Penske Racing South

When it was announced that Richard Petty Motorsports would switch to Ford in 2010, it meant that one of the most recognizable figures in racing was switching affiliations.

Back in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, Petty was the flagship driver for Daimler-Chrysler.

Petty was constantly driving a Plymouth or Dodge and was featured on many of their advertisements. When the famed "Super Bee" came out in 1970, Petty was quick to put one with his No. 43 on the track.

In 2001, when Ray Evernham led the charge of bringing Dodge back to NASCAR, Petty was the second team to come over to the brand. Soon, there were 10 cars that joined in, going to the Dodge name plate.

Now, 10 years later, that number is down to four. Heading into the 2010 season, only Penske Racing and James Finch remain as teams bearing the Dodge emblem in the Sprint Cup Series.

What happened to the brand that returned to the sport after nearly a 30-year hiatus?

The truth is, what happened was not much. When Dodge returned in 2001, it took the brand 23 races before they got to victory lane. That race was rain-shortened, as Sterling Marlin took the checkered flag.

Dodge would go on to win three more races that year, including putting Bill Elliott in victory lane for the first time since 1994.

The 2002 season would prove to be the best season for Dodge, as they recorded eight wins. They included a win in the Daytona 500 with Ward Burton, Ryan Newman winning the Winston, and Bill Elliott putting Dodge in victory lane at the Brickyard.

The following year saw Dodge have another successful campaign, as the brand was in victory lane seven times, six of which were from Ryan Newman.

Over the next two years, it would be a struggle to see Dodge in victory lane as they would only get seven victories.

Then in 2006, Dodge came back with horns blazing. Their lead driver, Kasey Kahne, recorded six victories, including sweeping the races at Charlotte.

But since 2007, the brand has only 11 victories in the series. Kahne leads all the Dodge drivers with five, while Busch has four, and both Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya each have one.

What could cause such a great brand to struggle in recent years in NASCAR?

It is hard to say, but many factors are responsible for such a decline. More recently, it has been the economy taking a hit on American car manufacturers. Both General Motors and Daimler-Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a signal that the car buyers were moving away from American makers.

With such a struggle, there were sacrifices. Richard Petty Motorsports admitted that the filing caused his team to lose a lot of their funding for the team. In turn, the organization had to lay off many of its workers.

Now, with the move to Ford, a lot more of those employees will be out of work as the resources of Yates Racing are now part of the team.

One other reason for their decline can also be attributed to the debut of Toyota. When the Camry made it's debut in 2007, some of the lead teams elected to switch to the import brand.

Toyota would not get it's first win in the Sprint Cup Series until 2008. But, in the two years that followed, the brand has 20 wins. Meanwhile, Dodge only has eight.

Prior to the 2009 season, Dodge was already losing some drivers. Robby Gordon's single car team left the brand in favor of Toyota.

The Ganassi Racing team that fielded Montoya merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc., which fields Chevrolet.

Newman himself left the Penske organization to join Tony Stewart's new operation, switching over to Chevrolet as well.

The only teams that are left under for the Dodge brand in the Cup Series are Penske, who fields cars for Busch, Sam Hornish Jr., and rookie Brad Keselowski, plus James Finch, who has multiple drivers.

Just four cars bearing the Dodge emblem could mean that the end is near for them in NASCAR.

But how much longer can they last? They're committed through 2010, but will they be there in 2011? How about 2012?

They may have a Hemi, but it looks like their future is very meek. What a far cry from their days of dominance in NASCAR.

No matter what, you've got to feel just a little bit sorry for Sam Hornish, Jr.  He just wanted to stay out of trouble at the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and instead wrecked the points leader Jimmie Johnson on lap three of the race.

Hornish went on to wreck another time during the race, finally putting himself and others out of his misery.  But the damage was done and he had cost Johnson over 100 points in the championship chase.

“I got my head down a little bit because I had a really good car," Hornish said. "All we wanted to do is make it so we could race the last three laps like that and not the first three."

“It's just, what do you do?" Hornish continued. "Try to play the game the way you think it should be played and get hit on lap three.

"It sucks.”

Hornish entered the race with a renewed focus on being patient and staying out of the chase contenders' ways.  "One of the things I've been trying to work on the last couple weeks is patience," Hornish said.  "I was working on doing what we can to make it to the end."

"Instead, we get run into from behind."

Hornish was referring to getting tapped by the No. 00 of David Reutimann, who slipped up the track to get into Hornish, which started the fiasco of wrecking with points leader Johnson.

"I got hit by the 00 and didn't even have time to correct before I got into Jimmie," Hornish said.  "I don't ever want to feel like I've affected the outcome of the championship when I'm not in it."

Hornish said he was trying to just stay out of trouble, especially when he was racing with Mark Martin in front of him and Jimmie Johnson to his outside.  He tried to back off a bit, hoping to let the contenders sort it out.

"It's unfortunate, you get somebody behind you that's got a good car and runs into you on lap three," Hornish said of Reutimann.  "It's no fun."

Johnson did not think his entanglement with Hornish or the inside wall was very fun either.  "I just wish he would have waited a little longer and didn't take me out in the process," Johnson said of Hornish.

"We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

With a yoeman's job by his crew, and assorted crew members from his fellow Hendrick teammates, Johnson was able to re-take the track and log laps.  He finished in the 38th position.

Hornish was not so fortunate.  After another accident, his car went to the garage, with the driver and team finishing in the 40th spot.

As much as Hornish hated it, his wreck into Johnson did tighten up the championship points battle.  While Johnson remains in the lead, he is now just 73 points ahead of Mark Martin going into the final two races of the season.

Parker Kligerman had to qualify into the field based on his time during Saturday morning's qualifying session in order to make his Nationwide Series debut this weekend. And with a time of 31.254-seconds, he surely did. In fact, he won the pole.

Kligerman, who is 19 years, one month and 25 days old, became the youngest pole winner at Kansas Speedway at a NASCAR National touring series event.  Previously, the 2004 Nationwide Series pole winner at Kansas, Paul Menard, was the youngest at the age of 24 years, one month and 18 days.

The lap made Kligerman, driver of the No. 22 Penske Truck Rental Dodge, the tenth driver to win a pole for his Nationwide Series debut.  The last driver to do so was Scott Speed, who won the pole earlier this year at Las Vegas.

"It was a great qualifying effort there," Kligerman said. "I was a little bit shaken afterwords because it was so fast through three and four.  Didn't even lift in these cars (because of) the lack of horsepower that they have.  We have a great Penske Truck Rental Dodge for the qualifying effort that we had from working through practice on that a lot and I think we will also having something for the race because we were able to do some long runs also.  So, we'll see how it goes but this doesn't really change our expectations for the race. I think we're just here to run some laps and have as much fun as we can."

Series veteran Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 NOS Toyota, will start beside the rookie later this evening after he qualified second for the Kansas Lottery 300.  Greg Biffle qualified third but will have to start from the rear of the field after crashing in turn two during his qualifying lap.  Brian Vickers and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five qualifiers with laps of 31.343-seconds and 31.354-seconds, respectively.

David Gilliland, driver of the No. 1 Miccosukee Indian Gaming & Resort Chevrolet qualified sixth and will start on the outside of Edwards.  Joey Logano and Brian Scott will occupy row four after their qualifying laps with rookie Michael Annett and Jason Leffler rounding out the top-ten qualifiers.

All rookie of the year contenders qualified in the top-30 today.  Darnell qualified 12th, John Wes Townley qualified 16th, Brendan Gaughan and Justin Allgaier will start side-by-side after timing in 17th and 18th, respectively.  Terry Cook qualified 30th and was the worst qualifying rookie of the year candidate.

Qualifying for the race based on Nationwide Series owner's points was Patrick Sheltra, Matthew Carter, Tony Raines, Kevin Conway and Eric McClure in positions 38 through 42.  Casey Atwood was the slowest driver in qualifying, timing in at 32.253 seconds for a 43rd place starting position.

Michael McDowell, Kevin Hamlin, Willie Allen, Derrike Cope, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Morgan Shepherd, Chris Horn and Andy Ponstein all failed to qualify for the race and will be going home earlier.

The Kansas Lottery 300 from Kansas Speedway will begin this afternoon at 3:30  p.m. ET with live race coverage on ESPN2 and radio coverage on MRN Radio and SIRIUS-XM NASCAR Radio channel 128.

Miles the monster all weekend long ate up cars and spit them out. When rain washed off what rubber had been laid down on Saturday Miles the monster was a whole lot scarier. Check out which drivers made the winners list and which drivers were the losers.

Winners

Jimmie Johnson

After a disappointing run at His house last week at Lowe’s Motorspeedway, Dover couldn’t have come soon enough. Johnson qualified in the top 10 and ran there all day long in fact he dominated the race, at one point is lead was well over four seconds.

A late caution scrambled the top 10 and force Johnson to battle all the way back u to the front and a late race pass gave Johnson the victory.

This was also team owner Rick Hendrick 11th win at the one mile track.

Johnson once again looked like championship form pulling away from the field. The team once again stayed on top of the track and the changing conditions,that’s exactly what a championship crew and driver are supposed to do.

Johnson said he had to suck it up and charge to the front after the late caution.

Points: Third

Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart was just two laps away from winning his first points paying race taking two tires on a late caution only secured them a top five finish in second. He was strong throughout the day, steadily working on the car and putting himself in position to win today.

Stewart could not hold off a hard charging Johnson and will have to wait till next we to try and win. They are so close as an organization and that is a bad sign for the competition.

Stewart is the first owner/driver to lead the points since the late champion Alan Kulwicki and this is the highest Stewart has been in the points in his career.

Points: First

Ryan Newman

At this point there is no surprise with his finish in the last month. Newman wasn’t the best car all day but they stayed on the lead lap and worked on the car. They gambled on a late caution took two tires and finished eighth.

This was another good run for Newman who continues to back up his move from Penske Racing South to Stewart Haas Racing.

He is settling into the top 12 in points and steadily moving forward.

Points: Fifth

 

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With all the talk of Dale Earnhardt Jr. switching crew chiefs, now his fans are wondering what now?

Well Earnhardt came out and quickly moved forward after a poor qualifying.

Unlike the last three weeks Earnhardt and new crew chief Lance McGrew made all the right adjustments and had him all the way up to third just over halfway.

Earnhardt looked the best he has looked all year. They did pit off sequence and struggled with the handling in the final 100 laps. He went on to finish 12^th, a well needed finish and good sign for whats to come.

Let’s not engrave the championship cup just yet the results have to be consistent before we can call this a comeback.

Points: 18th

Losers

Juan Pablo Montoya

With such a strong run last week at Charlotte they came to Dover with high hopes. With a strong qualifying run of third, Sunday they started the race with a lot of confidence.

That quickly changed when after an early run the car started to go backwards, they pitted made an adjustment the car continued to slide backwards. The day all but came to end when they blew a tire was forced to pit.

They struggled all day long and finished 30th.

If they need top 15 finishes to make the Chase then today was there final mulligan.

Points: 15th

Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon had a strong car in the first practice but a crash in qualifying forced him to use a backup car and to the back.

They gained 10 positions early and were moving forward. They stayed out during a caution while some of the leaders pitted. They fell behind on adjustments and struggled to recover. They finished 26^th.

 In recent weeks this team is in somewhat of a slump, they are securely in the top 12 but they need to stay on defense.

When Gordon found out who he was racing on pit road during a caution stop it was Robby Gordon; Gordon replied “Well that makes my day”. Yep, it was that kind of day.

Points: Second

Kevin Harvick

Kevin Harvick is probably glad that May is over. He has struggled so hard this last month that this team is watching its chase chances slip away.

They were never good in practice on Friday and didn’t have a great qualifying lap. They struggled the whole race and once again were never a factor. They were lapped early and wasn’t until the very end when they were able to get their lap back.

They finished 17th but they are still a ways off compared to the competition and need to get better quick.

Harvick should be glad he is not Earnhardt, because going two plus years without a victory and then to be barely a factor each week, why aren’t the 29 fans screaming for his crew chief job?

Points: 24th

Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin was running well within the top ten for most of the day. He was running in second when a tire blew sending him hard into the wall, causing significant damage to the right side of that car. They went straight to the garage.

Hamlin seems to never find the success that his teammate Kyle Busch has, and has openly admitted his disappointment in not winning often and not having the consistency of Busch.  Hamlin has the talent and would have been a factor today instead he finished 36th.

Hamlin is just looking to get a win, and see momentum sway his way for once.

Points: Seventh

Lucky Dog…

Clint Bowyer needed a strong run today. He had been sliding backwards in the last month both on the track and in the standings a strong 11th place finish is just what they needed. Points: 16th

Carl Edwards hasn’t been as dominating as he was last year in 2009. Dover was a true test for this team. They were never a true contender once again but they got a strong run and a good finish in seventh. Points: 11th

Casey Mears it was only a few weeks ago that I called Mears dead in the water. This weekend this team had a strong run and stayed on the lead lap. They were never able to make it up front but this was a good momentum builder heading into next week. A great finish of ninth. Points: 21st

Final Lap…

NASCAR was in the news a lot this week with a meeting with a mandatory meeting with all drivers and owners on Tuesday that many said was very productive and we might see some changes with restarts and even the car in the future.

Come Friday morning this weekend’s race was became the focus and so many drivers were talking about tire wear for today’s race but to be honest it wasn’t tires that were the biggest problem on Sunday.

The final 10 laps was some of the best racing we have seen all year long.

You know Fox takes a lot of slack for “Digger” and for their affection for Kyle Busch and even sometimes the lack of coverage of racing in the back of pack. But in recent weeks we have seen some great racing throughout the field and Fox has covered it all well.

As fans we all complain about the coverage but the Fox team does a great job in explaining the car and the pit stops. It’s tough for them because they have no control in how competitive the car is.

They try to bring us the best coverage. I enjoyed watching racing on Fox for the last nine years and I can’t wait till Daytona when the team is back together.

Race Grade: A­-

Fox Broadcast: A

Don’t forget our very own Mary Jo Buchanan will be down in the pits and covering the race for Bleacher Report next weekend.

See you in the Pocono's!!!

Just a short time ago one of the biggest stories in NASCAR was the open wheel driver invasion.

Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villanueve, Patrick Carpentier, and AJ Allmendinger all traded in their open wheel cars to for stock cars.

The transition has been tough, Franchitti, Vilanueve, and Carpentier no longer have rides and have returned to racing elsewhere. 

Montoya didn't set the world on fire in his rookie year, but he did win a race. That came on a racetrack that many weren't surprised by...a road course.

Since 2007, Montoya is now running with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing and driving a Chevrolet and is a solid top 15 contender.

Allmendinger has also finally found his footing. 

After being released from Red Bull Racing, he was picked up by Richard Petty Motorsports. 

He's close to having enough sponsorship support to run the full season and has proven that he too is a top 15 contender.

But then there was Sam Hornish Jr. 

Hornish left the Indy Racing League after winning the Indianapolis 500 and the Series championship in 2006.

He went from Roger Penske's open-wheel cars to his stock cars driving the No. 77 Mobile 1 Dodge. 

Hornish appeared to be off to the right start in 2008 when he finished 15th in the season opening Daytona 500.

Then in May, Hornish was able to race his way into the Sprint All-Star race by finishing second to fellow open-wheeler Allmendinger. 

That was the only bright spot of their season. 

The team failed to qualify for two of the season's 36 race season and had four DNF's (Did Not Finish).

They also had no top 10 finishes and were 35th in points by seasons end. 

Many thought that it wouldn't be long until Hornish followed Franchitti either back to the IRL or ended up somewhere else. 

A rumor even circulated that Penske might demote Hornish to the Nationwide Series, to gain more experience. 

However, Hornish insisted that NASCAR was where he wanted to be and that he was dedicated to making it work.

Now, after 12 races in 2009, suddenly Hornish Jr. is slowly starting to live up to Penske's expectations.

He's climbed to 30th in points and has four top 20 finishes, two of which were top 10s. 

Hornish improved his best career finish to a ninth at Phoenix, but would better that two weeks later with a sixth-place at Richmond. 

It was Hornish's first career top 10 finishes. 

“I said if we keep narrowing it down, changing pieces of the puzzle and trying to get all the right people in the right places, we could be competitive,” said Hornish after the race in Phoenix. 

“Obviously, I’ve said all year that we ran a lot better than we finished and should have had three or four top-10 finishes so far this year." 

The Penske team was at last competing during the races and now had the finishes to show it. 

The best was yet to come however, when the 77 team rolled into Charlotte for the All-Star weekend festivities.

Having to once again race his way into the All-Star race, Hornish got work in the Showdown race.

He finished second behind teammate David Stremme in segment one and then with 15 laps to go in segment two, passed Stremme to win the Showdown event and once again make it into the All-Star race. 

It may not have been a point paying race and won't officially count as a win, but now Hornish Jr. knows where Victory Lane is, and that he can get there. 

His confidence is growing and his team is getting better. 

They're no longer lumping around the track, involved in wrecks or causing wrecks. 

“It has taken us time to build a capable team, and he has kind of had to grin and bear some of our growing pains along with his own,” says crew chief Travis Geisler.

“I think all of us together have worked really hard to maintain a good attitude about what we’re trying to put together, and I think we’re starting to see the fruits of that labor.”

Hornish Jr. and the No. 77 Mobile 1 team are making their presence known for a good reason, and they may not only be Sprint Cup winners, but win the award for the most improved team at the end of the 2009 Sprint Cup Season. 

Quote Source: Scenedaily.com 

Kurt Busch made all the headlines after Atlanta. While most remember that he won the KOBALT Tools 500, many more remember his unique celebration after the race.

After grabbing the checkered flag, Busch proceeded around the track for his victory lap...only he did it in reverse.

While you may think this was not that hard a feat, Busch told reporters on a conference call Tuesday afternoon that it was.

"It was a challenge," Busch said. "I was looking for the white line, making sure I kept the wall lined up with the mirror. Then, when the dogleg changes on the front straightaway, I was losing track of where I was again."

One would think the straightaways would be the easier part of the track. But not for Busch.

"I think the corners were the easiest," he said. "It was the straightaways that were the tough part."

So did he practice the hot-lap around 'Hot'-lanta?

"No, I didn't practice it," Busch said. "Because I thought it would tear up the transmission or the motor, having to turn the engine."

Speaking of the engine, Penske was running the new version of the Dodge engine this year, and it appears to be paying off.

When asked if the new engine helps get the car out of the gate faster, Busch said, "Absolutely. I think that's what the new R6 engine from Dodge has provided for us. The biggest thing has been durability that we focused on. Also, to gain more power low end and top end. You can definitely see the low-end torque on restarts.

"When you go to do the restarts through the gear, tracks where you're full throttle, not flipping the tires, you really get to put your power down."

Getting back to the victory lap, Busch announced last week that he was looking for fans to name the lap.

To date, over 10,000 e-mails, letters, and phone calls have been received regarding the contest.

"It's been fantastic," he said. "The results, we're going to be able to reveal them this Friday. I hope that it fits and everybody enjoys what's come up with. Just the sheer excitement of going to Victory Lane is one thing, but creating a new style of celebration, that was the fun part. Hopefully we'll be able to do it again at Bristol this week."

Other than whether it was practiced, the question on everyone's mind has been if the lap was planned.

"The victory lap going backwards was definitely thought about beforehand," Busch said. "Me and my buddies might have had too many Miller Lites one night and said, 'Let's do it, let's see if the reverse gear will make it all the way around the racetrack.' It did."

Naming it to become an instant classic as suggestions took off like wildfire. Busch said results came in from Nevada, Virginia, all the race teams, North Carolina, Chicago, and even folks that work at Miller Lite.

"[The workers] are really heavily involved in this, trying to make it fun," Busch said. "We're having a grand old time with it. Hopefully there's going to be plenty of time for it this year."

Traditionally, Bristol has been a strong track for Busch; Martinsville is not, which comes the next week.

While the two tracks are both half-mile short-tracks, they are completely opposite and drive as different as night and day.

"I would say there's a huge difference between Martinsville and Bristol, just with the banking, and then just the car's ability to gain the grip into the corner and off the corner at Martinsville," Busch said. "That's where I've struggled tremendously. That's probably one of my weakest racetracks, Martinsville, but it's turned out OK with the results."

Busch is tied with Jeff Gordon for the most wins at Bristol, and is looking to surpass him this weekend.

"Anytime that you're mentioned with a four-time champion, it makes you feel good about things, and that you've done some of those specific areas right," Busch said. "But you never do the same amount of things as good as Gordon. So if we can beat him on this front, that's going to be great. It's a head-to-head battle. Right now, he hasn't won this year. We're third in points right behind him.

"I think whoever does better out of the two of us will definitely come away with a win or the points lead leaving Bristol. It's definitely a fun week to challenge ourselves towards that. And at the same time, if we can't come out of Bristol and Martinsville with two good runs, then we're going to be running right with him for the championship down the line."

In 16 career starts at Bristol, Busch has five wins, five top-fives, and nine top-10 finishes. He averages a starting position of 19.8 and a finish of 14.4.

"He doesn't understand what the Polish victory lap is all about," FOX commentator Darrell Waltrip said of last weekend's race winner, Kurt Busch. "Somebody needs to explain it to him."

"I see the basis of a new Digger cartoon right here," fellow commentator Mike Joy added.

Busch dominated the race, leading 234 of 330 laps—more than he lead in his entire 2008 effort.

Whatever made the older Busch brother drive around the track backwards at Atlanta Motor Speedway, it's definitely been a talking point for many fans around the water cooler, something that has the Las Vegas native "just blown away."

And now, he wants your help it naming the unique celebration.

"It’s amazing to see the attention it (the celebration lap) has gotten. We’ve done hundreds of media interviews since Sunday and every time it’s inevitable that they’ll get around to wanting to discuss our unusual victory lap.

"We were doing Eli’s radio show on Tuesday night when we decided we were going to ask the fans to help us put an official name on our lap," Busch said.

After the wild media tour commenced, Busch got together with websites web team and decided to make a contest: can you name Kurt Busch's new celebration?

We’re urging the fans to participate and I can’t wait to review their suggested names for the lap. We’ll send the winner a nice gift basket and that one lucky fan will always have the bragging rights for naming the lap," said Busch. "We’ll announce the winning entry on Friday at Bristol (March 20)."

To help Kurt, e-mail your ideas to Kristy Cloutier at kristy@kurtbusch.com.

Thanks to Jayski and KurtBusch.com for the information and quotes used in this piece.

The Dirty South is behind us and the boys take this weekend off before heading to back-to-back short-tracks.

This past weekend was a lot different than a lot of people (myself included).

Here is a look at some of the Surprising and Not Surprising things from Hotlanta.

Surpring: The "Other" Busch Won the Race

It's amazing how Kurt—the older of the Busch brothers—has quickly become the other Busch. This is the guy that won the 2004 Sprint Cup championship in the inaugural Chase.

Yet, his younger brother Kyle, has received all the media attention and love.

On Sunday, it was all about the older Busch, who not only took home his second Atlanta Motor Speedway win, but did so in dominant fashion.

Busch had the best car the entire day. On restarts, he would easily jump out to a two or three second lead within a few laps and appeared to be on cruise control the entire race.

The win moves him to third in the points standings, only 46 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Kevin Harvick Finish in Top Five

All three of these drivers are strong at the 1.5-mile oval near Atlanta.

Gordon has four wins (1995, 1998, 1999 and 2003), while Edwards swept the track in 2005 and Harvick brought home his first career Sprint Cup victory in 2001—just months after replacing the late Dale Earnhardt.

All three drivers were competitive throughout the day, and Edwards and Gordon both had a shot at the win as the laps wound down.

Edwards used a two-tire stop to take the lead on the final pit stops, but Busch's Blue Duece was too strong and passed him before the cars hit the backstretch of the green-white-checkered.

Gordon appeared to be ready to challenge Busch for the lead, but couldn't get to his bumper before the checkered flag fell.

Suprising: Dodge Puts Two Cars in the Top 10

Atlanta has not been a kind track to the Dodge's over the years. In fact, before Busch's win on Sunday, a Dodge hadn't visited Victory Lane since 2006 when Kasey Kahne did so.

Even more surprising?

Prior to Kahne's win, a Dodge hadn't won the race since 1977 when Richard Petty did so.

The surge shows that the Dodge programs are on the upward swing—perhaps.

Both AJ Allmendinger and Elliot Sadler finished inside the top-20, while David Stremme brought his "Verizon" Dodge home 23rd.

Not Surprising: The Cream Continues to Rise to the Top

As stated in last week's edition of this series, the top drivers are finding themselves situated in Chase contention, while the "pretenders" are quickly falling from the way-side.

At one point, Michael Waltrip Racing had two cars situated inside the top 12 (the cutoff for the Chase after 26 races).

Now, Waltrip has fallen out, and David Reutimann is hanging on the the skins of his toes at 12th, with three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson lurking in 13th.

The Chase field—I believe—will not change much from here on out.

Guys like Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick aren't going anywhere.

The drivers outside that will work their way in are Johnson (of course) and maybe Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton.

If those two get in, obviously, somebody has to go out.

My two that I could see dropping out: Kahne and Greg Biffle. (Of course, I'm a Brian Vickers fan now and am not about to think he's going to fall out, though I know others may have a different view!)

Suprising: Mark Martin Has Another Terrible Run

The sentimental favorite is all but out of Chase contention four races into the season. It's just been one of those years for Martin who has had two engine failures and a blown tire end his race early three times.

Martin currently sits 35th in owner points, only nine points ahead of the No. 8 Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevy of Aric Almirola.

What's even more surpring?

Martin—at one point—was outside the top 35, before Team Red Bull's Scott Speed was caught up in an accident and fell behind him in the running order.

The poor results can not be blamed on Martin, and it's a shame to see such a great racer, who we all thought would finally have a shot at that title that has eluded him all these years be out of contention so early.

Sure, crazy things have happened. But I don't see anybody coming from 35th place with 22 races to go and making the Chase field.

It's not that I don't have the confidence in Martin as a driver, but instead it's that he simply has too many good teams to pass to get there.

Overall, it's going to be a longer year for Martin than he expected. Full-time in 2010? Don't rule it out yet!

Not Surprising: Another Typically Exciting Race Was Ruined

While the end of the race was a little—and I stress little—exciting, the rest of the race was yet another NASCAR borefest.

However, this race was doomed from the early stages when a crew member from Marcos Ambrose's No. 47 Toyota ran out into the grass area and retrieved a tire that had rolled away from the team—dude was 50-yards from cars going 200 mph...stupid!

While I understand NASCAR felt they had to throw the caution, it did nothing but set the rest of the race up for failure.

Suddenly, seven cars were on the lead lap. That's just awful!

Not to mention, it put several cars two- and three-laps down, never giving many a chance to fight back and contend for a win.

In my opinion—albeit a foggy one I'm sure—NASCAR could have kept from waving the flag. By the time the caution waved, the crew member was back at the pit stop and no harm was done.

PS: Who else though Busch's Victory Lap in reverse was kind of cool?

That's it for this weekend my fellow NASCAR fans. Time to take a weekend off for my two baby showers I have this weekend and enjoy some time with the family before the long haul of the season begins.

Bristol...here we come!

Do you ever wonder who the guy in the Verizon commercial is talking to when he asks: Can you hear me now?

Well, now it appears he may have been on the phone with Chad from the Alltel commercials, as Verizon announced late last month that they would be completing the purchase of the cell phone company.

Alltel was the primary sponsor of the No. 12 Penske Dodge driven by David Stremme, who hit the track on Friday with a Penske logo on the car, but the signature colors of Verizon.

It took a few tries and some minor changes, but NASCAR has approved the paint scheme and driver suit for Stremme to use.

The sanctioning body is responsible for ensuring that no other cell phone companies have their name on anything in the series (being as the title sponsor, Sprint, has full rights to the sport!)

The paint scheme (shown above) features a simple black coat with red stripes on the side and Penske's signature logo on the hood (with red instead of blue, albeit!)

The car also features a red slipper and red rims.

So while the hood may not say Verizon—the entire car is screaming it with the new paint scheme.

According to SceneDaily, the driver suit Stremme originally showed up to Speedweeks with was identical to the one Nationwide Series driver Justin Allgaier has (who is also sponsored by Verizon), with the exception of the Verizon logo and infamous check.

By the time the cars hit the track for practice, Stremme was seen in a different uniform. The new one featured more black and has since been approved by NASCAR.

Stremme's team will also feature red and black uniforms.

So how long will Verizon be willing to pay a couple million dollars to "sponsor" a car they aren't allowed to put their logos on?

Alltel had a sponsorship deal through 2010 with Penske, and representatives from the racing team have expressed that they have no reason to look for another sponsor until then (we assume that means Verizon is willing to pay the big bucks for this season and next).

While I'm excited to see Stremme back in the Cup Series, I fear this is a year he must do something. After struggling while at Chip Ganassi Racing and being let go, he took a one-year hiatus where he ran in the Nationwide Series for Rusty Wallace Inc.

He was brought back up to the Cup level when 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman opted to drive for friend and new team owner Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing.

We are just hours away from the kickoff of the 2009 season!

For the second offseason in a row a NASCAR team has manipulated the owner points system for its own good.

For the second year running that team is Penske Racing.

For the second year it benefits Sam Hornish.

After last year swapping the owner points between Kurt Busch's and Hornish's car, guaranteeing both a spot in opening races as Busch could rely on his Champions' Provisional (that is a totally different rant), they've done it again.

This year the deal involves Bill Davis.

Despite selling his entire racing operations, in a deal that saw the formation of Triad Racing Technologies, Davis is still counted by NASCAR as the owner of the No. 22. The No. 22, driven by Dave Blaney last year finished 31st in owner points, crucially inside the top-35, while Hornish's No. 77, listed under the ownership of Roger Penske, was stuck on the outside looking in, down in 38th place.

So now Penske has brought in Davis as minority owner, presumably securing his name in the all important "owner" column for Hornish's ride. In doing so he brings with him the owner points of the No. 22, so again Hornish finds his way into the top-35 through the back door.

And that's wear the problem lies.

The only thing consistent between the No. 22 in 2008 and the No. 77 this term is the owner. The driver is different, the make of car is different, the sponsor is different, even the team running the car is different.

Now, none of this nonsense would be a problem if NASCAR wasn't sticking by the top-35 rule (again, totally different rant), but while the sport relies on the owner points the sanctioning body needs to have control over how they're used.

If drivers swapped points to guarantee one or the other a chase berth, or worse title the world would be up in arms, yet such blatant shenanigans on the owner points is becoming more and more commonplace.

The only solution I can suggest is the owner points become "team points", with them only being carried over from season to season if the driver, crew chief, team, owner, and manufacturer remain constant.

You're probably thinking "I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times a team stays together like that," and perhaps that's yet another reason to remove the reliance on owner points.