Nascar and Racing Nascar Gossip

Al Unser, Jr., has had some legal troubles before: driving under the influence, hit and run, to name a few. But his latest mention in the news is just flat out bizarre.

See, it turns out that Unser is named as a potential (read: alleged) extortion victim in some sort of really oddball prostitution ring case in Albuquerque.

The District Attorney's Office says the suspect, 47-year-old Bobby McMullin, allegedly tried to blackmail Unser with claims of a "compromising" video in February and March 2004.

Prosecutors say the video was not connected with the suspected prostitution ring and that Unser was not a client of McMullin's.

McMullin allegedly asked Unser for $750,000, or he would release the tape to the public, according to the 137-count indictment against McMullin.

[...]The District Attorney's Office doesn't know how much money Unser paid to McMullin. It's unknown whether video even exists.

There are, quite obviously, a few very weird things about this case. First of all, I suppose that this is a relatively new case and that McMullin has really bad book keeping skills, but how can the DA's office not know how much money Unser paid to this guy?

And, um, to take that one step further ... if Unser's video had nothing to do with said prostitution ring and he wasn't a client of this alleged pimp, why did Unser pay him money? Yes, I know, it does seem a little ridiculous.

Recently, Wrangler Jeans was kind enough to invite FanHouse down to Charlotte to interview Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and -- I kid you not -- ride a couple laps in the 88 car. (Watch the full video of Will Brinson's ride with Dale Jr.) What follows is the conversation between Junior and myself about Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson's dominance and how Amp is secretly a better post race drink than Budweiser.

Will Brinson: Thanks for having us down here to hang out, ride around in cars, and get our NASCAR feet wet.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Yeah, man, good to have you.

WB: I want to talk about the Sprint Cup for just a second. Jimmie [Johnson] is locked up, right? He's got his third straight title? What are your thoughts on that?

DE: Yeah, I think Jimmie's on record to set a new record, even to write history. I said to him the other day, "Man you're writing history". And I'm happy for him, he's a great guy ... I say to him all the time: "If people only knew who you are ...". But I think people do know Jimmie is and know he's a good guy. But man, he really deserves it; he works the hardest of any driver I know to stay in shape, to understand what's going on out there and to be ready do his job every Sunday. They're hard to beat man, and they earned it.

ESPN.com's David Newton is reporting the driver who is replacing Casey Mears in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet in 2009 -- veteran Mark Martin -- might find himself getting a jump on that plan in the coming weeks.

Hendrick Motorsports is considering a plan that would put Mark Martin in the No. 5 car he'll take over in 2009 for the final race of this season at Homestead [-Miami] Speedway.

A contingency to the plan is getting Casey Mears, the current driver of the No. 5, into the fourth car at Richard Childress Racing that he will drive next season.

But in order to do that Mears would have to drive the No. 33, not the No. 07 that he is slated for because Clint Bowyer is driving that car in the Chase. Team owner Richard Childress said he is willing to put Mears in the No. 33 unsponsored if necessary.

"He won't go without a ride," Childress said.

Why wait until the last race at Homestead, you might ask? Well according to Newton, Martin is scheduled to drive in his current Dale Earnhardt Inc. part-time gig for the season's third and second to last races in Texas and Phoenix.

I'm not real sure, though, that making such a switch would truly benefit Martin or Mears (if ends up racing for RCR at Homestead).

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's first man husband will take his turn on the GOP's swing of NASCAR races with less than three weeks remaining in the presidential election.

The Alaskan governor's husband, Todd Palin, will serve as an "honorary race official" for Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va.

Now I doubt hubby Todd will find himself checking for missing lugnuts or counting the number of crew members over the wall during a pit stop, but I'll imagine he'll get the same treatment GOP presidential candidate John McCain's wife Cindy got a week ago at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Cindy McCain served as the "honorary race director" and her duties consisted of shaking hands and addressing the crowd briefly in a non-partisan manner before the race. Nope, Mrs. McCain wasn't responsible for any debris cautions last Saturday night, and that's a good thing unless she wants to be treated like her husband's running mate.

Regardless, it seems pretty apparent that both the Republican party and both tracks are utilizing the event to garner more voters and fill some empty seats by pandering to race fans who traditionally swing on the side of the political red.

UPDATE: Rusty Wallace released a statement Wednesday morning denying that he plans to make a return to NASCAR in 2009.

"I love Kenny to death; he's been trying to get me back in a car ever since I retired after 2005. While any rumors like this are certainly flattering, they're untrue. I have a long-term commitment to ABC and ESPN and I really love what I'm doing right now," said Wallace in a statement.

To me, this whole deal seems pretty bizarre, especially given that Rusty's brother put out the rumor. I have a feeling there might be more to this story than what meets the eye, but for now, it appears to be dead in the water.

Original: 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace is "considering" a return to NASCAR's top series in 2009, his brother Kenny Wallace said Tuesday night in an article posted on SPEEDTV.com.

"Six different crew members came up to me and said they'd heard a rumor Rusty was coming back to drive for [Dale Earnhardt Inc]," said Wallace in the article.

"These rumors get started in the Mooresville [N.C.] area because the [NASCAR team] shops are so close to each other and nothing can be kept secret for long. All I can say is that where there's smoke, there's fire. And he is definitely considering stepping back into a race car."

Rusty, who retired in 2005 after 25 seasons in NASCAR with 55 career wins, currently works as an analyst for ESPN and owns two Nationwide Series cars, one of which is driven by his son Steven.

I'm having a tough time not believing what Kenny said in the article for the sheer fact that he is Rusty's brother, and that that would seemingly prevent Wallace for spreading untrue rumors.

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.

NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer must have the magic touch -- after you break up with him.

Athena Barber, shown to the right, was voted the hottest NASCAR Girlfriend back in 2007 in a vote done by Sports Illustrated, but lost that title in 2008 after she and the Emporia, Kan.-driver parted ways to the puzzlement of male NASCAR fans everywhere.

Well, as TGOM over at Answer This spotted this week, Barber has found her way into the camera lens of the magazine FHM. I've included the link below.

In the interview/photo shoot, Barber opens up quite a bit about being the arm candy of Clint Bowyer and what its like for the wives and girlfriends of the sport, both at the track and at home.

A lot of it's very informative (she talks about how Clint would never, ever drive even if he had a sip of alcohol) and a lot of it's kind of humorous (she says that the WAGs even take sides when drivers get into it on the track).

There's been plenty of discussion in the comment sections, and a few of you have written in to inquire more about, so I'd figure I'd try to paint a clear picture in the muddied waters of NASCAR engines.

So is Toyota really at an advantage this season?

Well, yeah.

They've got Kyle Busch. What more do you need to know?

In all seriousness, though, sources across the garage area are saying that Toyota's Nationwide Series package -- no word on the Sprint Cup package -- has given the manufacturer at least a 20 horsepower advantage.

20 doesn't sound like a bunch, but when you consider the rule changes that the Nationwide Series received in 2008 that robbed the cars of horsepower, it becomes a bigger influence. I'm not smart enough to know what kind of speed difference that results in, but I do know that it makes a difference and can give teams more play in how they make the downforce package work on their car.

This whole "Toyota Has More Than Thou" sentiment hasn't just bubbled up, either. Back in March, Kevin Harvick and Jack Roush -- both owners in the Nationwide Series -- stated the same thing that we're hearing now from Clint Bowyer's crew chief: Toyota has at least 20 more ponies under the hood than everyone else.

It wouldn't really be a NASCAR season without Dale Earnhardt Jr. at least grabbing a part of the headline spotlight, would it?

The folks over at the Charlotte Observer (arguably the sport's best coverage in my book) seem to be getting wind of Junior starting to work with Tony Stewart about a ride with JR Motorsports at the Sprint Cup level. From the story:

Several sources have confirmed to The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com that JR Motorsports, which currently fields two Nationwide series teams and is owned by Earnhardt Jr., is also an option.

Under this scenario, JR Motorsports would field at least two Cup teams and likely abandon its Nationwide program or scale it down significantly, sources said. JR Motorsports already receives chassis and engines from Hendrick Motorsports and could continue that relationship on the Cup side.

Stewart first started to make news a few weeks ago when he announced that all options are on the table after his contract ends with Joe Gibbs Racing -- the only team Stewart has ever raced for in Sprint Cup -- after 2009.

I know I was one of those NASCAR fans that stayed up far too late into the night (and early morning) in anticipation of Auto Club 500 being wrapped up in the wee hours of morning, eastern time, on Sunday.

I know I was ticked that after staying up until 2am/ET to hear FOX's Chris Myers tell us that the race had been officially called and would resume some 11 hours later.

After all, the rain had stopped hours earlier, and generally a race track could be dry and raceable within that time.

But it wasn't because water continued to seep through the track and dew was collecting. And that really set a lot of fans off.

They've complained that NASCAR screwed them by making them stay up late (on the east coast) for a race that could have potentially ended when New Yorkers were waking up for coffee. The ones in the stands in California thought they had been strung along for far too long, and booed the decision.

But really, what more can you expect? I can't blame NASCAR in this decision because I've been in the stands at a race track when NASCAR jumped the gun too quickly under a rain delay.

The 2003 Coca-Cola 600 turned out to be the Coca-Cola 414 after a rain delay appeared to be too much for NASCAR. They claimed they couldn't dry the track quick enough and that there was more rain moving in.

Of course, as we left the speedway, there was nothing but starry skies and the rain didn't come again until early the next morning. To make things more disappointing, the 1997 event faced two rain delays -- including one after the halfway mark -- and NASCAR kept racing until well-past 1am/ET.