Where: Texas Motor Speedway Time: Sunday 3:15 p.m. EST TV/Radio: ABC, PRN Radio Twitter: @FanHouseRacing Forecast: Mostly cloudy, Low 70s Distance: 334 laps (501 miles) Pole Winner: Jeff Gordon 2008 Winner: Carl Edwards
The Storylines
Ladies and gentleman, there was nothing wrong with last week's race at Talladega -- if you ask Tony Stewart or NASCAR.
This week, each of them blamed the fan uproar solely on the media (mainly ESPN) for ultimately putting such ideas about the bad racing at Talladega into the heads of fans. Race fans, Stewart and NASCAR feel, were induced with propaganda by television to believe that they were getting shafted by NASCAR.
Notes, quotes & commentary from a NASCAR weekend at Talladega.
What a weekend it was, huh? Yes, I do have some comments and ideas about the overall product at Talladega this week. I'm going to wait, though, until the end of this post. First, the finer notes on Sunday.
Can anyone make sense of NASCAR's pit road penalties? Had Sunday's race been at another track where track position isn't so easily gained like it is at Talladega, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and eventual race winner Jamie McMurray would have been downright hosed.
And good or bad as it relates to your particular driver, the rule that nabbed them just isn't fair.
A car length here, a lane change there and one incredible pit call.
No matter what it was, Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team seemed to do it right on a mild then wild Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway -- even when it looked like holding par in the point standings wasn't going to happen as the laps clicked off and the drama kept rising around the 2.66-mile wildcard.
But when the cars stopped flipping and the smoke stopped rising, Johnson -- to the chagrin of plenty -- stood alone in his pursuit of the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup with what amounts to be an insurmountable lead with an unstoppable team.
Ryan Newman left Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday obviously sore and presumably irritated after flipping violently in a late-race crash near the end of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' AMP Energy 500.
Newman, who was uninjured, was trapped in the car for almost 15 minutes as safety crews cut him out from exactly the type of wreck he had warned NASCAR against after an amazing crash involving him and Carl Edwards at the same track in April. And after being checked out of the infield hospital, Newman didn't hesitate to get on NASCAR again.
"Drivers used to be about to race each other and respect each other," said Newman. "Guys like Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Allison -- all those guys have always done that. I guess they [NASCAR] just don't think much of us [drivers] anymore."
Where: Talladega Superspeedway Time: Sunday 1:00 p.m. EST TV/Radio: ABC, MRN Radio Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing Forecast: Sunny, High 60s Distance: 188 laps (500 miles) Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson 2008 Winner: Tony Stewart
The Storylines
Consider this as NASCAR's version of laying down the law, but with one problem -- will they actually enforce it?
NASCAR made big noise Sunday morning at Talladega when they told drivers in the pre-race meeting that bump drafting in today's race while racing through the corners would not be permitted. And to back up the rule, they promised to even swipe a victory away if a driver was found to be in violation.
It's a tough rhetoric that we've heard before from NASCAR, but this time it seems like they mean business.
NASCAR and Richard Petty Motorsports look a little more spineless today.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver A.J. Allmendinger was arrested for DWI early Thursday morning in Mooresville, N.C., after being pulled over and blowing a .08 on a Breathalyzer test -- the legal limit for intoxication in the state. Cited for a misdemeanor, Allmendinger will appear in court on the charge in December.
Allmendinger, though, won't be facing any music from his RPM team or NASCAR -- the same organization that will suspend crew members for racing with an illegal part.
Notes, quotes & commentary after 501 laps around a Virginian paperclip. I get what NASCAR is trying do, I really do.
They want these races to be dramatic, to make good television and perhaps provide a sense of danger to fans like ESPN's Ed Hinton believes they crave. It's no different than any other sport, movie or story -- dramatic moments bring eyeballs.
But at some point, NASCAR needs to get a whole lot better at not allowing a stalled race car to sit in peril at the start/finish line in the name of a dramatic finish.
Where: Martinsville Speedway Time: Sunday 1:30 p.m. EST TV/Radio: ABC, MRN Radio Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing Forecast: Mostly sunny, High 60s Distance: 500 laps (263 miles) Pole Winner: Ryan Newman 2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson
The Storyline
Jeff Gordon's last, best hope to stay in Jimmie Johnson's zip code for the 2009 championship might just be Sunday at Martinsville Speedway for two reasons -- the perks from his second-place qualifying run and Jimmie Johnson's mediocre starting spot.
And for their teammate Mark Martin splitting the point difference between Johnson and Gordon in the standings, a fourth-place starting effort might also be critical to bridging the 90-point gap between the No. 48 and No. 5.
That's what attitude the 2009 version of the NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup Season has seemed to take on after Jimmie Johnson's win last Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Fans keep wondering: Will Johnson ever screw up? Was the 'winning robot' nickname given to Matt Kenseth a few years ago a little premature?
If the past is any indication -- as it has seemed to be for Johnson & Co. -- then Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway won't be giving fans a dose of the change in championship outcome that many of them so crave.
Kasey Kahne might have had the only car to really challenge Jimmie Johnson on the longer runs Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, but a late pit stop and a bad set of tires didn't let that situation play out.
"The tires we took on the last stop shook and didn't turn," said Kahne after the race in which he led 67 laps. "I guess that was our bad set for the night."
That didn't mean that Kahne was making excuses for coming up short with a third-place finish -- his best result since a win at Atlanta in September. Instead, he was stating the obvious.
"We were the best car at times, but the final run when it counted, we weren't," said Kahne. "Jimmie [Johnson] showed up and beat us all."
Race: Dickies 500
What a weekend it was, huh? Yes, I do have some comments and ideas about the overall product at Talladega this week. I'm going to wait, though, until the end of this post. First, the finer notes on Sunday.
A car length here, a lane change there and one incredible pit call.
Ryan Newman left Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday obviously sore and presumably irritated after flipping violently in a late-race crash near the end of the NASCAR 
Race: AMP Energy 500
NASCAR and Richard Petty Motorsports look a little more spineless today.
I get what NASCAR is trying do, I really do.
Race: Tums 500
Predictable.
Kasey Kahne
