FanHouse Subway 500

What do you suppose DEI pulled out of the Garage Mahal and put under Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s hood this weekend?

Will he get an engine that lays all it's cylinders on the track up front and craps out before the halfway mark like in Fontana? Or will he get a teaser that takes him all the way to the end providing hope of a top 5 finish only to give up on the last lap like last weekend in Martinsville?

It's quite laughable that the #8 car was labeled still running in the Subway 500 results, but I guess that's accurate--it did, after all, sprint backwards from the fourth position to a 23rd place finish. But if the race had been even one lap longer, this would have been his eighth DNF of the season--seven due to engine failures.

Is it enough for conspiracy theories? Depends on who you ask. It's sure enough for Dale Jr. fans--and any other NASCAR fan whose got brain enough to recognize his talent and ability to put the car at the front of the pack.

Whatever it is they got him running in Atlanta was good enough for a top 5 start. But will it be good enough for a top 5 finish?

Consider Jimmie Johnson the new Martinsville master.

Johnson took Sunday's Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway for his 30th career victory over Ryan Newman and Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon. He now follows Gordon in the Chase for the Nextel Cup by 53 points with just four races left.

It's the first time one driver has taken three-straight at Martinsville since Rusty Wallace did it in 1994-95.

Late in the race, cautions were the story and likely affected Jeff Gordon's chances -- who led a race high 168 laps -- at winning a possible third race in a row. Needing longer runs for his car to come in, Gordon was hampered by several yellows and was passed on a late restart by Newman.

Another caution flew leading to a final green-white-checkered finish that could have been more exciting had David Ragan not spun in turn one. NASCAR, like usual, waited to throw the caution flag and very nearly put a stalled Ragan in harm's way as the leaders flew into turn one before NASCAR threw the yellow, sealing Johnson's win.

Clint Bowyer, third in points, and Tony Stewart, fourth, finished 9th and 13th respectively. Bowyer now sits 110 points back of Gordon and Stewart holds a deficit of 244 points, unofficially.

So ... in case you haven't heard, Malibu, Calif. is on fire. In fact, some of Malibu is burning to the ground. Pepperdine University has been evacuated as have numerous residences. No fatalities have been reported, but the historic Castle Kashan has been lost ... and the fire jumped and is now burning on both sides of the Pacific Coast Highway.

We were warned by meteorologists for days that the Santa Ana winds were coming to wreak havoc in Southern California. So, while tragic, the raging fires came as no surprise.

SoCal NASCAR fans received no advance warning, however, that we would not be watching NASCAR because KABC-TV would preempt the race for breaking news coverage. Hard to be mad at KABC for that ... but ...

It's not hard to be mad at ESPN and NASCAR for being content to screw the fans instead of having a contingency plan in place. The second-largest television market is being denied access to the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway. And ESPN couldn't care less ... their official response: contact the station.

Why would ESPN not preempt Pro-Bowling on ESPN? or "The Blitz" talk show on ESPN2? Re-programming certainly seems justified for a preempted Chase race! Or, here's an idea, how about putting some programming on ESPNA or ESPN2A which are currently showing NOTHING!

Once again, I have to thank ESPN ... thanks for nothing.

1--and only. Four-time Cup champion; current points leader; Subway 500 pole-sitter Jeff Gordon.

This is Gordon on Martinsville Speedway: most poles of any active driver (5); most wins of any active driver (7), most top 5s of any active driver (17); 23 top 10s in 29 starts; most lead lap finishes of any active driver (22); all-time record-holding driver with the fewest DNFs (0). Twice he's won from the pole. Any questions?