FanHouse JeffBurton

The pre-race buzz is understandably high for the double-file re-starts NASCAR is implementing in the Sprint Cup Series Sunday at Pocono, Pa.

But the real story isn't so much the exciting midseason change in format, but NASCAR's willingness to make a midseason change in format.

Say what you want about stock car's benevolent dictatorship, but in the last few years, the hard-line has been replaced with the open-line. And NASCAR's willingness to adapt -- in the name of more exciting competition -- may be the very thing that keeps it relevant and afloat in these tricky economic times.

Where: Bristol Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 2pm/EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, PRN Radio
Forecast: Sunny, 68
Distance: 500 laps (266.5 miles)
Pole Winner: Mark Martin
2008 Winner: Jeff Burton


If you need a better idea of how racing is being impacted by the economy look no further than Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol. For 13 straight years, the 165,000-seat facility in quiet, rolling hills of east Tennessee has been mecca for race fans -- and sold out each of its two Sprint Cup events without batting an eye.

The record will show that Kyle Busch started first and finished first in Sunday's Sprint Cup Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But thanks to an engine problem early in the race weekend, it wasn't quite that easy for Busch to score his first win of 2009.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Today marks the 51st running of the Daytona 500.

But for most Americans, NASCAR's green flag really dropped 30 years ago in the 1979 Daytona 500 when television carried flag-to-flag coverage of the sport's biggest race for the first time.

It was a dramatic finish -- Richard Petty edging Darrell Waltrip with the great Indy car champion A.J. Foyt keeping them honest. But it was "The Fight" going on in the infield after the race that captured the country's attention.

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: Jeff Burton
Team: No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
'08 Final Standing: 6th (-349)
Best Race: Bristol & Charlotte (1st)
Worst Race: Bristol (42nd-place)

Season in a box: 2008 was nothing more than the same old song and dance for Jeff Burton. So much, in fact, that I'm ready to start a lobby for a new nickname for Burton that is both bland and consistent. Ideas, anyone?

Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson led 339 laps Sunday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway en route to winning the Tums Quikpak 500, his sixth of the 2008 season.

More importantly, it gave Johnson -- yeah, that guy who's won two championships in-a-row -- a 149 point lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings after Jeff Burton was penalized for pitting outside the box late in the race.

Here's a quick look back at some of the sights from last weekend's racing action involving the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway, thanks to Getty Images.

I particularly like some of these photos because the night aspect makes the colors of NASCAR just pop out of the frame, so take a minute and enjoy 'em.

Jimmie Johnson left Lowe's Motor Speedway with a 69-point lead Saturday night following the Bank of America 500, but don't fall in line with those in the NASCAR media who are already etching his name on the Sprint Cup trophy.

Why, you ask, should we not see Johnson as the clear favorite despite him winning the last two championships?

Well, just take a look back to one year ago.

Teammate Jeff Gordon had just won his 6th race of 2007, his second in-a-row, and had a 68-point lead in the championship standings over Johnson as the Chase for the Sprint Cup entered the last half of the ten race stretch.

Yes, Jeff Gordon was en route to finally winning his fifth NASCAR title.

But it didn't happen.

FanHouse's Geoffrey Miller is at the track in Concord, N.C. for Saturday night's Bank of America 500 in full fan mode. He's hoping to avoid Kevin Harvick's motor coach driver from his location in the Ford Grandstand, Section I.

Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson and every other leader in Saturday night's Bank of America 500 proved one thing: NASCAR's biggest trump card to winning a race is still the clean air a driver gets, and the timing of that can pretty much guarantee a particular race's winner.

Of course, this isn't to rag on Jeff Burton or claim he secured an unjust victory because he certainly pulled out all of the stops with a great but risky call in the pits and holding off Jimmie Johnson for the lead as the laps wound down.

Instead, I'm just hoping that NASCAR is realizing how bitterly important the nose design on the Car of Tomorrow is, and how much it truly affects both the lead car and the trailing car.

For evidence, one only has to look so far as the laps led column from Saturday night's 334-lap race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Five drivers -- Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Brian Vickers and Jimmie Johnson -- led at least 42 laps in the event, with most of them coming on successive runs.

Jeff Burton made a valiant effort to catch Kyle Busch at the end of Friday night's Nationwide Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway but came up short.

Saturday night, the rest of the Sprint Cup field was coming up short on a gambling Jeff Burton.