Nascar Blog

I didn’t get to see qualifying yesterday, for some reason I have a hard time remembering it can be later or even re-broadcast later as it is usually run while I’m at work. Dale Jr laid down a lap at a blistering 192.761 mph, the fastest the COT has run since its inception, a 1 mile an hour faster than Gordon, who qualified in 5th position, but it only ended up making Jr 0.148 of a second faster than Gordon. Video of Jr’s lap is after the jump.

Earnhardt paced Friday’s qualifying session at the 1.54-mile race track with a lap at 192.716 mph, good enough to edge 2008 race winner Kyle Busch (192.280 mph) for the top spot. Juan Montoya (192.106 mph) qualified third, followed by Mark Martin (191.814 mph) and Jeff Gordon (191.774 mph).

The pole was Earnhardt’s second at Atlanta, the ninth of his career, his first since April 2008 at Texas and his third since September 2002 at Kansas. Tempering his elation at qualifying first, however, was the knowledge that Earnhardt is suffering through a winless streak that reached 60 races last week at Las Vegas.

“We’re just hungry, so hungry to do much better on Sunday,” said Earnhardt, who hasn’t won since June 2008 at Michigan. “We qualified well in Vegas [fourth], and we were pretty happy to put ourselves in the middle of the company; we were around up there in the top 10.

“To be able to do what we did [Friday night] means a lot to us, but we’re starving for a good finish and something like this to happen on Sunday for us — and that’s really all we can think about.” Source:

Here is how they qualified:
1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Amp Energy / National Guard 192.761 28.761 Leader
2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M’s 192.280 28.833 -0.072
3 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 192.106 28.859 -0.098
4 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet HendrickCars.com / GoDaddy.com 191.814 28.903 -0.142
5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet National Guard / DuPont 191.774 28.909 -0.148
6 9 Kasey Kahne Ford Budweiser 191.688 28.922 -0.161
7 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet Tornados 191.549 28.943 -0.182
8 19 Elliott Sadler Ford Hunt Brothers Pizza 191.436 28.960 -0.199
9 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 191.186 28.998 -0.237
10 99 Carl Edwards Ford Scotts 191.087 29.013 -0.252
11 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 191.054 29.018 -0.257
12 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota Lance Snacks / Tom’s Snacks 190.935 29.036 -0.275
13 16 Greg Biffle Ford U.S. Census 190.850 29.049 -0.288
14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Valvoline 190.791 29.058 -0.297
15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Office Depot / Old Spice 190.692 29.073 -0.312
16 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools 190.640 29.081 -0.320
17 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 190.574 29.091 -0.330
18 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 190.561 29.093 -0.332
19 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 190.548 29.095 -0.334
20 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Office 190.424 29.114 -0.353
21 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet TaxSlayer.com 190.267 29.138 -0.377
22 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 190.221 29.145 -0.384
23 98 Paul Menard Ford CertainTeed / Menards 189.987 29.181 -0.420
24 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 189.915 29.192 -0.431
25 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford Insignia / Best Buy 189.857 29.201 -0.440
26 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 189.798 29.210 -0.449
27 66 Dave Blaney Toyota Prism Motorsports 189.590 29.242 -0.481
28 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge Mopar / FLO TV 189.571 29.245 -0.484
29 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 189.189 29.304 -0.543
30 36 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Wave Energy Drink 189.144 29.311 -0.550
31 13 Max Papis Toyota GEICO 189.112 29.316 -0.555
32 82 Scott Speed Toyota Red Bull 189.079 29.321 -0.560
33 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota FrontRowJoe.com 189.060 29.324 -0.563
34 21 Bill Elliott Ford Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center 189.021 29.330 -0.569
35 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 189.015 29.331 -0.570
36 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 188.970 29.338 -0.577
37 38 David Gilliland Ford Charter Air Transport / Taco Bell 188.341 29.436 -0.675
38 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 187.958 29.496 -0.735
39 7 Robby Gordon Toyota Warner Music Nashville / Blake Shelton 186.403 29.742 -0.981
40 34 Travis Kvapil Ford Long John Silver’s 185.430 29.898 -1.137
41 37 Kevin Conway Ford Extenze 184.812 29.998 -1.237
42 26 Boris Said Ford Sacred Power / Southern Pride Trucking 182.916 30.309 -1.548
43 55 Michael McDowell Toyota Prism Motorsports 188.758 29.371 -0.610

Did Not Qualify
44 09 Aric Almirola Chevrolet Phoenix Racing 188.066 29.479 -0.718
45 190 Casey Mears Chevrolet Juice Air Fre
sheners / SmellMyCar.com 187.678 29.540 -0.779
46 46 Terry Cook Dodge Whitney Motorsports 186.122 29.787 -1.026
(continue reading…)

Yesterday, Nascar announced that they have penalized Dale Earnhardt Jr and Casey Mears for their extra curricular activities after the Subway 500 Saturday night. Casey Mears caused Dale Earnhardt Jr. to spin out, there was definitely some contact, but, as you can see in the video below, Jr. was loose well before that. Still, Dale was upset with him and spun Casey out on the cool down lap, and Casey then drove around some cars to show Dale his displeasure with him.

Nascar has placed both of them on probation for six races beginning this weekend in Talladega, for violating Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock-car racing; hitting another competitor’s car after the race had concluded) of the 2009 NASCAR rule book. We know Dale won’t do anything there as he is always one of the top threats to win there and will certainly not want to take any chances on being removed from the race.

Tony Stewart won the Busch Nationwide race today in Daytona, beating Kyle Busch and, you guessed it, Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the end of the race, with Busch blocking Jr. to finish second. Kyle also came in second the night before in the truck series race, losing to Todd Bodine and driving past Johnny Benson for second. Appears tomorrow’s race is going to be a good one, with Kyle and Dale running so well every time they get in a car, they are going to be hard to beat.

Polesitter Tony Stewart repelled a strong challenge from teammate Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Camping World 300 Nationwide Series race Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.

Stewart surged to the lead on Lap 117 of 120 and stayed there as the rest of the field diced for position behind him. On the final lap, Busch blocked Earnhardt’s last-ditch attempt to improve his position and all but assured the victory for Stewart, who crossed the finish line .259 seconds ahead of Busch, with Earnhardt .412 seconds back.

Brian Vickers ran fourth, followed by Matt Kenseth, rookie Bryan Clauson, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan and defending series champion Carl Edwards. Source: Stewart starts, finishes first in N’wide season-opener

Talk about a strong start for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and an even stronger start for Hendrick Motorsports, Dale wins the shootout and then wins the first Gatorade Duel race today, and Jimmie Johnson has the pole for the Daytona 500. I wonder if all those people who said they would not root for Dale Jr. because he went to Hendrick Motorsports are regretting that decision now? Probably not, I bet they are already back on the bandwagon.

Denny Hamlin wins the first race for Toyota; you just knew it would be a Gibbs car, I mean, what has Waltrip and his bunch done with a year under their belts? I especially liked his little comment about Jeff Gordon hanging back on the restart, but it was fine for him to go to the back and block and weave in front of his teammates competitors to help them get in the 500. I bet Michael gets on your nerves when he’s drunk.

With a push from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin won the second Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying race for Sunday’s Daytona 500 in a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the event four laps beyond its posted distance. The victory for Toyota was the second for a foreign manufacturer in NASCAR’s top series. Jaguar driver Al Keller won a road-course race in Linden, N.J., in 1954.

In the first Duel 150, Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed Ryan Newman for the lead on Lap 51 of 60 and held on for the win — his second in two races for Hendrick Motorsports.

But the story of Thursday was the success of three veteran drivers — Dale Jarrett, Kenny Wallace and John Andretti — who persevered to make the field. Source: Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin win qualifying races at Daytona

A total of ten cars changed engines before the duel races, including all four Hendrick cars, so I was not too excited about Gordon’s chances, but only Dave Blaney had engine trouble during the races. This will be the first time the Daytona 500 has been run without a car from the Wood Bros.

I did not know you could do this though:

“It’s too early to diagnose the problem,” said Busch, who gave up the owner points on his No. 2 Dodge to guarantee rookie teammate Sam Hornish Jr. starting spots in the first five races of 2008.

I wonder why you don’t hear about it happening more often on teams with the really good drivers who make every race on speed, but it is only for the first five races.

Gatorade Duel 1 Unofficial Results
Gatorade Duel 2 Unofficial Results

Here’s how they will start for the Daytona 500:

1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 187.075 48.109 Leader
2 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 186.734 48.197 -0.088
3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet AMP Energy / National Guard - - -
4 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Express - - -
5 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target - - -
6 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot - - -
7 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL - - -
8 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont - - -
9 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Kellogg’s / CARQUEST - - -
10 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser - - -
11 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot - - -
12 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army - - -
13 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker - - -
14 6 David Ragan Ford AAA - - -
15 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline - - -
16 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil - - -
17 187 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Furniture Row
/ DenverMattress.com - - -
18 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M - - -
19 77 Sam Hornish Jr.* Dodge Mobil 1 - - -
20 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS - - -
21 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet PEAK / Menards - - -
22 34 John Andretti Chevrolet Makoto - - -
23 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull - - -
24 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M’s - - -
25 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker - - -
26 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Jim Beam - - -
27 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters - - -
28 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT - - -
29 01 Regan Smith* Chevrolet Principal Financial Group - - -
30 28 Travis Kvapil Ford K&N Filters - - -
31 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s - - -
32 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditReport.com - - -
33 70 Jeremy Mayfield Chevrolet Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon - - -
34 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar - - -
35 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Best Buy - - -
36 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility - - -
37 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV - - -
38 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal Cask No. 16 - - -
39 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo - - -
40 40 Dario Franchitti* Dodge Dodge Journey - - -
41 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing - - -
42 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine - - -
43 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite Champion’s Provisional

Did Not Qualify
44 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull - - -
45 21 Bill Elliott Ford Little Debbie - - -
46 49 Ken Schrader Dodge HealthLife.com - - -
47 160 Boris Said Ford 7-Eleven Slurpee / No Fear - - -
48 10 Patrick Carpentier* Dodge Valvoline - - -
49 137 Eric McClure Chevrolet Hefty - - -
50 109 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming - - -
51 27 Jacques Villeneuve* Toyota Bill Davis Racing - - -
52 150 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet NOS Energy Drink / SKI / SBM - - -
53 08 Carl Long Dodge MILLSTAR Tools / Rhino’s Energy Drink

Here are links to all of the latest published Dale Earnhardt Jr. Videos.

Looks like Budweiser will not be the sponsor of Dale Jr’s car at Hendrick motorpsorts, as Hendrick already has sponsors in place for next season. Dale Jr did says he remains committed to Budweiser for the rest of the season and will continue to make it his beer of choice.

New team. New sponsor. Indeed 2008 will be a new beginning for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Hendrick Motorsports on Friday announced that contractual commitments to existing sponsors will preclude Budweiser from continuing as primary sponsor of the car driven by Earnhardt when he joins the organization next season.

“We have agreements in place with sponsors for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, which prevent us from having a relationship with Budweiser,” team owner Rick Hendrick said.

“Honoring our commitments is important to us. The trade-off is missing an opportunity to bring Budweiser, a marquee brand synonymous with NASCAR and its fans, into the fold.” Source: Hendrick: Junior will have new sponsor next season

ESPN.com has said that Budweiser will remain a sponsor and are pursuing Evernham Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne and his number 9 Dodge.

It’s official, Dale Earnhardt Jr announced today that he is going to drive the 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports starting in 2008, putting an end to the wondering, although, there are lots of people who are not surprised, many of Dale Jr’s fans will not be happy. I saw many posts from fans saying they will not root for a Hendricks car ever. So, looks like they are going to be limited to Martin Truex Jr or maybe Kyle Busch, if a driver swap is really what is happening, as was thought yesterday, or many could go back to the guy who took Dale Earnhardt’s place, Kevin Harvick.

Here is the video from Nascar of him making the announcement, Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Hendrick Motorsports. More videos below.

When he first decided to move on from DEI, he wanted to go to somewhere he could win championships, and in his announcement he said he found that man and he introduced Rick Hendrick. This puts to rest a lot of the speculation on where he was going, and am sure it removes a lot of pressure from Jr, but it probably added a bunch to him as well. What will his fans think? What if he still doesn’t win a championship? There are many things he will be thinking about over the course of the rest of this year. I am sure some of the fans will be mad, but if you are a true Dale Jr fan, you should be happy he is going somewhere that will give him the equipment and tools that he needs, if not, then maybe they are really Dale Sr fans and maybe it is time for some to move on, especially if they are going to hate racing or Dale from now on.

Still no official word on where Kyle Busch will go, and no official word on what is going to happen to the Budweiser sponsorship, Budweiser said they wanted to stay with Jr, but I believe their contract with DEI is not up until 2008. It is believed the Dale will keep the Kellogs sponsorship, at least for next year. Then I can see Budweiser signing on, if Dale wins a championship, then I am sure his fanbase will only get larger and not smaller because of this move. Good luck Dale, your going to need it.

Here are some more videos from Dale Earnhardt Jr’s press conference today, hosted at Nascar.com.

Hendrick: It’s a ‘wow’ day Rick Hendrick says signing Dale Earnhardt Jr. is something he and his son Ricky had envisioned years ago.

Junior relieved, excited to join HMS With the goal of winning championships, Junior says he feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders by joining HMS.

A surreal experience Junior comments on what it was like being recruited by the icons of the sport.

Hendrick vows to help Junior reach his goals Rick Hendrick says he wants to support Dale Earnhardt Jr. in his goal of winning a NASCAR championship.

Junior on Hendrick and other teams Junior on Hendrick and other teams he viewed as competition at DEI.

If the rumors flying around are true, it looks like Dale Earnhardt Jr. could be heading to Hendrick Motorsports in some form of trade involving the number 5 car and Kyle Busch. The SI article mentioned an actual driver swap, with Kyle Busch going to DEI in trade for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

We know Budweiser wants to stay with Jr, but, they may not follow him, and Dale may end up driving the number 5 car with the Kellogs sponsor still in place.

Multiple sources have told SI.com that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is expected to announce in a press conference Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET that he’s signed to join powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports for the 2008 season and beyond.

According to sources, Junior will be hired to drive the No. 5 Chevrolet, replacing current driver Kyle Busch. The only official word from the Junior camp comes in the form of a press release announcing the press conference, to be held at Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports shop in Mooresville, N.C. Source: The rich get richer: Earnhardt Jr. set to announce move to Hendrick in ‘08

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make an official announcement at 11am on Wednesday at the JR Motorsports shop in Mooresville, NC. Sounds like these sources know what they are talking about, but, that doesn’t mean they are right, I guess we will find our for sure tomorrow.

Remember the confiscated brackets from the wing on Dale Jr’s car of tomorrow? Well, apparently it was bigger than first thought, or they have done something else because Nascar has just levied some heavy fines on Jr’s team. They have been docked 100 driver and owners points, and the crew chief is gone for six races. The wing was mounted wrong and it would’ve given the car more down force, or it should have anyway.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., has been suspended six races, fined $100,000 and the team docked 100 driver and car owner points by NASCAR for improperly mounting the rear wing of Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 8 Chevrolet last weekend at Darlington, S.C., multiple sources confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

An official announcement of the penalty is expected later today. The violation was found during pre-race inspection on Saturday. Source: NASCAR slams Earnhardt Jr team with COT violation

Nothing yet on Nascar.com detailing what happened, although they did let everyone know that any modifications to the COT would result in serious penalties. Whose next?

Added: Nascar has posted an article about it now, Junior docked 100 points for illegal rear mounting.

According to NASCAR, the No. 8 team was found to have violated Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing), 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules), and 20-3.1.3B (the NASCAR-approved upper and lower rear wing mounting brackets must not be modified to obtain a rear-wing angle of less than zero degrees or more than 16 degrees) of the 2007 NASCAR rule book.

The penalty knocked Earnhardt from 12th in the standings — the final qualifying position for the Chase for the Nextel Cup — to 14th. He’s now 721 points behind points leader Jeff Gordon, and 54 points out of Chase contention.

They said they will appeal the ruling since the rule is not spelled out in the rule book.

Looks like he has made the big announcement, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is leaving DEI. Jr did not say which teams he was looking at, however, he did say it’s not about the money, its about being able to do what he wants on the racetrack, so, to me, sounds like he needs Hendrick Motorsports, hehe. He is going to see what offers comes in and go from there, he did not want to narrow it down to anything in particular without hearing everything that is out there, and he said he didn’t think one team would blow any other out of the water. Here are some quotes from the press conference, still looking for some video. Added: A short video has been posted at Nascar.com of just his announcement, here on the 50 newest page, it is the first video listed, none of the follow up questions have been added yet.

“I’ll be happy with whatever decision we make. It would be awesome to continue driving the No. 8 but those numbers are owned by the car owners and I’m sure Teresa would love to keep that number at DEI.”

“This decision was based solely on my driving career not my personal thoughts on DEI. We still want that company to succeed.”

“I think Max and Teresa worked really hard at something and I think myself and Kelly worked really hard but I don’t think we were even close.”

“My father’s vision…if he was still here I think we would be in a different place right now.”

“I think DEI can be a successful race team. It may not be the exact thing my father wanted but it can still be successful.” Source: Earnhardt Jr. to leave DEI after 2007 season

I foresee lots of speculation, guessing and rumors until he does decide. He said Martin Truex Jr. could stay at DEI or leave, he would support him in either direction. He stressed a few times that he wants DEI to do well, DEI is important to him, he doesn’t want to see what his father built go away, and he even mentioned something about 20 years in the future they might be able to come together, I’m assuming when Teresa is gone. It is clear to me that he would definitely go in a different direction with DEI, wonder which way he will go now?