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SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Tony Stewart is off to such a strong first season as a team owner, he's already open to expansion.

The Sprint Cup Series points leader said Friday he'd consider adding a third team to Stewart-Haas Racing next year if the right combination was available. Although he promised his team not to expand too quickly, their success so far this season has made him consider his options.

"I wanted to make sure we had two cars that were competitive and had a chance to win a championship," he said Friday at Infineon Raceway. "I'm proud of the fact that I think we're at that point. So if the right situation came along, we would entertain it."

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.

Martin Truex Jr. appears set to end the rumor mill swirling around his future.

ESPN.com's David Newton reported on Saturday that "several sources" are confirming that Truex will now stay right where he's at -- with Dale Earnhardt Inc. -- until at least 2010:

The 28-year-old New Jersey native has agreed in principle to a two-year deal that will keep him at Dale Earnhardt Inc. through the 2010 season, multiple sources close to the situation told ESPN.com on Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sources said an official announcement is expected any day, and that details with multiple sponsors remain to be finalized.

Truex, asked if he has an agreement, said: "We're getting there, yeah. Things are going well right. I'm pretty happy. I just want to think about racing this weekend."

That quote from Truex seems to seal the deal for me, as he definitely didn't make any attempt to deny the report. He pretty much gave the "yeah, that's been correctly reported but I can't say anything yet so I'm going to get back in my race car and stay away from you media-types"-style answer.

I'm glad Truex has got his deal seemingly worked out with DEI, a team where he'll remain as the No. 1 driver in the camp. I don't think, however, that re-signing with the team will lead him towards a Sprint Cup championship any time soon.

McMurray Grows Weary of Constant Free Agency Reports

It must be tough to have the media firing you from a high-profile job before you get the news, unless, you know, the media is wrong.

One-fourth of the Chase for the Nextel Cup population had a good day (and night!) at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

The remaining three-fourths would have gladly taken Dorothy's trip to Oz instead of their 210 travels around the 1.5 mile circuit Sunday.

The disparity was pretty clean cut as Jimmie Johnson left with the point lead and Denny Hamlin left with a 248 point deficit in twelfth.

In between, Jeff Gordon again averted disaster by missing wrecks -- again -- and used an impressive drive in the last 30 laps to take to a fifth-place finish. Clint Bowyer now sits third in the standings after getting to the finish line first when Greg Biffle ran out of gas finishing 2nd.

Tony Stewart was a hothead after cutting a tire and then getting booted by Kurt Busch while trying to find pit road. That incident collected Carl Edwards, leaving him with his 2nd DNF in as many days at Kansas. Busch ended with a decent day in 11th that should have been oh-so-much better with the way his car handled before the second rain delay.

Kevin Harvick followed the same path as Busch and wound up sixth.

Others walking away disappointed from the crazy race included Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch who all got the wrong end of crashes.

The last time the NASCAR Busch Series was at Talladega Superspeedway, the track was old and gray. That was April 2006. The April 2007 version of the Aaron's 312 will be run on nearly brand-new surface with loads more grip.

The result? Reaaaaaly fast speeds.

In Thursday's first Busch Series practice, Mike Wallace ran a lap of 197.342 mph -- much too fast for the liking of officials because it gets dangerously close to the 200 mph barrier that NASCAR likes to abide by. According to the sanctioning body, the stock cars get a little too flight happy when at those speeds.

As a result, NASCAR cancelled the extra Busch Series practice and issued new restrictor plates that had four holes with a total of 1/8 inch loss of airflow than the old 30/32 inch plates. An extended happy hour was run later with the new restrictor plates.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. also suffered some cosmetic damage from debris on the track. (Maybe Tony is right... ha)

Talladega. The sound of it is enough to make any NASCAR fan's heart race. 500 miles of full-throttle three-wide racing. What's not to like? Jimmie Johnson won last year's edition, taking the first race of the Hendrick sweep at Talladega in 2006. Choosing a victor at Talladega is like eating healthy at McDonald's -- there's too much that can happen to get in the way of it. Anyways, here goes.


1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Talladega is always a great place for Dale Jr. to bounce back into thick of things. Big Red was on his way to a victory last fall until Brian Vickers showed up. He'll do it on his Daddy's birthday

2. Jeff Gordon - Gordon will undoubtedly have a strong car, but Talladega could be the place where something else could derail this magical start to a season.

3. Jimmie Johnson - Bad day at Texas, could never get all the way to the front at Phoenix, and last year at 'Dega, contact from Brian Vickers kept him from making it 3 of 4 in restrictor plate racing. He'll be strong.