Nascar and Racing Earnhardt Ganassi Racing

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- Juan Pablo Montoya will have a hard time playing the role of darkhorse if he keeps driving like this.

The former Formula One star will make his debut in NASCAR's Chase for the championship from the pole after setting a track record at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday.

Montoya turned a lap at 133.431 mph on the 1.058-mile oval, breaking the mark of 133.357 set by Ryan Newman in 2003. It's a good way to start the 10-race Chase, but Montoya cautioned it's just a start.

"If it was a 10-lap shootout, I'd say 'Hey, we're pretty good,'" Montoya said.

Aside from his announcement last week that he'd have a new home for Sprint Cup competition in 2010, it's been a season loaded down with disappointment for Martin Truex Jr.

Tuesday afternoon, it took another step in the wrong direction.

Truex and his No. 1 Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team were docked 25 points, fined $25,000 and had crew chief Kevin "Bono" Manion placed on probation through the end of the year after the car was found to be too high after Saturday night's race at Chicagoland Speedway.

With the Danica Patrick sweepstakes beginning to gain momentum, at least one potential teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya has some words of advice and caution for the IndyCar driver should she make the move to NASCAR.

"Danica, I think she's got the talent and everything, but I don't think she knows what she's getting into," said Montoya, a former Indy car champ and Formula One winner who now drives for Chip Ganassi in the Sprint Cup Series.

"They're [stock cars] so different to drive. It's not the same feeling. ... If she comes I'm sure she can do it, but it doesn't matter if you come to a winning team or anything, it's going to take time."

Juan Pablo Montoya made a scary analysis about the condition of his Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing's team cars Friday at Infineon Raceway.

It was scary for the rest of the field, of course, because the Colombian is returning to the twisty road course in Northern California where he saw his first career Sprint Cup Series win two years ago with a race car that he thinks is better prepared.

"I think our cars have come a long way -- even when we won here, our cars are a little more competitive now," said Montoya on Friday afternoon prior to qualifying.

Just a year and change after NASCAR's most popular driver vacated the No. 8 seat, that team is suspending operations thanks to a lack of sponsorship.

Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing will not be taking Aric Almirola and his Chevrolet team any further in the 2009 season after a dismal start has failed to yield more sponsorship dollars, though the team is still actively -- and probably hopelessly -- searching for more backers.

For Almirola, though, it's just a continuation of a string of bad lack in his climb to NASCAR's highest ranks.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sure, NASCAR has the high-wattage personalities. Drag racing has the raw speed and IndyCar racing can't be beat for pure, wheel-to-wheel excitement.

But this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway represents the truest form of racing in America and is arguably the toughest 24-hour race in the world.

The starting grid is eclectic and richly-talented; the racing diverse and pure - right turns, left turns, high-speed high-banks and tricky chicanes; the conditions unique - daylight, moonlight, rain or shine.

Here's what everyone will be talking about as the NASCAR haulers roll into Daytona International Speedway next month for the start of one the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory.

Especially early on, one of the most intriguing storylines of the season will be the success of the mega-mergers.

Will we see Kumbaya moments or power-plays as some of the biggest names and egos in the sport join hands hoping there's strength in numbers?

Over the course of the past 24 hours, word has come out that one of the newer faces to the NASCAR garage area will be changing gears in how he works with the sport.

Max Siegel, hired on as the company president at the then-Dale Earnhardt Inc. in Febuary of 2007, will now lead NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program in addition to returning to an Indianapolis law firm to specialize in sports and entertainment.

The move was predicated by DEI's merger with Chip Ganassi Racing in November that diminshed the need for Siegel's efforts at the newly-named Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. Prior to the merger, Siegel was the highest-ranking African-American executive in the NASCAR garage.