FanHouse New Hampshire Motor Speedway

We promise to throw a caution with ample time to slow down in the event of a spinning car on this Chase edition of Notes & Quotes.

Pressure? What pressure? Juan Pablo Montoya's run into the Chase for the Sprint Cup is quite the enviable position for most other drivers simply because of the expectations that the former Formula 1 driver has on his back.

Or, make that the lack of expectations.

"I mean, what's the pressure? We made the Chase," said Montoya after his third-place finish. "From now on, anything about that, it's a balance. Come here, first Chase race, put on the pole, finish second. Can I ask for anything else? Not really. A win would be nice, but that will come."

Based on the five versions of the Chase for the Sprint Cup we've seen so far, two things are clear.

First, Jimmie Johnson's run of three straight championships has to leave the No. 48 as the car to beat, regardless of his performance heading to the Chase. And second, drivers agree: average a top-five finish and you'll be hosting the beautiful Tiffany & Co.-built trophy in Homestead.

In fact, that's what Jimmie Johnson has done in the past two years, setting the bar for what this season's slate of drivers will be aiming for.

After what the Charlotte Observer is calling a "loud confrontation" at a Manchester, N.H., hotel prior to last Sunday's Lenox 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, TNT play-by-play announcer Bill Weber won't be returning to the booth in 2009.

The network announced the move Wednesday, and also confirmed that Ralph Sheheen will continue in the replacement role for the final two TNT races this weekend in Daytona Beach and next at Chicagoland.

Sheheen did a bang-up job in his first coverage of a Sprint Cup race on Sunday, but the bigger question surrounds what exactly Weber did to force himself out of the booth for what will ultimately be half of TNT's NASCAR coverage.

Mopping up from a wet finish, here's this week's teenage wasteland edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes. They're Logano-rific!

No. No. No. Rain Tires. No.

Because this is the third time in 2009 that a Sprint Cup race has been halted by rain [congrats, Lincoln Log-ano!], the thoughts of "Why can't NASCAR use rain tires?" are creeping back again.

Well, you want the answer? It's way too simple: the racing would plain suck.

If we celebrated David Reutimann's win at Charlotte last month and Matt Kenseth's February Daytona 500 victory -- both races called off early because of rain -- then no one can begrudge rookie Joey Logano his maiden win Sunday at rain-soaked New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

However, we can question NASCAR's schedule. And we're entitled to bristle just a bit at Sunday's finish.

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Where: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 2:00pm/EDT
TV/Radio: TNT, PRN Radio
Twitter: Updates at FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 67 degrees, 80% chance of rain
Distance: 301 laps (318.46 miles)
Pole Winner: Tony Stewart
2008 Winner: Kurt Busch

You may have heard or seen some reports this morning connecting Danica Patrick to NASCAR in a very big way, that also heavily impacts the sport's most popular driver. But here's one word of advice: don't read into it quite yet.

Get in the groove for today's race with FanHouse Warmup.

Veteran Brian Vickers couldn't have been less of a Red Bull Racing team player during Saturday afternoon's Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while his teammate Scott Speed handled a dicey situation beautifully.

The two Sprint Cup Series teammates tangled while battling Mike Bliss for fourth on the last lap, sending Vickers into the wall. On the cool-down lap, Vickers bumped Speed numerous times in retaliation.

What Vickers said, though, likely will have some lasting repercussions on the team.

You've really got wonder if now-former New Hampshire International Motor Speedway owner Bob Bahre really believes the words that are coming out of his mouth:

"He didn't make any promises, I want to make that clear," Bahre said. "But I don't think he's going to move any dates out of here.

Bahre's speedway was sold last week to Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports, Inc. SMI owns the tracks of Atlanta, Bristol, Infineon, Las Vegas, Lowe's, and Texas.

There was rampant speculation last week -- including here at the Fanhouse -- that Smith would immediately move one or both of New Hampshire's Nextel Cup race dates to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Smith denied that such a plan was in place during the announcement, but he didn't necessarily say anything that denied the move could happen, either.

Now we've heard Smith deny that, but he also gave another plausible idea:

Ship a date away from Atlanta Motor Speedway.

If you think about the idea, it makes sense on the level of selling tickets. Atlanta had noticeably open seats two weeks ago while NHMS has sold out for years. Obviously, Atlanta is a bigger market, but California has proved how much that doesn't matter when it comes to selling tickets.

So one date at Atlanta for two at NHMS and Las Vegas? I don't know what I think about that. The history in Atlanta -- albeit an old configuration -- might be a little too much.

What say you?