News-Record.com

Meet David Ragan, courtesy of Bram and the crew over at Backstretch Motorsports.

Ragan is moving up from ARCA this season and will be tag-teaming in the No. 6 in the Truck Series with Mark Martin. His official home page is here if you need more.

You might have caught him on Driver X, the Roush Racing driver sweepstakes show. Anyone seen it? Discovery isn't on my usual list of channels, and I can't seem to remember when it's on.

Yeah, me. It's Ward Burton. 2002 Daytona 500 champion? Yeah, that Ward Burton.

Anyway, I'm tired of not racing, and I want to get back on the track. Yeah, I know I'm about 25 years too old to get a look from an owner. But I've got five career wins and this crazy South Boston accent that the fans dig.

C'mon, NASCAR. What say you give me another shot?

AAA will be Mark Martin's sponsor for the 2006 season. Ed Hinton remembers the last time AAA was involved with stock car racing. (Hint: It was a long time ago.)

By the way, this lack of news will end in about a week or so. We're now down to 384 hours and change until the 500, and the Shootout is in about nine days.

... you're no longer a Young Gun.

We got the new lineup from the razor company today:
In: Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray
Out: Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin.

Kidding. Actually, Kenseth (turns 34 in March) and Kevin Harvick (turned 30 in December) have aged out of the little marketing clique.

Edwards (26) and McMurray (29) will join Junior (31), Jimmie Johnson (30), Kurt Busch (27) and Ryan Newman (28) in a series of commercials that will be start at Saturday's Bud Shootout and will cease to be clever or interesting by the first round of full-field pit stops at the 500.

Those numbers in parentheses, btw, are their ages, not their number of wins. In Johnson's case, you'd at least be close. But McMurray? You'd miss by 28.

Speaking of which, 310 hours to go till the start of the 500. Tick tock ...

The folks over at scenedaily.com have gotten on board the blogging train with (it looks like) about half of its writing staff. (Scenedaily.com is the online home of NASCAR Scene magazine.)

One of the bloggers is Bob Pockrass, a college buddy of the News & Record's own Dustin Long from back in their Indiana University days. In what looks like Pockrass' first post, he compares the Steelers' Super Bowl win to the Chase.

Interesting take. Go read.

Coming Wednesday from me: The Spotter takes a field trip to Bill Davis Racing in High Point.

Every once in a while the powers-that-be here let me out of my cage office to go exploring. Yesterday I was lucky enough to hook up with the Piedmont Triad Sports Club (think Rotary, but with way better speakers) and go over to Bill Davis Racing in High Point.

It was my first visit to a race shop of any kind. (No, I've never been to one before. Yes, I've managed to blog about NASCAR without such an intimate knowledge of where race cars come from.) Gail Davis, wife of the not-in-town Bill Davis, welcomed us. Dave Blaney answered some questions. (He'll be tomorrow's featured post.) And Gray Warren, BDR's parts manager, took us through the shop.

My impressions after the jump ...

Or, another reason why I love NASCAR so:

Here's the three-paragraph release Penske racing sent out today about its newest driver, Kurt Busch:

Kurt Busch, NASCAR Nextel Cup driver and 2004 series champion, appeared in Aqua Fria Justice Court today and agreed to the terms proposed by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and approved by the Court regarding a traffic incident that occurred on Nov. 11, 2005.

"I am pleased to have this incident behind me," Busch said. "I have learned many lessons from the situation and one of them is that speeding should be saved for the race track. I am excited for the 2006 race season to begin and look forward to the racing activities at Daytona this week."

Busch took responsibility for excessive speed, as well as citations for passing in a no passing zone and following another vehicle too closely. As part of the resolution, Busch will perform community service, which will be determined in the near future.

Note the language. Busch agreed to terms. Took responsibility. Then there's mention of the resolution.

Now compare that to the AP dispatch (emphasis mine):

PHOENIX (AP) — NASCAR driver Kurt Busch was ordered Wednesday to perform 50 hours of community service as part of a plea agreement over a reckless driving citation he received near Phoenix International Raceway. His lawyer, Lee Stein said his client admitted to speeding, a misdemeanor, and two civil citations: following too closely and passing in a no-passing zone. In exchange, the reckless driving charge was dropped. The community service must be completed within a year, Stein said. Busch also paid $580 in court fines. (etc.)

So in Law vs. Kurt Busch, I'm scoring it Law 1, Busch 0. How do you spin that?

Here are s the citation and police reports from the indispensible Smoking Gun Web site, if you missed them the first time.

You knew NASCAR would figure out a way to give Junior an edge.

From Lee Spencer at the Sporting News (third item):

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a tremendous advantage going into the April race at Texas Motor Speedway after performing a test for Goodyear at the track. NASCAR's new limits on testing mean teams can't choose racetracks to test on, and TMS is not one of NASCAR's six test sites. Earnhardt got his first Cup victory at the track, but it hasn't been kind to him of late. He says the track is "in great shape" and that additional grooves have started to open up, similar to Atlanta, which will make Texas "racier." Earnhardt appreciated the opportunity to work with Goodyear and build a relationship that he hopes will pay off in the future.

Well, well. You have to give NASCAR points for cleverness.

On a more serious note, I'm glad to hear that Texas is racier. The track has always been fast? But racy? As in Atlanta racy? Very, very promising indeed.

Today I wake up to a dusting of snow on the ground.

Dustin Long, meanwhile, woke up here.

Today is Media Day at the track, which is one reason why Dustin is down there so early.

Just 245 more hours till the 500. Tick, tock ...

I mentioned yesterday that Dave Blaney spoke to the crew that gathered Tuesday at Bill Davis Racing in High Point. (The original field trip post is here.)

Blaney, is driving the No. 22 Dodge this season. He inherited the ride from Scott Wimmer, who got axed last year because, well, he stunk. (Not that Blaney did much better at Childress. But still.) This I didn't know - Blaney has lived in High Point for the past 4-5 years.

I didn't actually meet him - he was on the other side of the lunchroom, about 75 feet away, and I was the guy hiding behind a flower arrangement (tulips, I think) scribbling down some notes.

So, no, I didn't ask him a question. The other folks at the lunch-slash-tour did. Here are some of the things on their minds and what Blaney had to say:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona media day, courtesy of thatsracin.com:

"We'll be in the top three in points when we get to the Chase. We’ll win about six or seven races and if we don't win the championship we won't lose it by much."

You think he's happy to be back with Tony Eury Jr.? That Junior is confident.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The AP has more on Junior; it's after the jump. ...

Dustin Long has your guide to Speedweeks right here.

Atop his list of 10 things to watch: Jimmie Johnson.

Writes Dustin:

He's consistently among the top drivers, but he also was in the middle of controversy last year at Daytona and Talladega.

Drivers blamed Johnson for starting multi-car crashes at both Talladega races last year. Johnson's driving also was questioned during last year's Speedweeks. NASCAR twice ordered him to meet with series officials -- once after he was hit by Kevin Harvick and they crashed in their qualifying race, and the other time after a bumping incident with Tony Stewart at the end of the Daytona 500.

Will Johnson again be the center of attention? Keep an eye on him.

Johnson, btw, is my pick to win next Sunday's 500. Why? Nobody's going to want to be in front of the guy who put the bump into bump drafting.

We're coming up on the fifth anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death - it's a week from tomorrow if you haven't already marked your calendars.

Expect a lot of coverage. I'm thinking of some things for the blog. Dustin's working on a couple of things for the paper. And stories are already moving on the wires.

Which means reporters are asking questions. Here's one Jeff Gordon got during yesterday's media day. The question and his response is after the jump ...

Gotta love Tony Stewart. From one of the many media appearances during the past week down in Daytona ...

On Joe Gibbs turning over the team to his son:
"You weren't here two years ago, were you? I said that two years ago."

On people worrying about him when he drives sprint cars:
"No, I got hurt more cars in a stock car than I got hurt in sprint cars and midgets."

More after the jump ...

If you can get your hands on a Sunday News & Record, do so. It has our annual NASCAR preview, and you're not going to want to miss it.

It's that good.

Btw, if you're thinking about putting money on Dustin's picks to win the Cup championship, don't: Dustin is 0-for-8 in that category.

Here's his top 10 in ABC order:

Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart

You'll have to read Sunday's paper to see how he sorts them. The online version will be hereabouts.

A wild one. Let's recap:

Tony Stewart: Someone's going to die.

Jeff Burton: Y'all are slow. (No, I didn't see that one coming. Did you?)

Denny Hamlin: Follow my yellow stripe. No wonder Dustin has him in his top 10 drivers for 2006.

The guy with the glasses on the right side of this picture in today's USA Today? That's Dustin Long, hard at work at Daytona where, he reports, it was freezing last night.

Also note the new byline on the story. Nate Ryan is USA Today's newest motorsports writer. He used to work at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, my hometown paper. He replaces Chris Jenkins, who joined the AP in a place even colder than Daytona - Milwaukee, where he'll write about the Packers, the Bucks and other Wisconsin-related sports.

Speaking of Richmond, Denny Hamlin is from there. The RTD and new NASCAR writer Jill Erwin has more here and here about the leading ROY candidate.

has more on the leading ROY candidate.

Don't say I never thought about getting you anything because, if I had the money, I'd spring for one of these for all of you.

Ignore T-man in the comments of the link. He's obviously a football fan still bitter about one of the worst Super Bowls in recent memories.

... from washingtonpost.com, the online division of the Washington Post, of all people. Go say hi to Mike Snyder, an editor at the Web site who's making his 10th trip south. He's a Tony Stewart fan mostly because he's a Washington football/Joe Gibbs fan.

But sending Snyder doesn't make up for the Washington Post's sorry excuse for NASCAR coverage so far this season. ...

If you're ever driving around the Greensboro metroplex and you see what looks like Kasey Kahne's car rolling toward you:

(1) It's not Kasey's car; it's Bill Elliott's car.
(2) I know the guy driving it.

He's Jeff Mills, who works on the sports copy desk. Click that link above to read the story about how Jeff came to own the car.

It's an unbelievably cool ride.

So Jimmie Johnson's crew chief got caught tinkering with the No. 48. So what's the big deal with raising the rear window a little bit?

In the scheme of things, what Chad Knaus did isn't all that great. It's not even close to what Kevin Harvick's crew chief did last year with the gas tank of the No. 29 at Las Vegas. NASCAR has a real fear of fire. It's not so scared of a rear window.

But NASCAR, by telling Knaus on Monday to go home and watch the 500 on TV, is laying down the law this year. My guess: Expect more -- and more severe -- penalties this year.

I guess there are some repurcussions if a Dodge driver gets behind the wheel of a Chevy. Who knew?

Anyone know exactly what today's races mean?

Yeah, me neither.

Two races. 150 miles (60 laps) each. All to see if (lemme get this straight) Kevin LePage or Larry Foyt can make Sunday's race.

Oooookay ...

Who's in and who's on the bubble after the jump ...

Here's what NASCAR prez Mike Helton had to say at the driver's meeting today. Dustin Long transcribed it. Emphasis in bold is mine:

"Many of you we’ve had conversations with over the course of the last few races here in Daytona about bump drafting. This action by NASCAR isn’t as much about bump drafting as it is about aggressive driving. Bump drafting as many of you recall in the conversations were actions that would have been and is better off if the drivers on the race track control that. And do it properly if you’re going to do it at all.

Helton continues after the jump ...

Thursday 10:10 p.m. update:

I deleted the whole post I wrote earlier because I obviously don't understand how Daytona qualifying works, certainly not enough to explain it accurately. So it's gone. You didn't miss much.

Here's the list of who didn't make the 500: Scott Riggs, Kenny Wallace, Scott Wimmer, Mike Skinner, Derrike Cope, Larry Gunselman, Chad Blount, Larry Foyt, Andy Belmont, Randy LaJoie, Morgan Shepherd, Chad Chaffin, Carl Long, Paul Menard and Stanton Barrett.

If your favorite driver isn't listed here, he either retired (no Rusty) or made the 500.

And, yes, Robby Gordon made it, and Scott Riggs didn't. Since Riggs has a free weekend all of a sudden, he oughta go online and read all about Robby's craptacular 2005 season. Missing seven races (including the 500) isn't the way to keep a steady sponsor. I know that's not what Valvoline expected when it followed Riggs to Evernham.

You have them?
Send them to Dustin Long.

More details here. He'll be chatting live today at 11 a.m.

This was Ed Hardin's signoff from Daytona just a few minutes ago. Seems that Richard Petty had come up to the press box, and all of a sudden Ed had to get off the phone.

Funny how that happens.

In case you missed today's papers:

keep reading ...

Go here.

He's only gotten a couple of questions so far. I know you can do better. Fire away!

Dustin Long thinks Greg Biffle will win the 2006 championship.

Racin' writers and editors, according to NASCAR, picked Jeff Gordon ahead of Tony Stewart, Jimmy Johnson, Biffle and Carl Edwards.

Twenty-three racing reporters (including Dustin) weigh in here: Most (8) like Biffle, followed by Gordon (5 votes), Stewart (4), Johnson (4) and Edwards (2).

Bram and CJ over at Backstretch Motorsports: Check back with us after Homestead.

Me, my heart says Junior. My head says ...

Dale Earnhardt died five years ago today.

And that's about the best I can do.

Daggone it, I miss him.

More online:
News & Record
nascar.com
DEI
RCR
daleearnhardt.net
The Sporting News
You can help.

We won't get DW's boogity call until next week because NBC is showing this year's Daytona 500.

But so what? It's still racing, right?

To get you in the mood:

Kurt Busch hopes to reinvent himself in 2006: But, says Kyle Petty, "Why should he? Why should a leopard change his spots or a tiger change his (stripes)? That's what makes him Kurt Busch."

More on Kyle Petty from Ed Hardin.

Speaking of the Pettys again, Jimmie Johnson's fill-in crew chief is a former Petty employee.

Jeff Gordon seems pretty confident, while Junior can't get his car to turn.

Finally, why they start the season in Daytona: It's supposed to be in the mid 60s and reasonably sunny. Here, it's Ken Schrader's new car number degrees. (That's 21, in case you forgot he's in Rudd's old ride.) It could be worse: It could be Clint Bowyer or Martin Truex instead.

So the normally smooth Tony Stewart drove like a crazy man today. You'll see and hear a lot more on that this week as the series goes to California for next week's race. Even NBC ("We bring you lots of commercials so you can miss all the action") to note the irony factor.

Carl Edwards should have turned more to the left instead of trying to hop inside Kyle Petty's car, but I won't call that reckless. Maybe Dale Jarrett should have given Jeff Green a little more room; that's just careless. Same when Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart brushed the wall.

No, reckless is the right word to describe these two guys ...

(more after the jump)

One of the quirkier stories out of this weekend was the appearance of Kirk Shelmerdine. When I saw Dale Earnhardt's former crew chief on the entry list for the 500, I figured he'd be watching Sunday's race from the sideline along with Stanton Barrett, Morgan Shepherd and maybe even Robby Gordon.

Gordon made the race, new Evernham hire Scott Riggs did not, and Shelmerdine squeezed his way in. He got some Sunday morning sponsorship from his old boss, found some folks to work on his pit crew and danged if he didn't miss all the craziness and finish 20th.

Good for him. Mike Mulhern has more in the Winston paper.

Best line: "I'm ready to die for two days, I'm so exhausted. And I'm real hungry. I'm kind of glad we're not going to California."

Go show him some love at
his home page.

More N&R coverage is here, and Ed Hardin's column (it wasn't just the engines whining) is here.

One of the things I don't like about editing is the actual editing. In the case of today's paper, "editing" meant whacking a big chunk out of Dustin's story to make it fit the space we had in the paper.

Dustin's story on Jimmie Johnson's newfound patience is here.

More on Darian Grubb (sorry, man) after the jump ...

... on Chad Knaus.
* $25,000 fine.
* On probation until Dec. 31
* Suspended from all NASCAR events until March 22. That means he'll miss California, Vegas and Atlanta.

Note that no points are involved, which means Jimmie Johnson (driver) and Rick Hendrick (owner) won't lose any.

All in all, Knaus got off pretty easy, considering that the No. 48 team won the 500 with a back-up crew chief.

Terry Labonte, meanwhile, got nailed for using an unapproved carburator - $25K fine for the crew chief, and T-Lab and the car owner both lost 25 points. What a way to welcome a new team to the sport, eh?

Dustin will have more on both in the a.m. paper.

We should all be happy. Another racin' season has started. We got through Daytona without any serious injuries. We have a feel-good story in Kirk Shelmerdine. And the circuit goes to California this week and the Busch boys detour south to Mexico City the week after.

So why is everyone so hacked off?

More after the jump ...

With all of the talk about Jimmie Johnson and the Hendrick folks, we've just about ignored the other big owner in NASCAR.

That's right: Jack Roush, he of 2005's Roush-Hendrick dominance.

Talk about a forgettable 500. Mark Martin was the best of the 5 Roush rides, and he was 12th. Then there was Kenseth (15th, after his tangle with Stewart), Biffle (31st), McReckless (37th) and Edwards (dead last at 43rd after trying to climb into Kyle Petty's car.

Even ex-Rousher Kurt Busch only got 38th. When was the last time Roush didn't have a car in the top 10?

In any case, Roush is looking ahead. Carl Edwards and Todd Kluever were up at VIR yesterday testing for the Busch race in Mexico City.

Their tutor: Another Daytona washout, Boris Said. Remember a year ago that the 36 team was going to race him a lot in 2005? They did, but Boris didn't seem to take to the ovals. Which is too bad. He is one bad dude.

The VIR report (warning: it's VIR propaganda) after the jump ...

I'm going to lay low today. I've got three employee reviews to do by next Tuesday, and I've got the Fontana race, sectional finals in prep basketball and our regularly scheduled Tuesday community sports lineup.

If I miss the deadline, I'll be like Rusty Wallace without the TV gig or Boris Said without a tutoring job.

I hope to resurface Friday. In my absence, I'll leave you with some things to read after the jump ...

Is Casey Mears a one-hit wonder?

Is Jimmie Johnson really a cheater? Or is just that evil Chad Knaus?

Can Dale Jr. get his act in gear at Fontana? Or will he be run over and left for dead by the Roush crew?

Who will be this week's Kirk Shelmerdine?

Talk about all that and more in comments until I think of something more interesting to post about.

I'll start you off to an answer to the first question after the jump ...

You know, I was really hoping the kid would get his life back in order, keep in racing shape by tooling around the USAC series and be back racin' in the big leagues some day.

Looks like that's not going to happen, at least not soon. NASCAR suspended Shane indefinitely for failing a third substance test. He was due back in (maybe) 2007.

Previous coverage here. Full story after the jump.

As several of you pointed out in the comments in some earlier posts, the NASCAR season really starts tomorrow at California. No restrictor plates here - just a 2-mile D-shaped oval that requires your car to be fast and manageable.

Junior was, well, terrible at California last year. He started 40th in the spring race, the second race of the season, and finished 13 laps down in 32nd after cutting two tires. (In hindsight, that's when we all should have known that the 8 wasn't going to be so gr8.) In the fall, he started 41st, blew an engine and finished 38th.

That's awful.

So how will he do tomorrow? My guess after the jump ...

My boss's boss's boss is cracking down on the crapola going on at the N&R's education blog. Good for him.

If you had told me a year ago when we started blogging that commenters at the NASCAR blog would give thoughtful, insightful opinion and the education blog would be dominated by name-calling and hostility toward its authors and other posters, I would have said you were nuts.

Strangely enough, that's exactly how it's turned out.

I know people get fired up about education, especially when their children are involved. I've got three children, and I covered K-12 (including GCS redistricting) for nearly seven years here. But the Chalkboard has grown downright toxic. I used to comment over there - I sorta know the turf, right? No more. I stopped reading it several months back because every post was followed by the predictable stream of name-calling, finger-pointing and immaturity that you wouldn't let your own kids get away with.

All that's a long way of telling regular readers and commenters here "thank you" for being champs. I learn something here from you every day, and I appreciate being able to drive without having to worry about what's going on back at the shop - sort of like Kyle Petty with Robbie Loomis, but with a better aero and engine team.

So thank you. Keep reading and posting. And don't make me come back there. (No, we're not there yet.)

Kenseth won as Jack Roush swept the weekend. (Martin won trucks, Biffle won Busch)

Johnson was second to keep hold of the points lead.

Biffle and Stewart blew up. (True fact: Biffle is 38th in points, last among the drivers who started both Cup races.)
Junior limped home 11th, two spots ahead of Gordon.

Casey Mears, Mr. One Hit Wonder? He finished seventh today and is 2nd in points. Hmmm ...

And that was the weekend. Not really much there.

What did you see? Anything? Anyone?

In the Hall of Fame sweepstakes, the Charlotte Observer today declared victory for the Queen City: As the race for NASCAR's Hall of Fame heads into the home stretch, Charlotte is the leading candidate to land the $100 million-plus shrine to stock car racing, several sources told the Observer on Sunday.

The AP, meanwhile, just moved a dispatch with NASCAR's denial: "The process is still ongoing. We're still looking at information from all three cities," NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said. "The decision-making process is very much ongoing."

My take: Of course it's going to be Charlotte. Why?

More after the jump ...

So writes Dustin Long in today's paper:

Roush's domination surprises because it has lasted a year and shows no sign of ending.

Secrets often have short lives in the Nextel Cup garage. If NASCAR isn't displaying a team's creative work for others to copy, then teams parked beside each other steal one another's ideas.

Offseason personnel moves also mean a team's secrets switch rides.

None of that has slowed Roush so far -- and that could spell trouble for others.

Just for emphasis, a handy chart after the jump ...

An unusually feisty David Poole takes on NASCAR and declares that their claim of 75 million fans is, ah, a wee bit overstated.

The reporter Poole cites in the fourth graf of his column? That would be Dustin Long.

The idea that NASCAR overstates its numbers isn't exactly a new concept. "Sunday Money" author Jeff MacGregor tackled it in his book last year. And when ISC bought Martinsville Speedway in 2004, the old owners made about 30,000 seats vanish. (Scroll down to "So...how many seats does Martinsville have?" entry.

And Diecast Dude, who was at the race, said the place looked pretty full.

Speaking of numbers, remind me to post something on NASCAR's new stats. More numbers - ack!