Nascar and Racing Dei

After receiving a strong penalty from NASCAR Tuesday afternoon, Martin Truex Jr.'s shot at making the Chase for the Championship for the second time in two years took a deep hit.

It wasn't the 150 owner points that hurt, not the $100,000 fine, or even the loss of his crew chief and car chief for the next six races, instead, it was the 150 driver points that Truex lost thanks to his No. 1 car failing inspection last Thursday at Daytona due to a roof height violation.

As if it wasn't bad enough, NASCAR confiscated that car, forcing Truex to miss practice and race a backup car.

But that 150-point penalty is the killer. The penalty completely wiped all 112 points that Truex earned in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona and then some. In other words, the penalty is worse than if Truex would have missed a race.

The damage dropped Truex 238 points behind 12th-place Tony Stewart, but the biggest difference is that instead of sitting 14th in the point standings, Truex now sits 18th, leaving six drivers ahead of him that are fighting for the same spot.

Truex is now in a very, very tough spot if he wants to make the Chase, having to average at this point a finish 30 points higher each race than Stewart, which translates to between 5 and 11 spots higher in each of the last 8 races before the Chase.

It's a tough penalty, and it deeply affected Truex's run at the championship in the playoff, but its simply another wake up call to teams to be extremely stringent with the way they build their race cars. Is a penalty like that fair? Well, thats a discussion for another day.

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Kyle Busch finished second Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Daytona driving like a girl, according to Martin Truex Jr.

Truex was heated after finishing 11th in the Camping World 300 despite challenging for the lead late in the race. A block by Busch as Truex tried to take second place killed his momentum and opportunity to challenge Tony Stewart for the win.

Busch wound up 2nd.

From the NASCAR Scene:

"Kyle drives like a girl," Truex said. "I mean, come on. We're out here racing for fun. We had a hell of a battle. I had a lot of fun racing today with him, and then I had a huge run and he just blocked me. I pretty much knew he was going to do it. I had such a run and had to go."

It sounds like Truex is a fan of the movie "The Sandlot", in which one of the most familiar lines is "You play ball like a girl!".

Busch's comeback wasn't nearly as awesome:

"What else you going to do, man? " Busch said "Shoot, he's pushing me through the tri-oval, wanting to spin me out. I'm sorry I saved it and kept it in front of him. Grow up, bud. What do you want me to do, pull over? Next question."

Kyle's comeback lacked mainly because someone younger than someone else can't tell that other person to grow up. That just doesn't make sense.

Busch is 22 while Truex is 27.

If this turns into a nice rivalry, I can't wait for the short tracks.

Who Will the Daytona 500? Find out at the Fanhouse Warmup: Daytona 500.

Last season, Texas Motor Speedway track president Eddie Gossage took some heat over his marketing campaign involving the IndyCar series race there.

In that instance, Gossage played on the fact that Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon had had a verbal sparring match after the previous race in Texas with a "Dan vs. Danica" theme.

This time around, though, the players are much different.

In anticipation of April's Samsung 500 at Texas for the Sprint Cup series, TMS has been running an ad campaign called "reasons" and includes a picture of a driver and a reason why they want to win.

One of those drivers was Dale Earnhardt Jr. And TMS thought he wanted to win because of the way Junior parted ways in 2007 with his stepmom's team, Dale Earnhardt Inc.

The billboard used to show Junior and read "Reason No. 88: Stepmom".

Not so fast, says the Earnhardt Jr. camp:

We want your NASCAR questions! To get in the mix, simply drop us an email at this link. Just click and follow the directions!

Q: Hey guys! The winter break is very boring and it's good to see someone trying to do something about it. My question is: Do you think NASCAR would be the heading in the same direction if Dale Earnhardt was still around? It seems to me, with the Car of Tomorrow and the open-wheel guys, that all of the emotion and fun is gone from the sport! -- Tim (Iowa)

A: The Fanhouse certainly appreciates your question, Tim! And you're right, the winter break from NASCAR action gets a little tedious at times, but Daytona testing is here, so no worries!

As for Dale Earnhardt, I think that this sport would be in a very different state without his tragic death in 2001. Would that state be better or worse? I don't really know.

One thing is true, we lost one of the most recognizable and heroic figures of a sport. But with his tragic death, look at all the innovation that has come as a near direct result. HANS devices, SAFER barriers, and safer cars have all come out of the tragedy. In that sense, the sport has improved.

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Welcome to the 2007 NASCAR FanHouse Year in Review. Follow along each day as we look back on the top 25 drivers of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for the 2007 season. Heck, bookmark us if you have to! Today, we review the season of 11th-place Martin Truex Jr.

Driver: Martin Truex Jr. -- Mayetta, New Jersey
Team: No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
Points: 11th (-559)
2006: 19th in Cup Standings
Key Stats: 1 win, 1 pole, 7 Top-5s, 14 Top-10s
Back in 2008?: Yes

2007 was a bit like Christmas Day for Martin Truex Jr. The Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver picked up not only his first career pole, but also his first career win at Dover in June.

With a little more good luck and a whole lot less bad, Truex easily could have competed for the Nextel Cup Series title.

Heading into the Chase, Truex turned in a nice streak of finishes that set him as a potential favorite for the 10-race playoff. The last five races before the Chase opener at New Hampshire saw Truex average an 8th-place finish and move from 11th to 7th in the point standings prior to Chase seeding.

A top-5 at New Hampshire led to a disappointing 13th-place finish at Dover due to a late race wreck. Truex got used to the bad luck quite quickly with finishes of 38th and 42nd at Kansas and Talladega. A finish of 31st at Atlanta dropped any high Chase finish hopes.

Truex rebounded in the last 3 races of 2007 with three consecutive Top-10s but even that wasn't enough to earn him a trip on the stage in New York for Nextel Cup Awards ceremony.

Truex's lone victory in 2007 came in a next-generation race car at Dover, which definitely sets a good precedent as Truex looks to assume the role of top dog at DEI in '08 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s departure. 2008 should definitely be a very competitive one for Truex.

Welcome to the 2007 NASCAR FanHouse Year in Review. Follow along each day until the end of 2007 as we look back on the top 25 drivers of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for the 2007 season. Heck, bookmark us if you have to! Today, we review the season of 16th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- Kannapolis, North Carolina
Team: No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet
Points: 16th (-2794)
2006: Made Chase for Nextel Cup, Finished 5th
Key Stats: No wins, 1 pole, 7 Top-5s, 9 DNFs
Back in 2008?: Yes, but moving to Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet

2007 was the first time in a long, long time that a NASCAR driver from North Carolina did not win a race in its premier Cup Series.

Knowing that, it's pretty easy to sum-up Dale Jr.'s year on-track.

Frustrating.

Multiple blown engines, a lack of confidence in the setups, a next-generation race car that didn't particularly run well for DEI and others definitely brought down Dale Jr.'s performance. After all, not only did Junior not add North Carolina to the win column, but it was also his first ever full-time Cup Season that he found himself outside of the winner's circle.

It's not to say that Dale Jr. ran habitually bad, but more of an issue with being there consistently at the end of a race with a shot to win.

Who's to say if things would have been different had an extension with DEI been signed, but obviously, Dale Jr. likely isn't wondering what could have been for his 2007 for long as he knows that Hendrick power is at his disposal in 2008.

That's got to be a great feeling. (Click to read more)

NASCAR fans don't care about wins, poles, or championships for their favorite drivers.

Performance on the track? Well, it's kind of important, but not nearly as important as having multiple television commercials, a pretty-darned famous last name, and a down-home attitude and look.

For those reasons, Dale Earnhardt Jr. just won his fifth-straight NMPA Chex Most Popular Driver award Thursday in New York City. Junior gave his obligatory remarks on winning his 5th-straight popularity contest that came as a surprise to -- well -- no one.

"When I became a Cup driver in 1999, I never would've imagined that we'd be talking about five consecutive Most Popular Driver awards. I have a special place at JR Motorsports where I put the MPD trophies, so I'm honored to add another one to the collection," said Junior.

"I don't want it to sound like a cliché, but this award really does mean a lot to me after all we have been through this year. This year has marked a significant transition in my life and career [...]"

You do kind of have to feel sorry for the folks at the NMPA because of the absolute domination that Junior holds on the contest. According to this article, of nearly 3.8 million votes cast online for each of the top 50 drivers in NASCAR, Dale Jr. managed to pull in 1.4 million of those -- nearly a third of the votes cast.

In other words? Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to have to start building a new room onto JR Motorsports to house the trophies from the popularity contest he is bound to continue winning for a long time.

This victory, of course, comes during the year when Dale Jr. was the single-most talked about driver on the planet because of his departing of Dale Earnhardt Inc. for greener pastures at Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 -- a move that precipitated over several months.

The move, Earnhardt hopes, will take him from his zero-win 16th-place 2007 series finish to contending for wins and championships.

According to FoxSports Lee Spencer, Dale Earnhardt Inc. announced major organizational moves designed to place greater emphasis on engineering and technology.

"We're taking the necessary steps now in order to go out and win a championship in 2008."

Oh, now they want to take the necessary steps. Now that the rising star of the family-owned business--my bad, I mean stars--have left the building.

DEI Vice President of Global Operations, Max Siegel:

"We've been working on the plan for a long time. We're putting a huge emphasis on engineering. If all of this doesn't speak to our commitment to motorsports, I don't know what will."

Well loddy-freaking-dah. You couldn't have started this, I don't know, LAST YEAR?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. supposedly isn't bitter:

After two more races, the team will sever official ties with the 33-year-old who once stood first in its line of succession. There aren't many lingering feelings of bitterness or betrayal - just a difference of opinion on how to do business.

Well, I'm bitter. And I've been left to wonder, "What if ...?," for a long time to come.

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?

Now that we've got all of the -- um -- important details out the way, the focus of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s voyage to Hendrick Motorsports has reached a point that matters.

The competitive side. You know -- the side that Dale Earnhardt Jr. actually left Dale Earnhardt Inc. in favor of Hendrick for in the first place?

First off, Earnhardt's current and future crew chief at Hendrick Tony Eury Jr. will be released from his duties at DEI. following the Oct. 7 race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Eury, who has been Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car or crew chief for all but one season since the two broke into the Nextel Cup Series in 2000, will step down after the Oct. 7 race at Talladega Superspeedway.

He will be allowed to take four members of Earnhardt's No. 8 team with him under a deal made by DEI when it agreed to free him contractually to join Earnhardt at HMS in 2008.

According to the article, only one team member has told DEI that they will departing with Eury Jr.

The jump for Eury Jr. will work out nicely as he'll not only get a head start at Hendrick, but Earnhardt Jr. may be in a Hendrick ride following the last October race in Atlanta.