FanHouse Martin Truex Jr

Aside from his announcement last week that he'd have a new home for Sprint Cup competition in 2010, it's been a season loaded down with disappointment for Martin Truex Jr.

Tuesday afternoon, it took another step in the wrong direction.

Truex and his No. 1 Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team were docked 25 points, fined $25,000 and had crew chief Kevin "Bono" Manion placed on probation through the end of the year after the car was found to be too high after Saturday night's race at Chicagoland Speedway.

The water invading the hull of the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing sinking ship finally got to be too much for the talented Martin Truex Jr.

"I've given them everything that I could," said Truex on Tuesday after announcing he'd take over a ride at Michael Waltrip Racing. "There got to be too many questions, too many things that were uncertain."

Which is why, as we guessed a year ago, his one-year contract extension with the Teresa Earnhardt-run operation would be all for naught thanks to a nasty set of decisions and circumstances that have left a once proud team in survival mode, and might have left Truex settling for a team he might not have otherwise gone to.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After what could possibly be described as the most boring day in all of NASCAR -- well, save for the middle laps at Pocono -- a pair of Martins had the hot hand during Sunday's qualifying for next Sunday's Daytona 500.

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Martin Truex Jr. will lead the Sprint Cup season-opener when the green flag waves, while the revitalized Mark Martin from the Hendrick Motorsports stable will start alongside. Truex's pole-winning speed of 188.001 mph just bested Martin's lap of 187.817 mph to earn the New Jersey driver just his second career pole.

Warning: Objects in this post may be the only way to successfully live through the NASCAR off-season. For best results, read rearview mirror early and often.

Driver: Martin Truex Jr.
Team: No. 1 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet
'08 Final Standing: 15th (-2845)
Best Race: New Hampshire (4th-place)
Worst Race: Kansas & Phoenix (43rd-place)

Season in a box: After picking up his first career win in 2007, most people would have guessed that Martin Truex Jr. -- DEI's new top driver after the departure of Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- would have been a solid competitor in 2008. Instead, 2008 turned into a season of turmoil, rumor and by the time the 2009 season was starting to take shape, it had left questions as to whether he'd be at DEI in 2009.

Nine months after the 2008 NASCAR season began, we're back to the offseason. With NASCAR's awards banquet on Friday, Dec. 6 (stop by for the live blog!), here's a look at ten of the season's best moments.

The Sprint Cup season hadn't even officially started for 2008, but hot shoe Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s Martin Truex Jr. were already spittin' mad after the first race run under the Nationwide Series banner at Daytona International Speedway.

Here's a glance back:

Truex was heated after finishing 11th in the Camping World 300 despite challenging for the lead late in the race. A block by Busch as Truex tried to take second place killed his momentum and opportunity to challenge Tony Stewart for the win.

Busch wound up 2nd.

From the NASCAR Scene: "Kyle drives like a girl," Truex said. "I mean, come on. We're out here racing for fun. We had a hell of a battle. I had a lot of fun racing today with him, and then I had a huge run and he just blocked me.

(for the original entire post, click here)

I would imagine Danica Patrick, statisticians who know men are actually the less talented drivers and females everywhere cringed at the comment, but dang, that was pretty funny.

Chip Ganassi has found a way to make his team not as pathetic as before and Dale Earnhardt Inc. has found a way to keep grasping at being a relevant Sprint Cup Series team.

That method? Join the two programs together to create strange bedfellows, cut costs and hope that a math equation of subpar plus subpar finally equals something good.

Yep, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates will be teaming up to make a four-car team in 2009.

Two of motorsports' biggest names – Earnhardt and Ganassi – will launch a four-car team beginning in 2009 through the combination of the motorsports operations of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Inc. (CGRFS). NASCAR stars Martin Truex Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya will drive the Nos. 1 and 42 respectively and future star Aric Almirola will be behind the wheel of the No. 8. The driver of the No. 41 will be named in the near future.

For those of you keeping track at home, this combination of forces currently includes 4 cars, 3 drivers and 2.5 sponsorships. Let's hope that changes before 2009.

Additionally, the overriding rumor is that Chevrolet will be the manufacturer for the organization, mainly because it's very likely Dale Earnhardt would rise from his grave to haunt anything bearing his name that doesn't bear a bow tie. Dodge, Ganassi's current partner, is apparently being shoved out.

Juan Pablo Montoya: "Hey, did you see that lap, man? Yep, first Sprint Cup pole! Uh-huh! Wait, what did you say? They disqualified me? What the #%^&?!?!"

While the above quote is not actually attributable to JPM, you can bet he wasn't happy to be starting 42nd on Sunday at Kansas Speedway after posting Friday's qualifying session fastest time.

Leading up to the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, word was that Martin Truex Jr. was going to re-sign with Dale Earnhardt Inc. for 2009, and potentially longer. Truex, though, wasn't happy about the report done by ESPN.com's David Newton:

"It's (expletive). I don't know what the hell (the reporter) is talking about. He doesn't know what he's talking about," Truex said.

It turns out, though, that Newton was ultimately right. Whether or not he was right at the time, though, is still up in the air.

Regardless, Martin Truex Jr. is expected to announce later Friday that he will be staying at DEI in the No. 1 car for at least one more year. In contract terms, Truex actually just accepted the DEI's proposal to pick up the one-year option for '09 that was already in his previous deal.

Truex's move takes away at least a fraction of the rumor game being currently played throughout the Sprint Cup garage area, as he has been rumored for any number of open seats in 2009 including Stewart-Haas Racing, Penske Racing, and Richard Childress Racing.

FanHouse's Geoffrey Miller is on location & blogging away at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday's 15th Running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Martin Truex Jr. appears set to end the rumor mill swirling around his future.

ESPN.com's David Newton reported on Saturday that "several sources" are confirming that Truex will now stay right where he's at -- with Dale Earnhardt Inc. -- until at least 2010:

The 28-year-old New Jersey native has agreed in principle to a two-year deal that will keep him at Dale Earnhardt Inc. through the 2010 season, multiple sources close to the situation told ESPN.com on Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sources said an official announcement is expected any day, and that details with multiple sponsors remain to be finalized.

Truex, asked if he has an agreement, said: "We're getting there, yeah. Things are going well right. I'm pretty happy. I just want to think about racing this weekend."

That quote from Truex seems to seal the deal for me, as he definitely didn't make any attempt to deny the report. He pretty much gave the "yeah, that's been correctly reported but I can't say anything yet so I'm going to get back in my race car and stay away from you media-types"-style answer.

I'm glad Truex has got his deal seemingly worked out with DEI, a team where he'll remain as the No. 1 driver in the camp. I don't think, however, that re-signing with the team will lead him towards a Sprint Cup championship any time soon.

McMurray Grows Weary of Constant Free Agency Reports

It must be tough to have the media firing you from a high-profile job before you get the news, unless, you know, the media is wrong.