FanHouse Trackside at the Banking 500

CONCORD, N.C. -- Steady rain kept cars off the track for most of the day at Lowe's Motor Speedway but there was plenty going on in the garage area prior to a scheduled rain-delayed, late-night qualifying session Thursday.

FanHouse is trackside this weekend for the Banking 500, race 5 of the 10-week Chase for the Championship, and caught up with the Chase drivers as they waited out the weather.

Jeff Gordon talked about his back, Carl Edwards announced he's going to be a father and Greg Biffle updated us on his Logano family feud and what he thinks of Michael Vick's return to the NFL.

All the drivers had opinions on Wednesday's NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural class announcement and to a man, thought it was a fair and representative first class. Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson will be inducted May 23, 2010.

"I think those five really stand out as making their mark in our sport getting it where it it is today,'' said four-time NASCAR Cup champion Jeff Gordon. "It's just so hard to narrow it down to five.''

Several of the drivers wondered if maybe the first class should have been larger with so many important positions to fill. It might surprise fans, who seem to want a more driver-centric list of inductees, that the current drivers felt strongly that NASCAR executives, engine builders, team owners, crew chiefs and key marketing people should also be included throughout the years.

And they all said Thursday that both Frances were rightly on the list.

"I would have liked to seen them induct a lot more than five the first year because we really needed this thing many, many years ago,'' said veteran Mark Martin. "The old-timers and the founders and all that, they need to be in there, but there are so many people that need to be in that hall of fame that I hope that some of my current buddies are still alive when they get inducted. I'm serious.''

As for what's newsy and noteworthy:

-- Gordon, who is currently fifth in the championship, reported his aching back isn't currently aching.

"I'm happy to report nothing - everything is good, I haven't had any issues," said Gordon, whose No. 24 Chevrolet is carrying the logo for the upcoming movie, "Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen."

Gordon said his current back treatment is primarily a weekly trip to the chiropractor.

"The last little scare was Watkins Glen and I didn't know how long that would take to recover from from that, and I feel like I'm fully recovered.

"It's still there, but I haven't had pain or anything that's been too uncomfortable or any distraction in the car, so I"m happy about that.''

-- Edwards, who got married in January, said his wife Kate is pregnant and that the couple will be having a little girl in mid-February.

"Perfect timing, right,'' Edwards joked. "We'll call her 'Daytona.' "

-- Biffle tried to defuse the situation about his run-in with Tom Logano, whose son Joey was involved in a race tangle with Biffle in last weekend's Nationwide Series race in California. Tom Logano confronted Biffle on pit road after the race and NASCAR confiscated Logano's all-access hard-card.

But Biffle said more was made out of the situation than needed to be and indicated it's not Tom Logano that needs to change his ways as much as Joey Logano.

Biffle said Tom Logano was running down pit road to congratulate his son in victory circle and simply took a brief detour to Biffle's car, "gave me the sign I was number one" and continued on.

"No, he (Tom) hasn't apologized,'' Biffle said. "And I have to say that it really got taken out of context. People blew it up and said there was a fight on pit road and the he was in my window. I don't know that it was that big of deal.''

As for the younger Logano, Biffle conceded he should have given him more racing room but pointed out at least three other incidents where Logano didn't race Biffle and others with the kind of give-and-take respect the sport demands -- certainly what's expected of a young, inexperienced driver.

"I told him, he needs to pay a little more respect to the veterans in the sport,'' said Biffle, who added that Logano still hasn't been receptive to friendly words of advice.

"That's pretty disappointing because I got talked to by Sterling Marlin and a few other guys when I started out and I learned a lot from it. We've all been there and all made mistakes and we all try and look to be better in the future.''

Biffle was also asked during his weekly press conference what he thought about Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick's reinstatement in the NFL. Biffle has a foundation that raises and donates money to animal shelters and animal causes.

"I guess people in this world get second chances, but I guess it's unfortunate that all those animals didn't get a second chance,'' Biffle said.

-- Jeff Burton essentially confirmed that his Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick would be leaving the team following the 2010 season. Harvick told ESPN last week that it was time to "close the book" on his Daytona 500-winning tenure at RCR. Burton said he didn't expect the impending departure to be a negative in the present, however.

"I think everyone has to be professional enough that it doesn't matter,'' Burton said. "It is a stressful situation for he and Richard to deal with and for he and the his team to deal with, no question about it.

"At the same time, I think the hard part is over. ... Sometimes you are just better off going to the dentist and getting it over with. Everybody is understanding that Kevin still has a year left on his contract and he's going to do everything in his power to do the best job for RCR. And RCR is going to do everything in their power to do the best job for Kevin Harvick.

"The reality of it is, if you lose a driver the caliber of Kevin Harvick, we have to have a seat available that a Kevin Harvick-caliber driver wants. The only way we're going to do that is to put a race out there that's highly competitive and shows the people that are looking for rides that you need to come here.''

-- Juan Pablo Montoya was asked about his often heated exchanges with crew chief Brian Pattie during the race.

"We have a very good relationship and it is very open,'' said Montoya, who's ranked third in the championship, just 58 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

"We understand each other and we all have good days and bad days. He tells me, 'sometimes you should shout and then press the button (to talk)' and I told him, 'then what's the point,' '' Montoya laughed.

-- Ryan Newman remained firm in his stance that NASCAR should be more proactive in safety innovations for the restrictor plate race at Talladega Superspeedway. He took some heat last weekend for publicly questioning NASCAR's delayed reaction to a scary, airborne crash on the last lap that sent Carl Edwards' car into the front stretch catchfence and left seven fans injured.

NASCAR will issue smaller restrictor plates for cars at the Nov. 1 Talladega race - reducing engine power by about 10-15 horsepower.

"I didn't get in any trouble (from NASCAR); I would tell you if I did,'' Newman said. "I don't mind being in trouble once in a while as long as it is for the right reason and that is talking about safety.''