BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- The most surprised person to find Mark Martin in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway was the driver himself.
The 50-year-old NASCAR star has run well but has had to deal with considerable bad luck this season. It looked like more of the same Sunday when the battery in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet began to fail before the halfway mark in the LifeLock 400 Sprint Cup race.
Martin turned off everything in the car that he could, nursing it as best he could. Then he realized the race was going to be a fuel economy run.
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- He's won the Indy 500 and Formula One jewel, the Grand Prix of Monaco, but Columbian Juan Pablo Montoya figures winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway ranks right up there on a list of impressive racing feats.
Certainly, it is another shot of adrenalin for the newly merged Earnhardt-Ganassi operation, which also won the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500. It's been a big week for owner Chip Ganassi, who's Grand-Am sportscar team won the pole in Virginia and whose IndyCar Series team is coming off a win at Long Beach on Sunday.
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: Juan Pablo Montoya Team: No. 42 Chip GanassiDodge '08 Final Standing: 25th (-3355) Best Race: Aaron's 499 at Talladega (2nd-place) Worst Race: Dickies 500 at Texas (43rd-place)
Season in a box: The most telling reason why Juan Pablo Montoya found himself finishing 25th in the season standings may have been the turmoil Chip Ganassi Racing was feeling financially.
Chip Ganassi has found a way to make his team not as pathetic as before and Dale Earnhardt Inc. has found a way to keep grasping at being a relevant Sprint Cup Series team.
That method? Join the two programs together to create strange bedfellows, cut costs and hope that a math equation of subpar plus subpar finally equals something good.
Yep, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates will be teaming up to make a four-car team in 2009.
Two of motorsports' biggest names – Earnhardt and Ganassi – will launch a four-car team beginning in 2009 through the combination of the motorsports operations of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Inc. (CGRFS). NASCAR stars Martin Truex Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya will drive the Nos. 1 and 42 respectively and future star Aric Almirola will be behind the wheel of the No. 8. The driver of the No. 41 will be named in the near future.
For those of you keeping track at home, this combination of forces currently includes 4 cars, 3 drivers and 2.5 sponsorships. Let's hope that changes before 2009.
Additionally, the overriding rumor is that Chevrolet will be the manufacturer for the organization, mainly because it's very likely Dale Earnhardt would rise from his grave to haunt anything bearing his name that doesn't bear a bow tie. Dodge, Ganassi's current partner, is apparently being shoved out.
I saw Montoya's crash live Sunday during our live blog here on the 'House, and immediately felt my stomach drop for how blatantly intentional Gilliiland's move was.
And with 14 laps to go, they found out why Talladega was such a wild card.
Heading in to turn 3, Carl Edwards was running second in the outside line of cars when he pushed a little too hard on teammate Greg Biffle while the two were bump-drafting. Biffle lost control of his Ford and slid into his other teammate Matt Kenseth.
With all three cars sliding across the track, chaos ensued in the pack behind them.
Juan Pablo Montoya: "Hey, did you see that lap, man? Yep, first Sprint Cup pole! Uh-huh! Wait, what did you say? They disqualified me? What the #%^&?!?!"
While the above quote is not actually attributable to JPM, you can bet he wasn't happy to be starting 42nd on Sunday at Kansas Speedway after posting Friday's qualifying session fastest time.
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates has to be scrambling to come up something -- anything -- in the way of sponsorship for 2009 with Wednesday's news about the sponsor of Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 42.
Sirius Speedway has learned that Chevron-Texaco will not return as sponsor of Juan Pablo Montoya's #42 Dodge next season. [...]
Texaco-Havoline will not move to another team in 2009, electing instead to end their longstanding involvement in NASCAR. That decision leaves Ganassi Racing in need of at least two new sponsors in 2009, and possibly three. Team owner Chip Ganassi recently parked the #40 Dodge driven by Dario Franchitti due to lack of sponsorship, and there are longstanding rumors that Target may not return to the #41 Dodge currently driven by Reed Sorenson.
Of all the sponsorships one would have expected to stay with NASCAR, the Texaco-Havoline ride is near the top of the list mainly because of the staying power it has had in Sprint Cup Series competition.
Why was JPM in Wrigleyville, you ask? Well, he was the token NASCAR publicity head chosen throw out the first pitch and sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", in advance of the nearby race. A little cross-promotion, if you will.
Obviously, the best part of that entire clip was the old guy in the stands at 0:44 that covered his ears as JPM led the crowd in singing the baseball anthem, because, well, Montoya isn't exactly Harry Carey.
I'm glad Montoya played along with the promo opportunity -- even though he finished the song like an entire verse ahead of the entire crowd.
Quality effort, Mr. Montoya, that's a Youtube keeper.
After watching the interviews and reading them online following Sunday's Lenox 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, I'm confused about what Kyle Busch was saying.
And because I'm confused, I'm not going to make false assumptions. Speculation, though, is definitely going to happen.
Kyle was undoubtedly in horrible spirits after finishing 25th in the rain-shortened event. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won five times in 2008 and leads the point standings, so he's just not used to running poorly.
Add to that getting knocked around under caution by Juan Pablo Montoya, and you can bet Busch wasn't going to be too happy in his post-race interview. Luckily, though, he obliged to the media's request and talked about his race. That's, though, where his comments got a little quirky:
"We missed something all weekend. I knew it was going to be a dismal day and I was trying to make the most of it," Busch said.
"If we had stayed out, we could have won the race, but I just didn't feel that was the right way to win a race. I didn't feel like we had a shot to hold off the guys that were going to be behind us."
So is it safe to assume that Kyle simply didn't want to win the race? Was he the one who made the decision to come to pit road when his brother didn't?
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- The most surprised person to find Mark Martin in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway was the driver himself..jpg)
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- He's won the Indy 500 and Formula One jewel, the Grand Prix of Monaco, but Columbian 
Chip Ganassi
With 15 laps to go in Sunday's 
After watching the interviews and reading them online following Sunday's Lenox 301 at 
