Sprint Cup N's & Q's: LifeLock 400

Somewhat coherent Notes & Quotes to wrap up NASCAR's first trip to Michigan in 2009:

What will NASCAR learn from Pardo's brutal crash and tragic death?

The death of NASCAR Mexico driver and champion Carlos Pardo in a horrific crash during the final laps of a race on Sunday is certainly tragic. However, the fact that his car was able to make such violent contact with the end of a temporary wall is just as shocking.

Let's hope NASCAR makes sure such an angle of impact can never happen again.

Mark Martin needs to be ... fired?

Sunday's race winner at Michigan International Speedway didn't have the greatest of qualifying efforts on Friday with a 32nd-place effort. So despite the fact that he had already won two races so far in 2009 during his first foray with Hendrick Motorsports, Martin was sure he was going to be getting a dreaded phone call from Rick Hendrick in the near future.

"I didn't think I was going to get fired right now, but if I keep qualifying 32nd every week, he needs to fire me," said Martin after the race. "Everybody can act like that's stupid, but it isn't really stupid. I'm serious. If I can't do better than that in the stuff that they're giving me, they're going to need to get somebody else."

Considering that he's now tied for the most wins in 2009, I have a feeling his job is a little bit secure.

Waltrip could have set lapped car precedent

At big tracks like Michigan where cars generally just fall one lap behind if they make an unscheduled stop during green flag, Michael Waltrip may have just set a big precedent for gambling to get a lap back.

During a caution Sunday, Waltrip was a lap down and stayed out throughout the period, meaning when the signal was given for one lap to go, he was in between the pace car and the leader. Under the new restart rules, Waltrip was given a "wave around" to get a lap back and join the back of the field.

He was hoping that a caution would fall in 10 to 15 laps before his fuel window was exceeded, giving him a chance to pit under yellow on the lead lap and make up some ground. It was a gamble, but not a huge gamble, because when the caution didn't wave again, Waltrip came to pit road during the green flag and fell back one lap down -- right where he was to begin with.

It was a gamble with little risk, and it might be how we see a lot of lapped cars try to get a lap back at big tracks in the future.

Richard Childress Racing Struggles Continue

It's been a pretty ugly season so far in 2009 for the RCR bunch, and it's not getting a whole lot better.

None of the three RCR cars ever made a substantial run to the front, and Clint Bowyer in 10th was the only driver to etch out of a top-10 run. Teammates Kevin Harvick, Casey Mears and Jeff Burton came home 18th, 24th and 26th, respectively -- though they may have had fuel issues at the end.

Regardless, the team isn't competeing for wins and its tough to say what the issue is. In reality, they may be the poster child of a team that truly misses being able to test in 2009.

400 miles at Michigan is a quick affair

The first NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway in 1969 was the one and only 500-mile event at the track, and since then, they've been scheduled to run 400 miles. The races at MIS are nearly always the quickest events on the circuit, and Sunday's race was no exception.

It ran, with just three caution periods (pretty normal for the track), at an elapsed time of 2 hours and 34 minutes to be the shortest race in terms of time in 2009.

There's been an effort for a few years now to consider shortening some races because people find them simply too long, but I'd argue that another 100 miles at MIS to make it an even 500 wouldn't be all that bad. It would put most races there just over the 3-hour mark -- similar to most MLB and NFL games.