FanHouse JackRoush

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It wasn't a full race, but for the driver from Cambridge, Wisc., it's still the Daytona 500.

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, won the rain-shortened 51st running of the Daytona 500 Sunday night after NASCAR stopped the event 48 laps from the scheduled distance.

Here's what everyone will be talking about as the NASCAR haulers roll into Daytona International Speedway next month for the start of one the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory.

Let's be real. The teams that were winning when NASCAR allowed formal testing will still be the teams winning now that it's not allowed. The new policy eliminating testing at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks this season will save teams money, but don't expect it to even the playing field.

Tony Stewart seems to have started something out in the desert.

The two-time Sprint Cup champion helped auction off one of his No. 20 Chevrolets from Joe Gibbs Racing a year ago at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., and enlisted $300,000 for the Darrell Gwynn Foundation. This year, Stewart isn't back, but plenty of others in the NASCAR world are.

The biggest draw so far was auctioned off Saturday night when Jeff Gordon's 2006 No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo fetched a mere $500,000 with the help of car owner Rick Hendrick standing on the auction block.

Jack Roush, co-owner of NASCAR's Roush Fenway Racing, can sleep a little better these days.

Toyota Racing Development -- long the rotten apple in the eye of Roush -- acknowledged this week in a conference call that it too expects budgetary cuts in the coming year thanks to an automobile market that's having a problem or two selling cars.

Tony Stewart may be just getting his feet wet with that little business venture he's starting for the 2009 Sprint Cup Series, but that certainly doesn't mean he's giving up on one of his true loves:

Open-wheel midget racing in the Mid-West.

So, for another year, Stewart showed up at Fort Wayne's (Indiana) Memorial Coliseum last Friday and Saturday to take part in the "Rumble in Fort Wayne" -- an indoor midget race on a 1/6-mile track set up on the floor of the convention hall. (That's Stewart on the left)

Reports from the local paper indicate that Stewart's winning percentage for the two-night event was 50 percent after he bumped the leader out of the way in the Friday night version to take the checkered flag. Stewart apologized immediately after the race for the contact, saying it wasn't intentional and that "it was my fault."

The driver he bumped, Lou Cicconi Jr., understood Stewart and followed it up by winning the feature race the next night and beating Stewart by a third of a lap, or roughly the length of a football field.

In a telltale sign of how different NASCAR and other top levels of racing are from their short-track roots, Cicconi Jr., announced earlier in the week that he was selling a race he bought to beat Stewart with simply because the officials were "busting [his] chops" about the measurements, and that he'd be leaving the racing series. You can find that chassis for sale on a messageboard.

Think you'd ever see Rick Hendrick or Jack Roush make a call like that? Doubt it.

Jamie McMurray is probably one of the happier guys in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week. Here's why:

1) He finished third at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend and could have very easily won the event.

2) He proposed to his longtime girlfriend Christy Futrell. (FanHouse supposes she said yes)

3) He's getting to team up with his longtime friend and former crew chief from the Chip Ganassi Racing days, Donnie Wingo.

There's no official indication on which aspect he's the happiest about, however. Grin.

Regardless, it's been more than a good week for McMurray, who has had one of the most disappointing performances in his brief career at Roush Fenway Racing that a guy could in that situation. In the past few weeks, McMurray has notched finishes of 5th, 7th and 3rd with one exception of a 38th-place finish at Martinsville thanks to mechanical troubles.

He's been so good, in fact, that ABC's commentators have wondered plenty about why Jack Roush is wanting to move Larry Carter off of the pit box for the No. 26 when it seems that McMurray has finally started to see the light at the powerhouse Ford team.

McMurray, though, isn't questioning that decision and instead is very pleased to know that Wingo will be leading the No. 26 come Daytona in February.

Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards and team owner Jack Roush officially kicked off the whining about Jimmie Johnson's incredible Chase for the Sprint Cup dominance Sunday evening at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

And you can bet that said whining is going to be pouring on heavily over the last three weeks of the NASCAR season from all sides of the catchfence as Johnson looks to wrap up his third-straight title before the season finale in Homestead, Fla.

Edwards, who trails Johnson by an astounding 183 points after seven races, has suffered two bad races in the Chase -- a crash at Talladega and electrical problems at Lowe's Motor Speedway. And because of that, he and team owner Roush have started a lobby for a new Chase format.

"[...] that's what we want to go back and [remember] about 2008 – think about our championship run and what it meant," Roush said. "But, unfortunately, I think it will come down to thinking about the broken engine parts, the ignition and the other frustrations we've had, but it would be my suggestion as NASCAR looks at how to make this [Chase] more exciting, [that] every team had an opportunity to throw out one race and be able to just count nine of the 10.

"That means you could have a mulligan, and you could be able to come back from it."

What about that makes you a more legitmate NASCAR champion than the current format that shortchanges past Winston Cup champions?

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

It's Saturday morning in Indianapolis, and after forgetting my parking tag on the way in this morning, I have finally made my way to the media center here at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With that, let's get started on some news and notes from Friday afternoon at the Brickyard:

Rusty & Ryan Still Don't Like Each Other

Rusty Wallace must not be a fan of Ryan Newman, even after all these years. The two drivers had a lukewarm relationship at best while they were teammates, and Rusty decided to pile on some more bad blood Friday at IMS.

Newman said he left Penske Racing on mutual terms but Rusty says not say fast:

"He didn't leave. I've read many, many stories that said that,'' Wallace said. "Roger Penske called Ryan Newman up to his offices and said 'I don't need your services next year.' Ryan Newman didn't come to him and say 'I'm leaving.'''

Now why Rusty feels its imperative that he rag on Newman is beyond me, and apparently Ryan feels the same way. You can read more about the "He Said, He Said" battle here.

I wonder how happy ESPN (Rusty's employer) is about their driver analyst ripping on a driver that is racing in the same series they will be covering on Sunday? They can't be too pleased.

Roush Doesn't See McMurray Coming Back, Apparently

Jack Roush had some interesting words during a Friday press conference at IMS about the future drivers in his operation, and more exclusively about Jamie McMurray:

There's been plenty of discussion in the comment sections, and a few of you have written in to inquire more about, so I'd figure I'd try to paint a clear picture in the muddied waters of NASCAR engines.

So is Toyota really at an advantage this season?

Well, yeah.

They've got Kyle Busch. What more do you need to know?

In all seriousness, though, sources across the garage area are saying that Toyota's Nationwide Series package -- no word on the Sprint Cup package -- has given the manufacturer at least a 20 horsepower advantage.

20 doesn't sound like a bunch, but when you consider the rule changes that the Nationwide Series received in 2008 that robbed the cars of horsepower, it becomes a bigger influence. I'm not smart enough to know what kind of speed difference that results in, but I do know that it makes a difference and can give teams more play in how they make the downforce package work on their car.

This whole "Toyota Has More Than Thou" sentiment hasn't just bubbled up, either. Back in March, Kevin Harvick and Jack Roush -- both owners in the Nationwide Series -- stated the same thing that we're hearing now from Clint Bowyer's crew chief: Toyota has at least 20 more ponies under the hood than everyone else.

Jamie McMurray is gone from Roush Fenway Racing after 2008, ThatsRacin.com reported Sunday.

It's not a huge shock to me to see McMurray headed out the door -- the FanHouse talked about this in April -- thanks to a few factors. The most significant, though, is that McMurray has never been able to be a consistent front runner in the Sprint Cup Series in RFR's race cars.

That being said, what is the real likelihood that McMurray even finds a Sprint Cup ride for 2009?

I'd say there are quite a few factors running against him in that pursuit -- the least of which has been his driving statistics over the past few years. Those stats -- one win at Daytona, 6 Top-5s, and 18 Top-10s since signing with Roush -- don't help much, though.

The Sprint Cup Series is entering a pretty busy "silly season" period that will definitely see some moving and shaking for 2009. Among those candidates eligible for moving to different seats are Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr., Bobby Labonte, Reed Sorenson, and possibly more.

McMurray, if he is indeed out the door at Roush and seeking new employment, is vacating a seat that won't be filled. His sponsor Crown Royal is expected to move in with teammate Greg Biffle and Roush could use the chance to measure his team down to four cars as NASCAR has mandated for 2010.

All those factors aside, though, if you're a car owner are you hiring McMurray?