complaining about the problem. I've said this before and I'll say it again, it's easy to complain about a problem, but it's hard to come up with a solution. Well, my solution is only half complete, unfortuanately.

Of course the first part is to get sack Letarte from the role of crew chief, but Letarte can still be valuable as a car chief, so you put him there. That's the easy part, the hard part is finding who to replace him with, and I think I've found my guy: Brian Whitesell.

Never heard of him? Whitesell was the first guy to replace Ray Evernham as Gordon's crew chief when Evernham left to work with Dodge, and in his first two races as Gordon's crew chief he got Gordon into victory lane. Whitesell's role was only temporary, as in 2000 Loomis filled the role as Gordon's crew chief. However, 9 years later, I think it is time for Whitesell to return to the top of Gordon's pit box.

---

For the 3rd time in five races, and the 4th time in Sprint Cup Series competition this year, Kyle Busch emerged from his car victorious, with his Toyota parked in victory lane, as Busch led 158 laps en-route to his run away victory over Carl Edwards.

"It was definitely a great race for us there," Busch said. "We didn't have the car to beat today."

"I think Kyle's being modest," Edwards said. "I think that last run, his car was the best car."

Busch earned his 10th victory among Nascar's top three series, as he outran the Roush cars of Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth, who finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th. However, Edwards wasn't fascinated with the way his day ended.

"No good," said Edwards, who won the race here in September. "Not what we came here to do."

On lap 18 nearly half of the top-12 in points found themselves involved in a 10-car pileup that started when David Gilliland and Elliott Sadler made contact coming off turn 2, sending Sadler spinning in front of the field. From there Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all piled in to the wreckage, along with others.

Kahne's wreck, who won the Coca-Cola 600 just a week earlier, allowed David Ragan to pull within 8 points of the chase after the halfway point of Nascar's regular season. Matt Kenseth also pulled within 95 points, and after his slow start is in position to make a run at the chase.

And for Stewart, it was the third straight race in which he finished 18th or worse, and the 4th in the last five races.

"Unfortunately, adversity is our motto here at Joe Gibbs Racing," Stewart said after his wreck.

However, his teammate has only faced the adversity of the fans that hate to see him win, which he has done on several of Nascar's toughest tracks. And recently if Busch hasn't been celebrating a win, he's been close, finishing 3rd or better in each of the past five races.

"I just want to win everything, man," Busch said. "That's all I'm here for. I've found something that's worked for me recently."

Greg Biffle earned his second consecutive top-3 finish as he came home third after dominating the first half of the race, leading 164 laps, the most of any driver. The Biff did this despite electrical issues that forced him to cut off all unnecessary devices within the car, including those that cool the driver during the race. However, Biffle still made a charge for the win, but fell well behind Busch and Edwards as the laps wound down.

"In the end, he got his car right and was able to drive off," Biffle said.

---

Kasey Kahne followed up his All-Star Race win with a victory in Nascar's longest race the following week, surviving a wild Coca-Cola 600 to get to victory lane in a points-paying race for the first time since the fall race at Lowe's in 2006, as he survived the whole 600 miles as others fell from contention.

"Dale Jr. fell out, he was awesome. Tony Stewart fell out, he was awesome," Kahne said, as teammate Elliott Sadler poured Coca-Cola on him. "They had us beat at times tonight, and we had them beat at times tonight."

Just hours before the race, the Indianapolis 500 had a race-changing incident just a few laps after halfway, when Tony Kanaan was passed by two cars headed into the third corner. The second car to pass him was his teammate Marco Andretti, and the pass forced Kanaan into the mables and into the wall. Kanaan was then hit by Sarah Fisher, and just like that a contender to win the 92nd Indianapolis 500 was out of the race.

"As usual, I'm in the lead and something happens," Kanaan said.

However, this would be minuscule compared to all the contenders who's chances of winning were taken away during the Coca-Cola 600.

It all started with Kurt Busch, when he slammed into the wall after having led several laps. Busch would eventually finish 16th, being a non-factor for the rest of the race. Then Brian Vickers' left-rear wheel dislodged from his car, sending Vickers' Toyota into the wall and out of the race, as the tire made its way into the infield.

Then, with just over 100 laps to go, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led the most laps, blew a tire and slammed into the wall while leading. Substantial damage was added when J.J Yeley rear-ended Earnhardt's car. Earnhardt would use fuel strategy to finish 5th, but was unable to contend for the win.

Earnhardt's teammate, Jimmie Johnson, was also running up front late when he had an engine failure, ending his day with a 39th place finish.

Then Tony Stewart, who had a commanding 5 second lead and was just cruising to the finish with four laps to go, blew a right-front tire, losing the lead to Kahne, finishing a disappointing 18th. From there, Kahne just had to keep his car off the wall to earn his 8th career victory.

Finishing 2nd to Kahne was Greg Biffle, who also finished 2nd to him in the All-Star Race, followed by Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt.

The race was the final one with Humpy Wheeler as track president. Wheeler is considered one of Nascar's greatest promoters, having introduced some of the best pre-race activites. He also was the first to introduce luxury suits to Nascar, and the first to put lights on a 1.5 mile track. Wheeler was honored before the race and all 150,000 fans in attendance gave him a standing ovation, as a plane carried a banner that read "Thank You Humpy."

"I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to you for buying tickets to this facility through all these years," Wheeler said, while nearby fans erected a sign reading "Thanks Humpy" on top of their motor home.

---

As of right now, 21 drivers are eligible to race in the Sprint All-Star Race on May 17th, with one race left for a driver to win and become eligible for the star-studded field. Three drivers will transfer from the Sprint Showdown, consisting of two 20 lap segments for a total of 40 laps or 60 miles, into the big show, the top two finishers and then a driver selected by fan vote.

At least 24 cars will be in the All-Star race itself, and they will race for 20 more laps than they did in 2007, totaling 100 for 150 miles, consisting of four 25 lap segments. Yellow flag laps will be counted in each of the first three sessions, but the final session will only count green flag laps. Restarts will again be double file with the free-pass available throughout the event. A record purse of $3,308,251, with the winner guaranteed at least $1,012,975 for winning the Saturday night showdown.

Rumors are spreading that Martin Truex Jr. may be departing Dale Earnhardt Inc. to join Penske racing in a fourth car, with a possible sponsor being UPS, according to Jayski.com.

There are also rumors spreading about where Tony Stewart will be driving next year, with the increasing implication that he will be departing Joe Gibbs Racing. There has been no official word from either side, but rumor says that Stewart will indeed start his own racing team, under the Hendrick umbrella, similar to what Ginn Racing did using Hendrick supplied chassis and engines. A possible sponsor for Stewart: Bass Pro Shops, the current sponsor of Truex Jr. Should Stewart depart JGR, it will leave Gibbs looking for a replacement, which could be the highly talented Joey Logano, who dominated Sunday's ARCA race from the pole in his first start.

Finally, the last thing Nascar needs is another name change. In the course of five years, the Cup series has changed from the Winston, Nextel, and this year Sprint Cup Series, with The Grand National Series also changing from Busch Beer to Nationwide Insurance.

However, the Cup series may have another name change in it's future, as Deutsche Telekom, one of the nation's largest banking firms and owner of T-Mobile, may consider acquiring Overland Park-based Sprint to avoid a price war in the mobile phone industry. As Sprint continues to struggle in the US, the likelihood of Sprint lowering prices even further to attract customers is increasing. T-Mobile makes it's business as being the cheaper alternative to the top-5 cellular companies, and if Sprint lowers it's prices it could take sales away from T-Mobile, according to analysts for Merrill ####. And recent media reports indicate that a bid for Sprint will be coming, but it could be several weeks or months away.

However, the reality is that Nascar's top series will likely face another name change, the T-Mobile Cup Series. And I was just getting used to calling it the Sprint Cup Series....

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Over four years have passed since the final Nascar sanctioned race was run at Rockingham, NC. However, Sunday the ARCA Re/Max Series visited the Rock, with a first time entry by Joey Logano, a driver being developed by Joe Gibbs Racing.

Logano earned the pole at a track considered by many to be one of the most difficult ones for a stock car driver to conquer on Saturday. This didn't phase the young Logano, however, as he went on to dominate the Carolina 500 on Sunday, leading 257 of 312 laps en-route to his first Arca series victory in his first start. The key to Logano's win may have been the patience that he knew is required when racing at the tricky Rockingham Speedway.

"I have to thank the Joe Gibbs crew for pitting me," said Logano. "They kept me out front. We're going to get a shot at Dover coming up, and hopefully we'll see victory lane there too. I wasn't running flat out the whole race. You've got to pace yourself. That's a really big deal here at The Rock."

Logano had few to challenge him in his dominating victory, aside from hard racing with Ken Schrader and a challenge for the lead mid-race from Michael Annett. With ten laps to go, however, Logano came into the pits for fresh tires. He came out in the fourth position, as there were only five cars that he hadn't lapped already. At one point in the race, he had all but the second place driver lapped out of the 50 car field.

When the race restarted and the cars barrelled down into turn 1, Logano was in the fourth position. When they came out of turn 4 just seconds later, he was again leading the pack. From there the 17 year old from Conneticutt would pull away by over four seconds from Ken Schrader, who finished 2nd after starting the race in the 31st position.

"I would have loved to have won but it's neat to see the fastest car win a race and that's what happened today," said Schrader. "I have to thank Johnny Benson who came out here and practiced the car for us on Friday. It was good. We just didn't have anything for [Joey] Logano. We didn't pit for tires at the very end there because we didn't have any tires, but even if we did, we probably wouldn't have pitted. We're low budget so if there is an opportunity to cut costs anywhere, we do it."

Logano will turn 18 on May 24, and will attempt to make his first Nationwide Series start at Dover on May 31 in the Helluva Good 200.

Kyle Petty will be replaced by Craftsman Truck Series driver Chad McCumbee for the race at Texas this weekend, just days after Petty failed to qualify for the race at Martinsville. Petty has a best finish of 28th this year at Bristol, and the rest of his starts have ended with finishes outside the top-30. McCumbee also filled in for Petty last year at Pocono and Michigan while Petty was commenting races for TNT. In those races he finished 25th and 41st, and he's looking forward to the opportunity to improve on those performances.

"I feel comfortable around the No. 45 team," McCumbee said. "Billy Wilburn (No. 45 crew chief) and I work well together. We had a great race last year at Pocono. I'm hoping for more of the same this weekend. Kyle is going to be there, giving me advice and pointers. That means a lot to me. I've learned a lot from him already."

Petty, who doesn't want to risk having his car miss another race, has confidence in McCumbee's ability to perform at Texas.

"Everyone at Petty Enterprises believes in Chad and his abilities," Kyle Petty said. "Texas gives us a chance to get another good look at Chad without throwing him to the wolves. He should be relaxed because he knows he can get the job done there."

In addition to the driver change, Petty Enterprises learned that it will have to seek a new sponsor for the #43 car driven by former series champion Bobby Labonte, as General Mills will end it's 9 year sponsorship of the famous 43 to sponsor a fourth car that will be run by Richard Childress in 2009.

Childress has not announced who will drive the fourth car, which will have the number 33, but speculation is that Labonte, whose contract with Petty Enterprises expires at the end of this year, could be the driver. As the 2000 champion, Petty's champion's provisional would come in handy for getting the car into the show.

However, Petty Enterprises' Executive Vice President Robbie Loomis believes that Labonte will stay with the organization.

"I think Bobby is extremely happy here and I think petty enterprises has done a good job of showing him we're committed to building him fast cars and continuing the program around him," Loomis said. "I just don't see Bobby leaving. I would normally say nothing surprises me in this business, but that would surprise me."

As for sponsorship for the #43, Brian Moffit, Vice President of Marketing for Petty Enterprises, says that the organization will advertise Labonte as the driver of the #43, and therefore believes that finding a sponsor won't be an issue.

"Bobby is one of the most marketable and popular drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series," Moffitt said in a statement. "He and his family share the ideals and values of the Petty organization and he remains a key component to the long-term future of Petty Enterprises."





















One last thing, this doesn't have to do with the article but I just wanted everyone to remember that 15 years ago today Alan Kulwicki lost his life.

Bristol is always about surviving, and that is what Jeff Burton did to earn his 20th career victory, something Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart couldn't do.

All three cars had issues that prevented them from visiting victory lane. Kyle Busch, the points leader, was leading when the power steering on his car failed, causing his car to collide with the inside retaining wall. Busch would fall two laps down and finish 17th.

His teammate Stewart was the next to be knocked out of contention, when with just two laps left he was spun by Kevin Harvick while racing for 2nd.

"I thought I left him enough room," Stewart said. "I'm sure somehow it was my fault. I'm sorry I got in his way."

"I just lost it there underneath of Tony. Just made a mistake," Harvick said. "They can take it for what it's worth, and move on."

Harvick sent an apology to Stewart through his spotter after the incident, but the exchange went downhill from there.

"The first thing his spotter did was say he was going to whip somebody's (behind) and if Tony didn't do it, then he was going to do it," Harvick said. "If his spotter wants to have a bad attitude about it, then we can all come down here and we'll handle it."

The accident would leave Stewart with a 14th place finish, and the incident set up a green-white-checkered finish with Hamlin leading Burton.

Hamlin had recovered from an earlier incident where he was trying to avoid a wreck and had contact with both Juan Pablo Montoya and Casey Mears, damaging his car enough to the point where he had to make two pit stops.

However, the recovery would be in vain as a fuel pick-up issues would cause Hamlin's car to sputter on the restart, allowing Jeff Burton and four other cars to get by, leaving Hamlin with a disappointing 6th place finish.

"It's just a shame. We had another win taken away," Hamlin said. "Our cars just won't pick up fuel. Everyone else's does. It cost us the race. I could have held those guys off, as fast as the car went after it picked back up."

With the Gibbs cars eliminated, Richard Childress Racing earned it's first 1-2-3 finish, led by Burton who was followed by Harvick and Clint Bowyer. The victory was the first for Burton since his win at Texas in April last year.

"Harvick and Stewart got together there, and that opened the door for me to squeeze in," Burton said. "When that happened, I viewed that as the opportunity. That was the door that opened. If we had any shot to win, then we had to jump through it."

The Sprint Cup Series has the Easter weekend off, then there will be more bumping and ####ing at Martinsville on March 30th.

 

Entering the 2008 season Jimmie Johnson was a favorite to win the season title for a third consecutive time. After four races, however, it appears that much work is to be done if Johnson will compete for the title come season's end.

Last year, Johnson had an average finish of 6.9 in the COT, winning 5 races in 16 starts, which also supported the thought that he would be a favorite every week since the series was going to use the COT full time in 2008.

Then Daytona arrived, and Johnson struggled after a spin in the 500 and finished 27th. Surely he would do better than that.

And he did, going to California and finishing second behind Carl Edwards.

However, Las Vegas was an ugly weekend for Johnson, who finished two laps down in 29th. A fluke, right?

Well, if you just look at his finish from Atlanta, then you might think yes. However, that 13th place run was a struggle from the beginning of the race. Johnson ended up going a lap down and spending much of the day trying to catch up. When he finally did get back on the lead lap, thanks to some well-timed cautions that kept him one of about a half dozen cars only a lap down and two consecutive Lucky Dog passes, his car wasn't able to compete with the rest of the cars on the lead lap, as he was the last lead lap car across the line.

And as we head to Bristol this weekend, it may get even uglier for Johnson.

Last year Johnson finished 16th and 21st at the worlds fastest half mile, one lap down in both races, and their recent struggles suggest it won't get any better for the 48 crew.

However there is hope for the two-time defending champ. That hope comes in crew chief Chad Knaus, who has been able to work magic on Johnson's car ever since Johnson started racing in the Cup series, and it's hard to think that Chad wouldn't be able to figure out what's holding his team back.

However, even if Knaus couldn't figure it out, he's got three other crew chiefs to refer to this year: Steve Letarte, Tony Eury Jr. and Alan Gustafson.

Steve Letarte, crew chief for 4-time champion Jeff Gordon, has 2-top-5's with Gordon in four races this year, and ran well in the other two races that resulted in DNF's.

Eury Jr., crew chief for cousin Dale Earnhardt Jr., has led the 88 crew to three top-10's in four races, with a DNF at California that came due to a wreck.

Gustafson, working with Casey Mears for the first time this year after Kyle Busch's departure last year, has not had stellar results with Mears, with only one top-15 finish, but he has had past success in the COT, leading Busch to the win at Bristol last year in the first COT race.

Nonetheless, Johnson and his team will have to turn things around before the Chase if they want to reel of the finishes they need in the final ten races to get their third straight championship.

     On lap 15, Denny Hamlin led Tony Stewart coming off the 4th corner. Fans watched as the teammates wrecked and eliminated their chances of winning, and for Stewart ruined a chance at making history.

     “All of a sudden he just stops on the exit of turn four in front of 42 cars and he can’t expect all of us to drive around him,” Stewart said when interviewed after the incident. “He just wrecked two really good race cars. He tried to wreck us in practice on Friday and didn’t get it done. At least he finished it off today. He’s a young guy and he wants to be successful, but I don’t know if he knows what the definition of team is right now.”

     There are obviously problems from the Gibbs organization right now, with these two teammates taking each other out on just the 15th lap of a 160 lap race, and then the post-race comments that came afterwards. The tension between these two drivers has shown itself, but is it really hard for there to be tension with Tony Stewart?

     In his 8 year career, Tony Stewart has had many run-in's with drivers, including Matt Kenseth at Daytona last year and Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards at Pocono last year. In fact, Stewart even got on the wrong side of Nascar with his comments about Nascar being similar to wrestling.

     The tension between these teammates may only be temporary, but once again Stewart has brought out the bad-side in him. He is a driver that was one of the calmest people in the 2005 season, and he ended up having a fantastic season, he never got mad or accused anybody of anything. Just when you think Stewart has turned things around, he makes comments like these after he's been involved in what was at least a mutual wreck, arguably his fault, at the expense of teammate Denny Hamlin.