Nascar and Racing Evernham Motorsports

Fans have just voted Kasey Kahne's win in last year's Sprint All-Star Race the greatest moment in Lowe's Motor Speedway's storied history. After failing to qualify for the race, Kahne lined up on the starting grid thanks to the fans' popular vote, then promptly went out and snapped a 19-month winless streak.

Kahne's amazing effort that night, followed by a win a week later in the Coca-Cola 600, marked one of the best weeks of his Sprint Cup Series career.

The highlight reel has been considerably shorter for him since.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dressed casually in jeans and a black, button-down oxford, Ray Evernham leaned back into his chair and twirled the large gold ring on his right ring finger - the ring he received as crew chief for Jeff Gordon's 1999 Daytona 500 victory.

"I've got two of these Daytona 500 rings, but I can't get a parking pass," Evernham joked Wednesday from the infield of the Daytona International Speedway.

A decade ago he was celebrating in victory lane. A year ago he was on the pit box guiding another young driver, Kasey Kahne, to a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500. This week, he had to borrow a parking pass from fellow ESPN television analyst Rusty Wallace.

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?

Did you really think the NASCAR world could keep quiet during this offseason?

First, we had Elliott Sadler being canned from his then Gillett-Evernham Motorsports ride just months after signing a multi-year contract extension. A.J. Allmendinger, they said, was taking over the ride.

Then, Richard Petty and the oh-so-struggling Petty Enterprises worked out a merger with GEM, a fellow Dodge team to create a still unnamed four-car team that includes the famed No. 43. Somehow, such a merger was a positive move for Sadler, as he was reinstated to the ride he had originally been taken out of.

Perhaps the newly-formed team didn't want to deal with a near-certain lawsuit Sadler was going to throw their way?

With Sadler back in, the Petty merger complete, Allmendinger signed up to run a handful of races based on sponsorship for the team, the NASCAR world appeared to slow.

I suppose you could chalk this up as one of those deals that just makes you want to go "hmmm."

Not only did one of NASCAR's most-storied organizations lose much of its independent identity thanks to a merger cued from financial necessity, but a driver thought to be on axe from the other merged team is back in the fold.

In other words, just another day in the always unpredictable world of NASCAR.

I bet this isn't what A.J. Allmendinger signed up for with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports contacted him about driving for the Sprint Cup team in 2009.

Allmendinger, along with GEM, majority owner George Gillett and Ray Evernham Enterprises were named earlier this week in Iredell County (N.C.) as defendents by an attorney representing Elliott Sadler in a possible suit alleging breach of contract, according to David Poole of The Charlotte Observer.

Sadler, as we were surprised about earlier in the week, appears to be on the outs from GEM's No. 19 Dodge in favor of Allmendinger in 2009 -- despite signing a contract extension this past spring with the team through 2010.

Poole noted in the article that "Sadler plans to seek injunctive relief, declaratory relief/specific performance, consequential and punitive damages as a resultof Defendants anticipatory and actual breach of Plantiff's Driving Services Agreement [...]."

All of the legal lingo could more appropriately described as Sadler being extremely irritated and desiring to grab all of the money from GEM he can because of the loss of external revenue (personal contracts, etc.) he stands to lose by not driving in the Sprint Cup Series full time in 2009.

Warning: Objects in this post may be the only way to successfully live through the NASCAR off-season. For best results, read rearview mirror early and often.

Driver: Elliott Sadler
Team: No. 19 Gillette-Evernham Dodge
'08 Final Standing: 24th (-3324)
Best Race: Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (4th-place)
Worst Race: Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta (43rd-place)

Season in a box: Sadler's 2008 campaign started with a bang thanks to a 6th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500. From there, however, things didn't pan out as Sadler would have expected.

Reed Sorenson's future seat at Gillette-Evernham Motorsports might get a little cold before he takes the reigns of his new Dodge after Patrick Carpentier got the boot from the organization Tuesday afternoon.

Carpenter failed to make last Sunday's race at Talladega, and later had somewhat of a confrontation in plain view of the entire Talladega garage with his crew chief who blamed Patrick -- not the car -- as the reason the No. 10 car wasn't in the race.

Carpentier, who was already scheduled to leave the team at the end of 2009, later posted a response to the incident on his web site:

"I think it's a complete lack of respect," said Carpentier. "I never was shy to take the blame when I thought it was my fault, but here, everybody knows that it's like driving in a straight line."

"I've looked at the timing data and we were already three-tenths below the time we needed to qualify when I went below the line. I went low because I felt we had to try everything. I gave it all I had, but now he blames me? This is totally unacceptable. It's not as if my teammates were on the first row! They both ran slower than me!"

It's hard to deny Carpentier's logic, but at the same time, he and his publicist had to know that it was a risky move by posting the team's dirty laundry for everyone to see -- especially when its against a team that had a gossip-filled firing of Jeremy Mayfield a few years ago that revealed a team owner's relationship with a female driver, among other things.

Patrick Carpentier is a free man and the word on the future of A.J. Allmendinger & Red Bull Racing seems to be nearing.

On the Carpentier side of things, word came out Wednesday that Gillette-Evernham Motorsports has officially made NASCAR's favorite driving Canuck a free agent after his first season in a race car with fenders.

Carpentier is being let go effective at the end of 2008 in favor of the younger, more marketable but seemingly-similarly (say that five times) talented Reed Sorenson. Sorenson is departing Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 41 ride after having a disappointing foray into the Sprint Cup Series racing with that team.

Carpentier's story is one that just makes you want to frown and say "that just ain't fair" because of his noted improvement from when he started driving a NASCAR (hasn't even been a year yet) to now, on top of his interesting and always honest personality. Given the right opportunity with a patient car owner and sponsor, Carpentier could easily succeed as a solid driver in NASCAR.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like that's going to happen, and that's a shame.

Speaking of potential shames (Can you really make that plural? Probably not. Works for me, though.) the future relationship betwee Red Bull Racing and A.J. Allmendinger appears headed toward a crossroads in the very near future with a decision on 2009 coming soon.

Reed Sorenson made his way to Gillette-Evernham Motorsports earlier this week, transferring across Sprint Cup team lines from Chip Ganassi Racing.

And as he did so, rookie Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier in first year with GEM's No. 10 car could read the writing on the wall.

Simply, the team was placing him on the back burner of its sponsorship search -- meaning he more than likely won't be in a sponsored car if he decides to stick with the GEM team in 2009 because the emphasis will now be on Sorenson.

And when he was asked about Friday afternoon at Auto Club Speedway, he didn't exactly toe the company line:

"They hired Reed Sorenson for next year, so it's over," Carpentier says. "They're working on a fourth team and looking for sponsorship, but you know how that goes."

So Carpentier says he's a free agent. "I'm talking with other teams to see what's out there," the Montreal native says.

I'd classify what was said by Carpentier as another round of those "you can't blame him"-type comments.