The Sprint All-Star Race XXIV is scheduled for Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. As the teams prepare for the winner-take-all non-points event, stay with the FanHouse all week for plenty of All-Star coverage.
"The Winston" in 2004 was the beginning of the end, you could say, for Kurt Busch at Roush Fenway Racing. The elder Busch from Las Vegas would go on to win the championship that year, but his antics in the all-star race sure didn't make him any friends.
Greg Biffle, his teammate, was likely at the top of the list as he got wrecked by Busch to set off a massive crash in turn one. Watch below at 0:46:
One lap after a restart, Busch got a big run down the frontstretch behind Biffle. By the time they passed the start/finish line, Busch was trying to push Biffle ahead, but instead, lifted Biffle's wheels off the ground. Biffle couldn't hang on, and lost it.
Kyle Busch must not be much for lounging on the beach or lounging at home.
In a weekend that the Sprint Cup Series has off and most other drivers are taking time to recharge their batteries for the next barrage of race weekends, Busch is hanging out with the Nationwide Series in Nashville.
Saturday morning, Busch put the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the pole for Nashville Superspeedway's Pepsi 300, scheduled to take the green flag at 3pm/ET.
Busch's lap of 163.357mph on the 1.5-mile concrete oval topped Nationwide regular Mike Bliss (2nd), Steve Wallace, Carl Edwards, and Kelly Bires.
44 drivers challenged the clock for 43 positions in the event.
Making his first NASCAR appearance in a while was now-former Sprint Cup driver and Tennessee native Sterling Marlin. Marlin clocked in 20th on the grid.
The race can be seen live on ESPN Saturday afternoon with coverage starting at 2pm/ET.
Now that we've got NASCAR, Sprint, and AT&T to settle their legal differences, it's only appropriate to get another going, right?
A few former employees of Ginn Racing think so. And good for them, too.
Former drivers Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin in addition to former Ginn crew chiefs Peter Sospenzo and Richard "Slugger" Labbe have filed suit claiming breach of contract because Ginn apparently hasn't paid what's due to them.
Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek have sued Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. for alleged breaches of their contracts, which included a base salary of $1.2 million apiece.
The separate suits, filed Sept. 7 in Cabarrus County, N.C., do not specify how much they have been paid or what they exactly are owed.
Ginn Racing and DEI joined forces prior to the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard in July. Some folks in the garage area estimated anywhere from 70 to over 120 employees at Ginn were terminated in the merger that lacked in the merge department.
It was essentially a DEI takeover of all things Ginn.
Hopefully the rest of the employees who worked the nine to fivers out of the spotlight are taking action against Ginn as well.
They deserve so much better than an outside real estate mogul buying into NASCAR and failing to realize the massive responsibility of the sport.
Sterling Marlin won't be back in the drivers seat for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, despite a report yesterday that he might find a ride in a second car from the team, XM radio reported.
The FanHouse wasn't exactly believing the idea behind Marlin moving in as a teammate with Ward Burton yesterday, either.
XM Radio got a hold of McClure Thursday.
Morgan McClure team owner Larry McClure told Claire B. Lang on XM Satellite Radio that the rumor is absolutely not true.
McClure: "I know nothing about it. I have talked to no one. I have not talked to Sterling in a year and I have not talked to any of his people."
CBL: By no stretch of the imagination would anyone think that Sterling Marlin is going to go work for you.
McClure: "No mam."
Interestingly enough, the Cup Scene Daily no longer has any mention of the article up on the site. (HT: Jayski)
Ken Schrader Makes One-Race Cup Return w/ BAM Racing
I'd imagine when Ken Schrader decided to allow Bill Elliott to fill his seat in the No. 21 due to champion's provisionals in May, he didn't expect the end of July to roll around until he found a new ride.
Late Tuesday a team source at Morgan-McClure Racing which currently fields the no. 4 Chevy with veteran Ward Burton said that officials there are in discussions with Marlin for a possible second team. Marlin scored six of his ten career wins at Morgan-McClure while driving the No. 4 from 1994-1997.
A storybook ending to a rough road for Marlin?
Well, kinda.
Morgan-McClure, home of Burton's No. 4 State Water Heaters ride, isn't exactly the same powerhouse that it was in the mid-90's when Marlin drove the Kodak car to victory lane for two consecutive Daytona 500 wins.
It would, however, at least be a ride for the seasoned veteran who has ten career wins to his credit.
But news last week indicated that McClure wasn't in the best financial shape, either.
A merger between Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Ginn Racing would require an immediate reduction from a total of six cars to four in the Nextel Sprint Cup Series. Eliminating Ginn's cash-strapped #13 and #14 teams seems the obvious answer to some, but it's probably not quite that simple.
The current layout/forecast:
Ginn #01 - Regan Smith/Mark Martin - current plan is for Smith to run Cup full-time in 2008 and Martin to split season again with driver TBD #13 - Joe Nemechek - car in top 35, driver expendable (sad but true, not attracting enough sponsor $$) #14 - Sterling Marlin - ditto
DEI #1 - Martin Truex Jr. - signed through 2008 #8 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. - leaving, open driver seat for 2008, currently rumored to be going to Kyle Busch #15 - As long as Menards is on the hood, Paul Menard is probably behind the wheel
I'm sure both teams recognize the value of the owner points so it's obvious that Menard would take over one of the Ginn cars in the top 35, and they could probably still sell the other to another team.
So Ginn Racing didn't close both the #13 and #14 Nextel Cup teams this week, just their Busch team, which amounted to roughly 30 people losing their jobs, save the spotter who was promoted to Cup. But, even though they haven't closed the books, Bobby Ginn seems to have made both team's numbers available on the open owner market, with the likelihood of selling the #13 to the highest bidder.
And what owner might be willing to buy its way into the top 35? Teresa Earnhardt is the leading runner. Paul Menard isn't going to be able to climb his way into the top 35 himself if he can't qualify for a race. DEI's got the cash to compensate. You put it together.
Speaking of DEI's cash ... Budweiser is ready move on next year, but not with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser is reportedly setting their sites on Kasey Kahne now. Score Ray Evernham!
That leaves Junior wide open to Do the Dew, which I think means he would also give up his personal appearances contract with Bud, which is good considering he'll need time for Sony and Adidas now. Wow. Junior really scored on the upgrade of free goods, huh? Also ... look for Junior to give the #14 team's displaced spotter, his buddy T.J. Majors, a shot on the #? Mountain Dew Chevrolet next season. Reminder: Free the #8!
What that means for Kellogg's I have no idea, but about the Kellogg's driver ...
A source tells me that Kyle Busch has already decided on Richard Childress Racing and is expected to take a lot of his crew with him. By a lot, I take it to mean his crew chief, Alan Gustafson (making room for Tony Eury Jr.), and whoever else wants to come along. Maybe the sponsor will follow, too.
Apparently, Bobby Ginn's attempt to attract sponsorship for Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin didn't produce the results he was looking for. A few days ago, the team announced several layoffs in the shop citing too fast of growth and a need to re-evaluate. They did not confirm or deny any additional forthcoming layoffs.
This afternoon, a source is telling me that tomorrow Ginn Racing will completely shut down the #13 and #14 teams, both of which are in the top 35 in owner points. This info has not been confirmed with team officials.
Damn. I thought funding wasn't supposed to be an issue with this team 'cause Ginn has all this money?
If true, what a shame for both drivers. Of the two of them I feel the worse for Nemechek because he already got kicked off the priority team and now stands to lose his job on this one. Nothing against Mark Martin and Regan Smith, I get what Ginn was trying to do and it's been successful. Good for them. But Nemechek got the shaft in the deal. And now he stands to get it again.
If this comes to fruition, I hope the other owners look out for Nemechek and Marlin. It's really going to suck if they aren't able to continue running for points this season. Such is the life of a veteran in NASCAR these days, huh?
Update 07.09.07 - I don't have a full update, but a source has confirmed today that TJ Majors, spotter for the #14 team has been let go. Majors is a good friend of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and also spots for the #88 NAVY Busch team. Hmmm. Can't very well have a driver on the track without a spotter.
Update #2 - From the sounds of this press release, doesn't look like anything has changed with the #14 team.
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