FanHouse Reed Sorenson

The black helicopters are sweeping in, folks. Somewhere in the heart of central Alabama, the conspiracy is alive and well. NASCAR hates Denny Hamlin. And Tony Raines. And Reed Sorenson. And fill-in-driver-here who had to pit under the last caution because of the extended yellow.

What happened, NASCAR? Did the red flag that your flagman uses fly out of the flagstand? Was it lost in transit from Phoenix? Did the helmet capers get a hold it?

The reason for the second-to-last caution was David Reutimann, who had been having a stellar day, either lost a motor or a rear end gear. Reutimann had to make the show on time, so he was likely running a qualifying package due to the impound race -- causing the failure.

Anyways, Reutimann's problem happened while the field was going into turn 1 of lap 185, meaning the field would take the yellow at the line for lap 186. Reutimann put down quite a bit of oil across the tri-oval, leaving a nice mess to clean up. A red flag would have stopped the cars on the backstretch during lap 186. With the red flag removed, pit road would have been open that time by and the one lap to green could have been given on lap 187. With a green-white-checkered finish starting on lap 188, the race would have finished at lap 190 or sooner.

Imagine this situation.

Coming into turn three at "The Quarter-Mile at Lowe's Motor Speedway", Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief Tony Eury, Jr. is leading the inaugural running of the Kobalt Tools Crew Chief Race. The Budweiser head guy has led a majority of the race of the Thunder Roadsters after bumping Steve LeTarte (Jeff Gordon), Alan Gustafson (Kyle Busch), and Larry McReynolds (FOX) out of the way.

Then -- wham!

Chad Knaus, 2006 Nextel Cup Champion Crew Chief of Jimmie Johnson, takes the win as Eury spins in turn four coming to the checkers in front of the entire grandstand.

Is there anything that wouldn't come out of the grandstands? (Hot dogs, Bojangle's Chicken, Dale Jr. die cast cars, coolers...)There can't be a large following in the grandstands that love Mr. Knaus -- both in and out of the Hendrick group. After all, the guy's been suspended for cheating and last week made a comment last week over the radio after Johnson won that didn't sound too favorable to Gordon's team, despite utilizing their setup.

Hello, launched beer cups.

Well, we're going to find out what this event actually produces at the Nextel All-Star Challenge in May. The crew chief event will be run prior, and will be carried live on SPEED's pre-race show.

The additional expected participants Billy Wilburn (Kyle Petty), Darian Grubb (Casey Mears), Gil Martin (Clint Bowyer), Jeff Hammond (SPEED), Jimmy Elledge (Reed Sorenson), Kevin "Bono" Manion (Martin Truex, Jr.), Larry McReynolds (SPEED), Paul Andrews (Bobby Labonte), Scott Miller (Jeff Burton), Steve Lane (David Stremme), and Todd Berrier (Kevin Harvick).

I'm looking forward to it, and I hope these guys realize that a spin and win of anything relating to the 8 car could be deadly.

They're not the cream of the crop, but they have solid footing in the Top 35 heading to Martinsville. They don't have to worry about qualifying, but they need to make adjustments if they want to secure their spot in the Chase. Here are your teams in the middle of the road:

Chip Ganassi / Felix Sabates: Two teams solidly in the Top 35--the #40 in 11th and the #42 in 19th. Their third team, the #41 isn't faring quite as well in 29th, but they're inside for at least one more week.

The CGRFS cars have gained an average of 3.3 positions from the end of last season.

While the teams cars are on the rise, so is one of the team's stars. Juan Pablo Montoya's entry into NASCAR is one of the most talked about stories in all of auto racing--there's the F1 angle, the international angle, the diversity angle and the he'll push anyone and anything out of his way to win angle ...

Ganassi is also off to a good start in the Indy Racing League, which kicked off Saturday and saw the third one-two finish for Ganassi drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon.

When Darrell Waltrip took the checkered flag in the Busch 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1982, a sold-out crowd of 30,000 watched him do it.

That August race began a consecutive streak sellout of Nextel Cup events that now stands at 50 strong with the upcoming Food City 500 and its 160,000 capacity crowd.

Only three drivers that competed in that 1982 race still race today.

Mark Martin, who is not expected to race in this year's Food City 500, was 23 years old and competing in his first full year as a driver/owner.

Kyle Petty, who was 22, and Ricky Rudd, who was 25, will be the only drivers in the field this Sunday who also ran in 1982.

Most of today's Nextel Cup drivers weren't even around back then to see it.

Reed Sorenson, Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers had not yet been conceived.

Do NASCAR drivers have an advantage at their hometown tracks? I'm sure there's some fancy algorithm that has a definitive answer to that, but I don't. Let's just say that the upside is, it never hurts when you have a few laps under the belt. The downside is that being home can prove to be a distraction and you have to factor in additional psychological issues like performance anxiety.

David Ragan, Unadilla, Ga.
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Rookie of the Year contender David Ragan is no stranger to Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Unadilla, Ga. native estimates that between the Summer Shootouts and winter and heat races, he's run anywhere from 75 to 100 races at his home track.

His mission for the weekend is to enjoying the friendly faces in familiar surroundings without allowing himself to become distracted and to keep getting those points.

His experience at AMS assisted him today with a better than average for the season Top 20 finish in the Busch Series Nicorette 300, Ragan's first NASCAR race at AMS. He starts 38th tomorrow in his first Cup race here.

Reed Sorenson, Peachtree City, Ga.
In addition to getting his first Cup start at AMS, Reed Sorenson recorded his first career Series Top 10 in just his sixth career start in the Golden Corral 500 at AMS on March 20, 2006. He started the event in 15th and rallied from as far back as 30th to bring home a 10th-place finish at his hometown track.

Sorenson grew up racing Legends Cars at AMS, capturing three track championships ('98, '99, '01) 22 wins, 40 top-five finishes and 42 top-10 finishes in 43 starts. His friend and teammate Shane Bourgeois also hails from Peach Tree City. Bourgeois helped Sorenson on his ASA team before moving with him to North Carolina and to Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS). Bourgeois works in the suspension department and provides pit support on race day.

An early collision in today's Busch race relegated him to a 39th place finish. He starts tomorrow in 11th.

I don't think either Georgia native has an advantage over Atlanta's own Home Depot.

With all three of NASCAR's national series running at AMS this weekend, schedules will be busy for drivers across the board. Despite the track time, appearances and other commitments, several drivers will have one eye turned towards the NCAA Tournament – especially Brendan Gaughan.

Gaughan is a former college basketball player himself, spending four years as a backup to Allen Iverson at Georgetown University. During his time at Georgetown, the Hoyas made two Sweet 16 and one Elite Eight appearance.

"I don't know if there is a way to really get people to understand what its like to be there and be part of the phenomenon," Gaughan said. "You're 18, 19 years old. You're a child, and you walk into an arena and there are 30,000 people. You walk in there, you know the national media is there, all of the main announcers are there, the entire sports world is there. And you take the court – its amazing."

Gaughan's former team will take the court Thursday night, one day before he takes the track for the American Commercial Lines 200.

Several NASCAR competitors weighed in on the NCAA Tournament, here are their picks:

Brendan Gaughan (No. 77 South Point Resort Chevrolet), NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Final Four Picks: Georgetown, Kansas, Ohio State, Wisconsin
Champion: Georgetown
"I was there – I got to play it, I got to live it – so for me, for the rest of my life it will be a big part of every March. Whether I'm racing or not, I'll be watching the games – yelling for the Hoyas and loving the Cinderella stories. And when I'm at home in Las Vegas, you'll find me sitting in front of 10 TVs at a Sports Book at the South Point watching every game."

Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge), NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Final Four Picks: Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA
"I always let my heart weigh in more than logic and rarely is that a smart move. For my final four, I'll have to go with UCLA, Kansas, Arizona...the Wildcats will have to have miraculous tournament play, but I just have to hang with them since they did get a bid (Kurt attended Arizona for a year prior to deciding to go racing fulltime)... and of course I have to throw the North Carolina Tar Heels in there, too."

Robby Gordon (No. 7 Jim Beam Ford), NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Final Four Picks: Florida, Nevada, Texas, UCLA
Champion: UCLA
"For the national championship I'm going to stick to my California roots and take UCLA. The Bruins, like my sponsor Jim Beam, know that the stuff inside matters most and that will take them to the title."

Kasey Kahne (No. 9 UAW/Dodge Dealers Dodge), NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Final Four: Florida, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Washington State
Champion: Ohio State
"I can't overlook our teams from the Northwest. Washington State will make the Final Four. Florida is the defending NCAA champion; the Gators know tournament pressure. Virginia Tech has been a giant killer at times this year. There's just one giant they can't handle...Ohio State. The Buckeyes win the championship this time, just not against Florida."