April 2007 Archives

It's taken Kurt Busch a few years, but he is becoming a fan of restrictor-plate racing. Busch finished third in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, one of two tracks Cup cars use restrictor plates on the engines to slow the speeds during races.
It was one of Busch's best races of the year and it added to his appreciation for restrictor-plate racing.
“I enjoy the restrictor-plate races now," said Busch, driver of the No. 2 Dodge for Penske Racing. "When I was a rookie it was very difficult to understand which lane to be in and which veteran to follow. When you get kicked out of line, how are you supposed to get back in line? Over the years you just learn every time you make a mistake and it’s helped having a defensive frame of mind, just following the guy in front of me."
Busch said Penske's speedway program is improving and the Talladega race was an indication of how much it has improved.
"We’re getting closer. We’re getting stronger building Penske superspeedway cars, more horsepower," Busch said. "Before long we’ll have everything we need, including a little bit of luck and we might drive into victory lane at one of these plate tracks."

David Reutimann looked like he was going to give Toyota its best showing the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. He was running in third, but with less than 10 laps to go in the race at Talladega Superspeedway, he blew an engine and finished 32nd.
If Reutimann could have stayed in third place, it would have been Toyota's first top 10, first top five and best finish in Cup racing to date.
“I’m so bummed out," said Reutimann, driver of the No. 00 for Michael Waltrip Racing. "I had a chance to run pretty good today, I thought. That stuff happens and I’m just disappointed for the whole team. The way we ran out there today had nothing to do with the driver -- it had everything to do with the car this team built. I hated to oil the track down like that, but I couldn’t seem to get down to the bottom of the track. All I was doing was looking out at the wall.”
Reutimann said while running in third place he was waiting for something bad to happen to his car.
"I didn’t know if somebody was going to run over me or if something was going to break," Reutimann said. "Things were going too good all day long, you hate to look at it that way, but that’s Talladega. I’m thankful that today was a pretty safe race, but I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to race for the win there at the end.”

Tony Stewart wasn't sure who to blame after he was wrecked at the end of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
After first, he was mad at Jamie McMurray. But after seeing a replay of the crash, Stewart directed his anger at David Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Ford for Robert Yates Racing.
"Yeah, just like I saw it. We get hit and then pushed in the wall. We're done wrecking right there and then all of a sudden get jacked up by the No. 38 car for no reason," said Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. "There was absolutely no reason for that to happen. He's just taking it out on us for (Saturday) when he turned down across the nose. Leapt into his Cup ride but I don't know, we'll see."
McMurray's car made contact with Stewart's car first. But McMurray said he was bumped by Gilliland and pushed into Stewart.
"That doesn't bother me near as much as the No. 38 car plowing in the back after we've wrecked and we could drive a quarter-mile down the race track and I'm going in a straight line and he just plows into the back of us and turns us and crashes us," Stewart said. "I don't know how else to describe it. That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my life."
Reporters told Stewart he looked like he was mad at McMurray after the wreck. Stewart changed his position after the race was over.
"I'm going to take that back because I don't know if the No. 38 pushed Jamie into us or what but Jamie was the one that ran into us," Stewart said. "Jamie wasn't the one that plowed us in the back and took us out of the race. We crashed and we were going to be able to limp it back and get a reasonable finish out of it and David just plows in the back of us and takes us out for no reason. That's the guy I'm mad at, not Jamie."

As expected, Jeff Gordon was pelted and showered with beer cans after winning the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. It was the 77th win of his career and pushed him past Dale Earnhardt for sixth place on the career Cup win list.
But the beer cans that hit Gordon's car left a number of dents. In the post-race news conference, Gordon, team owner Rick Hendrick and crew chief Steve Letarte were asked what was going to happen to the car after the race.
It was the same car the team used in this year's Daytona 500. It needed a new body after that race.
But considering the historical significance of Gordon's car, there is a question of whether he will be able to race it again.
"Might have to ask Mr. Hendrick who gets it," Letarte said. "He owns all the cars but I think this car will go to Daytona. We have three speedway cars and we destroyed one in the (Daytona) 500 and we chose not to build one to come here and so we re-bodied that one. It's something that Jeff and I will discuss."
Gordon said the car runs great at Talladega, but not so good at Daytona.
"We need a handling race car at Daytona," Gordon said. "We can fix this one though."
Letarte said if the the team decides to take the car to Daytona, it definitely will not look the same.
"The first thing we would do when we get home is cut the entire body off of it and start over," Letarte said. "As they were saying earlier, Talladega and Daytona, they're as different as Martinsville and Bristol. They're both half-miles but they're nothing alike and these are both superspeedways but they're nowhere near the same track."
Hendrick said he likes to keep his cars and the most important thing is that the chassis remains in tact.
"It's historic that it's the first time this car finished," Letarte said. "Out of six times."

David Reutimann, Jeremy Mayfield and Dale Jarrett qualifed for Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Two got in on time. Jarrett used another champion provisional and will start 43rd.
Reutimann was the highest-qualifying Toyota driver. He will start 14th.
“I think everybody on the crew is ready to pass out with all the drama around our qualifying laps," said Reutimann, driver of the No. 00 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. "But we made the show and that’s what we came here to do. That’s our goal every weekend. They bought me this new uniform and I thought I was going to be ashamed if we didn’t make the show because it was a paint scheme we were only going to use once."
Reutimann's team is using the same car it raced in the season-opening Daytona 500.
"This was the same car we ran at Daytona, most of it, because we didn’t leave Daytona in all that good of shape," Reutimann said. "The guys did a great job and I’m proud of them for overcoming another hurdle here this weekend.”
Mayfield qualified for only his third Cup race of the year and will start 18th.
“I thought it was a pretty good qualifying lap, and it’s always good to make the show," said Mayfield, driver of the No. 36 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing. "Our team has been steadily improving throughout the season and it seems like our cars are starting to come to us. It’s obviously been a pretty tough season on the guys, but they’ve continued to work hard and get us going in the right direction. Toyota has been great with their help, and the results will improve as we continue to gather information and learn about these cars.”

Scott Riggs was the highest-qualifying Dodge for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. He will start ninth in Sunday's race.
“We have to come here with our objectives to make sure we make it in the race first," said Riggs, driver of the No. 10 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports. "This year has gone miserable for us, but everyone has put their heads together and staying focused and putting our priorities in order. We’re coming together as a whole and we’re really putting our best foot forward trying to put this program together at Evernham Motorsports."
Riggs is 37th in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings and has only one top-10 finish this year.
"My hat’s off to every one of our sponsors who have stayed behind us and haven’t put any more pressure on us," Riggs said. "They have the confidence in us. I’m proud of everyone at Evernham Motorsports. The motor shop has stepped up on the restrictor-plate program and they’ve proved it this weekend. My guys have worked extra hard making sure this car was fast enough to get in the show."
Riggs said his car handled well in qualifying and his team will not be making many changes to it for the race.
“Track position is going to be the key," Riggs said. "We didn’t have to do anything detrimental to our race package to get qualified, so our car is pretty much set to go in race trim. I think we’ll be in good shape.”

Jeff Gordon won the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. It was the 60th of his career and his first at Talladega.
Racing at Talladega, one of two tracks Cup cars use restrictor plates, has produced some of the more horrific crashes in the history of NASCAR.
Gordon said there is no way to avoid the big crashes at Talladega. After qualifying on Saturday, one reporter asked Gordon why Cup drivers keep racing at Talladega knowing the danger at the track.
Gordon said he and the other Cup drivers don't have a choice of where they race.
"Mark Martin is the only out there who has got a choice," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "He's the smartest guy out there right now."
Martin, a Cup veteran, is racing a partial schedule for Ginn Racing. He decided to skip the Talladega race and Regan Smith is driving the No. 01 Chevrolet on Sunday.
As for the crashes at Talladega, Gordon said he hopes they don't happen, but they get harder to avoid with each race.
"Every year it gets tighter and tighter," Gordon said. "Since they did repave this race track, it's allowed the teams to get a little more aggressive with their shocks and their springs and make these cars grip that much better and get through the corners better, where we don't have these huge bumps and dips that we used to have to adjust for."
In an effort to reduce speeds at Talladega, NASCAR made Cup teams use a smaller restrictor plate last year. But that only made the cars race in tighter packs than usual and made for even more dangerous conditions.
"We were going too fast, and they had to put a smaller restrictor plate on us last time we were here and that just tightens up the field that much more," Gordon said. "There is just nothing you can tell the drivers -- including myself -- like don't bump draft. If everybody doesn't bump-draft all day long, on the last lap it's still going to get out of control and there is still a chance for it to happen. So I don't know. I don't have an answer. Why are we not? I don't know."
Gordon said drivers prepare the best they can for Talladega. And when a wreck does occur, Gordon said he is confident in the safety of the cars.
"We're racers and we go out there and do the best that we possibly can and hope it doesn't happen," Gordon said. "And when it does happen, you hope you're not in it. I feel very safe inside the car; don't get me wrong. Even if that wreck happens, I still feel very safe. I don't feel like it's as much of a safety issue as it is tearing up race cars and ruining your day. Not to mention, I don't think it'd do any good. Somebody is going to get inside that car and drive it."

The last time Jeff Gordon won a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, he was showered with beer cans and bottles from fans in the stands.
They did not particularly appreciate seeing Gordon win another race at Talladega, considered by most Dale Earnhardt territory.
Gordon reached a milestone victory last week at Phoenix International Raceway. He won the 76th Cup race of his career and tied Earnhardt for career Cup wins.
If he should win again at Talladega, Gordon can expect another beer can and bottle barrage.
"Oh, I got some of that at Phoenix," Gordon said. "If they do that at Phoenix, you can only imagine what they do here at Talladega. The fans are entitled to their opinion and their reaction and their passion and that's what makes them NASCAR fans. And so, you've got to understand they're going to react some way if it happens."
But Dale Earnhardt Jr. would rather see fans throw toilet paper on the track rather than beer bottles and cans.
Gordon agreed that toilet paper would be a better option than beer bottles.
"Sounds to me like there's going to be plenty of toilet paper being thrown whether I win or not," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "But he's got a huge fan base here and he carries a lot of weight with the messages to the fans. We've been here, me and him, battling, where they gave one to me and then the fans reacted and threw a lot of cans out there. It can be very dangerous. That's the message that needs to get out there."

Jeff Burton said he doesn't agree with Tony Stewart's comments comparing NASCAR to pro wrestling. Stewart made his comments on his radio show about NASCAR's policy of using caution flags for debris at questionable times and perhaps manipulating the outcome of races.
Burton said he believes Stewart exaggerated when he compared NASCAR to pro wrestling. And he said Stewart's comments were counterproductive.
However, Burton said there have been times when he has questioned the timing of a debris caution during a race. But he believes each caution period is valid.
"Two weeks ago at Texas, I don't even know what it was, but there was a huge piece of debris on the race track for a couple of laps," said Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "They did their very best not to throw a caution to keep from hurting somebody. The thing in all of this that drives me kind of crazy is any belief by teams or fans that NASCAR does something to help a particular team. That drives me whacko. I'd quit if I believed that's where we are. I'd just have to quit."
Burton said he does not believe NASCAR would use caution periods to benefit a particular driver.
"I don't believe they'd throw a caution so Jeff Gordon could win Phoenix," Burton said. "That worked out that the No. 24 car got lucky. It wasn't NASCAR's fault. I don't think they'd throw a caution so the Lowe's car could win a race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. I think that's ludicrous. If I ever believe that it's like that, I'd quit. And that's the thing that drives me crazy in all of this. It's NASCAR's responsibility and the charge to look into the overall good of the sport. And I think they do a damn good job of that."

Tony Stewart was fined $10,000 and put on probation until Dec. 31 for not attending a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series post-race news conference at Phoenix Intnerational Raceway.
But he was not disciplined for the comments he made on his radio show Tuesday night.
NASCAR handed down its penalty to Stewart at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, site of Sunday's Cup race, Friday morning.
On his radio show, Stewart was critical of NASCAR's decisions to throw penalty flags for debris at questionable times during races and he likened NASCAR Cup races to professional wrestling.
He met with NASCAR officials Friday morning and they assured him cautions for debris are legitimate.
"They say that there are things that are there. And to be honest, the group that I spoke with this morning is a group of peers that I trust," said Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. "If they tell me that the stuff is out there, I believe them. It's hard sometimes when you don't see it and there are a lot of times we don't see it and I questioned that. But I think they're approach was logical. Instead of doing it in the way I did it -- I should have went to them instead of just saying it out in public."
Despite his meeting with NASCAR, Stewart said his frustration still exists with the debris cautions.
"But honestly, I feel confident. They've told me that this doesn't happen," Stewart said. "It's a group of people that I trust and until there is evidence to show me that what they are saying is not true, I'm going to believe them."
Even though he wasn't fined and penalized for his comments, Stewart said he did not meet with the media after the Phoenix race because he did not want to say anything he would get penalized for.
"I was so frustrated that I knew if I went to the media center after the race..I was happy with my run. I was ecstatic with having a second place run. I had a great battle with Jeff (Gordon). I still hate losing," Stewart said. "Second isn't what I wanted, but considering the week we had the week before, a second place run and leading the most laps was a great night for us."
Specifically, Stewart said he questioned the timing of the caution flags for debris in the first half of the race at Phoenix. He added that he did not want to talk to the media after the race and say anything he would regret.
"And Tuesday night I was sick and still ended up saying things that I didn't want to say; or shouldn't have said, and got in trouble for," Stewart said. "The meeting this morning was a good meeting. It's a little tender for me to sit down right now, but I'm semi-confident that by the time practice starts that the medication I've got will numb it up enough that I can go out there and do my job this afternoon."

Jeff Gordon matched Dale Earnhardt for career Cup wins Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway. Gordon won the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Phoenix, the 76th of his career, and is tied with Earnhardt in Cup wins.
Gordon has four wins at Talladega Superspeedway, site of Sunday's Cup race, and 11 restrictor plate wins.
Earnhardt won 10 times at Talladega, eight of those in restrictor plate races.
Gordon can pass Earnhardt with another win at Talladega.
“Obviously, last Saturday night’s win was special,” said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. “Anytime you accomplish something that ‘Senior’ did, you’ve done something special. But I also know that, if he were still with us, I’d still be chasing him."
Gordon is leading the Cup standings by 74 points over Jeff Burton.
“I have to give a lot of credit to my crew chief, Steve Letarte,” Gordon said. “He has done a great job of leading this team, building the team chemistry and preparing great race cars. One of the things that impresses me the most is his ability to stay calm no matter what situation we’re facing. When I had problems with my helmet radio before the race at Phoenix, he calmly told me what hand signals I should use during the race to relay the car’s handling to him. Luckily, we were able to replace the helmet, but I like the fact that that situation didn’t unnerve him."

Three Toyota NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers have won at Talladega Superspeedway, site of Sunday's race.
Dale Jarrett won two Cup races at Talladega. Michael Waltrip has won once. Brian Vickers won the latest race at Talladega.
But Jarrett is the only driver guaranteed a starting spot in the Talladega race. He can use a champion provisional if he does not qualify for the race on time.
The other six Toyota drivers are not in the top 35 in owners points. The top 35 drivers are guaranteed starting spots in the race.
Vickers, a driver for Team Red Bull, is 41st in points.
“I like Talladega, I think it’s a great race,” Vickers said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to qualify a little better than the last time we were at a restrictor plate race. Qualifying is so important already, but at Talladega we won’t have the 150s to lean on. I enjoy this race track, it’s a lot of fun and I really enjoy restrictor plate races.”

Mark Martin made his debut in NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow in the Nextel Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.
He finished the race in 12th and is still in the top 10 in points in the Nextel Cup Series standings.
Martin skipped the first two Cup races with the Car of Tomorrow. He is running a partial schedule in the No. 01 Chevrolet for Ginn Racing.
“That was a pretty hard race (Saturday night)," said Martin. "We never really did get a handle on the car, and we just weren’t able to get going all night. I couldn’t get the Army Chevy to hook up coming off (turn) four like we were able to do during Friday’s practice. We still have work to do on our Car of Tomorrow program, but we’ll keep plugging away and get better.”
Martin will miss Sunday's Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. Regan Smith will be driving the No. 01 Chevrolet at Talladega. Martin will be back in the car for the May 5 race at Richmond International Raceway.

Kyle Busch's record at Talladega Superspeedway isn't so good.
His best finish is an 11th-place that came in the fall of 2006.
But the car his team is bringing to Talladega finished second in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway in July.
Perhaps it can change Busch's luck at Talladega.
"It's a wild-card race," said Busch, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "You expect the unexpected. Hendrick Motorsports definitely has the upper hand, it seems, when it comes to the restrictor plate races. And even though Kevin Harvick won the Daytona 500, our team really flexed some muscle throughout Speedweeks."

In the fall NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway last year, Jamie McMurray started eighth and finished 37th.
In the spring race, he started eighth and finished fifth.
Despite the gap in results, McMurray said his recent races at Talladega with Roush Fenway Racing have been pretty good.
The car McMurray's team is bringing to Talladega, site of Sunday's Cup race, is the same one it raced in the Daytona 500. McMurray finished 31st in it.
"Talladega has always been a pretty good track for me and our speedway car has always been fast since I've been at Roush Fenway Racing -- it's one of the oldest cars that we have," said McMurray, driver of the No. 26 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "It always runs well and seems to qualify really well, so I always look forward to going there. Talladega is one of those tracks where I know that we'll run well and if we can stay out of one of the wrecks that I know will happen, we'll have a good finish."
In the Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday, McMurray started second, but got caught up in some crashes and finished 23rd. He is still among the top 12 in the Cup standings.
"Last week was frustrating for me and the No. 26 team," McMurray said. " We had a good car, but had a lot of bad luck happen to us. Everything that happened was out of our control. Hopefully, we can run well this weekend at Talladega and make up the ground that we lost last weekend."

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin said his Joe Gibbs Racing team has the best Cars of Tomorrow.
But Hendrick Motorsports has won the first three races with NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.
Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Chevrolet, finished third in the Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. Jeff Gordon, a driver for Hendrick Motrorsports, won the Phoenix race. But Hamlin said Joe Gibbs Racing is still the team to beat in the Car of Tomorrow.
"Without a doubt," Hamlin said. "Every time I've lost the lead, it's been in the pit. So, you know, we should have three trophies at Gibbs right now. My credit goes to Hendrick. Those guys capitalize. They do what they have got to do to win races. They catch breaks when they need them, and we just can't seem to catch a break."
Hamlin said it's very frustrating that passing during a race in the Cars of Tomorrow is as difficult as it is.
"You know, it's hard for me to complain and people will say, but you went from the back to the front," Hamlin said.
"But yeah, it took us 300 laps to do it when it shouldn't have. Our car was just that much better than everyone else's. It shouldn't have took that long. We got some long runs in there that played in our factor, in our benefit.
I don't know; I don't know how we're going to run these cars on bigger tracks without changes."

Tony Stewart did not talk to the media -- or anyone else apparently -- after finishing second in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday night.
Jeff Gordon won the race, giving him 76 career Cup wins and tying him Dale Earnhardt.
Stewart finished second, but led a race-high 132 laps.
Gordon was asked if Stewart said anything to him after winning the race. Stewart gave Gordon a thumbs up on the race track, but that was about it.
Stewart apparently did not attend the post-race news conference after the race at Phoenix. Usually, the top-three finishers talk with the members of the media after a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.
"Tony's Tony. To me, if I was Tony and I felt like I was going to say something that I really didn't want to say, then I think I'd avoid you guys, too," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Gordon said he didn't blame Stewart for wanting to avoid talking to the media.
"But I think that, you know, Tony has to handle things the best way he possibly can, and we all know that he gets wound up," Gordon said. "You know, everybody has got their own different type of personality. And I'll be honest, when the heat of the moment's on and the adrenaline is flowing, you know, not all of us think straight, including myself. And if he wanted to avoid controversy by saying something he didn't want to say, then maybe that's why he didn't come in."
Gordon said he loves what Stewart brings to NASCAR and that he is a great race car driver. But Stewart has been giving some indications that he is getting tired of racing in the Nextel Cup Series.
"I don't want to drive him out of this sport," Gordon said. "I think it would be a loss for him to not be here past whenever his contract is up. You know, I want to see him having more fun and I understand what he means when he says that. You know, at this level of racing, it's tough, man. There's a lot more work that goes into it than people think. Yeah, we get paid very well, because that's the going rate. That's the market. If he's the guy who is one of the best and they want to pay him that much, he deserves it."
But Gordon said the expectations of the top drivers are high. Winning at the Nextel Cup Series level is much different than winning a dirt track race on Saturday night. With the commitments and obligations a winning driver in the Cup series has after a race, there isn't much time to spend the crew members and friends after a race.
"You go straight to an interview, they tell you when to get out of the car; they tell when you to smile; when to hold up your finger; what hat to put on; you know, go to this interview; go to that interview," Gordon said. "The last people I get to see are these guys and those are the ones I want to be with the most. I've been saying that for years that victory lane, you know, is somewhat spoiled by that. But we wouldn't have this sport and what it is today if it wasn't for that. So, I hear where Tony is coming from, you know, but I hope that he can understand like I do when I sit down and think about it that that's the case for anybody in that position."

At the end of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumped into Kyle Busch's car to finish the race.
Busch and Earnhardt both crashed their cars in the race. But Busch's team was able to get his car running again. Only problem was that Busch had left the track. The team had a car, but no driver.
Earnhardt was asked to finish the race in Busch's car and he accepted. It was the first time in Earnhardt's Cup career that he was driving a car other than his No. 8 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Jeff Gordon, Busch's teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, was asked if he would ever sub for a driver who had wrecked his car during a race.
"No, probably not," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and the polesitter for today's race at Phoenix International Raceway. "I would probably say no because if I am out of the race, I would want to go home. That is why I said I was very surprised. It might be different if it was Tony Stewart's car and we were out and his car was in one piece and he was sick or something and couldn't get it. If I am going to drive a car as a fill in I want to it when it is running good at a track that he runs good at."
Gordon was shocked that Earnhardt was willing to finish the race in Busch's car. He was even more surprised that someone from Hendrick Motorsports asked him to sub.
"It was very cool though," Gordon said. "That was an awesome thing that he did for a friend and speaks volumes about Junior. The smile on his face getting out of the car said a lot about Junior too."

Were you surprised that Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove Kyle Busch's car in the race at Texas Motor Speedway?

Scott Riggs was the highest qualifying NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Dodge driver for the race at Phoenix International Raceway. He will start fourth.
“It was a good lap for us. We really didn’t know what we had to be honest with you," said Riggs, driver of the No. 10 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports. "We knew we had a pretty good car and knew when the sun went down there was pretty good grip out there, but I think I still left about a tenth on the track. I was just trying to be careful and hit my marks."
No Dodge driver has won a race this year. Chevrolet drivers have won six Cup races. Ford has won one.
"As a whole, all of us at Evernham Motorsports are making big changes trying to get our Dodges back to the front," Riggs said. "Some other Dodges have been pretty good here lately, and we’ve sorta missed our mark. It seems like every time we go to the COT, these Avengers have been doing pretty well for us. This is not the same Avenger we finished eighth with at Martinsville, but it doesn’t matter which COT you bring as long as you bring one that makes it through the templates."
Riggs said he feels good about the race at Phoenix mainly because of his starting position.
“I feel better about the race. I don’t know if I’m more confident, but I feel better about the race," Riggs said. "We’ve got track position, and that’s something I’ve never had here because I haven’t qualified well. Now that we’ve got good track position, hopefully we can have a good race.”

Can Scott Riggs win the first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race of the year for Dodge?

Toyota was a little under the gun for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. The only Toyota driver guaranteed a starting spot was Dale Jarrett -- and that was because of his championship provisionals, which he is quickly using up. The rest had to qualify on time because no Toyota team is in the top 35 in owners points.
Three Toyotas qualified for the Phoenix race. Dave Blaney was the highest qualifying Toyota driver. He will start the Phoenix race 11th.
“We were happy, we were pretty happy with the car all day – we really didn’t change much," said Blaney, driver of the No. 22 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing. "Biggest thing is we didn’t want to overdrive it getting in the corner, that’s what we were having trouble with in practice. I took it a little easier than I needed to be getting into the corner, but it was still good."
David Reutimann qualified 25th for the Phoenix race. Jarrett had to use his championship provisional and will start 43rd.
"Our car was pretty free. We got a good draw and that helped a lot," said Reutimann, driver of the No. 00 for Michael Waltrip Racing. "This place gets a little quicker as it cools down. All in all, I’m pretty happy. I’m happy that we are in – that’s what I’m happiest about.”
Jarrett has won one Cup race in Phoenix in his career. But he said past wins will do little to help his team right now.
“We just have to get to running better in the races," said Jarrett, driver of the No. 44 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. "We don’t talk about wins or anything, right now it is a matter of we have to get ourselves where we can run in the top-20 and be consistent at that. That’s our moderate goals right now.”

Will a Toyota driver win a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race this year?

Six of the top 10 quailifiers for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway are driving Chevrolets. This is the third race for NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers won the first two Car of Tomorrow races. Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, won the Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway and Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, followed with a win at Martinsville Speedway.
Jeff Gordon won the pole for the Phoenix race. Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing, will start third.
Hamlin said despite his strong qualifying effort, Hendrick Motorsports is still the team to beat in the Car of Tomorrow.
"They seem really good but they were really good in the other cars," Hamlin said. "I think you see the same teams up front with the new car that you did with the other car. It's better safety-wise so I guess it's a step in the right direction but right now they're not driving that well."
Johnson will start the Phoenix race sixtth. Martin Truex Jr., a driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc., will start seventh. Kevin Harvick, a driver for Richard Childress Racing and two-time winner at Phoenix, will start eighth. Tony Stewart, a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, will start ninth.
Stewart said he isn't seeing many differences between the Car of Tomorrow and the old Cup cars at Phoenix.
"It's pretty much following suit with what we've had in the past. No real difference," said Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Chevrlolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. "I don't think we're going to see a lot of a difference until we get to the mile-and-a-halves or anywhere bigger we're actually running a lot of speed. It's still a short track here. We're not running the speeds here that we run everywhere else."

Which team will win the next Cup race with the Car of Tomorrow?
Hendrick Motorsports
Richard Childress Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing
Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Roush Fenway Racing
Evernham Motorsports

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver Jeff Gordon put his car in a good position to finally win a race at Phoenix International Raceway.
He won the pole, the third of his career at Phoenix International Raceway, and will start first in the Cup race Saturday night.
But Gordon has yet to win a race at Phoenix, one of the few tracks he is winless at.
"I've been on the pole here. We've been fast here. We've been consistent here. We've been everything but in victory lane here," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "We're just going to work just as hard as we can -- the same as we do everywhere and I'm going to try not to make the mistake we made last week because I felt like we had a good shot at winning last week in Texas and I blew that one. But as long as this team continues to give me the race cars that they're giving me right now and the effort they're giving me, then we're going to win races."
In 16 starts at Phoenix, Gordon has seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, but no wins.
"And I would love it if it would come here," Gordon said. "I would love to finally be able to get this one checked off our list so I don't have to hear that question again."

Will Jeff Gordon win Saturday's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway?

Drivers for Hendrick Motorsports have a two-race winning streak with the Car of Tomorrow. Kyle Busch won the first race with the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol Motor Speedway. JImmie Johnson followed with a win at Martinsville Speedway.
But Richard Childress Racing holds the latest win, with Jeff Burton taking the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
The Car of Tomorrow will be back on the track this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. Busch has one win at Phoenix, which came in 2005.
"Phoenix is going to be a whole different ball game with the new car," said Busch, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "Phoenix is a good place, I tend to run well there. There have been some good races there for us but some bad races as well. We'll just go out there and see how it's going to be for the new Impala SS on a bigger race track. We've got some confidence. We've got some know-how on what we need on our cars to get the job done but I know it changes every week."
Kevin Harvick, who drives the No. 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, has a successful record at Phoenix as well. He won both races at Phoenix last year.
"Phoenix has been good to us over the years," said Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 winner. "We won both Cup races last year; and won a Busch race and finished second in the other. Phoenix is one of those places I grew up racing on and have a long history there. I have been fortunate to have had a lot of success there and look forward to going back."
Burton, Harvick's teammate and driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for RCR, had a successful tire test at Phoenix earlier this year and could be a threat to win his second race in a row.
"The Impala SS will be a lot different setup-wise than Martinsville or Bristol," Harvick said. "Jeff went out there to do the tire test and he said it drove better than the car he raced there last year. I think people are making a bigger deal of it than they have to. Obviously we will have some kinks to work out but I think that is the responsibility of the drivers and the teams to make the cars better and in the end, it is safety first. That's where we started."

The first Cup race NASCAR driver Kyle Busch ever saw was at Phoenix International Raceway. It was a race won by Terry Labonte, who was driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Now Busch is in the No. 5 Chevrolet and has created his own winning history at Phoenix. He won the Phoenix Cup race in the fall of 2005.
"I love Phoenix. It's a cool place," Busch said. "It's the first track I ever saw a Cup race at -- and Terry Labonte won it, so it's special that I'm lucky enough to drive the No. 5 car there. I run well there so it's a great place for me."
Last year wasn't so productive for Busch at Phoenix. His best finish in two Cup races there was 36th. He was 38th in the other race.
"Last year we won the pole for this race and our first problem was that I was busted for speeding on pit road," Busch said. "I'll tell you what, that extra 100 rpm doesn't matter to me anymore. I've had guys pass me on pit road and I know NASCAR gives you a five-mile-an-hour buffer, but I've been busted too many times and it's not worth it to me. I will be doing the speed limit this season."

In the first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race with the Car of Tomorrow, Casey Mears finished 10th. It was at Bristol Motor Speedway last month and one of the best races of the year for Mears.
The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series teams will be using the Car of Tomorrow this weekend for the Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. The car Mears will be driving is one that has never been in a race before. He tested it at Richmond International Raceway earlier this month.
"Bristol and Martinsville are so short that, mechanically, the Impala SS wasn't too terribly different from our other cars and where we used to be," said Mears, driver of the No. 25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "But when we get to a place like Phoenix where we actually start seeing some speed, that's when the downforce of these cars is going to start coming into effect. The downforce on the Impala SS is a lot different than on the Monte Carlo. And because Phoenix is a combination of mechanics and aerodynamics, we'll get a chance to see how these cars work in traffic."

None of the Toyota drivers are in the top 35 in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings. That means none of them have a guaranteed starting spot in the Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway.
Dale Jarrett has a champion provisional available. The rest of the Toyota drivers will have to qualify for the Phoenix race on time.
Brian Vickers has qualified well at Phoenix in the past. He has two front row starts, but those were with Hendrick Motorsports.
“I always like going to Phoenix,” said Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Toyota for Team Red Bull. “I definitely enjoy that race track. It’s a cool town and it is a great track to race, although I’m not really excited to come back to the Car of Tomorrow.”
The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series teams will be using the Car of Tomorrow at Phoenix. It is the third Cup race for the NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow. In the first race with the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol Motor Speedway, Vickers suffered severe burns to his feet when an exhaust pipe broke underneath him midway through the race.
Dave Blaney is the top Toyota driver in the Cup standings. He is 38th in points.
“Phoenix is a good track,” said Blaney, driver of the No. 22 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing. “We had a really good test at Richmond with the Car of Tomorrow and I think a lot of the stuff we used at Richmond will work at Phoenix. We think we’ll have a good shot at running well.”
Of the Toyota drivers, Jarrett is 39th in points; Vickers is 40th; David Reutimann is 45th; A.J. Allmendinger is 48th; Jeremy Mayfield is 49th and Michael Waltrip is 54th.
“I love going out to Phoenix -- it’s a great place,” said Mayfield, driver of the No. 36 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing. “One reason I feel excited to go there this time is because we feel like we’ve made our program better -- our cars are better -- and I can’t wait to get there and show that. Our Car of Tomorrow program has been really good, so I can't wait. I like the track, the people are good, and the shopping’s great – my wife loves shopping.”

J.J. Yeley finished last in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, his worst finish of the year. But the result in the race was no fault of Yeley's.
He was collected in a crash early in the race and did not return.
What started as a promising year is turning into a frustrating one for Yeley.
“This year, the last four or five races, we’ve not gotten the finishes we’ve needed," said Yeley, driver of the No. 18 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. "Things have definitely turned around overall from last year, even though it was frustrating at Texas to get taken out by someone trying too hard early in the race. But overall this season, the cars are a lot better. We’re having a lot of fun and I’m being more aggressive on the race track."
Yeley said he is getting a little fed up with the way other drivers treat him during races.
"I’m at the point where I’m not going to take it anymore from some of the guys out there who don’t want to race me clean or use their heads," Yeley said. "I’m getting sick of being pushed around, and I’m tired of other drivers around me not racing smart. I’ve been doing a better job of being more aggressive. At Martinsville, I thought there were times where someone would give a little bit but they didn’t, so that’s getting a little frustrating. There’s a point in time for all of that."

Jamie McMurray turned in his first top-five finish of the year at Texas Motor Speedway and moved into the top 10 in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings.
It was the first time in 54 races that McMurray joined the ranks of the top 10. The last time he was in the top 10 in the Cup standings was after the fall race at California Speedway in 2005.
McMurray has been steadily moving up the standings over the last month and a half.
“These last five races have been great for the Crown Royal team," said McMurray, driver of the No. 26 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "This team has been working hard back at the shop to build these cars and the payout is showing on the track."
The next race for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers is at Phoenix International Raceway. The Cup teams will be racing NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow. Last week at Texas, the Cup teams used the old Cup cars. Before that, NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow was used at Martinsville Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.
"The cars have been really fast and the guys in the pits have made sure that we don’t lose any track position and lately we have been gaining spots during our stops which is always what you hope for," McMurray said. "I look forward to Phoenix each time we travel out there, although my track record doesn’t show that. The last time we were there, we qualified well and started out really good, but we were wrecked pretty badly near the end of the race. Hopefully that won’t happen this weekend and we can have another solid run in our Crown Royal Ford Fusion."
McMurray's team is bringing the same car it used in the Bristol race. He finished ninth at Bristol, the first race for NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.
“We are making another run this weekend with the Car of Tomorrow which is going to be interesting to see," McMurray said. "We’ve had a tough time getting these cars to turn, but hopefully, we can find the right balance in Phoenix and make the car work for us.”

Jamie McMurray and the NASCAR Foundation are teaming up to raise money during National Autism Awareness Month with an online auction.
The NASCAR Foundation Web site, www.nascar.com/foundation, will hold an online auction beginning Wednesday with items that include a Tony Dungy autographed football and cookbooks from Mario Batali.
Money raised from the auction will go to the Jamie McMurray Foundation.
McMurray, a NASCAR driver for Roush Fenway Racing, has a niece who has autism.
"I'm really excited the NASCAR Foundation decided to team up with us and the efforts we are making this month to raise awareness of autism," said McMurray. "I have an 8-year old niece who suffers from autism. I see how it affects her and our entire family. With April being 'National Autism Awareness Month' we thought it would be the best time to kick off the auction."
NASCAR drivers have donated firesuits, hats and driving shoes for the auction. NFL quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Brett Favre and singer John Mayer have offered autographed photos.
"It's really heartwarming to see some of the items that have been donated to our cause," McMurray said. "It's pretty amazing to see the variety of items we received for the auction and it just shows how autism impacts people from all walks of life."
The Jamie McMurray Foundation (JMF) was formed in May 2006 to promote awareness of, and raise funding for research, education, and support for individuals and families afflicted with autism. The JMF is dedicated to bringing the financial backing and support of the NASCAR community, together with the passion and commitment of the autism community, to promote better understanding of this challenging disability.
Fans will have the opportunity to go online and bid at these items beginning on Wednesday. All of the funds received from this auction will be given to the Jamie McMurray Foundation.
Along with actual auction items, fans will have the opportunity to bid on race experiences. This week, one item will be a VIP experience at Talladega SuperSpeedway. The lucky fan will get a behind-the-scenes look at FOX's Hollywood Hotel, a VIP tour, and meet and greet with Jamie McMurray.
"I feel very fortunate to be able to put my name behind such a great auction and cause," McMurray said. "From the VIP experience to FOX allowing a fan the behind-the-scenes access to the Hollywood Hotel - it's all pretty amazing."

Brian Vickers was the highest finishing Toyota driver at the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
He was 14th and led two laps.
“I know we had a good car," said Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Toyota for Team Red Bull. "We could have done better than we did, but we had some problems with the clutch going out and that cost us a lot on the last pit stop. The car wasn’t that good on new tires, but it was really good on old tires.”
Vickers led laps 101 and 102 at Texas. It was the third time this season a Toyota has led a Cup race.
“It feels good, but we still have a ways to go," Vickers said about leading the race. "I think we missed our top-35 spot (in the point standings). I thought we were going to have a chance to get that (Sunday) and we missed it. We definitely needed this. Every time we get in a race we get a good run. The guys did a good job in the pits all day. It’s always good to be running good for Toyota, we are proud to be a partner to them.”
Dave Blaney finished 21st and starting the race at Texas 40th.
“We just never handled very good," said Blaney, driver of the No. 22 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing. "We couldn’t make it any good. When you don’t handle good and you have long green flag runs -- you’re going to get laps down. That’s what happened -- we lost two. We couldn’t do much from there except to beat all those guys that are two down."
Dale Jarrett, the third and final Toyota driver to make the Cup race at Texas, was 30th in his car for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Tony Stewart had his share of problems in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
First, he crashed into Jimmie Johnson's car, after Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya made contact with each other. Montoya escaped relatively unscathed, but Stewart lost control of his car and crashed into Johnson's car.
Later in the race, Stewart spun out twice and by the end of the race he was two laps down and finished in 25th.
“I don’t know if we had a winning car, but we had a solid top-10 car no problem,” said Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. “It was a totally different race car than (Saturday), obviously. The car was evil all day. It would jump sideways off the corner and it just wasn’t the same race car it was (Saturday). I wish I knew why it was that way. We fought a no-handling car all day and fought it good enough to keep it in the top-10. But the deal with Montoya, the flat tire and… it all just added up to a bad day.”

Mark Martin ended his two-race vacation by returning to NASCAR Nextel Cup Series racing at Texas Motor Speedway.
And it looks like the layoff hasn't slowed him down.
He finished third at Texas and said he has no regrets about skipping the races at Bristol Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.
"I love it. I knew when Bristol was over with I had made the right decision," said Martin, driver of the No. 01 Chevrolet for Ginn Racing. "You want to be careful about bragging how good a deal. I have hit the lotto, no question."
Martin was leading the Cup standings when he skipped the Bristol race. But after his third-place finish at Texas, Martin is 11th in points.
"To be able to drive these cars for this team is a dream come true and to be able to step away when I want to step away, I just couldn't ever imagine having that kind of privilege," Martin said. "I really, really love working with Ryan (Pemberton, crew chief) and that team. They're so excited and that makes it so much fun to go to work. Even testing is not that much fun but it's kind of fun to go to work with them. I really do love those guys."

It took NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver 11 races to repeat as winner at Texas Motor Speedway. He won Sunday's Cup race, the first repeat winner in 13 races at Texas.
His first win came back when he was Jack Roush's up-and-coming driver. He said after winning the Texas race he feels like a guy who's come back from obscurity.
"We were fast and that was a day that we were able to get it done," said Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "We then were contending for championships and then things got to the point when we couldn't contend at all. We were 12th in points,12th in points and then 18th. Everyone wrote that off as disgusting but if you look at the whole scheme of things it wasn't that bad."
Burton finds himself second in the Cup standings, eight points out of first, and back in contention to win a championship.
"My enthusiasm is as high as it's ever been, my excitement is as high as it's ever been and I hope that people look at me and say I can do it again," Burton said. "I firmly believe that - I don't believe that I forgot how to drive. Some people forgot that I can drive - Richard Childress didn't. Scott Miller and my whole team - from day one they've taken what I've said as gospel. If I've said it's tight, it's tight. There's never an argument about - well you have to drive different, you need to do this. For that I'll be ever grateful."

Before the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was asked about NASCAR's growth.
He said he didn't think NASCAR could grow fast enough.
Still, TV ratings are down and attendance was noticibally down at the California Speedway race in February.
Earnhardt Jr. said maybe the anticipation and the expectations were set a little high, especially at California Speedway, which now has two Cup races every year.
"Obviously in Fontana, there was an oversized expectation to be able to fill those seats out there; people in Hollywood could care less," said Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc. "There are a lot of fans around in that area. We raced out there in Riverside for years; there is motorsports in that area. But we obviously overestimated our ability to sell that many tickets there."
Earnhardt Jr. added that seeing empty seats at California Speedway wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just the reality of the market.
"You just have to think through it, make adjustments to make your race track financially sound," Earnhradt Jr. said.
As for TV ratings, Earnhardt Jr. said he was surprised to see them down for the Bristol race, especially with the debut of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.
"But as much complaining and everything that went on about it, I guess it turned the fans off from watching the race," Earnhardt Jr. said. "That is the only thing I can guess aside from the fact that it is always going to be sort of fluctuating, the television audience. "

Casey Mears and Kyle Busch were supposed to the two drivers from Hendrick Motorsports to try out the new R07 engine from General Motors.
But Busch crashed in practice Saturday and Mears will be the lone driver from Hendrick with the new engine.
Perhaps a change will be beneficial. Of the four drivers from Hendrick Motorsports, Mears is the only one out of the top five in the Cup standings. Jeff Gordon leads the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings. Jimmie Johnson is third and Busch is fifth.
Johnson also leads the Cup Series with three wins this year.
Mears was asked if his team has any issues with the new engine.
"We wouldn't put it in if that was the case," said Mears, driver of the No. 25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "It's just an opportunity to run it, to put a lot of miles on it. It's done a lot of testing on the dyno and they've told me to just forget about it. We've done a lot of testing at Richmond and Kentucky and we don't have any issues."
Mears said he is looking forward to running the new engine to see how it holds up during the race.
"It was an opportunity to run it and we took it," Mears said. "We had the cars that were capable of accepting it - the No. 24 (Gordon) and No. 48 (Johnson) cars didn't have a chassis built yet to accept the new motor. From everything I've heard about it there has been all positive feedback. I'm really excited about it."

Elliott Sadler had two unimpressive races with NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow and is happy it is now the car of two weeks ago.
The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers will be using their old Cup cars in Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Sadler, who was 24th at Martinsville Speedway and 27th at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Car of Tomorrow, said he is glad to be back in his old Dodge Charger for Texas.
"I really like the racecar we have right now," said Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports. "We feel like we can race harder and closer, and I’m just glad to be back in it."
The next race for the Car of Tomorrow is April 21 at Phoenix International Raceway.
"We’ll give the COT a break a little bit and give my guys a chance to make some better preparations for Phoenix and Richmond," Sadler said. "We’ll come back and be strong there, but it’s good to be back in a racecar that I’ve grown up and raced in for nine years."
Sadler said even though the results were not great in the Car of Tomorrow, his team gathered some valuable information.
"We’re not where we need to be yet, but we think we’ve made some gains with it from Martinsville," Sadler said. "We were all very competitive with it at Bristol. We think we found out at Richmond why we weren’t competitive with it at Martinsville, so we’re making the necessary changes. We’re going to try some new stuff at Phoenix and we hope we have a good weekend there. My guys have been working hard on it, and we’re not going to give up by any means. We’re going to keep plugging away with the COT because half the races in The Chase involve that car.”

Kyle Busch crashed his car during the Saturday morning practice session for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, was supposed to be one of six drivers to use the new R07 engine developed by General Motors. The Texas Cup race is the debut for the R07 engine.
But because of the crash, Busch's teams will be using the old Chevrolet SB2 engine for Sunday's race.
Busch was not injured in the accident, but the team was forced to use its back-up car for the race.
"I'm not sure what happened," Busch said. "The car was pretty good, it was a little bit on the snug side. We were going pretty decent there, just trying to put down a 10-lap run. We made nine of them. Got off in the corner and it landed pretty good, then it just all of a sudden went around on me. It started rotating and I couldn't keep up with it and spun out."
Busch's teammate, Casey Mears, is using the new R07 engine for the Cup race at Texas. The three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley, are using the new engine. Tony Raines, driver for Hall of Fame Racing, owned in part by Troy Aikman, is the fifth Chevy driver with the new engine.
Busch said he was comfortable with either engine.
"This SB2 that is in my car now seems like it has some pretty good power too," Busch said. "I am happy with it. Hendrick does an awesome job with either the SB2 or the R07 so I am pretty pleased with it, I think we will be fine."

There have been 12 different winners in 12 Cup races at Texas Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.
None of those 12 winners are from Hendrick Motorsports.
Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, has won a Cup race at all but three tracks that NASCAR visits. One of those tracks is Texas Motor Speedway.
"Obviously, nobody seems to have a script for it or we would have seen multiple winners here," Gordon said. "But there have been changes in this track over the years and that's contributed to it. But to me, it's just a very, very tricky place to get the right combination of aerodynamics, horsepower, mechanical grip, and set-up and get comfortable as a driver with the speeds we carry here."
Gordon said he has been in position to win races at Texas a couple of times.
"Twice we've had cars that were capable of winning here," Gordon said. "Once, I think it was the first year, when we got taken out when leading or running second. And then the other was when Elliott Sadler won and we had electrical problems. So we've been in position to win here -- just not recently."
The past few races at Texas, Gordon said his car hasn't been very competitive and that's been frustrating.
"It comforts me a little bit and I try not to put too much blame on myself (knowing) that all of Hendrick Motorsports just hasn't been that good here," Gordon said. "So, it's something internally that we're working on. Any time we don't have the combination we feel like is a winning combination like here or Richmond or Phoenix or Homestead, it motivates us to figure it out."

Severe weather canceled qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.
The starting order for Sunday's race was set by owner's points. That left four Toyotas out of the race. Brian Vickers has the best starting position of the Toyota drivers. The driver of the No. 83 Toyota for Team Red Bull will start the race 36th.
Dave Blaney, driver of the No. 22 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing, will start 40th. Perhaps having qualifying canceled was a blessing.
“We weren’t fast enough in practice," Blaney said. "We were struggling a little bit, but we think we had a handle on what was going on. It was pretty stressful today, not feeling good enough about the car and not having enough speed during the practice. That wasn’t a good feeling. We’ll start over tomorrow and go from there.”
Dale Jarrett, driver of the No. 44 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, will start 37th.
Jeremy Mayfield, driver of the No. 36 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing, was one of the four Toyota drivers who did not make the field for the Cup race.
“Obviously, it stinks -- especially with the year we’ve had," Mayfield said. "I’ve come to realize that all we can do is all we can do. You can’t change the weather or you can’t rearrange it -- you just have to go with it. We have a great car here. It’s the best we’ve ever been. And it really stinks that we don’t get a chance to show it.”
David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip and A.J. Allmendinger were the other Toyota drivers who did not get a chance to qualify for the Cup race.

Six NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers are expected to use the new R07 engine developed by General Motors for its Chevrolet-powered teams in Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Casey Mears and Kyle Busch from Hendrick Motorsports are two of those drivers.
Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, the other two Hendrick drivers, are not using the new engine this weekend.
"I thought we had the intention of coming here and running it, but through management they made some decisions to send half the cars out with the RO7 and the others with the other package," said Johnson who has won three races this year. "The engines are very similar in horsepower, so we don't feel like we're giving anything up. We're just trying to have an executed plan to take to the race track and work through the new motor program."
Johnson said the old Chevrolet engines have been in use since 1955. Advancements in technology and materials are just some of the reasons for the changes.
"I think the biggest thing that we're going to see is that we can cool the engine more efficiently," said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "We had some areas in the cylinder walls that we couldn't get enough water to and we couldn't keep the pistons in a stable situation. The walls in the cylinder were getting too hot in some spots and we were seeing scuffing of some pistons and things like that. So I really think the new engine is going to let the engine cool more efficiently and we're going to have a little bit better reliability."
Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley, drivers for Joe Gibbs Racing, are expected to use the R07 engine at Texas. Scott Wimmer, who will be driving the No. 33 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing, is expected to use the new R07 engine.

Baseball Hall of Famer Robin Yount will serve as grand marshal for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway on April 21. Yount will give the command for the 43 drivers in the race to start their engines.
“I am excited and ready to step up to the plate and give the starting command for the SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500 at PIR,” said Yount, who played high school baseball at Taft in Woodland Hills. “I’ve had the chance to meet some of NASCAR’s top drivers and this is the ultimate experience for any race fan.”
Bryan R. Sperber, the track's president, said he was thrilled to have Yount start the race.
“His baseball career speaks for itself and we’re glad to help him add grand marshal to his already impressive Hall of Fame résumé,” Sperber said.
Yount spent 20 major league seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was a three-time All-Star and won an American League Gold Glove at shortstop in 1982. He was the American League MVP in 1982 and 1989. In 1999, Yount was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Yount was also a bench and first-base coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2002-04.

NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick, who competes in the Cup, Busch and Truck series already, will race in the Grand National Division when it makes its inaugural visit to the new Iowa Speedway on May 20.
The NASCAR Grand National Division will hold a race for the West Series and Busch East Series drivers at the new track designed in part by Rusty Wallace.
Harvick, who won this year's Daytona 500, was the West Series champion in 1998.
"Being able to go back and run a West car is pretty cool for me," said Harvick. "I know what the series can do for a driver's career."
Harvick will be driving an car from his own Kevin Harvick Inc. team. Harvick has teams that run full-time in the NASCAR Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series.
“KHI also has a pretty good record in the few West races we've run, so it'll be exciting to compete in a KHI car at the Iowa Speedway," Harvick said. "I've only seen pictures of the track, but it looks really nice. You know anything Rusty is involved in is going to be first class."

ESPN is expanding its NASCAR coverage by adding 30 minutes to its NASCAR Now show.
The Monday evening edition of NASCAR Now, which is broadcast on ESPN2, will be an hour long starting Monday. It will be shown from 3 to 4 p.m. PST.
NASCAR Now will be a 30-minute show Tuesday through Thursday. There will be no show on Friday because ESPN2 is broadcasting the NASCAR Busch Series race from Phoenix International Raceway that day.
The weekend edition of NASCAR Now will begin at 7 a.m. PST instead of its regular slot on Sunday.
NASCAR Now is hosted by Erik Kuselias, Doug Banks and Ryan Burr, with contributions from reporters Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake. Analysts Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Stacy Compton and Boris Said, along with NASCAR insiders Terry Blount, Angelique Chengelis, Tim Cowlishaw, David Newton and Marty Smith, as well as D.J. Copp, a member of the Dale Earnhardt, Jr., NASCAR team also contribute.

Unless Mark Martin and Jack Roush can agree on another deal, Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway will be the last race for the two longtime NASCAR partners.
Martin and Roush had a two-race deal for the Busch Series when the season started. Martin drove one of Roush's No. 06 Fords in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. The second one in the deal was this Saturday's race at Texas Motor Speedway.
With Chad Norris as his crew chief, Martin finished fifth in the Daytona race.
"Texas has always been a really good track for us and we've won two or three races there in the Busch Series," said Martin. "In fact we won the first one there back in 1997 and we are looking forward to going back there this weekend and seeing what we have. Chad Norris and the guys at Roush Fenway Racing gave me a good car at Daytona, so hopefully we can pick up where we left off and contend for the win in the No. 06 Dish Network car."
Martin left Roush Racing at the end of last year and is driving for Ginn Racing in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Martin wanted to run a partial Cup schedule and Ginn Racing was able to provide him with a deal to do so.
Martin is also running select Busch and Truck series races this year.
"The whole team is really looking forward to having Mark back in the Dish Network Ford," said Norris. "We are bringing what we feel like is a winning car. It is the same car Jamie (McMurray) raced to a top-15 finish in Atlanta last month. We've been preparing for this race the past few weeks, all of the guys have been putting a ton of effort into trying to make Mark's last start at Roush Fenway Racing a memorable one. With Mark's record at Texas we feel like we have a really good shot to bring a trophy back home with us."

As if things weren't bad enough for Michael Waltrip. The owner and driver for Michael Waltrip Racing was involved in a single-car crash near his home in Sherrills Ford, N.C., on Friday night.
He was not injured in the crash, but was ticketed by the North Carolina Highway Patrol for alleged reckless driving and failure to notify authorities of an accident in a timely manner.
“I am really embarrassed about the accident, but I feel fortunate that I wasn’t hurt,” said Waltrip. “For 25 years I have had a great driving record. I consider myself to be a courteous and safe driver on public roads. I never expected to fall asleep behind the wheel of a car.”
The 43-year-old driver was returning from Charlotte, N.C., when he fell asleep while driving according to a release from his team. He was within a mile of his home, drove off the road and hit a telephone pole, according to the release.

Three of the four drivers for Hendrick Motorsports are in the top-five in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings.
Casey Mears is not one of them.
Jeff Gordon leads the Cup standings. Jimmie Johnson has three wins and is third in the Cup standings. Kyle Busch has one win and is fifth in the Cup standings.
Mears in 33rd.
But it looks like help is on the way.
The car Mears is taking to Texas Motor Speedway is a copy of the car Johnson won with at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year.
"We're excited about it. Hendrick Motorsports has been working on the engine for a while now because we knew it was coming, and Jeff ran it for a lot of laps during a tire test at Darlington last month without any problems," said Mears, driver of the No. 25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "With anything new, there are always some issues that come up, but I think we've done a good job of working on those areas."

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers Ryan Newman won the race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that win in 2003 has been his only top-10 finish in a Cup race at Texas.
But there is some more potential good news for Newman.
The car his team is taking to Texas is the same car it took to Atlanta Motor Spedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The car won the pole for the Atlanta race, but it didn't really get a chance to perform when Newman had to start from the rear of the field after the team made an engine replacement.
Still Newman said he is encouraged by the team's results on the intermediate tracks like Texas.
"We had good runs in California and Las Vegas and won the pole in Atlanta," said Newman, driver of the No. 12 Dodge for Penske Racing South. "I’m looking forward to getting back in the car at Texas and seeing what else we can do at these (intermediate) tracks. Two years ago, we were able to earn both poles at the Texas races and I think we can do that again. We’ve got the same car from Atlanta and we’ve had time to tweak it and we think it’ll be really good this weekend as well.”

If history is any indication, Tony Stewart is going to be hard to beat in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
The car he is bringing to the track is the same car that won the November race at Texas during the Chase last year. Even though Stewart was out of the Chase and out of championship contention, he won three races in the Chase.
The car his team is bringing to Texas won all three of those races. He won with the car at Kansas Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway in addition to the Texas race.
In the Texas race, Stewart led eight times for a race-high 278 laps.
“It was obviously an awesome day," said Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. "Any time you can lead that many laps and that percentage of laps in a race, it’s a good day for you. We had a car that was good all day long from start to finish. In my 28 years of racing it’s rare that I’ve had a car that good. We could get a straightaway lead at any time."
As good as his car was that race, it wasn't perfect.
"I was loose the whole day, but we were extremely fast being loose," Stewart said. "We kept trying to get greedy because we knew at some point guys would get their cars better and I wanted to see if I could get it tightened up enough to where I could even go faster."
But Stewart said the adjustments made the car too tight and his crew reverted to its original setup.
"We finally got it too tight and I had them undo a tire pressure adjustment when we came in for a two-tire stop," Stewart said. "After that, it was right back to being really fast and we had a straightaway lead with less than 10 laps to go. We had the strongest car all day and we finished it off.”

Jamie McMurray has climbed 24 positions in the past four races in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings and is 12th in points as the teams head to Texas Motor Speedway for this Sunday's race.
McMurray has posted three top-10 finishes in his past four races to move up to be in Chase contention.
But his recent record at Texas Motor Speedway has not been that good.
His best starting position in his past three races at Texas has been 40th. HIs best finish in those three races was 11th in the fall race of 2005.
McMurray has posted a second-place finish at Texas, back in the spring race of 2005.
"In the past, I've really enjoyed running at Texas. In my first four starts, I ran really, really well," said McMurray, driver of the No. 26 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "Last year, we just couldn't seem to find the right handling on the track, but I think we have that problem resolved."
McMurray's team is bringing the same car to Texas that it raced at Las Vegas and Atlanta. He said the car wasn't great in those races, but it responded well to adjustments made throughout both races.
"It's also a car that we found doesn't qualify very well, but races really well and that's obviously what's more important," McMurray said. "This weekend, I'm really expecting the same type of run. It was great going into last weekend's off weekend with a string of good runs this No. 26 team put together. Hopefully, we can continue to knock off these top-10 finishes each weekend."

The two drivers for Minardi Team USA have a little more experience than some of the drivers in the Champ Car World Series. In addition to racing for Minardi Team USA, Robert Doornbos will also be serving as a test driver for the Red Bull Racing Team in Formula One.
Dan Clarke is returning for his second year of Champ Car World Series racing. He won the pole at Road America and finished third in the Grand Prix of Denver in his rookie season last year.
Doornbos said he is excited about racing in Las Vegas to start the season.
"However much testing you do ahead of time, it's never really the same as being at the first event, with all the other teams and drivers, and finally getting the racing under way," Doornbos said. "It's what all drivers want. Champ Car is obviously a new challenge for me, but I think it's going to be great."
Doornbos said preseason testing went well and has given him time to get comfortable with the team's new DP01 Champ car.
"I feel really positive about the situation, and will be aiming to do the best job possible for my team," Doornbos said.
Clarke said the only thing missing from his preparations for the Champ Car World Series opener was being able to drive the team's new car.
"I’ve been close to the team over the winter, trained hard and worked at every aspect of my race program that I’ve been able to do without testing," Clarke said. "Continuing with a team that I worked with last year and my experience of the championship will stand me in good stead for Las Vegas, and I go there without any pressure, just focusing on myself and the team."
Clarke said he already has a strategy for the Las Vegas race, but there are a number of unknowns that could affect the result.
"For me, I think I need to have the tortoise-and-hare approach," Clarke said. "I don’t think anyone is sure quite what to expect from the track or the car, and with the new DP01 chassis and a long race distance, the most important thing is to be there at the end. Exercising caution, taking care of the car, and building momentum as the weekend progresses is my plan. No gambling for me.”

Oxnard-based Pacific Coast Motorsports will be making its Champ Car World Series debut at Las Vegas this weekend. Drivers Alex Figge and Ryan Dalziel are both rookies to the series. Figge will be making his Champ Car Series debuts in Las Vegas. Dalziel started a Champ Car World Series race in Toronto in 2005.
Figge lives in Denver, Colo., and has spent the past two years racing sports cars in the American Le Mans Series and Grand Am Cup Series.
“I am really looking forward to making my Champ Car debut this weekend at the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix," said Figge, who will be driving the No. 29 entry for Pacific Coast Motorsports. "This will be a weekend that I will never forget that is for sure. After the last two years racing sports cars, it makes it even sweeter. I am thrilled to be back in open wheel and more importantly a Champ Car."
But Figge said, being a rookie driver with a first-year team, he has a lot to learn.
"The first three races are going to be a big learning process for sure," Figge said. "I really like street courses and I am happy we are starting off with three in a row on the streets."
The first three races of the Champ Car World Series are the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Long Beach Grand Prix and the Houston Grand Prix, all temporary street courses. First up is the Las Vegas race.
"The circuit looks fantastic, it’s got all the elements, high speed, tight turns, and passing zones, everything a driver could want," Figge said. "I’ve heard really good things about the circuit and of course the event is going to be huge, I am excited.”
Dalziel, a driver from Scotland, began his career with Pacific Coast Motorsports in 2005 racing in the Champ Car Atlantic Series.
“I am really excited to get going and get the first one over and done with and hopefully have a good professional showing and move on to the next one," said Dalziel, who will be driving the No. 28 entry for Pacific Coast Motorsports. "I am sure Las Vegas will be a big party on and off the track; it will definitely be one to go down in the history books. It will be an emotional weekend for me, that is for sure."
Dalziel said he is grateful for the opportunity Pacific Coast Motorsports has given him to race in Champ Car.
"I wish it was my first start as I would love for my first Champ Car race to have been with PCM," Dalziel said. At the same time, its been so long since my first and only start back in 2005 at Toronto, that this actually feels like it anyway. I think we are as prepared as we can be as a new team and new drivers, everyone has worked their butts off and now it is time to get racing and have some fun.”

Sebastien Bourdais has won the past three Champ Car World Series championships and has been without a rival in those three years.
His closest competition came from Bruno Junqueira, his teammate at Newman-Haas Racing, A.J. Allmendinger, who is currently racing on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and Paul Tracy, when he wasn't self-destructing.
Bourdais is back with the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team and has a chance to win an unprecedented four Champ Car World Series titles in a row.
"Well, obviously once you've won once, you want to win a second one and so on and so forth," Bourdais said. "I think it's not hard to find the motivation when you are with such a dedicated team and really high quality equipment and everything is given to you to perform, you really enjoy it. And I think everybody is having a lot of fun to race Champ Cars, and for me that's just the best option. It's a professional series."
Bourdais said he is content racing in the Champ Car World Series even if the competition is a little weak. But he also said he has an eye on other options.
"There's one step for me that might be available, but we still have to be waiting on it," Bourdais said. "It might be Formula One, but again, I really want to be competitive, and I'm given everything I need to do this. So the motivation just is very easy to find. I just go out there, race my very best and try and win races, and when you do that, usually motivation isn't really hard to find."

Graham Rahal, son of former CART champion and Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, will be making his rookie debut in the Champ Car World Series at Las Vegas this weekend.
His dad owns a two-car team with David Letterman in the Indy Racing League.
Graham Rahal, who raced in the Atlantic Series last year, a developmental league for the Champ Car World Series, said he wanted to race in Champ Car because it is a road-racing based series.
"You know, I think, also, growing up as a kid, I was always ‑‑ when I went to the racetrack, I always went to the Champ Car races," Graham Rahal said. "Then it was called CART, but it's the same thing. But at those times, as you know, IRL wasn't around. So for me, I was always biased towards Champ Car. It was always a dream of mine to race in the series, and that's why I'm here and not in the IRL. Really there's no reason for me to drive on ovals at this point in my career, and that's the main reason."

The Champ Car World Series web site lists 18 drivers ready to compete in the season opening race at Las Vegas this weekend. Among those are seven rookies.
PKV Racing is fielding an all-rookie team in Neel Jani and Tristan Gommendy. Robert Doornbos is a rookie driver for a rookie team in Minardi Team USA.
Pacific Coast Motorsports has a rookie team of drivers in Ryan Dalziel and Alex Figge.
Graham Rahal, son of Bobby Rahal, will be a rookie driver for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.
Finally, 2006 Champ Car Atlantic champion Simon Pagenaud will drive for Team Australia.
Not exactly a list of household names.
There are a splash of veterans in the Champ Car World Series, most notably Paul Tracy.
Sebastien Bourdais returns as the three-time series champ for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.
Alex Tagliani will be driving for the newly formed RSSPORTS team.
Other Champ Car veterans include Justin Wilson, who has been in the Champ Car World Series since 2004, and Will Power, who started his career in Champ Car in 2005.

Forsythe Championship Racing has one of the more seasoned teams in the Champ Car World Series.
Veteran Paul Tracy, a Canadian and perhaps the most recognizable name in the series, will be making his 250th career start in Las Vegas, the most of any active driver.
Teammate Mario Dominguez from Mexico will be competing in his sixth year in the Champ Car World Series. He spent parts of 2005 and 2006 with Forsythe Championship Racing.
“It’s great being able to start out the season in a track that’s only a few minutes from my house," said Tracy, who lives in Las Vegas and is the driver of the No. 3 entry for Forsythe Championship Racing. "It’s been a long off season with many changes. I’ve been working very hard and so has the Forsythe Team and even though we had some problems during testing, we’ve shown that we have the speed and we are going to go out there and try to win the season opener and start out on the right track for the championship.
"I’m excited about racing through the streets of Las Vegas. I’ve seen the track and it looks like they’ve done a great job, it is a very interesting track. It is wide, it is fast, and it seems to be pretty smooth. I think it will be a lot of fun. There’s been a lot of promotion leading up to this weekend; I have no doubt that it will be a big success.”

The Champ Car World Series is starting its season this weekend in Las Vegas. The teams and drivers will be in Long Beach for the April 15 Grand Prix.
One of the teams competing in the Champ Car World Series is PKV Racing. It is owned by Kevin Kalkhoven, who also co-owns the Champ Car World Series, and 1996 series champion Jimmy Vasser.
Its drivers are Neel Jani and Tristan Gommendy, both newcomers to the Champ Car World Series, as with most of the drivers and teams in the Champ Car World Series.
Jani is a native of Rorschach, Switzerland, and spent last year as a test driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team.
Gommendy is a 27-year-old Frenchman who won the 2002 Formula 3 France series.

The foam in the doors of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series cars has become a point of discussion after the race at Martinsville Speedway.
Drivers and teams have questions about the toxicity of the foam. They want to know what happens to it when it gets too hot; if it can catch on fire, melt, burn and what affect does that have on drivers.
Greg Biffle said he took a sample of the foam in his race car's door to the NASCAR tech center for answers to some of those concerns. Biffle said Steve Peterson from the NASCAR tech center came to the Roush Fenway Racing shop to try to explain what happens to the foam.
"A lot of things that burn are bad to breathe in; no matter what it is almost, it's bad to breathe," Biffle said. "He reassured us that that foam was OK when it smoked or whatever happened to it."
Apparently the foam is a non-flammable material. But NASCAR is looking to see if there is a way to keep the foam in the car doors cooler.
"Obviously NASCAR is aggressively addressing it now. I actually have a week or two off with it, actually just one, then we go to Phoenix," Biffle said. "They're on it, I'm sure, and we're looking at it, as well, what we can do.
But keep in mind it's not even hot yet. We're not at these hot racetracks where it's going to be hotter outside, and that's going to play a factor, as well. When it's 10, 20 degrees hotter outside, it gets hotter inside."
Michael Waltrip said after two races, his team was able to evaluate how the car reacted in a crashes.
"Obviously we’re all concerned about the foam, which helps us in case of an accident," Waltrip said. "But they had us put that too close to the exhaust and anything you put too close to the exhaust is going to get hot enough to smoke. We learned to address that and then at the end of both races, they had side-by-side finishes. I would say that if I was NASCAR, I’d be pretty proud right now of where I’m at with my COT program.”

Michael Waltrip has yet to qualify for a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race since the season-opening Daytona 500.
He was with the rest of the Cup teams at Richmond International Raceway testing the Car of Tomorrow on Monday and Tuesday.
The Cup drivers have the weekend off and will return to racing on April 15 at Texas Motor Speedway. They will race the Car of Tomorrow again at Richmond on May 5.
Waltrip said his team tried some conventional set-ups with the Car of Tomorrow to see how they would perform at Richmond. He liked the results.
"We know a lot of things that have worked at this track with the regular car and we are trying to pass some of that along to COT and see if any of that will work," said Waltrip, driver of the No. 55 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. "We actually gained on it quite a bit in the morning session and actually ran our fastest lap right there before the end of the session when it was the hottest. We were encouraged by that so now we’re studying what we learned and hopefully by the end of the day we’ll understand what the best package is for our NAPA Toyota and work on qualifying for this race.”
Waltrip's team has been working especially hard on the front splitter on the Car of Tomorrow.
"You look at the car with the splitter and you say, ‘I’m going to need a big right-front spring to keep that off the ground’," Waltrip said. "Then the engineers start thinking of ways to use a smaller front spring and still keep it off the ground. That’s why I say, there’s a lot of things that we need to try."

Scott Riggs was the highest finishing Dodge driver and turned in his best performance this season at Martinsville Speedway.
Riggs finished eighth in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Martinsville and said he had a lot of things go his way to finish so high.
“Some how all the bad luck we had all year didn’t hit us today," said Riggs, driver of the No. 10 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports. "We got a lap down and then we immediately got the lucky dog. That was definitely a blessing for us. We know we need to come in and do the best we can no matter where the points are or where we’re at right now. We know we’ve got to go forward and keep getting better."
The other Evernham Motorsports drivers didn't finish so well. Elliott Sadler was 24th and Kasey Kahne was 25th.
“The other two Evernham cars struggled today," Riggs said. "At least we had one car that ran good this weekend, and hopefully we can go back and learn from that. Then everybody can have a little better prediction of what to expect when we come back at a place like this or other short tracks. I’m ready to go to Richmond and get this Avenger dialed in. I think that will be a good stepping stone for us. Then we’ll get back in the Charger at Texas and see what we can do.”

There was a lot of bumping and pushing between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson at the end of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
Gordon tried as hard as he could to move Johnson out of the way. But Johnson ended up winning his third race of the year. It was the fourth win of the year for Hendrick Motorsports.
But it left Gordon in search of his first win of the year. And even though he left Martinsville with the lead in the Cup standings, he was still mad with his second-place finish.
After the race, Gordon was asked what he was going to say to Johnson after the way the race ended.
"Well I'm going to congratulate him and tell him he did exactly what he needed to do and jokingly say something to him about good thing I was behind him," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "There's not going to be a whole lot that's going to be said. I'm mad but I'm not really mad at him. He didn't do anything wrong."
Gordon said that if he hit Johnson any harder in the closing lap of the race, he might have wrecked Johnson. And that would be a hard thing to explain to team owner Rick Hendrick.
"We don't need that as teammates," Gordon said. "We don't need that as competitors going forward trying to win a championship and I just hope we get our share of wins by continuing to race the way we've been racing."
Johnson said Gordon was hitting him harder as the race was winding down.
"The bumps were getting progressively stronger and stronger and the last few may have set off an airbag I think the street car," said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "The last one moved me clean up the track in three and four. Certainly (when I) leave here, I'm sure there's a message on my phone from Jeff and we've been in this situation before racing hard throughout the years. He has the utmost respect for me, I do for him and it's certainly something that we'll work out. The reason he's upset is because he's a competitor and he had the better car but he couldn't get by me. Once again I respect him and it will all be sorted out and everything will be fine."

Dale Jarrett was the highest finishing Toyota driver in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. He was 28th.
Jarrett spun out once during the race and said getting the car to turn was one of the biggest challenges his team faced at Martinsville.
“We made adjustments to the car at every pit stop to see if we could make it any better and nothing seemed to work," said Jarrett, driver of the No. 44 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. "It’s frustrating, but the guys did a great job on pit road today. We’ll learn from today and get ready for Texas.”
David Reutimann battled handling problems all race and finished 33rd.
“We just kept throwing things at the car -- as far as adjustments go -- and couldn’t seem to get it where we needed to be," said Reutimann, driver of the No. 00 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. "We were pretty happy with the car in final practice (Saturday) and it seemed that no matter what we tried in the race, nothing helped. It just wouldn’t turn in the center of the corner and it seemed like a lot of guys were fighting the same thing. But we’re not going to get down; we’ll just keep working at it.”
Dave Blaney, driver of the No. 22 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing had brake problems throughout the race and finished 37th.
A.J. Allmendinger, driver of the No. 84 Toyota for Team Red Bull, was 38th in his second career Nextel Cup Series strart.
Jeremy Mayfield, driver of the No. 36 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing, ran as high as 10th, but finished 40th.