FanHouse Allstate400

At-track reporting, live chats with drivers and live updates on the ol' Twitter feed -- that's all on the plate for this weekend's NASCAR festivities in Indianapolis. FH writers Holly Cain and Geoffrey Miller will both be trackside for all your Allstate 400 coverage. Come on back, y'all.

Is it not amazing how bold NASCAR and their spokesman Ramsey Poston have been about the Jeremy Mayfield saga? One would think it would be in their best interest to go into "no comment" mode about the ugly situation, instead of consistently adding meth fuel to the fire.

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: Elliott Sadler
Team: No. 19 Gillette-Evernham Dodge
'08 Final Standing: 24th (-3324)
Best Race: Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (4th-place)
Worst Race: Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta (43rd-place)

Season in a box: Sadler's 2008 campaign started with a bang thanks to a 6th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500. From there, however, things didn't pan out as Sadler would have expected.

With NASCAR's awards banquet on Friday, Dec. 5 (stop by for the live blog!), here's a look at 10 from '08 -- 10 of the NASCAR season's best moments.

NASCAR Sprint Cup racing was graced with one of the most beautiful weekends Central Indiana could offer with mild temperatures and crystal clear skies during the final weekend of July.

The sanctioning body, and its tire supplier (who's problems earlier in the season caught a little bit of Smoke, if you will) Goodyear, though, managed to turn one of the most-consistently awesome Brickyard race weekends in to a total mess.

As I'm sure none of you will soon forget, the July's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard -- also known as the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- was marred by a complete failure of the tire compound brought by Goodyear for one of the season's crown jewel events.

Indy was one of three races that yours truly had the chance to cover first hand, and following the final Saturday practice while standing behind Kurt Busch's No. 2 car, I noticed something I had never seen before. Black powder, or rather granulated rubber, was sticking to the rear quarter-panels and trunk cover after less than a handful of laps turned around the 2.5-mile oval.

That powder, it turns out, was a direct foresight into what NASCAR fans were about to experience the next day.

Remember this guy?

Jimmie Johnson -- word has it that he has won two Sprint Cup championships -- appears to be the new Kyle Busch in the NASCAR world.

One of the big arguments made by several fans this week after last Sunday's now nearly officially named "Tire Fiasco de Brickyard" was that NASCAR needs to seriously look at having two or three official tire suppliers for the sport.

It seems simple enough, right? Put in the all-American thought that competition leads to improvement, and Voila!, you never have a single tire problem in NASCAR because teams will be able to select the best tire for their race car on any given weekend.

Unfortunately, this is nothing more than a classic example of what you see is not what you get.

NASCAR has been down this road before.

In the early 1990's, Hoosier Tire came into the sport as competition to Goodyear. Hoosier -- naturally an Indiana-based company -- was mildly successful in their five-year foray, winning the Daytona 500 and the pole for the 1994 Brickyard 400, in addition to a handful or so of races with Geoffrey Bodine in 1994.

Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was not what any NASCAR fan paid to see or tuned in to see. It wasn't what my father expected when he bought our tickets for the event months ago. It wasn't what any of the fans in my annual Brickyard home -- Turn four's Stand J -- wanted to see.

But let's face it, not a sole in the garage area whether it be NASCAR, Goodyear, the race teams, the power-tripping IMS yellow shirt security guards, and not even an absent Tony George wanted to put on a race like the one that happened Sunday at America's most legendary place of speed.

Roger Penske and winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with an IndyCar seem to fit together just like a glove.

After all, the car owner has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 14 times in his illustrious career, including most recently with Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006.

After Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Rick Hendrick can lay claim to also being one of the top owners to ever bring race cars to the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis. Jimmie Johnson's 400 victory -- the second at IMS for the California driver -- brings Hendrick's total to six in NASCAR's second-biggest race.

The closest other owner? Joe Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing has three total victories at IMS with Bobby Labonte's win in 2000 and Tony Stewart's pair of victories in 2005 and 2007.

Richard Childress and Robert Yates both have two wins at the Speedway, while Ray Evernham and Ricky Rudd each have one car owner win.

Granted, this isn't a comparison between the Indianapolis 500 and the Allstate 400 in terms of wins -- Penske's eight more victories at the track isn't a record that Hendrick could catch any time soon -- but it is interesting that Hendrick has found his way to the front at Indianapolis in 40% of the stock car races run at Indy.

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.

After an all-too-quick three days in Indianapolis, here's some final thoughts after an all-too-interesting Allstate 400:

Blame One, Blame 'em All - You simply can't solely blame anyone for what happened at Indianapolis on Sunday. NASCAR and Goodyear tire tested here, thinking they had found a good compound, but the tire just never made it to their expectations. It wasn't for a lack of effort and didn't come to a boycott -- the fans still got to see a race, despite the challenges presented.

Both sides truly tried their hardest to get something to work, and ultimately the race fans still got to see a race -- though a much different one than anybody anticipated.

Next year, you can bet things will be different. We'll talk more about that Monday.

Cream of the Crop, No Matter What - It wouldn't have been hard for Jimmie Johnson & Co. to try to out run their competitors on Sunday and take more chances with their No. 48 race car. It was the fastest one on track, and if he wanted, he likely could have put a straightaway on the field within five laps if he pushed out front.

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.


If you're one of those folks that look at life with the glass half full, you could say that ultimately the finish of the 15-running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard in Indianapolis was respectable and legitmate.

After all, Jimmie Johnson scored his second victory at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway after flat dominating the entire week in Indy and the race didn't end under caution. And fortunately, nobody got hurt.

Unfortunately for the race fans who tuned in for NASCAR's second-biggest event and the 200,000+ on hand were treated to a race that was ultimately the greatest heat race ever run at IMS.

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.

Jimmie Johnson has to be excited about waking up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday morning.

After all, the 2006 winner of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard seems to have a pretty decent No. 48 Chevrolet for the 15th running of stock cars at IMS. Johnson's weekend at Indy has consisted of winning the pole, pacing the final practice, and having the second-fastest speed in the weekend's third practice.

And oh yeah, he finished second two weeks ago at the Sprint Cup Series' last race in Chicago.

Nothing like striking the iron while its hot at Indianapolis, right?

Pending he gets through the race without pounding the Turn 3 wall and catching on fire (2007) or pounding the Turn 4 wall and catching on fire (2005), Johnson looks to be an odds-on favorite (even over the red hot Kyle Busch) at Indianapolis on a warm July Sunday afternoon.

Tire Gremlins Worsen at Indianapolis With New Car

Tire issues are nothing new at Indianapolis with the big, bulky stock cars early in the weekend. Stated simply, it's an engineering marvel that a rubber compound can be built to carry the 3,400-pound cars through a flat corner at speeds above 150mph four times a lap for 30 circuits around the oval.