FanHouse Michael Waltrip Racing

The water invading the hull of the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing sinking ship finally got to be too much for the talented Martin Truex Jr.

"I've given them everything that I could," said Truex on Tuesday after announcing he'd take over a ride at Michael Waltrip Racing. "There got to be too many questions, too many things that were uncertain."

Which is why, as we guessed a year ago, his one-year contract extension with the Teresa Earnhardt-run operation would be all for naught thanks to a nasty set of decisions and circumstances that have left a once proud team in survival mode, and might have left Truex settling for a team he might not have otherwise gone to.

Since rain ruled over racing again on Wednesday to postpone Tony Stewart's Prelude to the Dream (no, really, I love four-hour road trips for nothing!) I figured a nice little story from my chat with David Reutimann last week would be something to tide over your dirt track racing cravings.

By now, you've probably heard of "Buzzie" Reutimann.

Whether you're a Florida short track aficionado that lives and breathes places like East Bay or you're still wondering how in the world David Reutimann snuck out a win in the Coca-Cola 600 two weeks ago, you've at least seen something about the elder Reutimann -- "Buzzie" -- as he was on hand for his son's first Sprint Cup victory.

A five-day span of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing couldn't have any better for David Reutimann and his suddenly surging Michael Waltrip Racing.

Friday afternoon, the driver of the No. 00 Toyota scored the pole for Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Raceway, just days after his Monday win in the rain-delayed and then shortened Coca-Cola 600.

And to hear Reutimann tell the story earlier this week, there was a time when this type of success for MWR was not only unexpected, but the whole operation of MWR appeared to on the brink of closure.

The old cliché 'what a difference a year makes' couldn't have rang more true for Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00 Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.

A year ago, that No. 00 driven by Michael McDowell suffered one of the single-most violent crashes in NASCAR history as it first slammed the turn one wall before rolling multiple times down the track in qualifying. McDowell, miracuously, was uninjured.

Friday, though, David Reutimann continued his hot start to the season in the No. 00 by taking the pole for Sunday's Samsung 500.

NASCAR drivers aren't exactly strangers to making television cameos, but they've yet to be the perfect match Michael Waltrip landed this week.

Waltrip, ever a character in the NASCAR garage, enjoyed his first off week on the NASCAR schedule by flying out to Hollywood for the taping of an episode of NBC's My Name is Earl. The cameras started rolling this week for the comedy sitcom that's scheduled to air on Thursday, April 30.

And from the looks of things, Waltrip's role won't be too much of a stretch for the Kentucky native.

NASCAR Nextel Cup point leader is now in a must-win situation Saturday night at Richmond if he wishes to be part of the point lead heading into the Chase for the Championship.

Jimmie Johnson cruised to victory lane Sunday night at California Speedway, scoring his fifth victory of the season and ten more bonus points for the Chase, which starts in two weeks at New Hampshire.

Gordon wasn't a factor after an incident late in the race and now faces the possibility that his 317-point lead could wind up being a 10 or 20 point deficit after 400 laps at Richmond International Raceway with Johnson's win.

On the other end of the Chase spectrum, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was all but locked out of the 2007 edition of the Chase despite finishing 5th. He sits 13th in the standings, 128 points behind 12th-place Kevin Harvick with the lone regular season race remaining.

All Harvick has to do is finish 32nd Saturday and he is locked in, even if Junior leads the most laps and wins.

The race had a higher number of wrecks than normal, including two mildly series incidents.

The last time Dale Jarrett wasn't in a race Geoffrey Bodine took home the trophy. Terry Labonte, Rick Mast, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin rounded out the top 5 in that race -- the 1994 Tyson Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro.

Saturday night, those drivers will no longer get to hold that distinction. Jarrett ran a lap of 123.226, nearly 3 miles per hour slower than pole-winner Jeff Gordon, that failed to qualify him for the Nextel Cup Series event.

It's not much of a surprise to see Jarrett miss a race now, as he has used up his entire allotment of past champion provisionals early in the 2007 campaign. It is a surprise to think that it's been 424 races since DJ hasn't been around on Sunday (or Saturday night).

David Reutimann is the only Michael Waltrip Racing entry to make Saturday night's Jim Stewart/Crown Royal 400.

DJ parted ways with crew chief Matt Borland this week, and today at Richmond got a little heated after a question from a reporter about Jarrett having nearly 12 different crew chiefs over the past 5 years.

"That's because y'all count everybody that was put in for one race or another. I didn't have a thing to do with it sometimes and to be quiet honest it's not something I'm concerned with. If it takes 42 [crew chiefs] from now until whenever I don't really care what the number is," said Jarrett.

The last time Jarrett missed a race, however, he came back and won the next weekk. Hmm...

Jeff Gordon Makes 3-in-a-Row

Gordon went out 14th on the grid Friday night and held on to win the Budweiser Pole Award. It is Gordon's 61st career pole and he has now started first in 5 of his past 6 races, earning four poles. Carl Edwards will start 2nd. Scott Riggs, outside the top 35 in owner points, starts fourth and A.J. Allmendinger made his 3rd race of the year. Johnny Benson will start Saturday night's race in what will be his first Nextel Cup start since fall 2005 at Atlanta.

David Reutimann went into turn 3 Sunday at Talladega with four laps to go in third position. The next time by at that same point in the track, Reutimann's day would have went up in smoke -- figuratively and literally.

Driving a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, Reutimann was by and far having the best day of the year for any team out of that stable. He had driven a smart race and pit strategy had gotten him in position to stay at the front of the pack. Reutimann wasn't planning on any aggressive moves to the lead. Instead, he just wanted grab a solid day and plenty of momentum for his struggling team.

Instead, his engine had other ideas.

"I'm so bummed out. I had a chance to run pretty good today, I thought. That stuff happens and I'm just disappointed for the whole team," said Reutimann.

Reutimann's engine exploded off of turn 4, bringing out the day's second to last yellow, and the hopes of the new guys in the Toyota camp. Reutimann wound up 32nd.

"Today was just a situation where stuff breaks no matter how hard you work on it. We'll regroup and we still have a good speedway car for Daytona so we'll go from there."

I'd imagine most of the components in Reutimann's Toyota were not especially designed to run 500 miles at Talladega because of his go or go home status in qualifying. The impound procedure at Talladega causes teams that need to make the race to qualify with faster, but less enduring parts -- and that could have led to Reutimann's demise Sunday.

All in all though, it's a step forward for MWR and Toyota.

Just a quick shot of 110 octane to get you goin' for 500 499 miles of NASCAR Nextel Cup Racing at Talladega. Today's coverage starts at 1:30pm/et on FOX with the green flag sometime after 2:15pm/et. The weather forecast today is remarkable -- Sunny and a high of 82.

Would the Real Tony Stewart Please Stand Up?
First, he wouldn't talk. Then, he blasted NASCAR for being the new professional wrestling. NASCAR then, for all intents and purposes, laid a verbal lashing on him. Yesterday? Defiant as ever, acting as if he was still right. Which are you, Tony? When will you pick a stand and quit waffling? I can't agree more with this column over on ThatsRacin. The first line really says it all -- Tony Stewart is no hero for what he said on the radio, rather, he is just talking to be heard because the method in which he displays his displeasure is utterly ineffective for change. The NASCAR Nation thanks you, Tony, for so damaging any credibility this sport has worked so hard to have. Today begins an attempt to bring that back.

Don't Let the 499 Fool You

Yesterday at Talladega, Michael Waltrip announced that David Hyder can now add "former" to his crew chief title for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Hyder hasn't been at the track since Daytona when a suspicious substance was found on the intake manifold of Waltrip's #55 during qualifying. Waltrip was fined $100,000 and docked 100 points in addition to suspensions of both Hyder and competition director Bobby Kennedy for what mounted to be one of the biggest cheating scandals in recent memory.

Waltrip has yet to make a race since Daytona and his two other teams have not fared much better.

Waltrip reportedly had a long discussion with NASCAR again at Texas Motor Speedway a few weeks back to determine when his employees could return from their indefinite suspensions. At that meeting, Waltrip must have found some information implicating Hyder in the scandal.

After all, why else would Hyder be parting ways with the team? A paycheck for hanging around the shop couldn't have been too bad -- and he still won't be cleared by NASCAR to work at the track with another team due to the indefinite suspension.

It sounds like we could have our culprit.