Lawyer: Grant's legal woes have no bearing on lawsuit

The former racing official who has accused NASCAR of racial discrimination and sexual harassment in a $225 million lawsuit had a restraining order filed against her by a former boyfriend and was arrested for driving under the influence, The Associated Press has learned.

Mauricia Grant, who filed her suit against NASCAR in June, also was charged with driving with a suspended license while still employed as a technical inspector for NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series.

An attorney for Grant said his client did not refute anything in her past, but previous actions have no bearing on the suit that alleges 23 specific incidents of sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of racial and gender discrimination during her time working for NASCAR.

Former official sues
Mauricia Grant is suing NASCAR for $225 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.

Complete story, click here
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Two officials suspended
Caraviello: Damage done
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She claims her October 2007 firing was retaliation for complaining about the way she was treated on the job from her January 2005 hiring.

"Ms. Grant's alleged prior actions are totally irrelevant to this suit," attorney Benedict P. Morelli said in a statement. "NASCAR must obey the law and should focus its full attention on improving the discriminatory and hostile work environment to which employees are subject."

But NASCAR indicated Thursday her past actions are a reflection on Grant's character, and vowed to continue fighting her claims. NASCAR asked for and was granted a three-week extension on filing its response to her suit, and the new deadline is Friday.

"Clearly, these revelations show that there are always at least two sides to every story," NASCAR said in a statement to the AP. "We are confident that over the course of this process even more facts will come to light and justice will be served."

Court documents reviewed by the AP showed that Grant has legal issues dating back to a 2002 restraining order filed by an ex-boyfriend.

Willie Lowery was granted a temporary restraining order by the Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging Grant threatened his life and harassed him with repeated phone calls at home and at work.

"She has made many threats on my life and job. She called my job ... up to six times attempting to slander my name and have me fired," Lowery wrote in his request for protection. "She has been spotted in front of my home on several occasions. She has contacted all of my family and friends attempting to make threats and slander my name. She has also contacted my current girlfriend and I feel she is in jeopardy as well."

The restraining order was granted and naturally expired. Lowery, who once filed for a business license with Grant for an apparel company, could not be reached at a phone number listed in court documents.

Grant also was jailed for two days in July 2004, for driving under the influence in Los Angeles. She pleaded no contest a month later, but failed to meet the terms of her probation and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest in January 2005.

A spokesman for the public relations firm representing Morelli and Grant in this suit said the case was never settled because Grant began working for NASCAR and was busy traveling for her new job. It was unclear Thursday if the issue had been resolved, and Morelli did not make Grant available to the AP.

Grant also was charged with driving with a suspended license in Atlanta last October while working for NASCAR. She was fired later that month, and NASCAR has declined to reveal why Grant was terminated.

Grant, who is black, claims in her suit she was fired for complaining about how she was treated by fellow officials during her employment. The suit alleges she was referred to as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba," by co-workers, was often told she worked on "colored people time." She also claimed she was frightened by one official who routinely made references to the Ku Klux Klan.

In addition, Grant said she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of whom allegedly exposed themselves to her, and graphic and lewd jokes. She says she has e-mails and text messages to support her claims.

The two officials Grant claims exposed themselves to her, Tim Knox and Bud Moore, were placed on administrative leave for violating company policy during NASCAR's investigation of the suit. They are still on paid leave.

A third official named in the suit, David Duke, was fired earlier this year for reasons NASCAR said are unrelated to Grant's claims.

Morelli said NASCAR's action proves Grant's claims are valid.

"Despite this apparent smear campaign against Mauricia Grant, NASCAR has not refuted one single claim Ms. Grant has made about the discrimination and harassment she endured," Morelli said. "Instead, NASCAR suspended two officials in the course of its interminable internal investigation, and had previously fired an employee later named in the suit for an undisclosed reason."

NASCAR chairman Brian France has maintained that Grant never made a formal complaint or followed NASCAR policy in reporting harassment. France also said investigators have failed to uncover a single instance where Grant complained to her supervisors or other employees about the way she was treated.

Countdown to the Chase

The Race to the Chase is under way, continuing this weekend at Watkins Glen:


Date Track Time TV

Aug. 10 Watkins Glen 1 p.m. ESPN
Aug. 17 Michigan 1 p.m. ESPN
Aug. 23 Bristol 7 p.m. ESPN
Aug. 31 Fontana 7 p.m. ESPN
Sept. 6 Richmond 7 p.m. ABC

All times ET5 -- Drivers "on the bubble."

• Denny Hamlin -- 10th in points, 35 points ahead of 12th-place Clint Bowyer.

• Kevin Harvick -- 11th in points, eight points ahead of Bowyer.

• Bowyer -- 11 points ahead of outside-looking in Matt Kenseth.

• Kenseth -- 751 points in the past six races, seventh-best in the series despite a 38th-place finish at Indy.

• David Ragan -- Only 46 points behind Bowyer; finished 32nd last year at The Glen.

4 -- Laps J.J. has led at Watkins Glen.

Jimmie Johnson finished third at The Glen in 2007, which is par for the course. In odd-numbered years his finishes: fourth, fifth and third.

In even-numbered years, his finishes: 16th, 40th and 17th.

3 -- Most consecutive races won by a driver at Watkins Glen.

Mark Martin dominated The Glen from 1993-95, and Jeff Gordon held the reigns from 1997-99. Tony Stewart has won three of the past four -- and four of the past six -- races at Watkins Glen.

Stewart and Gordon share the record with four wins at the track.

2 -- Races at Watkins Glen won from the outside pole.

Oddly, both were Pontiacs: Rusty Wallace (1987) and Kyle Petty (1992).

Two others races at The Glen were won by Pontiac -- Wallace in 1989 and Tony Stewart in 2002 -- and GM is on a streak of 11 consecutive wins at the track.

1 -- Races at Watkins Glen that has averaged more than 100 mph.

Mark Martin's average speed in 1995 was 103.030 mph, tops among the 25 Cup Series races held at The Glen. Wally Dallenbach finished second, matching his career-best finish (also at Watkins Glen in 1993).

There were only three cautions for seven laps that day, tied for the fewest cautions (1992) at the track in the modern era.

Watkins Glen winners
Modern era only

Year Driver Make Start Speed

1986 Tim Richmond Chevrolet 1 90.463
1987 Rusty Wallace Pontiac 2 90.682
1988 Ricky Rudd Buick 6 74.096
1989 Rusty Wallace Pontiac 13 87.242
1990 Ricky Rudd Chevrolet 12 92.452
1991 Ernie Irvan Chevrolet 3 98.977
1992 Kyle Petty Pontiac 2 88.980
1993 Mark Martin Ford 1 84.771
1994 Mark Martin Ford 1 93.752
1995 Mark Martin Ford 1 103.030
1996 Geoffrey Bodine Ford 13 92.334
1997 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 11 91.294
1998 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 1 94.466
1999 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 3 87.722
2000 Steve Park Chevrolet 18 91.336
2001 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 13 89.081
2002 Tony Stewart Pontiac 3 82.208
2003 Robby Gordon Chevrolet 14 90.441
2004 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 4 92.249
2005 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 1 86.804
2006 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 7 76.718
2007 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 5 77.535

Truex Jr. re-signs with DEI

Martin Truex Jr. will return to the No. 1 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet next year, Sporting News has learned.

The specifics of Truex's contract, which was signed Wednesday are not known, but he will retain the sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops, which is committed to DEI through the 2010 season.


Truex Jr.Community
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DEI declined to comment.

Truex, 28, made his Cup Series debut with DEI on Oct. 31, 2004, at Atlanta. He won the Busch Series championship in 2004 and 2005 before making the jump to the Cup Series in '06.

He made the Chase in 2007, and also won his first Cup Series race on June 4 at Dover. He finished 11th in points.

Truex, however, has had a trying season. Much was expected after he made the Chase last season, but he is 17th in the point standings with two top-five finishes and six top 10s through 21 races.

Truex also has suffered a 150-point penalty and the loss of his crew chief, Kevin Manion, for six weeks because of penalties NASCAR imposed for violations discovered July 3 during initial prequalifying inspection at Daytona. Specifically, Truex's Chevrolet failed to meet the templates used to measure the roof of the car.

Truex is 248 points behind 12th-place Clint Bowyer in the battle for a Chase berth with five races remaining before the 10-race playoffs begin Sept. 14 at New Hampshire.

Yeley ousted from No. 96; Coleman tabbed as driver

Beginning with the Sprint Cup race Aug. 17 at Michigan, Brad Coleman will replace J.J. Yeley as the driver of the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Toyota, team officials announced Wednesday.

Before Wednesday's announcement, the team already had decided to replace Yeley with road-course ace P.J. Jones for Sunday's Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen International. (Read more)


J.J. Yeley
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Yeley, 36th in the series point standings, has been released from the team. Coleman, 20, who will attempt to make his Cup debut at Michigan, has served the organization as a test driver since November 2007.

The No. 96 Toyota is 38th in owner points and therefore must qualify on speed for Cup races. The top 35 cars in the owners standings are guaranteed starting spots each week.

"J.J. is a talented racecar driver and a great person, and this was a difficult decision to make," said Tom Garfinkel, co-owner of Hall of Fame Racing, in a statement from the team. "We all share responsibility that our performance hasn't been what it needs to be, but we concluded it was time to make a change.

"This is a performance-based industry, and we need to perform better. We're confident J.J. will be successful in this sport in whatever his next challenge is."

Coleman has made 42 starts in the Nationwide Series, with a top finish of second in June 2007 at Kentucky while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, which supplies Hall of Fame with chassis and engines through a lease agreement. Coleman currently drives the No. 27 Ford in the Nationwide Series for Baker Curb Racing and is 16th in the standings. He has started all 23 races and has one top 10.

"I really appreciate [co-owner] Jeff Moorad and Tom for giving me this opportunity," Coleman said. "I have really enjoyed my time testing with the people on the team, and I'm looking forward to having a successful weekend at Michigan ... and helping Hall of Fame Racing finish out the season as strong as possible."

The No. 96 Toyota is 196 points behind the 35th-place No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet in the owner standings.

Jones to sub for Yeley in No. 96 at Watkins Glen

P.J. Jones will drive the No. 96 Toyota Camry in Sunday's Centurion Boats at The Glen Sprint Cup Series race at the Watkins Glen International road course, Hall of Fame Racing officials announced Tuesday.

Jones, who has seven Sprint Cup starts at The Glen with two top-10 finishes, takes over for Hall of Fame Racing's regular driver J.J. Yeley.

"We appreciate P.J. helping out the team this weekend at Watkins Glen," said Tom Garfinkel, co-owner of Hall of Fame Racing. "P.J. is an experienced road racer and we look forward to having a great run with him in the DLP Toyota."

"I'm excited to be driving the DLP HDTV Toyota for Hall of Fame Racing," said Jones, the son of racing legend Parnelli Jones. "I've always enjoyed racing at Watkins Glen and look forward to having a successful weekend."

The No. 96 Toyota is 38th in owner points, 196 out of the critical top 35 that guarantees a starting spot each week.

Jones has 25 career Cup Series starts with his best finish coming in 2002 when he finished fourth at Watkins Glen while driving for A.J. Foyt.

Busch, No. 18 team able to use Pocono as test session

It was hard to tell exactly how Kyle Busch felt in the aftermath of Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Because by the time most of the media corps reached his hauler, Busch was long gone -- in good company at a venue where a lot of helicopter trips get drivers and key team personnel to local airports -- and the garage quickly empties.

“
I wanted to try something a little out of the box than what we'd been doing and what we knew we could get back to, and I think we'll be just fine.
”
STEVE ADDINGTONBut the beauty of Busch's so-far dominant season in the Sprint Cup Series is that for every lightning bolt launched by the sometimes temperamental Las Vegas youngster, his Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief, Steve Addington, keeps the situation grounded.

That was the case Sunday at Pocono, where Addington said his No. 18 Toyota crew did a fair bit of R&D work, aimed at the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship that begins in six races.

It gave Addington some comfort despite the fact that Busch finished 36th Sunday, after finishing last here a month ago.

Addington said the point situation, even though Busch's 253-point lead over Earnhardt Jr. coming into the event had shrunk to 176 points after it; made him more inclined to do development work than anything else.

"Yeah -- coming in here I wanted to do it," Addington said of some front-end work the team tried at Pocono. "I wanted to try something a little out of the box than what we'd been doing and what we knew we could get back to, and I think we'll be just fine."

If the Chase started today, Busch would have a 40-point edge on Pocono winner Carl Edwards, based on 10 bonus points per win. Busch has seven victories, while Edwards has four minus the 10 points he lost when his car failed post-race inspection after he won at California.

That puts Addington in tweaking and tuning mode for a few more races.

"We came in [to Pocono] and we said we've got a little bit of a cushion [in the points] here, so we were gonna try to make the car better with some stuff we thought we were gonna make gains on, and I think we did a little bit," Addington said. "They were not big gains, but we made a little bit better gains and I think we're headed in the right direction."

Riggs eager for answers from new team ownership

After a potential top-five finish was lost on fuel mileage, Scott Riggs still had enough spirit to help his crew push the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing machine back to the Pocono Raceway garage.

Out of gas and nearly out of hope, Riggs is a driver with little-to-no job security these days.

Nevertheless, he persevered and raced up front throughout the Sunoco Red Cross 500 on Sunday for a team he's convinced won't have him back next season.

“
I wish someone would wake up and see the character I have and see the leader I can be at a team with some consistency. That's what's been frustrating at the last two places I've been.
”
SCOTT RIGGSThe team he joined at the end of 2007 becomes Stewart-Haas Racing next year, co-owned by two-time Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart.

The move has Riggs, for a second time in two years, looking for a new job.

"I just know in my heart I'm not going to be here next year, but not being a big enough man coming to tell me, [new management] must not understand what kind of character I have. If [management] thinks I would lay down behind the wheel if [they]told me ..." said Riggs, frustrated that an announcement has yet to be made regarding the team's future driver lineup.

Next year's driver of the No. 66, which will be switched to the No. 4, has yet to be named but speculation has Penske Racing's Ryan Newman as the top candidate.

Regardless of the decision, Riggs said he races like it could be his last, and after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the driver managed to race the No. 66 back into the top 35 in the owner standings.

"I wish someone would wake up and see the character I have and see the leader I can be at a team with some consistency," he said. "That's what's been frustrating at the last two places I've been."

In 2006, Riggs joined Evernham Motorsports only to be what he called "shuffled out" in the summer of 2007 after the team's partnership with George Gillett Jr. was formed, changing the operation to Gillett Evernham Motorsports. His results were mixed and the team failed to qualify for more than a handful of races.

He was to have a new start at Haas CNC Racing where so far this season his average finish has been 25.9 in his 19 races. What looked to be at least a top-10 finish was lost at Pocono when Riggs was forced to save fuel, which proved futile as his machine ran out of gas nearing the end of the race. He finished 29th.

His focus for the remainder of the season will be on racing the No. 66 well into the top 35, something that could only help Stewart's ownership transition next season.

"I think [Riggs] did a great job ... I'm really proud of what he and [crew chief Bootie Barker] and what those guys have done," said Stewart, who finished second in Sunday's race. "We've got a lot of evaluating to do over there right now and that's the hard part. You know that there's some good people that may have to go and some people that are going to be saved."

Stewart knows first-hand that making personnel decisions is difficult as the driver was forced to let his best friend go when he released Danny Lasoski from his World of Outlaws team.

"That's the hard part about this," Stewart said. "Trying to figure out what exactly the right thing to do is. It's easy to let the emotions get caught up in making those decisions, but you have to sit down as a group and evaluate it together. That's a difficult part of what we are doing right now. I'm really proud of those guys. I'm really proud of Tony Raines as well"

Raines finished 18th in the No. 70 Haas CNC Racing machine.

With the thought he won't be asked to stay with the Stewart-Haas, Riggs said he has been in talks with other teams about 2009.

"I've been having a lot of conversations," he said. "I'm trying to figure out what is going to happen with me. I know this organization is on the way up and going to have a great group of guys and drivers coming on board. It will be interesting to see where my feet land and I've been talking to a lot of people, but right now I'm focused on what we are doing and trying to be the best we can be for the rest of this year."

Kenseth's late fortunes still leave him on Chase outs

If Matt Kenseth and his Roush Fenway Racing crew chief Chip Bolin aren't completely spun out after two consecutive weekends of nearly incomprehensible outcomes, they've got the Watkins Glen road race next weekend.

Bolin's got just one hope for next Sunday's Centurion Boats at The Glen, after seeing his team fall five spots in the standings in the last two weeks and out of a qualified spot for the Chase for the Sprint Cup with five races left until the cutoff.

Pennsylvania 500
Official Results

Pos. Driver Make

1. Carl Edwards Ford
2. Tony Stewart Toyota
3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet
4. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
5. David Ragan Ford
6. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
7. Kasey Kahne Dodge
8. Mark Martin Chevrolet
9. Jamie McMurray Ford
10. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet
11. Matt Kenseth Ford

• Results | Points | Lap-by-Lap
• Race Video | Photo Gallery"Don't run off the racetrack and finish as best we can," Bolin said in the lengthening shadows of the post-race Pocono garage, as he contemplated next week's race where Kenseth's finished 12th, 21st and 18th in his last three outings. "We've just got to stack up as many top-10s as we can and hope that we finish in front of [Kevin Harvick] and [Clint Bowyer]."

"Every point matters all year from Daytona to Richmond [the Chase cutoff race] to get in so, yeah, it matters -- but it doesn't matter today if you're 13th or fifth," Kenseth said. "You've got to be in after Richmond so we'll just keep digging as hard as we can and, hopefully, we'll make it."

Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion whose long run back from 35th in the standings after the season-opening Daytona 500 put him eighth in points going into last weekend's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. But he left the Sunoco Red Cross 500 at Pocono Raceway Sunday unofficially 13th in points -- 11 behind 12th-place Bowyer and 20 behind 11th-place Harvick.

Kenseth finished 11th at Pocono, but only after a wild shuffle of cars making fuel stops or flat running out of gas in the race's final laps moved him up from 17th. It was a blessing on a day in which Kenseth thought he and Bolin had made the right calls.

"Obviously, I probably couldn't keep track of what's going on out there very well," Kenseth said. "You kind of know what's going on, but it's really hard to keep track of."

Kenseth, who had a rear tire explode last week at Indianapolis and take most of the right-rear bodywork off his No. 17 when it did, saw his fortunes fluctuate all day Sunday.

He started fifth and by midway through the race had picked up three spots in the standings, to eighth. But when the weather began threatening, including a 41-minute red flag for rain at Lap 131 of 200, Kenseth's fortunes started spiraling downward.

Harvick, Bowyer remain in teammate Chase battle

Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer had been playing a bit of musical cars with the highly-coveted 12th spot in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series Race to the Chase.

As of late, both Harvick and Bowyer, depending on who slips up or gains ground, have traded places multiple times as the 12th-ranked driver in the points race, the last position to qualify for the Chase.

Pennsylvania 500
Official Results

Pos. Driver Make

1. Carl Edwards Ford
2. Tony Stewart Toyota
3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet
4. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
5. David Ragan Ford
6. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
7. Kasey Kahne Dodge
8. Mark Martin Chevrolet
9. Jamie McMurray Ford
10. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet

• Results | Points | Lap-by-Lap
• Race Video | Photo GalleryThe competition between the two teammates has remained close since the July race at Daytona International Speedway as both take turns as the one looking outside the Chase and vice versa.

Be it one teammate looking inside or the other out, the match ended Sunday during the Pennsylvania 500. Advantage: RCR as both teammates -- Harvick and Bowyer -- are in the theoretical Chase, for now at least.

Five races remain until the cut-off event at Richmond International Raceway in September.

Harvick's most recent turn to be the one looking outside the top 12 came after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard last weekend. The driver was a victim of Kurt Busch's accident and finished 37th, dropping him to the 13th position in the points race. Bowyer capitalized and moved up one spot to 12.

Sunday at Pocono Raceway, a fourth-place, comeback-style finish after a Lap 1 spin for Harvick drove the driver up two positions to 11th (watch video).

"We don't give up, I can promise you that," Harvick said.

Harvick protected the car and continued to work towards a strong finish, despite a more than 40-minute red flag rain delay.

"We stick in there and fight, even when they tell us we're done," Harvick said. "To come to Pocono and finish in the top five is a huge accomplishment for me."

Harvick found himself outside the top 12 last season after the July Daytona race, recovered and entered the 2007 Chase with little cushion in 11th position. But, Harvick said he tries not to dwell on the mathematics of the game. He's "Happy" as long as he and his team are within striking distance.

Right fuel strategy boosts Edwards to Pocono victory

During a rain delay that stopped the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 for 41 minutes, driver Carl Edwards and crew chief Bob Osborne argued loudly about who made the call to come to the pits after an afternoon thunderstorm began to soak Pocono Raceway.

In retrospect, both should be willing to take the credit, because the strategy earned Edwards his fourth Sprint Cup Series victory of the year and the 11th of his career. Tony Stewart came home second, 3.858 seconds back. Pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson was third, coasting across the finish line at the 2.5-mile triangular track after running out of fuel in the final corner.

Pennsylvania 500
Official Results

Pos. Driver Make

1. Carl Edwards Ford
2. Tony Stewart Toyota
3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet
4. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
5. David Ragan Ford
6. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
7. Kasey Kahne Dodge
8. Mark Martin Chevrolet
9. Jamie McMurray Ford
10. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet

• Results | Points | Lap-by-Lap
• Race Video | Photo GalleryKevin Harvick rallied from a first-lap spin to finish fourth. David Ragan was fifth, followed by Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon.

Edwards' chances of winning hinged on the race resuming after the rain delay, which came on Lap 131. Edwards, Johnson and Stewart were among those who had come to the pits on Lap 128, while 19 other cars remained on the track.

When the race resumed, however, those 19 cars had to make two pit stops to one for those drivers who already had come to pit road. That proved to be the difference. Martin, Edwards and Johnson dominated the first two-thirds of the race, leading 53, 36 and 33 of the first 131 laps, respectively, but only Martin, who did not pit on Lap 128, was among the frontrunners when NASCAR red-flagged the race.

"Bob and I were really arguing," Edwards said. "I was really nervous that we made the wrong call there. But Bob Osborne is just real smart. I'm really proud of him for the strategy. Bob did a really good job -- but I wasn't so sure when we were yelling at each other about halfway through.

"I think we were both about 51 percent for coming [to the pits], but after it started raining harder, we started blaming each other for making the call."

Osborne, on the other hand, said it was Edwards' premonition that the rain would end that gave him the confidence to call for the pit stop.

"Kudos to Carl Edwards," Osborne said. "That's what teamwork is all about."

Stewart was elated with his runner-up finish, his best result since running second at Atlanta in the fourth race of the season.

"I'm really happy with the way it ended up, obviously," Stewart said. "I mean, for us, that's a win. It seemed like our car was an eighth-to-10th-place car the majority of the day. I think the track tightened up a lot during the red. Seemed like our car got better from that point on. We were too loose up to that point."

When Edwards and Johnson came to pit road in the rain Lap 128, Kahne inherited the lead, followed by Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle and Martin. The winner of the June race at Pocono, Kahne didn't want to see the race resume after the stoppage.

"I think it will probably go green again -- maybe not -- but [crew chief] Kenny [Francis] said to stay out," Kahne said during the delay. "I'd just rather call it a day. I think we're a second-place car to Carl Edwards right now."

As it turned out, the race resumed, and Kahne was half right. Edwards was indeed the class of the field, but the one extra pit stop Kahne was forced to make dropped him to seventh at the finish.

The race wasn't a lap old when Joe Nemechek spun Kevin Harvick in the Tunnel Turn, but Harvick warded off the potential damage to his attempt to re-enter the top 12 in the championship standings by climbing back to fourth by the end of the race. Havick is in 11th place in the standings now.

Kenseth, who finished 11th Sunday, dropped to 13th in the championship standings, 11 points behind Bowyer in 12th.

Notes: Ragan held 14th place in the standings but moved to 46 points behind Bowyer in 12th. ... Johnson posted his ninth top-10 finish in 14 races at Pocono. ... With a 12th-place run, Dale Earnhardt Jr. trimmed the points lead of 36th-place finisher Kyle Busch to 176. With two laps left, Busch was assessed a pass-through penalty for a commitment-line violation.

No prediction for Martin, but he's ready for Pocono

Mark Martin was tight-lipped about his prospects for Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 -- even before all of Saturday's practice was rained-out -- but five months before he's scheduled to join Hendrick Motorsports, he didn't have a problem predicting the organization's future.

Martin, who qualified his No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet second next to future Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet on Friday, said he was looking forward to mentoring Brad Keselowski and Landon Cassill at Hendrick.

“
I feel like the mix is perfect right now for me. ... I feel 100 percent rejuvenated.
”
MARK MARTINBut first, he wants to win a race for DEI and then take a shot at the 2009 Sprint Cup championship.

He thinks the former can happen Sunday, for a few reasons. First, he's been runner-up six times at Pocono. He qualified third and finished 10th in the Pocono 500 a month ago -- which caused a bold and uncharacteristic prediction of a victory in last weekend's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Finally, he's got the same Impala SS he ran a month ago on the triangular 2.5-mile track, but slightly tuned-up, and that's what has him optimistic despite being faced with a basically green racetrack on Sunday.

"I feel real good," Martin said. "Tony Gibson [crew chief] and I talked about things after the race [in June], with our notes and what we'd like to try this time to make the car better.

"We need to make the car a little better, so we just went over those notes and incorporated those changes that we were going to try and we'll make adjustments. I would have to think we're way ahead of 50 percent of the field."

Much as was the case a week ago, Sunday at Pocono Martin said he'd only have to look sideways to catch the fields' biggest threat.

"We weren't good enough to beat [Johnson at Indy]," Martin said. "Now, there is a lot of ways to win these races. You can be the fastest car out there or you can be one of the group behind the fastest car and still win.

"For me to have won [at Indy] I would have had to have things really go my way because [Johnson] had the fastest car. Sixty percent or 65 percent of the time, the fastest car wins. The other 35-40 percent of the time, someone else is able to pull it off. But our car was clearly better than 11th [at Indy]."

Martin hopes to improve his Pocono 10th-place from June, on Sunday.

"We need to make it better than it was in race setup last time here," Martin said. "We improved the qualifying setup a little bit. So if we can find some things that will make the car stay strong longer into the run than it did last time, then we can be a contender.

"It is just really tough to beat [Johnson] right now. Like I said, we will do everything we can to have the fastest, best car and have all the best decisions and then we have to rely on what, fate, or whatever. We have to rely on some other things to line up for us."

Newman: No agreement to drive for Stewart-Haas yet

Amidst all the speculation surrounding Ryan Newman's future, the driver and even his wife maintain no official deal has been signed to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing next season.

Despite several online reports that the driver of the No. 12 Penske Dodge verbally agreed to join Stewart-Haas in 2009, Newman issued a statement Friday saying, "I am still working on my 2009 plans at this time. I have no timetable on finalizing anything at this point."

Also, a blog posted this week from wife Krissie Newman said, "Don't get too excited just yet."

“
A deal is not done until it is inked so for us to say we're about there means we are not there. I can tell you we are working on them.
”
JOE CUSTERShe continues to report, "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet! There have been some recent articles posted that reporters have put out that sound factual. However, Ryan has not verbally agreed to anything and is still working on his 2009 and future plans. It is funny how much speculation has been going on about Ryan's future. Everyone will know when the deal is signed. ... Sorry to disappoint, just don't want anyone to jump to conclusions."

"Stewart-Haas Racing has had, and will continue to have, lots of talks with lots of drivers," said Mike Arning, spokesman for Stewart-Haas Racing. "To say that any type of agreement, verbal or otherwise, has been reached with any particular driver is premature."

A source close to Penske Racing said "a verbal agreement in this sport doesn't mean anything."

Signs indicate that Stewart-Haas is a strong possibility for Newman. Team co-owner Tony Stewart is friends with Newman away from the track, and both drivers are from Indiana.

Last week in Indianapolis, Newman said his decision had been narrowed to one team, keeping in mind Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs confirmed that Newman was not a candidate because the organization could not get sponsorship for both Newman and a fourth team.

If Newman does land at Stewart-Haas, he would likely drive the No. 4 car; Stewart will be in the No. 14. One thing seems certain, and that is the No. 4 seat is open.

Scott Riggs, driver of the No. 66 for Haas CNC Racing which will become the No. 4 Stewart-Haas car next year, is already talking with others about his future. "I'm 99.99999 percent sure I won't be here next year," Riggs said Friday.

Joe Custer, the team's general manager, said, "no one is out," but expect a decision on the driver lineup next week.

"We're wide open on it," he said. "A deal is not done until it is inked so for us to say we're about there means we are not there. I can tell you we are working on them."

Nevertheless, Newman said he doesn't have anything on paper.

"I've got my search pretty narrowed down I just don't have everything finalized," he said last week.

Newman said there is no time frame for his decision, but admits time is of the essence and said the sooner he can work out an agreement the better in order to prepare for the 2009 season-opener in Daytona.

Newman has been contemplating his future since it was announced in July he will part ways with Penske Racing at season's end.

Chance for Pocono repeat well within Kahne's sights

Leading up to June's Pocono 500, Kasey Kahne was 12th in the Sprint Cup Series standings. But when the series reached the tricky Pennsylvania triangle, he led 69 laps and cruised to victory by 3.7 seconds over Brian Vickers to pick up his second win of the year, proving that he may be a worthy Chase contender.

Eight weeks later, Kahne remains solidly among the top 10 and well above the 12th-place cutoff to make NASCAR's postseason. He is currently ninth, 81 points ahead of 13th-place Kevin Harvick.

Fast facts
What Pennsylvania 500
When 2 p.m. ET Saturday
TV ESPN, 1 p.m. ET
Radio MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 2 ET

• Track Page | Tickets | Travel
• By the Numbers: PoconoKahne knows he needs to close the regular season strong -- starting with Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 -- if he wants to stay locked into the Chase. If recent history is any indicator, he has an even chance to win: two of the last four June winners at Pocono also won in the series' return visit later in the year.

"We've missed it a couple times in the last month as far as the finish, but we've had good points in all those races," Kahne said. "The next six races are tracks that I've run well at in the past and look forward to going back to them again. If things go smooth and we don't have the wrecks and things that can happen in the sport, we should have a shot at making the Chase."

The Gillett Evernham team will come loaded with the same car Kahne dominated with in June; it's the first time the car has been raced since going to Victory Lane in June.

"As fast as it was in June during qualifying and the race, I think it should be strong, a car that can run in the top 10 if we make the right adjustments," Kahne said. "I don't see why we can't have a shot at another win. As good as it was the first race, if we do the right things, we should have another shot."

While Kahne wants to solidify his chances to compete for the series title with a strong Pocono run, the race's defending winner would simply like to salvage his season.

Last August, Kurt Busch used a well-timed win at Pocono to propel himself on a strong stretch run and into the Chase. This year, he's six positions and 281 points behind the 12th-place cutoff position, currently held by Clint Bowyer.

"We just need to get it turned around," Busch said. "I know how kind that place has been to me through the years, and we sure could use another good shot of that kindness this weekend."

Busch had made up some ground following his rain-aided win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and a fourth-place result at Daytona. But engine problems left him 28th at Chicago and tire troubles contributed to an accident that dropped him to 40th at Indianapolis, making his Chase chances appear bleak.

"You keep the attitude of never saying never and you keep on trying hard as you can 'til the end," Busch said. "We've had a really strong showing in the Pocono races, especially during the last few years. We won the July race in 2005 and finished second in both races there during my first year with Penske [2006]. We come in there as the defending champions this weekend. We had a strong top-10 finish there just last month. If we can just keep up the competitive strength we've been able to display there, we should be in the thick of things again on Sunday."

Darlington Raceway adds more legends to festival

The Darlington Historic Racing Festival is turning into a virtual who's who among legendary drivers, car owners, mechanics and broadcasters for its inaugural event.

Legendary drivers Ned Jarrett and Bobby Allison and former car owner Ray Fox are the latest legends to commit to an appearance at the festival. Jarrett, Allison and Fox will each participate in a question-and-answer session in the Legends Pavilion as well as an autograph session.


To purchase tickets, click here
In addition to Jarrett, Allison and Fox, legendary broadcaster Barney Hall will be on-hand to moderate the question-and-answer sessions that will take place during the two-day festival.

"Ned, Bobby, Ray and Barney will certainly have some great stories to share with race fans and make great additions to our list of racing legends participating in the Darlington Historic Racing Festival," Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning said. "We are grateful to have so many racing legends participating in this historic event at Darlington."

Other legends agreeing to participate in autograph sessions at the inaugural event include former driver "Chargin'" Charlie Glotzbach, former crew chief and engine builder Waddell Wilson and former car owner Raymond Parks.

The Darlington Historic Racing Festival will offer fans two days of excitement featuring question-and-answer sessions with the legends, exhibition laps by the historic rac cars, autograph sessions, a large display and vendor area, car corrals, kid zone and a variety of other activities.

Don't miss your chance to see stock cars return to Darlington Raceway this Labor Day weekend, Aug. 30-31, for the Darlington Historic Racing Festival. Tickets for the event are $15 per day or $25 for the entire weekend, kids age 12-and-under will be admitted free. Camping also is available for this event, tent sites can be purchased for $10, RV spots are $25.

Day's story at Indy has ups and downs in points race

Every event in the run to the cutoff for the Chase for the Sprint Cup is critical and, on Sunday, when a stunning miscalculation on the tire combination for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard affected everything about the competition at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, tires only affected one of the most radical point swings.

Maybe that was the case. Denny Hamlin, who came into the day 12th in the Chase standings, had his race affected by the tire situation and its accompanying odd strategic decisions; yet Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Mike Ford played the game well enough to finish third and advance four spots in the standings (read more).

Cup Standings
Race to the Chase

Pos. Driver Behind 12th

13. Kevin Harvick -2
14. David Ragan -56
15. Brian Vickers -132
16. Ryan Newman -144
17. Martin Truex Jr. -216
18. Kurt Busch -281

• Complete StandingsWhile acknowledging that, Hamlin was still disappointed not to win.

"When we saw the 17 [Matt Kenseth] had issues, the 83 [Brian Vickers] blew up, we knew we needed a top-10 day," Hamlin said. "We knew that, at the beginning of the day. This race only comes around once a year [and] it's prestigious -- so you hate to let a win slip away. In the back of your mind, you have to be happy knowing you had a good points day [and] that's where we are."

But that's the chase for the top spots in the standings. With six events remaining before the Chase cutoff at Richmond International Raceway's Chevy Rock & Roll 400, Kevin Harvick fell four positions in the standings and out of the top-12 spots that guarantee a place in the Chase.

But rather than experiencing tire trouble, Harvick's No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was caught in a spin by Kurt Busch's No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge (watch video), which resulted in a 37th-place finish for Harvick and 40th for Busch, the inaugural 2004 Chase winner who's also struggling to get back to 12th.

Kenseth had a catastrophic right-rear tire failure on his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford (watch video), making him the Chase contender most directly affected by tires, and while his crew also made a good recovery to get Kenseth to the finish in 38th, he dropped three spots in the standings and currently sits 11th, only four points clear of 12th-place Clint Bowyer, who missed an opportunity to gain more ground Sunday when his No. 07 RCR Chevrolet finished 19th.

Just how critical each race is, is borne out by Harvick's 13th position being only two points behind Bowyer, which gives Harvick a positive vibe for this weekend's Pocono race.

"Our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet was going to be really good [Sunday so] my guys did a great job getting me back out on the racetrack after the accident so early in the race -- they've done a great job the last couple of months," Harvick said. "We'll just go on to Pocono and try and get the best finish we can and get ourselves back in the top 12 in points. Hopefully, we will be good and I think we will be fine for the Chase."

It's not a win, but it sure helps hard-luck Hamlin

With about 30 laps remaining in a bizarre race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin allowed himself to think that the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was his to lose. Even on two new tires, he was faster than his closest pursuer, Jimmie Johnson, was on four. If he could stay out front in the clean air, that big gold brick of a trophy would be his.

Denny Hamlin
2008 Results

First 10 Races Second 10 Races

Daytona............17 Darlington........7
Fontana.............41 Charlotte.........24
Las Vegas.........9 Dover...............43
Atlanta..............15 Pocono.............3
Bristol................6 Michigan..........14
Martinsville.......1 Sonoma............27
Texas.................5 New Hamp. .....8
Phoenix..............3 Daytona...........26
Talladega...........3 Chicago...........40
Richmond...........24 Indianapolis.....3

• Community | Superstore"I knew if there was an opportunity at the end of the race, if we could take the same tires he did, we could outrun him," Hamlin said. "I held my hand all race long. I was taking it easy, taking it easy, waiting to really push it. And when we did push it, we were able to pull away. We just didn't get out on pit road the way we needed to."

Hamlin had the closest thing to the dominant car at the end of Sunday's Sprint Cup event at Indianapolis, which was marred by concerns over tire failures. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led 26 of 27 laps until NASCAR issued the last of six competition cautions to check for tire wear. The No. 11 car dropped from first to third after the final pit stop, and couldn't catch Johnson in the 10-lap sprint to the end.

It's been that kind of season for Hamlin, NASCAR's hardest-luck driver this year. He led 98 laps at Bristol before going out with the same power-steering pump failure that had plagued him the previous week at Atlanta. He led 381 laps at Richmond before going out with a tire failure. He lost five positions in the standings two weeks ago at Chicagoland when he was knocked out early with an electrical problem.

And then came Sunday, when his bid to win one of NASCAR's biggest events was undone partly by a tipped tire. On the pit stop during the race's final competition caution, Hamlin entered first, followed by Elliott Sadler and Johnson. On the ensuing two-tire stop, the car of Reed Sorenson made slight contact with one of Hamlin's old tires. It wasn't much, but it was enough to delay the tire carrier by a few more fractions of a second. Hamlin exited pit road third, behind Johnson and Carl Edwards, and finished in the same spot (watch video).

It's been that kind of year for crew chief Mike Ford and the No. 11 team.

"The 41 car was coming around us, and the last two tire stops we made, [Sorenson] came in and hit our right-front tire," Ford said. "We needed to make sure we got that tire under control so we didn't get penalized. We needed to make sure that tire was back. It cost us a little bit of time on pit road, but it's just one of the things that can happen. We didn't get any damage from it, but our guys had to hesitate and that cost them a little bit of time. I don't know if we'd have gotten the 48 [car of Johnson] off pit road with the stall that he had. But I think we would have definitely come out at least second."

Out of last pit first, Johnson wins Brickyard debacle

Pure and simple, Jimmie Johnson won the Yellow Flag 400 on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning the final race off pit road.

In a race dominated by tire-wear issues and punctuated -- for safety's sake -- by the staccato insertion of frequent competition cautions, Johnson held off Carl Edwards in a furious seven-lap run to the finish to win his second Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, by .333 seconds.

Denny Hamlin, who was leading when NASCAR threw the final competition caution on Lap 150, finished third, followed by Elliott Sadler and Jeff Gordon.

After a two-tire call by crew chief Chad Knaus, Johnson was first out of the pits, with Edwards second, for the final restart on Lap 154. Edwards thought his car was fast enough to catch and pass the No. 48 Chevrolet, but he was wrong (watch video).

"Chad called the race perfectly, and we had a great stop at the end," said Johnson, who won his second race of the season and the 35th of his career. "Carl put about as much pressure on us as he could. I knew from chasing Denny the run before that, even if he was a little faster, he couldn't get by us."

Johnson, the second driver in 15 races at the Brickyard to win from the pole, took the first step toward the victory when he claimed the top starting spot in Saturday morning's qualifying session. That gave him first choice of pit stalls, and the No. 48 team chose the box closest to the exit of pit road.

"If Jimmie hadn't won the pole and had been pitting down at the other end, things might have been different. I've just got to qualify better," said Edwards, who started ninth. "That pit stall helped Jimmie a lot. If I was in front, I might have won.

"All race long, I thought I was better than he was, but he was holding back a lot more than I thought he was."

The combination of the new racecar and the Brickyard's abrasive racing surface produced abnormally high wear on right-side tires. Accordingly, NASCAR called competition cautions at intervals of approximately 11 laps, but the yellows weren't frequent enough to prevent calamity from befalling several of the sport's top stars. Of the 11 cautions in Sunday's race, six were competition cautions.

"As much as I didn't like it," Johnson said, "I've got to commend NASCAR for calling a safe race."

Tires color Indy black with dust, yellow with cautions

Weird" only began to describe the 15th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on a day when tire issues created a 400-mile race in which the longest stretch of green flag racing was 13 laps -- once.

In what everyone connected with the event -- Goodyear, NASCAR and the competitors -- called a major miscalculation in the tire combination that was selected for the 160-lap event, NASCAR was forced to administer the race using a series of "competition cautions."

“
Well, I think there was a lot of passing -- I know I had to pass a lot of cars -- so it had to be entertaining on television when we had the green flag.
”
JIMMIE JOHNSONSix of the 11 cautions, which resulted in a total of 52 laps, or 32 percent of the race being run under a yellow flag, were artificial.

Goodyear's director of race-tire sales, Greg Stucker, said the company would keep working.

"We've got to really sit down and see [if the problem could have been prevented]," Stucker said. "Obviously, the tread wear didn't improve as we thought it would over the course of the afternoon [and] we don't have an answer to why that didn't happen, so we've got to go back and look at it and try to figure out how to make it better."

Obviously, the feelings of winner Jimmie Johnson didn't match everyone else in the field; but most of the 43-man field joined in offering support to Goodyear and NASCAR for a cautious approach to the day.

After the track showed no signs of absorbing rubber through the first day and a half of practices and qualifying, NASCAR and Goodyear decided to give teams an extra set of tires for the race, and then took the extra step of bringing 1,600 tires intended for next weekend's race at Pocono Raceway as a backup plan.

Those were never needed, but virtually the entire race was run on a razor's edge of suspense over the next tire problem, rather than the next pass for the lead. Johnson, though, was satisfied.

"Well, I think there was a lot of passing -- I know I had to pass a lot of cars -- so it had to be entertaining on television when we had the green flag," Johnson said. "I can honestly say nobody wanted to be in this position: Goodyear, NASCAR, teams, drivers, owners -- nobody wanted to be in this situation -- but it's the situation that we had.

As others struggled, Sadler made best of Indy chaos

While Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard looked like a disaster in the making to almost everyone else right from the start, Elliott Sadler saw an opportunity for his struggling No. 19 Dodge team.

So as many of the Goodyear tires handed out to all teams literally returned to dust, and NASCAR tried to manage the calamity by throwing one competition caution after another in rapid and annoying fashion at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sadler employed a sound strategy that eventually paid off with his best finish of the 2008 Sprint Cup Series season.

“
You know, we're not kissing the bricks. But a fourth-place finish for our team right now is a job well done.
”
ELLIOTT SADLERSaving wear on his tires whenever possible by not pushing his car too hard until the very end, Sadler ended up finishing fourth -- trailing only eventual winner Jimmie Johnson, second-place finisher Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin, who placed third.

Sadler knew tire wear was going to be an issue even before the green flag dropped. He said he was expecting a caution-filled race similar to the one at the Coca-Cola 600 in May of 2005, when tire problems led to a record 22 yellow flags.

"I told everybody before the race, 'Hey, look, at Charlotte we just ran a certain lap time no matter what.' That's what we did," Sadler said. "If somebody came up on us and wanted to pass us, we let 'em go. We raced the racetrack until there were about 30 or 40 laps to go. Then we started racing hard -- and it paid off for us."

In the end, Sadler was more than satisfied. He was all smiles.

"You know, we're not kissing the bricks. Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson and those guys for that," Sadler said. "But a fourth-place finish for our team right now is a job well done."

Sadler has had some good runs this season in his Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge. He finished sixth in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, eighth at the Coca-Cola 600 in May, ninth at Michigan in June and fifth at New Hampshire just three races ago.

But he has endured more than his share of hard luck, finishing dead last 43rd at Atlanta, 42nd at both Darlington and Dover, 41st at Phoenix after qualifying second, 39th in July's return visit to Daytona and 34th at Pocono. There were other races, such as Infineon, when he was running up front until the very end when Schleprock struck -- relegating him to a 19th-place finish after he qualified sixth and appeared destined for at least a top-five finish before a tire went down during the final laps.

Tires stamped for Pocono sent to Indy, on stand-by

NASCAR and Goodyear, anticipating possible tire issues in Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, had 400 sets of tires intended for use next weekend at Pocono Raceway brought to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

NASCAR will begin evaluating the need for a tire switch when a "competition caution" is thrown at Lap 10 of the 160-lap race. NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said on Sunday morning he anticipated additional planned cautions.

“
We're going to monitor the wear and the laps that we can run, and early on we'll be able to make a call on how far we will be able to go with Indy tires if the wear statistics do not improve enough.
”
ROBIN PEMBERTONThe 43 Sprint Cup teams on-site for the 20th race of the season were given their Indy allotment of Pocono tires in an impound area and began to prep them at noon ET.

"Everybody gets the same opportunity to prep them at the same time," NASCAR vice president for corporate communications Jim Hunter said. "The backup tires will remain in the impound area in the unlikely event that we need them, then all teams will be able to switch over at the same time."

"We will evaluate how the tire wear comes," Pemberton said. "We'll make a call on if it's 10 more laps or 15 or however many of green-flag laps. We'll make a call from there and see what we have to do. It looks like it will be multiple competition cautions -- at least two right now.

"We're going to monitor the wear and the laps that we can run, and early on we'll be able to make a call on how far we will be able to go with Indy tires if the wear statistics do not improve enough.

"It's not unlike everything we deal with at this particular place getting the track rubbered in. We started with about five or six laps in the first [Saturday] practice and got to about 10 in [Happy Hour]. We anticipate that it will fix itself, and we'll make that call early on. We'll have a good plan."

Goodyear's director of race-tire sales, Greg Stucker, said Goodyear formerly employed the same tires at both Pocono and Indianapolis, and that the left- and right-side tires intended for next weekend's Pocono race were actually softer than the tires in use so far at Indy.

That would enable more rubber to transfer to the racetrack and ease tire wear. Pemberton said if a change was necessary, the teams would execute it en masse.

"If it gets to that point, it will be a caution, and the teams will already have their tires up in their pit area," Pemberton said. "It will be similar to if we had [to make a switch between] rain tires or dry tires.

"We will make the call. All of the Indy tires will come out of the pit area, and we will issue the Pocono tires [from the impound area]. Everyone will be on the same tire at the same time."

Stucker said the last time a different tire than what was intended for a track was used was at Dover International Speedway in 1994.

"The reason we chose to bring the Pocono tire here is that it's the closest thing we have to our Indy tire," Stucker said. "The surfaces are enough different now that we run a slightly different tire. We felt like it was the easiest transition for the teams if that [switch] would be required.

"We have a backup plan for every racetrack in case anything happens like this. We've just chosen to take this to the next step. Pocono was the natural step because it's closest to the Indy tire. You always have a backup in hand.

"The last time we had to execute something like that was back in 1994. It's not common, but it's not unprecedented. [At Dover] we actually brought in a completely different tire for race day. You have to be ready any contingency."

Truex denies report about a DEI contract extension

Martin Truex Jr. said Saturday after Sprint Cup practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that a published report saying he had reached an agreement in principle to remain at Dale Earnhardt Inc. for two years was not true.


Truex Jr.Community
Superstore
Though Truex may well drive for DEI next season, his immediate reaction when asked about the story that appeared on ESPN.com was: "It's [expletive]. I don't know what the hell [the reporter] is talking about. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

The story said the deal would keep Truex at DEI through 2010, with details of multiple sponsors still to be finalized.

Truex, who drives the No. 1 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops, said he has been involved in fruitful negotiations with DEI's management.

"We've been talking a lot," Truex said. "Things have been going well. We're working on some stuff, and that's what I told him."

John Story, DEI's vice president of motorsports operations, indicated he has been involved in every aspect of the negotiations and declined comment on the assertions in the story.

Truex currently is 17th in the Cup championship standings, 233 points behind 12th-place Denny Hamlin. The top 12 drivers after 26 races qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, with the cutoff coming Sept. 6 at Richmond.

Teams get extra set of tires for race due to tirewear

NASCAR on Saturday afternoon gave its Sprint Cup teams an extra set of Goodyear tires to use in Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, in response to extreme tire wear in the first day and a half of track time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“
The track is very abrasive because we don't run on it very often -- we don't test here. Goodyear's doing the best they can [but] it's a situation we do see probably every time that we come here.
”
ROBIN PEMBERTONTeams were initially given nine sets of tires for Sunday's 400-mile race, but as Saturday's final one-hour practice began, NASCAR's vice president of competition, Robin Pemberton, said teams would get a 10th set.

Indianapolis, a relatively flat 2.5-mile oval with turns banked nine degrees, was last repaved in November 2004 and the track was "diamond ground" in spring 2005; creating a particularly abrasive surface.

NASCAR had already allowed teams two extra sets of tires for practice and qualifying -- eight instead of the usual six -- and Pemberton said teams could save tires from practice to give them more new sets for the race.

Penske Racing crew chief Chris Carrier almost has the best of all worlds, as his owner, Roger Penske, has a record 14 victories in the Indianapolis 500; while the driver of his No. 77 Dodge, Sam Hornish Jr., won the 2006 Indy 500.

But Carrier, who kind of summed up the garage area's concerns, said he didn't envy Goodyear its task in developing a tire for this course.

"The problem is that you have a [3,450] lb. racecar with a lot of horsepower that doesn't handle real well going around a 2.5-mile track that has flat corners with an abrasive surface," Carrier said. "Asking anybody to build a tire and come to this place and run two days of practice for a 400-mile race with the weight of these racecars, horsepower and amount of load is like asking somebody to invade Russia with a loaded shotgun.

"It's pretty hard to do [and] everybody is concerned about it."

A NASCAR spokesman said the sanctioning body would have a planned "competition caution" within the race's first 20 laps to check tire wear.

Goodyear has a new tire combination at Indy, with a softer left-side compound. The tire company has 3,150 tires, equally divided between left-side and right-side tires. The package was developed in an April tire test conducted by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers.

Hendrick boys seemed poised for big day at Indy

Coming to Indianapolis Motor Speedway never gets old for Jeff Gordon, and why should it?

He visited often as a kid, watching one Indianapolis 500 in person and many others on television. When the Cup Series started coming to the track to run races in 1994, it was Gordon who won first -- and has won the most often, capturing a total of four victories at the Brickyard.

Lineup
Allstate 400 / Brickyard

Pos. Driver Speed Time

1. J. Johnson 181.763 49.515
2. M. Martin 181.393 49.616
3. R. Newman 180.970 49.732
4. K. Kahne 180.810 49.776
5. J. Gordon 180.545 49.849
6. E. Sadler 180.397 49.890
7. Ku. Busch 180.343 49.905
8. J. McMurray 180.321 49.911
9. C. Edwards 180.209 49.942
10. M. Kenseth 179.917 50.023

• Lineup | Videos | PhotosGordon qualified fifth for this Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and will start on the inside of Row 3. Coupled with the fact that his No. 24 Chevrolet was the fastest in the next-to-last practice session Saturday at Indy, registering a top lap speed of 174.496 mph, it's understandable why he is confident about his chances of capturing his first win of the 2008 season.

"It's just the thoughts of memories that I had as a kid watching at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indy 500, the legends that raced here," Gordon said. "The fact that I get to race on that track, the one those greats competed on when I was watching on TV as a kid, it's just awesome.

"Ever since the first year that we came here and won, having that win under our belt just gets me excited about coming back here each and every year. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of year we're having. I just always feel like we can come here and be competitive."

Of course, Gordon is not the only driver who enters Sunday's event with high hopes. Optimism is running rampant throughout the Hendrick Motorsports operation, with teammate Jimmie Johnson having won the pole in qualifying trim with a speed of 181.763 mph in his No. 48 Chevy and finishing Saturday's final practice session atop the speed charts in race trim with a top lap speed of 175.298 mph.

Gordon posted the second-fastest lap speed in the final practice session (174.958 mph), followed by Denny Hamlin in his No. 11 Toyota (174.408 mph); Carl Edwards in his No. 99 Ford (174.118 mph); and Ryan Newman in his No. 12 Dodge (174.068 mph). Rounding out the top 10 were Mark Martin in the No. 8 Chevy (174.024 mph); Jamie McMurray in the No. 26 Ford (173.839 mph); Kasey Kahne in his No. 9 Dodge (173.564 mph); and rookie Sam Hornish Jr. (173.427 mph), who is no stranger to Indy because the former open-wheel star once won the Indy 500.

Those who struggled during the final practice session included defending race champion Tony Stewart, who has won the event two of the past three years (with Johnson winning the one in between); and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Stewart qualified 14th and ranked just 27th in the final practice session with a top speed of 171.910 mph. Earnhardt, who qualified 11th, posted a top speed during the final practice session of 172.894 mph that ranked 18th on the speed charts.

Johnson wins pole at Indy; Martin earns outside slot

In a Saturday morning qualifying session dominated by Chevrolet and Dodge, Jimmie Johnson won the pole for Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, narrowly edging Mark Martin for the top spot (watch video).

The 18th driver on the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Johnson covered the 2.5-mile distance in 49.515 seconds (181.763 mph) to post a formidable target for the cars that followed. Martin, who followed 12 positions later, was the only driver who came close, completing his lap in 49.616 seconds (181.393 mph).

Lineup
Allstate 400 / Brickyard

Pos. Driver Speed Time

1. J. Johnson 181.763 49.515
2. M. Martin 181.393 49.616
3. R. Newman 180.970 49.732
4. K. Kahne 180.810 49.776
5. J. Gordon 180.545 49.849
6. E. Sadler 180.397 49.890
7. Ku. Busch 180.343 49.905
8. J. McMurray 180.321 49.911
9. C. Edwards 180.209 49.942
10. M. Kenseth 179.917 50.023

• Lineup | Videos | PhotosRyan Newman qualified third at 180.970 mph, followed by Kasey Kahne (180.810 mph) and Jeff Gordon (180.545 mph). Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch will start sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by Roush Fenway Racing teammates Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth in a trio of Fords.

Johnson, Martin and Gordon are Chevy drivers, while Newman, Kahne, Sadler, and Busch drive Dodges. Defending race winner Tony Stewart paced the Toyota contingent with a 14th-place effort.

Johnson, who claimed his first pole at Indianapolis, his second of the season and the 15th of his career, said he ran 50 laps in his mind Saturday morning before making his qualifying attempt.

"I was trying to hit all my marks [mentally]," he said. "Then I rolled out there, got two of the four corners right and won the pole."

Johnson admitted that his lap was far from mistake-free. After a solid run through Turn 1, he drove too hard in the second corner, tried to make up for the mistake in Turn 3 and overdrove the corner. But Johnson nailed Turn 4 and raced to the finish line with enough of a cushion to withstand Martin's challenge.

"It's fun when you have a car that drives that well, and you can challenge yourself and really be aggressive with it."

Martin, who will join Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports next season, predicted seven weeks ago at Pocono that his car would contend for the win at the Brickyard. He brought to Indy the same No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet he drove to a fifth-place finish at Phoenix and a third-place result at Richmond.

"I felt like the Phoenix car would relate to these flat corners," Martin said. "We parked this car after Richmond and earmarked it for Indy. We were a little off in our race setup [during Friday's practice], but I think we can work on that and get the car to race really well [on Sunday]."

Notes: Rookie Patrick Carpentier (15th) was the fastest of the 12 drivers required to qualify on speed. ... Bill Elliott, Johnny Sauter, Tony Raines and Stanton Barrett failed to qualify for Sunday's race. ... Terry Labonte will start 43rd on a past champion's provisional in the No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge.

Former Brickyard winner Elliott left out looking in

At the very back of the garage area, they were preparing not for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard but to go home. Crewmen disassembled rear wings and returned the parts to NASCAR officials. Chairs and hero card holders were moved, transporter lifts were lowered, cars were loaded up. And then, the most incongruous sight of all -- Bill Elliott, clad in not a firesuit but a golf shirt and jeans, stopping to sign a few autographs before moving on.

“
I don't even want to talk about it right now, to be honest with you. I might say something I don't need to.
”
EDDIE WOODFour cars were sent home from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, and only one of them was from a full-time Sprint Cup organization. The proud, venerable, but fallen-upon-hard-times Wood Brothers, with Elliott behind the wheel, were knocked out of the Brickyard field when Petty Enterprises fill-in driver Terry Labonte was forced to use the past champion's provisional. Two adjacent stalls in the garage area told the story: the No. 45, full of crewmen working on a racecar, and the No. 21, empty.

It was a bitter moment for a 55-year-old Wood Brothers franchise that's suffered through too many of them already. Elliott, the 2002 Brickyard champion, came to Indianapolis as one of only five drivers to have competed in all 14 previous NASCAR events at the historic 2.5-mile venue. And Saturday brought back painful memories of February, when the Woods missed their first Daytona 500 since 1960 after Kurt Busch -- whose points from the previous year had been transferred to rookie teammate Sam Hornish Jr. -- suffered a failure in a qualifying race and needed the past champion's spot.

Team co-owner Eddie Wood couldn't hide his disappointment. "I don't even want to talk about it right now, to be honest with you," he said. "I might say something I don't need to."

Elliott was 19th-fastest in the weekend's first practice on Friday, but turned only five laps in the session. He made 10 more in second practice, but dropped to 39th-fastest. His qualifying speed of 175.552 mph ranked 41st, and was slower than those turned in by J.J. Yeley, Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs. A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose -- all drivers also outside of the top 35 in owner points, and who had to make the race on speed.

Martin believes it's his time at Indy, and so do others

He is NASCAR's resident purveyor of gloom and doom, a perennial bridesmaid whose silver lining always turns out to be gray. Mark Martin imparts optimism about as sparingly as misers part with $100 bills. Which is why it was so strange to see him in the interview room last month at Pocono Raceway, boldly telling anyone who would listen that he fully intended to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"I'm planning on winning the Brickyard in the 8 car," he said in a very un-Martin-like moment. "We've got the stuff. We've got the team. The cars are awesome on flat tracks, Phoenix and Richmond. I have never planned on anything any more than my plan is for the Brickyard. That's the crown jewel, and if you look at how that car ran at Phoenix, I believe we can adapt that setup to work there."

“
I'm not sure I did a Mohammed Ali. ... I believe that you can run the same stuff here that you can run at Phoenix. And I believe that we had the fastest car on the racetrack at Phoenix. It's that simple.
”
MARK MARTINHe's not blowing smoke. The 49-year-old Martin had the best race of his abbreviated 2008 campaign in April at Phoenix, a track that's much shorter than Indianapolis but shares the characteristic of very little banking. He led 68 laps that night, but pitted for fuel at the end and placed fifth. That, combined with a season-best, third-place finish two weeks later at Richmond, another short, relatively flat layout, have the NASCAR veteran feeling like he's capable of kissing the bricks Sunday (watch video).

He may have stopped short of guaranteeing a victory Friday, but he didn't back down.

"I'm not sure I did a Mohammed Ali," Martin said. "You know, I do feel very confident that we'll have a car here that will be strong enough to be a contender to win this race. I might say that every week, maybe. But, you know, believing it deep down inside, I usually know that's a bigger challenge than it might be here this week. I believe that you can run the same stuff here that you can run at Phoenix. And I believe that we had the fastest car on the racetrack at Phoenix. It's that simple."

Oh yeah, and he's finished in the top 10 in his past three races at Indianapolis, as well as four of his past five. In 1998 he was the runner-up -- a position he's become unfortunately accustomed to, given his four second-place finishes in Cup championship points, and his two-hundredths-of-a-second loss to Kevin Harvick in the 2007 Daytona 500. Martin's legacy needs no bolstering, given his 35 career victories. But a Brickyard title might help make up for so many of the big ones that have gotten away.

Don't tell him that. "I don't even think about what it would mean to me," he said. But In the garage area, it would be a popular victory.

"I could be an inch off his bumper and at his door for the win, and I'm going to be happy for him. That's the type of guy and driver that he is," said four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon.

Montoya's optimism does not include Indy repeat

Juan Montoya is back on familiar turf this weekend, but he doesn't necessarily like his chances of winning the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard that will be run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In fact, in a very candid interview with media Friday at the facility, Montoya admitted that he would be surprised to be able to duplicate last year's effort -- when he qualified second and finished second during his rookie season driving the No. 42 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

“
It's this simple: there are two ways to look at it -- we either change it around or he's going to be looking to close it and I'll be looking to drive somewhere else, because this is a business.
”
JUAN MONTOYA"If we can run anywhere close to the pace we ran last year, I would be happy," Montoya said. "Do I want to win the race? Of course. Who doesn't? Ask any driver here if he wants to win the race and he would say yes. It's a very special place.

"But I think being realistic, our main goal right now is just to get ourselves better. The whole Ganassi organization right now is in a little bit of a hole, and we know that. But I think we're starting to understand what we need to do and where we need to go to make ourselves better, and I think we will."

Pressed further on if he can duplicate last year's performance, which marked his best effort on an oval, Montoya admitted it will be extremely difficult. He said that is especially so because this is the first time NASCAR's new car will be run at the Indy track, and the new car that is being used full time in the Sprint Cup Series this season has given Montoya and his Ganassi teammates loads of trouble.

"It's very hard to say you can, because the cars are different. You look at the mile-and-halves last year and we always had a really good car. If we nailed the setup, we had [potentially] a top-five car every week. It was easy," Montoya said.

"But this year, on the big tracks, we struggle. If you look at the bigger picture, there's nothing to say we're going to go out here and win."

Montoya spent much of last Thursday in Ganassi's Indianapolis-based IndyCar shop, talking about what needs to be done to change that. Ganassi and Montoya shared great success on the open-wheel side before joining forces in NASCAR, with Montoya capturing the 1999 CART championship and the 2000 Indianapolis 500 in rides provided by Ganassi.

They have been unable to reclaim that glory in the Sprint Cup Series. When Montoya won last year at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., it was the first Cup victory for Ganassi's operation since 2002.

Movers and shakers

August 15

• Tony Stewart made the speculation official at Michigan when it was announced fellow Hoosier Ryan Newman will join Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009 and drive the No. 4 Chevrolet. Sponsorship deals have not been completed.
Full story
Video: Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart news conference
Also: Stewart-Haas puzzle nearly complete with Newman

July 25

• Tony Stewart took another step at ironing out the details of his new Cup Series team by revealing his primary sponsors and number for the 2009 season. Stewart will drive the No. 14 Chevrolet, chosen to honor his racing hero A.J. Foyt. Office Depot, which will be leaving the Roush Fenway No. 99 car, will co-sponsor Stewart's ride along with Old Spice.
Full story

July 14

• In the final year of his contract with Penske Racing and unhappy with the team's performance, Ryan Newman wanted to weigh his options for the 2009 season. Instead, the Penske organization decided to move on without him, and announced it was cutting ties with Newman effective the end of the year.
Full story
Also: Now the rest of the dominos able to fall
Also: Newman weighs option of joining Stewart-Haas


Stewart-Haas Racing
Deal Stewart couldn't refuse
Menzer: Gamble worth taking
Aumann: Driver-ownerships
July 9

• Add another line to Tony Stewart's resume: team owner. Joe Gibbs Racing announced it has agreed to release Stewart, a two-time Cup Series champion, from the final year of his contract. In turn, Stewart is purchasing what is believed to be a 50 percent stake in Haas CNC Racing and will drive for the team in 2009.
Full story
Video: Stewart-Haas news conference highlights
Also: Stewart's move hearkens to another era

July 4

• Team owner Rick Hendrick and veteran driver Mark Martin, 49, announced a multi-year deal that places Martin in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet. Hendrick said he thought placing Martin, who last competed full time in Cup in 2006, with highly regarded young crew chief Alan Gustafson would only be a positive for his organization and the fans.
Full story
Video: Martin on the move

July 1

• Aric Almirola won't need a Christmas present this December, because he just received a gift that he promises he'll play with all year long. Dale Earnhardt Inc. officials confirmed that Almirola will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet in all 36 races in 2009. Almirola finished eighth at Bristol in his DEI debut, which apparently accelerated discussions with the team about his immediate future.
Full story

• Chip Ganassi Racing officials announced the team will shut down the No. 40 Sprint Cup Series entry driven by rookie Dario Franchitti, effective immediately. The team cited a "lack of sponsorship funding" for cutting back the No. 40 team. Ganassi's No. 41, driven by Reed Sorenson, and the No. 42, driven by Montoya, will remain full-time.
Full story
Also: Franchitti looking for a ride, still shocked at shutdown

June 27

• Hendrick Motorsports announced that Casey Mears would not be returning to its No. 5 car next season, a de facto dismissal that becomes the first domino to topple in what is sure to be a long line of them before this season is over.
Full story
Video: Mears finds leaving Hendrick hard to do

• After weeks of saying he was close to signing a contract extension with Roush Fenway Racing, Greg Biffle announced at New Hampshire that he will drive the No. 16 Ford through 2011, with 3M continuing as his sponsor.

• Clint Bowyer returned to Loudon, site of his first Cup victory in September 2007, and chose that opportunity to confirm he has signed a contract extension with Richard Childress Racing through 2011.

June 11

• At the same time Petty Enterprises had entered into a partnership with private equity firm Boston Ventures, it was announced that Bobby Labonte had reached a four-year extension to remain in the famed 43 car.
Also: Pettys take first step on way back
Video: NASCAR 24/7 profiles Bobby Labonte
Head2Head: Right decision for Labonte?

May 2

• Carl Edwards brokered his own deal to remain at Roush Fenway Racing, announcing a multi-year extension. Jack Roush confirmed the deal was for three years. Aflac will become the No. 99 car's primary sponsor beginning in 2009.

Office Depot, Old Spice to sponsor Stewart's No. 14

Office Depot and Old Spice will serve as co-primary sponsors of Tony Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet Impala SS Sprint Cup Series entry beginning in 2009. Officials from the two companies, as well as from Stewart-Haas Racing, made the announcement Friday near Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Office Depot, a leading global provider of office products and services, along with Old Spice, the No. 1 antiperspirant/deodorant stick and body wash choice for guys in the United States, have entered into multi-year agreements with Stewart-Haas Racing to sponsor the new entry driven by Stewart. In addition, both Office Depot and Old Spice are official NASCAR partners, successfully leveraging their relationships with NASCAR and their race team sponsorships as powerful marketing platforms for their brands.

“
A.J. has always been my hero and will always be No. 1 on my hero list, with the best part being that we are really good friends.
”
TONY STEWART"To have Office Depot and Old Spice throw their support behind me and this race team makes me extremely proud," said Stewart, who announced on July 10 that he had acquired a 50 percent stake in what is now known as Stewart-Haas Racing. "These are two partnerships that make a lot of sense.

"Office Depot focuses on small business owners, and with my role as a driver and owner next year, I'm both their spokesman and their customer -- and I have been for years, because with two USAC teams, two World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series teams and three racetracks, you need a smooth-running office if you expect your business to run right.

"Old Spice has been with me for nine years, but our 10th year together is obviously going to be pretty big. This is a major commitment for the Old Spice brand, and we're going to make sure the success we've enjoyed over the years continues."

Delray Beach, Fla.-based Office Depot is the official office products partner of NASCAR, and its new sponsorship of Stewart, a two-time Sprint Cup Series champion, gives the multi-channel retailer continued star power in what will be its fifth year as a NASCAR sponsor.

"Tony is a successful entrepreneur who has an impressive record as a small business owner. This is one of the reasons why he is such a perfect fit for Office Depot," said Chuck Rubin, president of North American retail for Office Depot. "We believe that Tony's passion to win and relentless pursuit of excellence truly embody the essence of the Office Depot brand and represent the commitments we make every single day to help our customers be successful."

Old Spice, a brand of Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, is the official antiperspirant/deodorant of NASCAR, and its longstanding partnership with Stewart has helped Old Spice become the leader in its category, as well as the male body wash category.

"We've really valued our relationship with Tony and have been growing our partnership for over nine years now," said Alex Keith, P&G beauty, general manager, North America deodorants. "It's been a great program for Old Spice, and when he came to us with the opportunity to make it even bigger, we knew it was the right move. We're absolutely thrilled to be on board."

Also supporting Stewart's Office Depot/Old Spice effort in 2009 will be Chevrolet. The winner of 31 manufacturer's championships since coming to Sprint Cup in 1955, Chevrolet adds another powerful team to its already potent lineup with the addition of Stewart-Haas Racing.

Davis honored by Women in the Winner's Circle

Dan Davis, who will retire as director of Ford Racing Technology on Aug. 1 after 11 years at the post, was honored with the first Women in the Winner's Circle Foundation's "Leadership Award" in a surprise announcement at the foundation's annual luncheon at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday.

Foundation founder Lyn St. James presented Davis with the award, which honors individuals or organizations that have taken extraordinary measures and shown outstanding initiative in promoting diversity within the racing industry.


Dan DavisAccording to St. James, Davis was selected to be the first honoree for his work in developing Ford's unique Women's Driver Development Program, the first time an auto manufacturer created a program to identify and develop young, female talent.

"We selected Dan as our first honoree months ago, well before his retirement announcement," St. James said. "I'm just thrilled he was able to be here today to be honored for all he has done."

"I'm truly honored by this award," Davis said. "I'm not sure it's really deserved, but I'm still thrilled to be honored this way.

"I always believed that our driver lineup should better represent our customer base, and, that said, we should have more women driving for us. I can tell you, every time we've given a talented female driver the chance to compete with great equipment and support, we've never been disappointed."

The current Ford Women's Driver Development Program features Stephanie Mockler and Alison MacLeod, who both run USAC Midgets for famed team owner Bob East. Mockler, 20, was the first female to win a USAC Ford Focus Midget race, and has also won several USAC regional events. MacLeod, 19, became the winningest female driver in USAC history Wednesday evening with her sixth USAC Ford Focus Midget win.

Davis noted during his acceptance speech that Ford had reviewed the resumes of 250 female drivers as part of the process of starting the development program. The group was narrowed down to four drivers, who then went through extensive testing before two were selected to start the program.

Davis is also known for his long-time support of NHRA drag racer Ashley Force, the first woman to win an NHRA Funny Car event this year, and also as someone who supported Danica Patrick's early career in Formula Fords. Patrick became the first female IndyCar race winner this year.

"Dan Davis and Ford Racing have played a big role in my growth as a driver in NHRA drag racing," Ashley Force said. "They sponsored me from the very beginning when I first climbed in to a Super Comp dragster seven years ago. Dan has always supported women getting in the driver's seat. To him, it was never about gender, only about dedication and focus to become the best racer and team out there."

Davis also supported Mexican driver Michel Jourdain Jr., in his Truck and Nationwide Series efforts, and also gave Auston Harris, the first black to win a USAC event this year, his first Midget test in 2007.

Ford Motor Company has been a long-time supporter of diversity in racing.

St. James was a Ford factory road racing driver in the 1980s and 90s, running for Roush Racing, and became the first woman to win a major road racing event solo. Ford also supported the career of black road racing star Willy T. Ribbs during the 1980s.

Newman has history at Indy -- but little success

It's the dream of every young racecar driver in the Midwest: winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"Indianapolis is THE racetrack as far as history goes," said Indiana-born Ryan Newman. "It is truly an honor to get to race where so many incredible drivers have raced and won.

"The track is especially special to me because it's in my home state. I remember going there and watching races as a kid with my family and even watching the first open NASCAR test session there [in 1993]."

Fast facts
What Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
When 2 p.m. ET Saturday
TV ESPN, 1 p.m. ET
Radio MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 1 ET

• Track Page | Tickets | Travel
• By the Numbers: IndyNewman's next opportunity to race and win at Indy is Sunday. The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will be the 15th NASCAR race at the fabled track.

Newman seemingly couldn't have found himself in a better position to chase victories at the Brickyard than with Penske Racing. For the past seven years, he has driven for the most successful owner in the track's 99-year history: Roger Penske has dominated the Indianapolis 500 for the past 37 years with 14 wins since 1972.

But that success hasn't translated to Cup races at the Brickyard. Newman's best finish came in 2002, when he qualified fifth and finished fourth. It is his only top 10 in seven races.

"I've been close to winning a pole there, and I have had some good runs there. But Indianapolis is a track that has bit us in the past," said Newman, who cited performance issues in his decision to leave Penske Racing at the end of the season. "Despite that, I look forward to going back there. To me, this is the second biggest race of the season. We won the Daytona 500, which I think is the biggest race of the year, and we would love to get another big win at Indianapolis."

Newman's rookie teammate, Sam Hornish, has won at Indy. He gave Penske his record-extending 14th victory in the Indy 500 in 2006. Even with previous success at IMS on his resumé, Hornish will face a steep challenge in his first stock car start at the Brickyard.

"I love racing at Indianapolis," Hornish said. "Flat tracks have not been our strong suit this season, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a flat track. I can't think of a better place to turn that around than at Indy."

For 2003 Brickyard winner Kevin Harvick, racing at Indy was something reserved for open wheel heroes of his youth. That includes fellow Bakersfield native and four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears.

"I grew up an open wheel fan and a huge fan of Rick Mears and always wanted to race in the Indy 500," Harvick said. "Winning at Indianapolis was pretty special, and every time we go there it's just the history and the mystique of the whole racetrack that I enjoy. You've got the old covered grandstands, just everything about Indy is just neat for everybody."

Two Indy 500 winners are entered. In addition to Hornish, 2000 winner Juan Montoya will be in the field. Montoya is the only driver in the field to have run in three major events at IMS. He also ran in the Formula One United States Grand Prix from 2001 through 2006. He finished second in his only NASCAR start at Indy in 2007.