FanHouse Uaw Ford500

For as much hype and nervousness as there was surrounding Jacques Villeneuve's debut in Nextel Cup, he was hardly noticeable on the track during the race--and at Talladega yesterday, that was a good thing.

Villeneuve's goals for his debut were to stay out of trouble ... Check. And not make enemies ... Check.

Not only did Villeneuve not make enemies, he made one move that might have even gained him some respect: moving to the back of the field for the start after qualifying 6th.

"It was the logical thing to do. Our car was set up for qualifying and we didn't know how it was going to handle. Starting from the front or the back doesn't really change anything. I had more to learn from the back, anyway. Also, it was to show respect to all the guys fighting for the 'Chase.' I was thankful for them allowing me to race here, which is really special to me. It was just a way of saying 'thank you.'"

The experienced open wheel driver got some good practice time working with his crew and came off with a respectable 21st place finish, proving he can handle a 3 ton hunk of junk as good as most of 'em. Well done, sir.

Jeff Gordon's pass for the win? Exciting.

Two and Three-wide racing? We saw it.

Drivers facing trepidation and twittling thumbs for about 180 of the 188 laps ran during Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway? That just wasn't cool.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup series put on a decent show Sunday, but decent doesn't fill seats. The Car of Tomorrow big track debut wasn't horrendous, but it wasn't magical either.

For much too long Sunday, it was obvious drivers were scared to be aggressive or dice for the lead. Single-file packs and drivers purposely staying at the back of the pack to avoid trouble just doesn't cut it at this level.

Jeff Gordon managed to pull off the race win by sailing through the draft after a restart with eight laps to go but for a large majority of Sunday's race, Gordon rode around at times five to seven seconds behind the leader with teammate Jimmie Johnson and other Chase contenders.

That's not racing. That's riding.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. may have lost what was his best remaining chance at a Nextel Cup race victory Sunday after blowing his engine with 52 laps to go in the UAW-Ford 500.

But his teammate Martin Truex Jr. and engine program partner Jeff Burton might have lost so much more.

The Dale Earnhardt Inc.-Richard Childress Racing engine partnership had seven cars on track Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway and only two of them finished under full power. Three of them actually finished.

Burton lost his motor off of turn four on lap 92 and 21 laps later Truex blew his coming into the tri-oval.

Burton knows that he can pretty much stick a fork in his title chances.

"Obviously, this about wraps it up for us for the championship. We will keep fighting," Burton said. "We will go next week and strap our boots on and go fight and see what we can make out of it."

Truex now finds himself 300 points out of first in tenth while Burton sits further back -- in 12th with a 331 point deficit.

Kevin Harvick also started engine trouble late in the event. With 44 laps to go, Harvick was sitting on pit road with the hood up, but his crew could do nothing to fixed what ailed his Chevrolet engine. He would finish on seven cylinders in 20th place, some 202 points behind race-winner and point leader Jeff Gordon.

New DEI'er Aric Almirola also finished with a DNF because of his engine.

Only Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard would finish without a hitch in the engine.

Jeff Gordon's 80th victory didn't look like it would happen Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway with 30 laps to go. It didn't even seem possible with 10 laps to go.

But a few aggressive moves and a bunch of luck later, Gordon found himself leading just one lap in the UAW-Ford 500. That lap, though, was the only one that mattered.

After a dismal qualifying run on Saturday due to the team focusing on setting up the car for race trim, Gordon began the day in 34th and would fall back to as low as 39th at some points. The move to the back was intentional, as he was joined by teammates Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears for much of the day and a handful of other drivers competing in the Chase for the Nextel Cup – all of them hoping to avoid the notorious Talladega "Big One".

That, and a penalty for running over an air hose, kept the four-time champion out of the largest pile-up of the day that involved ten cars including Chase contenders Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch with 44 laps to go.

There's a lot of drivers at Talladega that doing a whole lot more than shaking in their little space boots over this weekend's UAW-Ford 500. Limited sight lines, inexperienced drivers, and an always-there lack of patience are just a few of the reasons why those drivers -- most of them Chasers -- are straight up worried about Sunday.

Denny Hamlin didn't seem to be one of them Friday at Talladega. NASCAR parked the last-place Chaser with 15 minutes left in the first practice Friday after he reportedly was bump-drafting a little excessively.

It didn't affect Hamlin's team (or they didn't admit it) as the No. 11 car decided to not practice in happy hour, either.

Regardless, Hamlin had some questions for NASCAR over their ruling, until he answered them himself.

Hamlin felt the Joe Gibbs Racing team was singled out, as he was drafting well with Stewart and J.J. Yeley when he was caught. But he said many other cars also were bumping.

"They said Gibbs cars in specific, they had an eye out on," Hamlin said. "I wonder what makes us different than anyone else, other than we were the first three cars in line. We were working well together, and when I say working well together, we were pushing each other well.

"But they said they didn't want any contact, and we broke that rule. So we're going sit have to sit out for a while."

Now Denny, was that so tough?

Chaser Jeff Gordon also decided to not to participate in the day's second session. Tony Stewart led both practices with the fastest speed of 194.959 mph in the draft.

Qualifying for Sunday's race starts at 1:00pm ET Saturday.

Reports from Talladega indicate that Nextel Cup inspection for the Cookie Cutter UAW-Ford 500 went off without a hitch.

Points leading crew chief Chad Knaus indicates that is because NASCAR gives everybody wings, but doesn't let teams spread them and fly:

"They don't want somebody to think somebody has an advantage on them, which is kind of against the way the sport was built. Last I checked it was our job to build the best race car."

These are his comments after NASCAR passed out mandated "side plates and wickers" for the COT wings, evidently eliminating one of only two ways crew chiefs could adjust the already restricted air flow.

"They say those are supposed to be the tools they're going to give us to work with. Now they've taken those tools away and there is nothing to work with."

Apparently, there will be even less to work with by the time the drivers take the green flag. NASCAR is expected to suck even more life out of the cars by changing the restrictor plates, too, to slow super speed at the super speedway.

Not surprising. Nor is NASCAR's new motto:

We're NASCAR. Our half-baked ideas burn the competitors' buns.

Continuing with less experience is more theme, Robert Yates Racing pulled Kenny Wallace out of the #88 this week at Talladega and replaced Ricky Rudd with Wallace's brother, Mike, instead.

It's not obvious to me why ... Kenny has more Nextel Cup experience and a better record at Talladega. RYR might have done better to put Warren Loren Wallace in the car, considering NASCAR doesn't require experience or anything to run at the super speedway.

Speaking of Mike's third cousin, once removed ... since NASCAR is naming an insurance company as the new title sponsor of the Busch Nationwide Series, does that mean no more Geico sponsorship and no more commercials starring Warren Loren?

Say it ain't so!

And what does this mean for Allstate, the insurance company formerly known as the Official Insurance of NASCAR?

This week, 17 drivers will compete for 8 non-guaranteed spots in the debut COT super speedway race--many of them with little to no experience on a super speedway.

Did I mention the UAW-Ford 500 is a race in the Chase to the Championship? Did I mention this is the first COT race at a super speedway. Did I mention this is too many unpredictables?

As previously mentioned, former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve will attempt to enter the #27 Bill Davis Racing Toyota. Not only would it be his first time on a super speedway, but it would be his first ever in a Cup car.

I'd rather see Ricky Bobby behind the wheel--at least he's got some experience in a stock car.