I call myself an average eBay shopper, and because of that, I'm putting out a warning.
If you see some great deals on Tony Stewart gear, there's a reason for that: it's not relevant after 2008.
Stewart announced here at Chicagoland Speedway Thursday that he and Haas-CNC Racing will pair up to form Stewart-Haas Racing, an entity that Stewart will drive for in 2009, that will sport two teams, and will continue running Chevrolets.
The partnership, amazingly enough, doesn't appear to have involved any financial commitment on Stewart's part, with Stewart continually referring to the move in numerous tenses of the word "give". When asked directly, he skirted the question.
Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona wasn't the first Jeff Gordon has lost a big race at Daytona thanks to a spin on a late race restart.
And it wasn't the first time that Gordon caused the wreck himself. First, we'll start with Gordon's most current mistake at Daytona:
As Kyle Busch restarted the race, he kept the field at a slow pace, messing up 2nd-place Gordon's timing as they came to the green flag. That allowed Carl Edwards to get a run on the inside of the No. 24 as they exited the tri-oval, and when Gordon threw the block, his left-rear clipped Edwards' right-front fender, spinning the No. 24 out of the race.
Gordon had led 46 laps in the 160-lap event and appeared to have a car that could overtake Busch for the win, but the late race mistake during the green-white-checkered finish left Gordon with a 30th-place finish, just as the same move cost Gordon a shot at winning the 2002 Daytona 500:
The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had started the race -- actually more like the race weekend -- feeling under the weather. And as the field took the green flag for Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Stewart was hoping he could muster up enough strength to complete all 160 laps.
For a while, as the sun was setting, it looked like he would do it. After starting 17th, Stewart had moved all the way into the Top-5 with a car that likely could have led had he been wanting to push the issue early. Then, the handling started to go away, making the car extremely loose.
"I thought we were going to be able to (make it) for the first two runs, but once the car got a little bit loose and we had to start really sawing on the wheel, it's like it zapped the energy out of me and I started making mistakes," Stewart said.
In other words, Tony knew that he simply wasn't the best driver to be in the No. 20, and at lap 72, Stewart headed to pit road under caution, telling crew chief Greg Zippidelli that he had already unbuckled and was getting out in favor of relief driver J.J. Yeley. Yeley would finish 20th after getting caught in a last-lap crash.
"It wasn't worth putting those guys out on the track at risk and me making a mistake in front of them and creating a bad day for those guys," said Stewart.
"I was trying to be responsible and respectful to my race team and to the rest of the competitors out there."
Miss the race? Wanna re-live the green-white-checkered finish? Here's your chance, thanks to Youtube.
Watch below for the Jeff Gordon-spinning, David Ragan-near-wrecking, Michael Waltrip-wall-banging, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch side-by-side finishing awesomeness that was the end of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in all of its glory from the live TNT broadcast.
The fun starts below as the field takes the final green flag of the race:
Gordon gets the on-track fireworks show started by getting turned around by Carl Edwards while riding in second place after the leaders exited the tri-oval under the green flag. Gordon took blame for the incident, though it left him with a disappointing 30th-place finish.
The Busch that everyone expects to win took the checkered flag in the Sprint Cup Series for the sixth time Saturday night at Daytona.
Kyle Busch, instead of his brother Kurt who won last week thanks to rain at New Hampshire, won a crazy finish in the Coke Zero 400 by holding off Carl Edwards in turn one on the white flag lap of a green-white-checkered finish. The race ended in turn one thanks to a big wreck behind the leaders involving Michael Waltrip and a host of others, with Busch edging Edwards by a nose on video replays.
Put away the roman candles, y'all, Saturday night is right for racing in Daytona. Tune in on TNT for Wide Open coverage and join in the conversation as we follow the Sprint Cup stars under lights for 400 miles on NASCAR's most famed track.
Click the link below to find your way to the live blog!
After blowing up colorful projectiles in the name of freedom on the 4th, hang out with FanHouse for the Coke Zero 400 Live Blog Saturday night at 7:45pm/ET.
For a NASCAR beat writer, Friday afternoon would have been an easy day to pump out the stories at Daytona International Speedway. Here's why: Denny Hamlin Wins No. 9 for No. 20: Hamlin scored the ninth win of the 2008 season for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the Nationwide Series Friday night in Daytona, further solidifying my point about Joey Logano. Simply, the No. 20 is unstoppable, whether or not Hamlin, Logano, Tony Stewart, or Kyle Busch is in the driver's seat.
Hamlin held off Sprint Cup teammate Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a green-white-checkered finish sprint to the finish line. Brad Keselowski led the most laps but wound up 10th according to NASCAR.com in his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
Here's a sobering thought for you. Morgan Shepherd is 66 years old. James Hylton is 73 years old. Kerry Earnhardt hasn't driven a race car in a year. All three of those drivers were cleared by NASCAR to compete in Friday night's Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Joey Logano just turned 18 and has already won a Nationwide Series race. [...] Logano was not approved to race Friday at Daytona.
Interesting.
Paul Menard Overshadows Teammate's Trouble: I promise, FanHousers, I didn't mean to jinx Martin Truex Jr. with my prediction in Thursday's "Chase Bubbler" feature.
After blowing up colorful projectiles in the name of freedom on the 4th, hang out with FanHouse for the Coke Zero 400 Live Blog Saturday night at 7:45pm/ET.
Heading into Saturday night's showdown at Daytona, there are now nine races remaining until the Chase for the Championship begins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Here's the drivers on the outside that are looking in: 13th - Matt Kenseth (-15 points): The No. 17 joined his fellow Roush Fenway Racing teammates in having a terrible weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick, who sat in 13th just one week ago, led quite a few laps until the late rain hampered his effort to secure a Top-5, limiting the damage to Kenseth's Chase chances. Kenseth came away from NHMS with an 18th-place finish, but the effort left him 15 points out of 12th.
Saturday night at Daytona is a crapshoot for Kenseth -- he's never won on a restrictor-plate track in the Sprint Cup series -- but expect this cagey veteran to find a solid spot in the Top-12 after Chicago, Indianapolis, and Michigan. 14th - Martin Truex Jr. (-31 points): Just like Kenseth, Truex didn't exactly race in a manner that he's going to be writing home to Mom about at New Hampshire, but he was one of the lucky drivers who worked strategy and rain into a Top-5 finish. The finish vaulted the No. 1 three spots in the standings and left him much closer to the Top-12.
After blowing up colorful projectiles in the name of freedom on the 4th, hang out with FanHouse for the Coke Zero 400 Live Blog Saturday night at 7:45pm/ET.
With Casey Mears gone from Hendrick Motorsports after 2008, team owner Rick Hendrick doesn't appear to be wasting any time in announcing who will pilot the now vacant No. 5 Chevrolet.
HMS released a statement Tuesday saying that it will announce during a 12:30pm/ET news conference Friday at Daytona International Speedway who will indeed be behind the wheel of the No. 5.
Sources across the 'net are saying that 49-year-old Mark Martin will most likely be introduced as that driver -- in a full-time role for a one-off effort at a Sprint Cup title.
Coincidentally, Aric Almirola was confirmed as the full-time driver of the No. 8 U.S. Army DEI Chevrolet for 2009 and beyond, removing Martin from his part-time role with the team. Martin hasn't driven full-time in Sprint Cup since 2006.
After blowing up colorful projectiles in name of freedom on the 4th, hang out with FanHouse for the Coke Zero 400 Live Blog Saturday night at 7:45pm/ET.
The team owner cited a lack of funding as the reason why the No. 40 won't be competing anymore in 2008, effective for this weekend's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. The team has lacked full-time sponsorship all season, but has seemed to get by with a little help from multiple sources, including Fastenal, Tums, Target, and others.
But if Robby Gordon or Yates Racing can race all season with less than perfect sponsorship packages, how in the world can Chip Ganassi -- a true racing mogul -- not afford to run a team through at least one of NASCAR's crown jewel events?
To me, Ganassi's unwillingness to keep Franchitti in through Daytona shows that he isn't satisfied with Franchitti's performance in his first season in Sprint Cup. Franchitti's stats of no Top-5s, no Top-10s, and an average finish of 34th don't do much in his defense.
Regardless, its still surprising to me to know that Ganassi is essentially giving up on a Sprint Cup program for a guy he knew would struggle. A reason that Ganassi gave last fall when he fired David Stremme from the No. 40 ride was that he felt Franchitti either had sponsorship dollars with him or could bring them in more easily.
Then, it looked like Stremme was the victim, but now its looking like he got out at the right time from what seems to be an imploding Ganassi racing.
Tony Stewart
For a NASCAR beat writer, Friday afternoon would have been an easy day to pump out the stories at Daytona International Speedway. Here's why:
Heading into Saturday night's showdown at Daytona, there are now nine races remaining until the Chase for the Championship begins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Here's the drivers on the outside that are looking in:
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