As is normal in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, plenty of road course specialty racers will be attempting the field this weekend at Infineon Raceway in California. The 11-turn course brings out drivers from several road course series' filling in or running an extra car.
These "ringers" have had decent success in NASCAR Nextel Cup action at Infineon. Scott Pruett, who won't be in a car this weekend (maybe because Juan Pablo Montoya is?) has the best finish in the last five years for a non-Cup regular with a third in 2004.
2006 saw Boris Said (pictured) pick up ninth for the top ringer finish. Boris is among this year's entry list:
In case you missed it, Waltrip wrecked for the second straight week in qualifying for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. To make matters worse, another team car of David Reutimann crashed in qualifying, leaving only Dale Jarrett in the race from MWR.
Both were cases of a drivers trying to take a bad race car and run it over its limit. Neither made the show.
Michael's brother, Darrell was pretty upset because he knows how much Mikey has been through this season. The SPEED Channel analyst brought up an interesting idea for MWR during a commercial break from qualifying coverage. (Thank you, racing scanner)
Darrell Waltrip's suggestion for his brother's team?
Stop racing the 'old car'. Don't even show up for races that don't have next year's Car of Tomorrow competition. Take a attitude of "if there's no wing, we aren't rac-ing".
Is the idea at all feasible right now? Not really.
Does it make sense for the struggling MWR team? You bet.
No Rain! For the first time in two weeks, a race weekend won't be impacted by rain tonight. The forecast for today in Charlotte calls for a high of 75 and Sunny while tonight things will get nice and cool for the fans in the stands. Clear skies, a low of 46 degrees, and plenty of sparks on the track.
Welcome Back Pending May 30th, NASCAR has lifted the suspensions of David Hyder, Michael Waltrip's former crew chief, and Bobby Kennedy, the director of competition over at MWR. Both were suspended after the No. 55 engine scandal at Daytona. Also mentioned, a crew chief from the Busch Series who was suspended indefinitely after Phoenix last November. Think they forgot about his case? Or was he that bad?
It looks like Michael Waltrip Racing has found out why they aren't making races.
The engines? Nope.
The chassis? Wrong again.
The drivers? Never their fault.
The crew chiefs? You bet.
Matt Borland, formerly the crew chief for Ryan Newman, was let go from his position of crew chief for Dale Jarrett's UPS Toyota this week.
"Dale Jarrett wasn't happy, UPS wasn't happy, and we had to do something immediately," team owner Michael Waltrip said.
Jarrett has now used up all of his past champion provisionals and must either find the top 35 or race his way into each remaining race in 2007. Jason Burdett will fill the role of crew chief for DJ from here on out. Waltrip let go David Hyder last week from his role with the #55 team.
Burdett comes from Robert Yates Racing where he served last year as a co-crew cheif on Jarrett's #88 last year.
Will he know how to qualify a car into the race each week that can't seem to find speed anywhere?
That sure is a tough job to step in to, but Waltrip and Jarrett must have enough faith in the guy to knock Borland, who won 8 races with Ryan Newman in 2003, off the pit box. Tough times call for tough moves -- and Toyota certainly hasn't hit the ground with flying colors in its inaugural foray to NASCAR Nextel Cup.
Just a quick shot of 110 octane to get you goin' for 500 499 miles of NASCAR Nextel Cup Racing at Talladega. Today's coverage starts at 1:30pm/et on FOX with the green flag sometime after 2:15pm/et. The weather forecast today is remarkable -- Sunny and a high of 82.
Would the Real Tony Stewart Please Stand Up? First, he wouldn't talk. Then, he blasted NASCAR for being the new professional wrestling. NASCAR then, for all intents and purposes, laid a verbal lashing on him. Yesterday? Defiant as ever, acting as if he was still right. Which are you, Tony? When will you pick a stand and quit waffling? I can't agree more with this column over on ThatsRacin. The first line really says it all -- Tony Stewart is no hero for what he said on the radio, rather, he is just talking to be heard because the method in which he displays his displeasure is utterly ineffective for change. The NASCAR Nation thanks you, Tony, for so damaging any credibility this sport has worked so hard to have. Today begins an attempt to bring that back.
Hyder hasn't been at the track since Daytona when a suspicious substance was found on the intake manifold of Waltrip's #55 during qualifying. Waltrip was fined $100,000 and docked 100 points in addition to suspensions of both Hyder and competition director Bobby Kennedy for what mounted to be one of the biggest cheating scandals in recent memory.
Waltrip has yet to make a race since Daytona and his two other teams have not fared much better.
Waltrip reportedly had a long discussion with NASCAR again at Texas Motor Speedway a few weeks back to determine when his employees could return from their indefinite suspensions. At that meeting, Waltrip must have found some information implicating Hyder in the scandal.
After all, why else would Hyder be parting ways with the team? A paycheck for hanging around the shop couldn't have been too bad -- and he still won't be cleared by NASCAR to work at the track with another team due to the indefinite suspension.
After Bristol, the teams in the Top 35 in owner points were locked in. Here's the ones who are out. SURPRISES:
Evernham Motorsports - EMS driver Scott Riggs did make Daytona this year, and yet, he's not locked in for this week's race at Martinsville. Sitting 39th in points, Riggs has had 2 DNFs this year. He did have a strong run early at Bristol, but had trouble that knocked him out of contention. Also, another EMS driver -- you know, the one who is stalked by those middle-aged women? -- is barely inside that Top 35 barrier. Kasey Kahne hasn't run much better than his Valvoline counterpart. Michael Waltrip Racing - For a start-up team, the first 5 weeks of this season couldn't have worse. Among the 3 teams, none are in the top 35. Waltrip hasn't made a race since Daytona, Jarrett has only made one race on speed [before getting booted by Kenseth early], and Reutimann's crash at California was awfully ominous. And oh yeah, cheating scandal was just icing on the cake. The team has the funding, but where's the speed?
Bill Davis Racing - Dave Blaney has shown some flashes of speed this year in different races, but they never seem to be consistent runs. They might have been in the top 35 if Blaney would have been a little more wise at Daytona driving through pit road and then clipping Ken Schrader. BDR is looking for another run this season where Blaney finished 4th, 9th, and 12th consecutively between Richmond and Dover last year.
EXPECTED: Wood Brothers/JTG - Despite their alliance with Roush-Yates engines, this team sits 40th in owner points. Right now, they just don't have the speed or luck, but this team should be in the top-35. The switching of Schrader and Jon Wood for ten races is only going to hurt this team in the owners points, and I'm still yet to see Nextel Cup Series talent from Jon Wood. BAM Racing - They have just really struggled since Schrader left the team two years ago. It's been a revolving door of drivers and now Mike Bliss is trying to will this car to the front, but the lack of multi-car support leaves this team at the bottom.
Team Red Bull: Brian Vickers has got to be loving the paycheck, but you wonder if he likes watching the race from home. He has run decently in the races Red Bull has made this year, and he got caught up in an unfortunate wreck at Atlanta. Vickers will evantually show brilliance from this team, but don't expect Allmendinger to last all season, much less into next year. He should have had a lot more seat time in the Truck and Busch series before Cup.
Kyle Busch was very thankful for Jeff Burton after Sunday's Food City 500. And Jeff Burton knew it:
"I could have used the bumper to move him out of the way and win the race, but I didn't want to,"
That was a concept Matt Kenseth obviously didn't understand, probably because he wasn't looking to win the race. It was a failure that ended with the driver of the big, brown truck seeing red -- and not because of the COT. Dale Jarrett was a little irritated with the Roush-Fenway driver after climbing from his wrecked race car:
"This is not the first time that (Kenseth's) done something like this. Everybody has this great vision that Matt Kenseth is this nice guy on the race track. He is a nice guy away from the track. But he's a rough driver on the race track when he doesn't have to be.
"We'll have a discussion."
Yep, now that DJ is out of the Ford camp, he's firing at will.
NASCAR officials told ESPN.com that the g-force impact during David Reutimann's crash on Sunday is among the hardest ever recorded:
"We can't say it's the hardest [impact], period, because there are so many variables involved," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said. "But it is among the hardest impacts we've recorded."
The crash happened when Greg Biffle got into the back of Reutimann with 11 laps remaining in the Auto Club 500 sending him head-on into the outside wall. The crash knocked the wind out of Reutimann tangled his left foot pretty good. He is at home recovering ... badly bruised and walking with a limp. He still plans to run the Busch Series race this weekend in Mexico City.
As is normal in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, plenty of road course specialty racers will be attempting the field this weekend at Infineon Raceway in California. The 11-turn course brings out drivers from several road course series' filling in or running an extra car.
It's a lonely time for Michael Waltrip..jpg)
It looks like Michael Waltrip Racing has found out why they aren't making races.
Yesterday at Talladega, 
After Bristol, the teams in the Top 35 in owner points were locked in. Here's the ones who are out.
