FanHouse Qualifying

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.

Well, so much for my longshot. It was a nice thought while it lasted. And it lasted about 30.167 seconds.

Brian Vickers failed to qualify yesterday for the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400. He'll be sittin' out his second race of the season on Sunday.

BV's Team Red Bull mate A.J. Allmendinger has yet to make the field this season. He was almost in, but Kenny Wallace, who failed to qualify the first two races, knocked him out and secured himself a spot for his first race.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway wasn't kind to Michael Waltrip Racing either. Both Waltrip and David Reutimann failed to qualify and Dale Jarrett will be forced to use his third consecutive past champion provisionals. Under the new rule, he is only eligible for six this season.

Then, there's 2004 and 2005 championship contender Jeremy Mayfield, the new Bill David Racing driver who has only faced his competition once (Homestead) since his last race with Evernham Motorsports (Brickyard). He has yet to qualify this season.

Is it the equipment? the drivers? or simply the competition? Are changes iminent for those teams or is it too early to tell?

On the bubble: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jon Wood. Both are guaranteed spots in Atlanta and Bristol, but they currently sit outside the top 35 in owner points. Depending on their performances, come Martinsville they will be forced to qualify on time.

Protect and Serve: Is 35 teams too many to have guaranteed starting positions now that there are 50+ teams attempting each race? Who is Top 35 rule in place for? General consensus would say the sponsors. Really? Tell that to Red Bull. Had all those in front of him not been locked in, Allmendinger would have qualified 35th on time.

It might look sunny and warm, but at 10:30 Friday morning it was anything but.

I'm sure there are some fancy weather stats from California Speedway, but just know I was layered x 3 for most of the day and many of the drivers were wearing jackets over their firesuits while waiting on pit road (and not because they were forced to cover their sponsor's logo).

I don't think these girls got the forecast. But several in the ticket line got a kick out of them, especially the hair that didn't blow with the wind.

On the Track

Toyota got its second NCTS win in as many races ... Mike Skinner was the first California native to win at home in the truck series ... he was excited not only about the win, but about his wife straddling him in victory lane.

Kevin Harvick Inc. driver Ron Hornaday spun leader Mark Martin out relegating him to a 23rd finish ... Didn't Martin have enough Harvick last week?

Jeff Gordon won the Nextel Cup Bud Pole award ... Michael Waltrip lost his qualifying spot to his own driver, David Reutimann, by .033 seconds ... Brian Vickers qualified for this Sunday's race after he and A.J. Allmendinger made Team Red Bull sit last week out.

Jeremy Mayfield and Ward Burton ... DNQ x 2 ...

On the Hood

Harvick thinks it's blown out of proportion, but his Shell uniform has failed inspection with Sunoco. Kevin Harvick will wear a new temporary model of the Shell/Pennzoil firesuit for this weekend, but the turf oil war is on:

Shell plans to market Daytona 500 championship merchandise and signage at its stores in the near future. "We think that's a problem," [Sunoco VP/Marketing Cynthia] Archer said.

Shell thinks they've operated within the parameters of the deal ... Sunoco thinks Shell has operated outside spirit of the deal ... I think I need gas.