Junior Nation stands by their man

TALLADEGA, Ala. – On race weekends in Talladega, campers, motor homes and tents stretch as far as the eye can see. Flags adorn most of them, and virtually every driver has at least one fan somewhere in the vast expanse of the Talladega campgrounds.

But one driver reigns supreme here. Look out over the rolling hillsides and you'll see more green 88s than all other drivers combined. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s fans call themselves Junior Nation, and Talladega is their undisputed capital. And even though their nation is on shaky footing – hey, whose isn't? – their faith in their faltering hero and idol remains as strong as ever.

You'd think these are dark days for Junior Nation. Their guy has won exactly one race out of the last 130 and is spinning his wheels, both literally and metaphorically. They're suffering the constant mocking and abuse from their fellow race fans. Anytime something goes right for the 88 team, something else seems to go more wrong.

So you could forgive them if their eyes started to wander, enviously eyeing the success that everyone from Jimmie Johnson to Joey freakin' Logano, for heaven's sake, has been enjoying over the last few years. You could forgive them for wondering whether the mojo has run out – whether it's time to accept that the son will never equal the father.

Here's the thing, though – Junior could lose from now until the sun burns out and much of Junior Nation would be right there with him.

"True blue 'til the day I die," said Tammy Langdon of Greenville, Mississippi, pointing without irony to her green Junior T-shirt.

Ask other fans whether they'd consider switching drivers if Junior's losing streak stretched into the triple digits, and most will look at you as if you've asked them to kick their own dog.

Ain't gonna happen – not now, not ever.

What kind of hold does this quiet, slightly awkward 35-year-old have on millions of race fans? How did a guy who often looks like he'd rather be anywhere but in the spotlight end up becoming one of the world's most famous athletes?

It starts, of course, with the name. The Earnhardt story is Shakespeare with banjos – an epic tale of Southern racing royalty and tragedy. Dale Earnhardt Sr. was one of the dominant figures in American sports, and there's nobody – not Junior, not Kyle Busch, not Tony Stewart, nobody – who's living up to that legacy, that charisma, that intimidation. Earnhardt Sr. was a seven-time champion; Junior could win from now until 2015 and still not equal his father's "it" factor.

Is it any wonder, then, that he's emphasizing the "Junior?" It does, after all, adorn his clothing and his race team more than the "Dale" or the "Earnhardt."

Even so, Junior earned the love of a huge swath of NASCAR nation just by climbing into a car. His father's influence is so strong, even eight-plus years after his death, that Junior's fans will stick with him through all the down times. It's as if Junior is part of the family – that underachieving cousin who dropped out of college, say – and you don't turn your back on family.

Indeed, the fact that Junior can't make any headway against a field that's always adding talented drivers – like Logano, Brad Keselowski and Juan Pablo Montoya – only seems to boost his cachet among his fans.

"He's a good ole country boy," said Mike Parker of Linden, Tennessee, who patrolled the Talladega infield with his wife, Janice, both wearing matching forest-green Junior sweatshirts. "I like his personality. He's a lot more down to earth than a lot of guys you see out there."

Some, on the other hand, eye Junior with a little more … hunger, to put it politely. If Junior's ever looking for female companionship, he'll find an army of ladies waiting for him in the Talladega infield. More than one had a range of recommendations for ways to, shall we say, take Junior's mind off his problems.

But everyone's patience has its limits, and both Junior and his armada are reaching the end of theirs.

"I really don't want the year to be over with because I like going to the race track every week and racing, but all year it has been so low," Junior said last week. "The highs have been not very high, and lows have been terribly low, so it's hard to want to get back up and try again the next week when you take such a beating. But I don't know what else to do."

His fans seem equally perplexed. Ask 10 different Junior fans what the 88 team has to do to get back above water, and they'll offer 10 different solutions. Change the crew chief. Keep the crew chief. Change the crew. Get away from racing. Race all winter long. Stick with Rick Hendrick. Jump ship from Hendrick and go to a team where he can be the top dog. And on, and on, and on.

"We sympathize with his problems," said one fan sitting amongst Junior flags and cardboard standups, a fan from Enid Lake, Mississippi, with the improbable name of Michael Jackson. (As he says it, his weary smile indicates that he's heard every joke you could make 50 times before.) "He's had such bad luck you hope that it's going to turn around sometime soon. It has to, doesn't it?"

Which brings us to Talladega. In 15 races here, Junior has five wins, including four in a row from 2001 to 2003, and 11 top 10s. It's one of the last tracks on the circuit where he's among the established masters, and it represents his last hope to salvage anything from this miserable season.

"I don't know that there's one thing he could be doing that he's not already doing," says Ben Rogge of Oskaloosa, Iowa. "It's getting to him. He could really use a win. Not even a win, just a good week where nothing goes too wrong."

This weekend, Junior is adorning his car with the names of 100,000 fans as part of a sponsor promotion. More entered to have their names on the car, but there wasn't enough room, so the overflow spilled onto Earnhardt's pit box.

Clearly the fans are still around, ready to cheer. All they need now is something to cheer about.

The Pace Lap: The Amp Energy 500 @ Talladega

Welcome to The Pace Lap, your catchall preview post! Let's get you started on race weekend with a metric truckload of stats, facts, opinion and innuendo.

The race: The Amp Energy 500

The specs: 188 laps around a 2.66-mile track, for 500 miles.

The broadcasts: ABC, plus the live chat right here on Yahoo! Sports. Also, I'll be on the ground all raceday morning, so follow me on Twitter to see what I'm seeing. 

Defending champ: Tony Stewart. You recall, this is the famous yellow-line race, where Smoke was "forced" below the yellow line by Regan Smith on the final lap but still claimed the title.

The standings leaders: Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin (-118), Jeff Gordon (-165)

The history: The largest and most steeply banked track in NASCAR, Talladega is also the home of some of the most spectacular speeds -- and wrecks -- in the sport. Rusty Wallace holds the speed record at 216.309 mph, set in June 2004. Talladega got a track only because local religious leaders in Hillsborough, North Carolina opposed the development of the track. So sorry, Hillsborough.

Back in the springtime: A couple of Big Ones seemed like they'd give us all the carnage we needed ... and then came the Keselowski/Edwards wall-scrub. One of the most horrific wrecks in NASCAR history was thankfully almost completely injury-free, but it set off a whole new round of discussion of whether Talladega was too dangerous to continue at its current style.

The appropriate video: From 2006 -- Brian Vickers gets into Jimmie Johnson, who gets into Dale Earnhardt Jr. Just imagine what would happen if this same scene played itself out this weekend:

Guy with the most to gain: Dale Earnhardt Jr. This is his chance to rehab his image for 2009, to close out the season with a strong performance and give Junior Nation reason to hope for 2010. This is his best track, so if he runs well here, all is (almost) forgiven. If not ...

Guys with the most to lose: Jimmie Johnson. One Big One at the wrong time, and Johnson's lead dwindles -- or, potentially, vanishes -- and that fourth championship becomes that much tougher to grab.

Our pick to win: Stewart. He's due for a strong Chase race, and he's on familiar territory here. And Regan Smith isn't likely to cause trouble two years in a row. 

All right, you're up. Who's your pick for this weekend? Go!

Take a virtual tour of the new Abu Dhabi F1 track

Sure, this is a NASCAR blog, but every so often we break out of our narrow provincialism and take a look at what else is going on in the world of motorsports. Big news from F1 is the final race of the 2009 season, a race that will take place at the brand-new Yas Marina track in Abu Dhabi.

Featuring chicanes, desert sands and a route that runs beneath the Yas Hotel, this ain't no Pocono. Ride along on this virtual tour: 

Not bad, not bad. What say we introduce Abu Dhabi to a little Talladega-style infield partying?

Jimmie Johnson is a Talladega wreck-avoidin' machine

This is either going to qualify as seriously jinxing Jimmie Johnson or further proving his mastery, but here's some food for thought: in the most critical wreck of last season, the fall Talladega one that took out no less than seven Chasers (including Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, the 48's two closest challengers), Jimmie Johnson skated away completely unscathed.

Take a look at that wreck up there; he avoided a skittering Kenseth and a spinning Junior. Impressive on its own. Now, consider the fact that Harvick, there just beneath Johnson, got involved in a second wreck immediately after this photo was taken that Johnson also managed to dodge. Here, check the video:

None of this is meant to hope for, wish for or pray for a wreck for Johnson. But he's shown an uncanny ability to avoid trouble. We're just a few hours from learning whether his three-year lucky streak will continue.

Four Wide: Today's drivers need to quit their whining

Bringing you the best in NASCAR news and information. Get your day rolling right ... or left, whichever. (Photo from NASCAR's HQ.)

• Larry McReynolds says today's drivers need to toughen up and quit whining about other drivers racing them hard. Say this for Larry -- he knows what resonates with the audience. [Fox Sports]

• McReynolds is also in the midst of a media fight with newspaperman Dustin Long over comments Long published by McReynolds. Was McReynolds too negative on NASCAR? Did Long not publish enough positive material? That's what's under debate. [The Daly Planet]

• Think that things can't go wrong for Jimmie Johnson at Talladega? Think again. Back in 2002, everything went wrong. [NASCAR.com via Yahoo! Sports]

• AJ Allmendinger got tagged early Thursday morning for DWI. Drunk driving is not funny, and police did not say that Allmendinger was pulled over to the side of the road waiting for a pit crew to give him four and a splash. [That's Racin]

• Uh-oh ... Dale Earnhardt Jr. has entered the Top 10 in the FLOPPER (Finishes Last in Overall Points while Participating in Every Race) standings! Paul Menard still holds the lead, but still ... [All Left Turns]

• Who's your favorite Camping World Truck Series driver? Vote now! [NASCAR.com]

• Remembering Dick Thompson, media director at Martinsville, who died earlier this week. [Waid's World]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

How Jimmie Johnson could lose the Sprint Cup

Everybody's been crowning Jimmie Johnson with his fourth straight Sprint Cup, and with good reason -- the guy's an overwhelming favorite to dominate the field. But "overwhelming" doesn't mean "certain," so let's take a look at how he could possibly lose this thing.

First off, it'll take a massive charge by one of the four guys following him most closely -- Mark Martin (118 points back), Jeff Gordon (150 points back), Tony Stewart (192 points back) or Juan Pablo Montoya (200 points back). Second, Jimmie's got to stop winning races, or this thing's completely over. Third, there are only a certain number of points that each driver can gain on Johnson each week -- the maximum possible is 161 (195 points for winning and leading the most laps, assuming Johnson finishes dead last and gets 34 points; see a full breakdown of how points work right here).

So let's break this down, giving assumptions on how well each guy would have to run if Johnson averaged certain places over the course of the last four races. Over the last four races, we estimate that ...

If Jimmie averages a third-place finish:
-Martin would have to win all four races and lead the most laps in each.
-Gordon, Stewart and Montoya have no chance.

If Jimmie averages a fifth-place finish:
-Martin would have to win all four races, though he wouldn't need to lead the most laps.
-Gordon, Stewart and Montoya have no chance.

If Jimmie averages a tenth-place finish:
-Martin would have to average just below a third-place finish in every race.
-Gordon would have to win one race and place no lower than second in the other three.
-Stewart would have to win all four races, or place second in one if he leads in the most laps in another.
-Montoya would have to average 185 points -- the exact total for winning all four races.

If Jimmie averages a 15th-place finish:
-Martin would have to average a sixth-place finish.
-Gordon would have to average slightly better than a fifth-place finish.
-Stewart and Montoya would have to average a second-place finish.

So it's not impossible, but it's going to be extremely tough, as of right now, for anybody to catch Jimmie. Still, there is precedent, as recently as last year -- Carl Edwards won three of the final four races, and Kyle Busch posted back-of-the-field finishes in the first two.

Rooting for Johnson to fail is seriously bad karma, but should he have difficulties at Talladega, the door opens considerably wider. We'll check in next week at this time and see where we stand.

Midnight Marbles, where we aren't tired of TacoGate yet

Courtesy of our pals over at With Leather, a study of TacoGate in Photoshop. Lovely, yes?  Talk about that or anything else that's offending you right here, and we'll be back very soon with more stuff.

Also, with Halloween coming up, we'll be looking for NASCAR Halloween goodness. Send photos of anything NASCAR/Halloween-related to jay.busbee@yahoo.com and we'll get it posted. Get on it!

Wreck of the week: Special 'Is NASCAR too safe?' edition

With Talladega and its impending Big One on the horizon, we bring you a special "Wreck of the Week" this week -- a spotlight on whether NASCAR has gotten too safe with all the protections now in place. Former driver Ricky Craven and Y! NASCAR editor Jay Hart discuss the ins and outs of wreckin', with bonus video:

I feel certain that we'll have some new material to put in this space this time next week. Not that I'm hoping for that or anything, but, you know ...

From the Couch: Stop doing the mess around

How does John Andretti parked at the start/finish line not constitute debris?

A week ago (or was it the week before?), it was a beer cup, or a foam seat cushion, or some other form of armor-piercing projectile, so justifiably a caution was thrown. This week a gen-u-ine, two-time Winston Cup race winner was performing his best bulls-eye impression, and NACAR let 'em race.

Color me confused. (I mean, I can understand letting them race to the finish if Scott "The Antonym" Speed is sitting there, but an Andretti? Sacrilege.)

The only thing consistent about NASCAR right now is the 48 team, who is consistently - and nauseatingly - great. (Actually, that's selling them short. Their domination is absolute. They are de-pantsing the competition, currently.) Yeah, that's not entirely accurate. The only things consistent about NASCAR lately have been the 48 team (consistently consistent), Junior (consistently unlucky and, one presumes given his sad fortune lately, drunk), Michael Waltrip (consistently, one gathers from reading his police reports, just under drunk), and NASCAR itself (consistently inconsistent).

This - specifically - is what's driving me crazy about NASCAR right now.

And the phantom debris caution (and occasional real, human debris non-caution) is the most ordinary and observable example. And don't tell me that an empty beer can on the back stretch is a threat to the safety of the drivers.

A) The windshields are polycarbonate resin thermoplastic. The same material used for the cockpit canopy of a F-22 Raptor.

B) I watched Carl Edwards get hit by a flying catch fence (yeah, he was doing the flying, but it sounds better that way) and distinctly remember him jogging across the finish line.

C) College kids smash empty beer cans off their foreheads as a mating ritual.

NASCAR, under dubious assertions at times, exerts its will when it feels so inclined.

I suppose, as a fan, I should feel some sort of rebellious gratitude. They aren't doing it for themselves. They are doing it for me. NASCAR is always trying to improve the product, and I do not know of another sporting authority that blatantly attempts to improve the finish of an event - during the actual event - for my enjoyment. But the fact that they do it isn't what bugs me. It's the consistency, or inconsistency, by which they do it.

It's hard to play the game when the rules are constantly changing. It's also hard to follow the game when the rules are constantly changing. And well beyond the phantom debris caution, they are simply screwing with it too much.

The cries I hear most are demanding even more change. Points for qualifying, points for wins, points for the regular season, minus points for wrecking a Chase contender (okay, not quite, but I'm sure they've thought about it), and most loudly, change the CoT. I disagree.

I'm not ecstatic with the Chase or the CoT, but I also don't have any idea of what they can be. (I'm also a Gordon fan, and so constitutionally bound to despise both the Chase and the CoT for denying him his fifth, respectively). They don't let me look at any one iteration long enough to witness the potential. They've introduced too many variables, and thus far, let none of them mature.

In an effort to improve the product, they've allowed the product to rule themselves (the Chase format produced their annual tinkering with it). In their effort to make it something for everyone, they've made it nothing to some (California produced boring racing to the North Wilkesboro die-hard). In their effort to unify, they've lost their uniformity (the CoT enhanced Hendrick domination).

I suppose I'd just like NASCAR to let them race under the same set of rules for a while. Of course, if Martinsville hadn't reminded me how much I miss the mad sprint to the start/finish following a caution, I probably wouldn't be disturbed by any of this.

Four Wide: Guess which driver is the most popular costume

Bringing you the best in NASCAR news and info. Get your day rolling right ... or left, whichever.

• Who's the bestselling NASCAR-driver Halloween costume? Kyle Busch. Huh. They've gotta be counting some zombies to get to that total. [Courtesy Ask.com]

• Great behind-the-scenes story of what it was like for Joey Logano and Kyle Busch just prior to WWE Raw. Short version: they were freakin' terrified. [Scene Daily]

• A thorough Q&A over at NASCAR Insiders, from the specs of the Car of Tomorrow to whether teams punish drivers who get busted off the track. Good stuff. [NASCAR Insiders]

• Touching story on how NASCAR can get one through a family tragedy. [Bump-Drafts]

• Steve Addington was named the crew chief of the race at Martinsville. Awwwwk-ward ... [Paddock Talk]

• Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin had their cars inspected after Martinsville ... and all passed. Damn you, Johnson! We'll get you yet! [Scene Daily]

• For the bloodthirsty among you -- a collection of Talladega crash videos. [All Left Turns]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter.

Create-a-caption: Not so tough outside of a car, are ya, Kyle?

It's kinda turned into Kyle Busch Day today here, but so what. That happens sometimes. Anyway, here's a lovely shot of Kyle and Joey Logano going up against Chris Jericho and Big Show. Sadly, there was no actual wrestler-on-driver violence. Ah, well. I'm sure you've got plenty of ideas for what could have been said while the mikes were off.

After the jump, Kasey Kahne's crew goes digging.

JJ:
Not even NASCAR can escape the culture while in California, as rival pit-crews, confused by the colors of their fire suits, assume the bloods vs. crips mentality and begin tagging their home turf.

Go Chargers:
Come on, the damn bets are down! Just throw the dice!

Eclair:
A little bit softer now,
Shout!
A little bit softer now,
Shout!
A little bit louder now,
Shout!......

Taillights fade: Keselowski, Papis and other 'teen' drivers

We're getting within sight of the end of the season, and so it's time to begin our look back. In a feature shamelessly ripped from Puck Daddy's Death Watch and Big League Stew's Walk Toward The Light, we'll be counting down each and every car that fell short of the Sprint Cup this year. And yes, I know there aren't taillights on Sprint cars. It's a metaphor. Roll with it.

So did you know that 65 different drivers ran in Sprint Cup races this year, to this point? It's true. And it's down only slightly from 2008, when 71 drivers ran. Today, we focus on the guys who drove in the teens. The number of their races, not their age.

Names: Brad Keselowski, Max Papis, Mike Bliss, Tony Raines

Records: Keselowski won the spring Talladega race, which was an astonishing (and, let's face it, pretty darn lucky) feat after he wrecked Carl Edwards into the fence. He had three top 10s over 11 races, which bodes well for his future prospects.

Where it went wrong: Didn't really go wrong for any of them, honestly, since we're not yet at the point in this feature where we expect things to go right for these drivers. These guys did what was asked of them -- in Jet Ski's case, far more than was asked of them -- and were reliable drivers, which is all you can ask for a guy running a dozen races a year. Papis also picked up a top-10 finish, at Watkins Glen; the other two didn't make any real noise. Which, alas, is to be expected.

Prospects for 2010: For Keselowski, the proverbial sky is the limit. For Papis, there's always a chance he'll catch on with someone and get a more regular ride. For Bliss and Raines ... 2010 will probably look a whole lot like 2009.

Next up: The start-and-parkers! We'll get you all excited for the article ... and then it'll peter out before you expect it to!

Steve Addington sent packing from Kyle Busch's pit box

Cementing 2009 as a season to forget for Kyle Busch's No. 18 team, crew chief Steve Addington has been let go as the 18's crew chief, to be replaced by Dave Rogers. Addington will be "reassigned to a position within JGR, which sounds ominous. It's the latest in a head-spinning series of events over two seasons that have sent Kyle Busch pinballing between the top of the standings and out-of-the-Chase disgrace.

Busch spent much of 2008 as the preemptive favorite to unseat then-two-time champion Jimmie Johnson, but as soon as the Chase began, two straight back-of-the-pack finishes doomed his hopes. He entered 2009 with your classic renewed sense of purpose, humbled by the realization that running well in the summertime doesn't translate to running well in the Chase.

But even though he posted as many wins -- four -- as anyone in the regular season, Busch didn't make the Chase, thanks to a wildly inconsistent checkers-or-wreckers style that saw him running as either the favorite or an afterthought. One season of inconsistency from a talented but still young driver is acceptable; two in a row means heads have to roll.

Interestingly, JD Gibbs addressed this exact point after the race Sunday, indicating that a lot of Kyle's problems stem from "confidence" - more specifically, the lack thereof. "As far as the Addington crew piece," Gibbs added, "from our standpoint, we just want to make sure we have the right tools, the right people in the right place at JGR. We think we do; we think we have a great group, [from] crew chiefs to engineers to guys on the shop floor across the whole board." Apparently, though, Addington wasn't the right person in the right place.

Rogers, meanwhile, has spent four seasons crewing the No. 20 on the Nationwide side, and won the Nationwide Owner's championship with nine victories spread across four drivers. He apprenticed under Greg Zipadelli during Tony Stewart's 2002 championship run.

"Dave has proven himself a talented crew chief and we think he will work well with Kyle," Gibbs said in a statement. "We hope that by making the move following this weekend's race at Talladega they can use the final three weeks of this season to begin working on communication and setups for the 2010 season."

As with Dale Earnhardt Jr., we'll now see how much of the 18's problems stemmed from the guy in the box, and how many stemmed from the guy behind the wheel.

JGR Announces Crew Chief Change on No. 18 for Kyle Busch [Joe Gibbs Racing]

Kyle Busch, Joey Logano bring the pain at WWE Raw

For those who whine that NASCAR is nothing but WWE on wheels, Monday night gave us a perfect collision of cultures, as Kyle Busch and Joey Logano stepped into the ring to guest-host WWE Raw. This is just too ridiculously awesome for words, so I'm going to step aside for a moment and let you check part 1:

Gotta say, Kyle plays the heel to perfection, turning the entire city of Buffalo against him with a couple well-timed lines ("You guys haven't been to the playoffs since Hulkamania"). And Joey manages not to soil himself while calling out The Big Show, which is saying something.

After the jump, some more video.

Next up, the boys try their best to look tough, plus they get to hang with a Little Person:

So, goofy, yes, but not nearly as bad as the horror that Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne will be next week. So the Gibbs boys got that goin' for 'em.

TacoGate ends in small suspension, side order of indifference

In one of the stranger announcer-athlete pairings in recent memory, former Miami Dolphins QB/current ABC announcer Bob Griese and driver Juan Pablo Montoya found themselves bound by a storyline over the weekend. During Saturday's Ohio State-Minnesota game, announcers were discussing the Chase as part of a promotion of Sunday's Martinsville race. Talk turned to Juan Pablo Montoya's absence from the Top 5. And, announcers being what they are -- utterly lost when trying to improv -- Griese made a joke about Montoya being "out getting a taco." (Check the video here.)

It was a dumb joke, but it was also a race-oriented one, which gets people very up in arms these days, as you may have heard. Don't shoot me; that's the way the world is these days. Everybody's more sensitive than a drunken Irishman with a broken heart. (I'm part Irish, so I can say that.) Griese's comment was in the same neighborhood as golfer Fuzzy Zoeller's Masters line about Tiger Woods ("tell him not to serve fried chicken") -- thoughtless but not an instant indicator of evil, blackhearted racism.

Still, ESPN had to take some action, and thus suspended Griese for one game for his comment. Fair enough; that seems appropriate. Though it fell to Montoya to give the perfect capper to the whole affair:

"Somebody mentioned it to me," he said. "I don't really care, to tell you the truth. Yeah, I don't. I could say I spent the last three hours eating tacos, but I was actually driving a car."

NASCAR at fan level: The latest reader photo roundup

Time for another round of NASCAR fan photos, courtesy of you, the fan! Going clockwise from top left, we start with Sam Snead sneaking us a shot of the drivers in waiting at Champions Week 2007. (Note Smoke's orange uni.) Next up, Willy Doer caught a shot of the latest in Dale Earnhardt Jr. technology from earlier this year at Bristol. In the lower right, Art Tidesco snapped some fine, if impractical, infield fashion at Talladega last year. And we wrap with a classic neighborly gesture from a beer-tubing fan at Daytona 2006, courtesy of Brandon Bobelak. NASCAR: where fans bond over beer!

Got some NASCAR fan photos of your own? Send them to jay.busbee@yahoo.com and we'll post them right here for the world to see. Get on it!

Victory video: Denny Hamlin's becoming the Virginia Viking

We're going to have to come up with a good nickname for Denny Hamlin, the Richmond product who's having all kinds of success in his home state. Virginia Viking? Eh, okay. Virginia Slim? Not bad, but naming a guy for a women's cigarette is kind of strange. The Virginia Lover? That's just weird. ODOG (Old Dominion Original Gangsta)? Hey, that's not bad, even if it requires some explanation. What do you think? Post your thoughts below.

Oh, and Hamlin won a race on Sunday. Here are the details.

Congrats to Hamlin, and it's a shame that he had a rough Chase earlier. He's just racing for pride at this point. And hey, look at that -- we made it all the way to the end of a race post without mentioning Jimmie Johnson. (Aw, hell.)

Chase Watch 2009: Holding Jimmie to second ain't gonna cut it

 

With only four races left in the 2009 season, we're taking a look at the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and we're getting down to the wire. If anybody but a certain #48 is going to make a run at this, now would be the time.

Standings (movement): Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya (+1), Kurt Busch (-1), Ryan Newman (+1), Greg Biffle (-1), Denny Hamlin (+2), Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne (-2), Brian Vickers.

Who's up: Johnson continues to extend his lead on the field, and now has triple digits between himself and everybody else. Montoya continued his impressive run in the NASCAR postseason with another top-5 finish. And Ryan Newman quietly added to what might just be one of the most unexpected runs of 2009. Oh, and Denny Hamlin reminded us of what could have been, and what could still be ... but not this year. (Aside: Okay, sponsors, we get that you want to put your products out in front of the world -- but enough with the stupid top-of-car displays. The giant Tums bottle, the giant Sprint phone -- it's ridiculous. Beer sponsors are exempt, as long as the giant products contain actual beer.)

Who's down: Everybody not named Johnson. Seriously, this is almost all over now, assuming Johnson doesn't have a wreck -- and rooting for that is seriously bad karma. In any other season, Martin, Stewart and Gordon would be waging one hell of a battle, but this year, they're all just warm-up acts.

Outlook: What can you do? Johnson is dominating. You can either curl up your fists and cry like a baby that there must be cheating going on -- must be! -- or you can just deal with the fact that we've got a team who's figured everything out and is winning based on the rules they've been given. How, exactly, is that different from our beloved drivers of the past testing the limits of the rules and then winning within those parameters? I'm not thrilled about the prospect of a drama-less Homestead, but you've got to tip your hat to the 48.

And now, your take. Air your various gripes/conspiracy theories here. Go!

Running wide open: Tums Fast Relief 500 @ Martinsville

There's something singularly appropriate about a race named for a digestive-relief product being held at a track whose signature is the delicious crime against nature pictured there at right, the Martinsville Hot Dog. (Read all about this delicacy right here.)

If you're not in a meat coma from scarfing down some of these bad boys, hang here and discuss the race, or come on over to the live chat on the main NASCAR page and we'll roll there. Race begins a little after 1:30 and ends once Jimmie Johnson takes the lead. So enjoy the Sunday, everybody, and we'll talk to you soon! Now, let's go racing!

Revealed at last: the secret origin of Chad Knaus!

[Editor's note: Carol Fitzgerald continues her look at various personalities within NASCAR, today looking at the man behind the curtain for Jimmie Johnson's 48 team -- crew chief Chad Knaus. --JB]

Where did this Chad Knaus guy come from, anyway?

Turns out he did not in fact spring full-grown from the head of a god.

Chad grew up in racing, which somehow does not come as a big surprise. His father John won seven Late-Model championships at Rockford Speedway in Illinois. And where was young Chad during this time? Oh, he started crew-chiefing for his father when he was 14, and helped him to win those seven championships!

After that he decided he was ready for the big time. He landed his first "real job" with the 24 team of Jeff Gordon, with Ray Evernham as crew chief. Chad started out as a tire-changer, and then went from general fabrication to managing the entire chassis and body construction program during the '95 and '97 championship years. This might be where he got his penchant for fooling around with body configurations.

Chad then went and did a gig as a car chief with DEI, and spent a little time leading the Dodge Development team, before being lured back to HMS in 2002, to crew chief for some young rookie, a kid by the name of Jimmie Johnson.

And the rest, as they say, is history. (See more about Chad's history right here.) Chad and Jimmie formed a darn-near unbeatable combination, and have not finished a a season ranked lower than 5th since. Love them or hate them, you have to admire their ability to win, and keep winning ad nauseam consistently.

Tune in next week for the next episode in this enthralling saga!

Four Wide: New Ford engines to debut at Talladega next week

Bringing you the best in NASCAR news and info to start some arguments and set some bets. Get your day rolling right ... or left, whichever.

• Matt Kenseth and David Ragan will debut Ford's new FR9 engine at Talladega. Is this the one that's rocket-powered? Because that's what Talladega needs, more powerful engines. [Catchfence]

• Michael Waltrip had a little tangle with a motorcycle in North Carolina. Fortunately, everyone involved was just fine. [NASCAR.com]

• Now this is how you do tailgating right. Take lessons, all. [All Left Turns]

• It's the end of the road for the reign of F1's Max Mosley, who's as famous for what he did behind closed doors as what he oversaw on the track. [Full Throttle]

• Michael Annett was a fine hockey player, but he ditched those plans and turned to NASCAR. Good thing, too, because everybody knows hockey's not really a sport. (Kidding, Wysh!) [NASCAR.com via Yahoo! Sports]

• Aric Almirola may be making a serious mistake in considering legal action against Earnhardt Ganassi. [The NASCAR Insiders]

• According to one blogger, 2009 is the "Year of the Fan." Don't celebrate too quickly, folks; Jimmie Johnson will probably steal this one away from you too. [Fast Times]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter.

The Pace Lap: The Tums Fast Relief 500 @ Martinsville

 

Welcome to The Pace Lap, your catchall preview post! Let's get you started on race weekend with a metric truckload of stats, facts, opinion and innuendo.

The race: The Tums Fast Relief 500. (The spring race was also named for a pain medication. What's in the water in Martinsville where everybody's always in pain, huh?)

The specs: 500 laps around a 0.526-mile track, for 263 miles.

The broadcasts: ABC, plus the live chat right here on Yahoo! Sports. 

Defending champ: Jimmie Johnson, edging out Jeff Burton above. Get used to hearing that name a lot over the next few lines. (Johnson, not Burton. Sorry, Jeff.)

The standings leaders: Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin (-90), Jeff Gordon (-135)

The history: The Paperclip is one of NASCAR's oldest tracks, built in 1947, and also its smallest. With its 12-degree banking, Martinsville makes brake pedals work harder than Junior defenders in 2009. There's always the chance for a field-altering wreck, and with such a short track you can find yourself two laps down in the blink of an eye.

Back in the springtime: Although he got into it a bit with Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson nonetheless won the day at the Goody's Fast Relief 500. Uh-oh.

The appropriate video: Here are the final laps from the spring. If you're a Jimmie hater, prepare for a little more grist for the mill:

Guy with the most to gain: Jeff Gordon. He's been the forgotten man in this Martin-Johnson chase, but he's making some real headway against the rest of the field. He's almost as good at Martinsville as Johnson, but will "almost" be anywhere close to good enough this weekend?

Guys with the most to lose: Tony Stewart. All season long, he was running in first, and he's run a solid Chase. But he's got to make up ground fast. The year's already a phenomenal success for Smoke, but he can't be happy about getting this close and not closing the championship deal.

Our pick to win: Gordon, primarily because we've used up all our Johnson picks in fantasy. But barring disaster or a supreme gamble, this is going to be another Hendrick-dominated weekend.

All right, you're up. Who's your pick for this weekend? Go!

Pit Chatter: What ghosts lurk in the mind of Tony Stewart?

Time for more Pit Chatter, the real story of what goes on with your favorite drivers behind the scenes. Today, we dig deep into the 14 car ... 

[Scene: Martinsville. Tony Stewart is struggling in fifth place as Jimmie Johnson continues to pile up the laps.]

Tony Stewart: Man, we just cannot catch a break here!

Darian Grubb (on radio): I know, Tony. It's been a good year, but Jimmie's just too tough.

Tony Stewart: I suppose you're right. Well, time to pack it in. Good year, boys.

Darian Grubb: You too, ToKKSSSSHHHHH

Tony Stewart: Darian? Hello? Not another radio problem ...

Voice: Hello, Tony.

Tony Stewart: Wha - who is this? What are you doing on my radio?

Voice: You know very well who this is, Tony.

Tony Stewart: Is this the Burger King? I told you, King, I have a strict limit of seven Whoppers in a sitting ...

Voice: This isn't the King, Tony. Think.

Tony Stewart: ...oh, no. Is this -- ?

Voice: It is. I'm back.

Tony Stewart (whispering): Evil Tony?

Evil Tony: Evil Tony.

Good Tony: But ... but what are you doing here, Evil Tony? We'd been doing so well ...

Evil Tony: Oh, sure, you'd been doing so well ... in the regular season, when nobody cares about the standings. But in the Chase, you've got to get plumb mad-dog mean ... and Tony, you've been lap-dog nice.

Good Tony: That's a little harsh.

Evil Tony: My name isn't I-Won't-Hurt-Your-Feelings Tony.

Good Tony: Point. But everybody's liking me! I'm having fun!

Evil Tony: Fun? This isn't about fun! This is about winning, winning and then winning some more! Look at the clowns you hung with in those silly commercials - losers, all of ‘em!

Good Tony: Well, I'll give you Carrot Top, but Erik Estrada is kind of a winner in an ironic sense, ri-

Evil Tony: Loo. Zer.

Good Tony: Okay, so what do you propose, smart guy?

Evil Tony: Glad you asked. Just sit back and let me handle things.

Good Tony: I'm not so sure that's a good idea ... people like being around me a lot more now.

Evil Tony: Fair enough. Then let's start by doing something mean AND keeping everyone on your side:

Evil Tony: Ha! Seeya, Kyle!

Good Tony: That was ... that was fun!

Evil Tony: It was, wasn't it?

Good Tony: This is AWESOME! Who's next?

Evil Tony: What say we keep it in the family?

Good Tony: Yeah! YEAH! This RULES!

Evil Tony: Excellent.

[The race ends, and while Jimmie Johnson wins, Tony has worked his way up to third place behind Jeff Gordon.]

Good Tony: Aren't we running out of time for the Chase?

Evil Tony: There's always time for the Chase, Tony. Observe. There's Jeff Gordon right there. Now, do exactly as I say:

[Tony retreats to his hauler, giggling maniacally.]

Good Tony: All right all right all RIGHT! We are rolling now! So how do we take down Johnson?

Evil Tony: Just you wait, Tony, just you wait ...

[Two haulers away, Jimmie Johnson sits in complete darkness, head down, as if unplugged. Then his head snaps up as if hearing something. And in the blackness, his eyes glow a deep red ... ]

To be continued!

Jeremy Mayfield will face the nation on ESPN's OTL

If nothing else, 2009 will be remembered as the year of the spectacular Jeremy Mayfield flameout, when a well-known driver saw his career completely shatter beyond all hope of repair amid drug allegations, alleged murder plots, and enough family drama to fill ten reality series.

Now, Mayfield is talking on camera about the entire affair; he'll be on ESPN's Outside The Lines this Sunday at 9 a.m. to discuss everything that's happened to him since he qualified for Daytona way back in February. You've read and heard plenty about the Mayfield saga -- here it is, presented in verse and music -- but for most people, this will be the first chance to look in Mayfield's eyes and decide for themselves whether he's telling the truth.

Mayfield, as you no doubt know, was suspended in May by NASCAR for testing positive for methamphetamine. He charged that the test was a false positive stemming from his use of prescription medication Claritin-D and Adderall. His suspension was lifted later in the summer, but almost immediately afterward, he tested positive again. In the course of the affair, he's traded shots with his stepmother, accusing her of being complicit in the death of Mayfield's father.

Now, with hope for resuming his NASCAR career gone, Mayfield is apparently determined to take some people down with him. According to ESPN, Mayfield claims that "NASCAR is using his situation to scare the sport's marquee drivers who he says use drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine."

"You use me as an example to let everybody know who may have already tested positive for marijuana, cocaine or whatever, that they haven't got anybody for, and it puts the fear of God in everybody in the whole sport," Mayfield says. "I was a good example, a good pawn who wasn't going to cost them any money at all. I was worth more to them as a failed drug test then I am as a driver, owner for my own team."

However, it's not a pity party for Mayfield. When asked whether the combination of Adderall and Claritin-D could cause a false positive for meth, Dr. Anthony Butch, director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory and an experienced hand with drug testing, flat-out stated, "No, they could never be confused for methamphetamine in a confirmation."

The Mayfield show airs Sunday morning at 9 a.m., just the thing to get your Martinsville race day started.

Carl Edwards backflips into Biscayne Bay, for some odd reason

Carl Edwards may not be the most skilled Frisbee player on the Sprint Cup circuit, but he's got to be one of the most fun. In Miami this week for a quick promotion of the season-ending race at Homestead, Edwards took a tour of the town, ending at South Beach on an amphibious vehicle that went from Ocean Drive right into Biscayne Bay. And, Carl being Carl, you can probably guess what happened next:

Jack Roush must have been having kittens at that. All I've got to say is, if Edwards isn't cast in the next Miami Vice movie -- or at least one of those freaky Kardashian sister reality shows -- somebody's missing some real opportunities. Either that, or Carl needs to start flipping into famous waterways all over the world -- the Amazon! The Mississippi! The Seine in Paris! The possibilities are endless.

Wreck of the week: Thanks for playing, Juan Pablo

One of the feelgood stories of the early Chase was the fine run of Juan Pablo Montoya, the first-ever foreign-born driver to make the Chase. Four races, four top-five finishes. And then came Charlotte, where it all kinda fell apart ...

Tough news for Montoya, who has consistently had the most enjoyable radio broadcasts to listen to every race. (Not safe for work or kids, of course.) But his fine run through the first part of the Chase portends well for his future. From what he's learned this year, we could have a Chase perennial right here in front of us.

Midnight Marbles, where we're having ourselves a pink parade

One last look at the pink cars of Bobby Labonte, Elliott Sadler and Kyle Busch, from this past weekend. They were all purtied up to raise awareness for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, fighting breast cancer, which is a cause we can all get behind.

Welcome back to your latest Midnight Marbles thread, where you can talk pink cars or whatever else you'd like to discuss. For the newcomers, this is the open-bar section, where all topics are welcome, except that it's also BYOB. We can't be responsible for you people getting sick and throwing up all over Ball Don't Lie or Puck Daddy. Again.

Have a good one, and we'll talk to you in just a bit with more!

Create-a-caption: Anybody seen Kasey's contact lenses?

Here's a fun little photo courtesy of a reader, Brian Hay, who took this one in California a couple weeks back. (Got photos of your own? Send 'em to jay.busbee@yahoo.com. We're getting a good compilation already for our next reader photo collection.) Anyway, have at this one. See? There's humor everywhere!

After the jump, Brian Vickers goes wandering.

JJ:
Confusion ensues after Brian Vicker's crew chief tells Vickers to "feed the inner Red Bull," to which Vickers instinctively responds by driving into the grassy infield.

Baker:
How often do you seen a picture car spinning with Paul Menard and he's NOT the victim?

razz:
Vickers radios his crew chief disputing NASCAR's ruling that he is pitting outside his pit stall.

NASCAR action coming to previews at a theater near you

It's not often that we mention the Hollywood Reporter in this space -- not unless we're talking about that dreamy Tom Cruise, that is -- but word out of Tinseltown is that NASCAR is coming to a movie theater near you, in bite-size bits.

NASCAR Media Group is working with Screenvision, producers of those extended, way-too-loud commercials that run before movies, to produce 90-second bites of NASCARiana. So now instead of "let's all go to the lobby," we'll get to kick back with "gentlemen, start your engines." Win-win, I say.

Screenvision puts its stuff on 15,000 U.S. screens, which means that if you go to any theater larger than one of those snooty little arthouses that showed Wes Anderson flicks before he went all Hollywood, you'll be seeing your favorite drivers in all their earsplitting, 20-feet-high glory.

The first NASCAR bits are expected to run next year just before the 2010 Daytona 500. What I'm wondering is, will they gear the content to the movie it's previewing? Will we get Jimmie Johnson stories fronting paint-by-numbers blockbusters like Transformers 2? Dale Earnhardt Jr. stories leading underperforming big-budget epics like Terminator: Rise of the Machines? Robby Gordon tales fronting movies that snap off the reel in the first roll? I feel fairly certain you could pair up your favorite drivers with appropriate flicks in the comments below.

So have at it. I'll be in the lobby, commandeering a forklift to bring in the 55-gallon drum of popcorn.

NASCAR content headed to theaters [Hollywood Reporter]

U.S. F1 team is looking to snag Kyle Busch for a 2011 ride

NASCAR is chock-full of drivers who have made the jump from open-wheel to stock cars -- Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Danica Patrick (oh, wait, you guys aren't supposed to know that yet) -- and now there's a move afoot to get one going the other direction.

US F1, a startup that's the first U.S.-based Formula 1 team in 40 years, is looking to wrangle one Kyle Busch as its driver in F1, starting in 2011. Kyle's current contract with JGR runs out at the end of next year, and US F1 would like him to transition into their ride right after that. (So would plenty of Junior fans, but that's a whole different story.)

Peter Windsor, US F1's sporting director, wants to make US F1 a destination team for homegrown open-wheel talents, and bringing aboard Busch would be a fine start to that. When asked about the idea shortly after US F1's debut in February, Kyle seemed intrigued by the idea:

"It's definitely something I wouldn't shoot down. If I could win a championship (in NASCAR) in the next two or three years then I wouldn't mind going doing (F1) for a few years and coming back. I think I'd still be young enough that if I could win a championship by 25, go run Formula 1 for a few years and be back (in NASCAR) by 28."

Ambitious and quite possibly insane. Vintage Kyle Busch, in other words. I honestly can't see this happening without a major change in the status quo -- Kyle winning a title or two, for instance -- but it's a fascinating idea nonetheless. And if nothing else, the thought of Kyle Busch exporting some of that vintage D00D madness to the rest of the world brings a smile to my face.

US F1 wants Kyle Busch as its driver in 2011 [USA Today]

Four Wide: Guess who's beaten Mark Martin the most times

Bringing you the best in NASCAR news and info to start some arguments and set some bets. Get your day rolling right ... or left, whichever.

• Put this in the "ominous signs" file: Mark Martin has finished second to Jimmie Johnson more times (six) than any other driver in Sprint Cup. Oh, and Jimmie has finished second to Mark only once. Uh-oh. [On the Loose Side]

• Do you live anywhere near Welcome, North Carolina? Yes? Then head on over to Richard Childress Racing HQ for their big Fan Day celebration! Meet Clint Bowyer! Meet Jeff Burton! Meet Kevin Harvick! Meet Casey Mears, while you can! (I've said too much.) It's RCR's 40th anniversary, so help 'em celebrate. [RCR Fan Day]

• In perhaps-related RCR news, the teams of Jeff Burton and Casey Mears are switching crew chiefs. Yes, again. They're gonna have to hand out "Hi, my name is..." nametags before long. [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

• We'll see the debut of double-file restarts this weekend at Martinsville. How's that going to affect the Chase standings? Well, considering JJ will just float over any wreck, probably not much. Still, it's worth keeping an eye on, yes? [Scene Daily]

• Here's another the-Chase-is-a-rigged-numbers-game article. Decent argument, I guess, but we've just about beaten this horse into jerky by now. [Delaware Online]

• Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car is promoting some ice cream called "Sgt. Camo," or something like that. Endorsements are strange, man. [WQAD]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter.

They make it 'cause we buy it: Estrada sunglasses

No sport offers up a more bewildering array of souvenir crap memorabilia than NASCAR, and They Make It digs deep into the corners of the Internet to bring all that strangeness to light. Today: the finest in high-quality eyewear.

Item: The Estrada sunglasses from the Tony Stewart Burger King commercials, available through an ebay auction.

The deal: This officially qualifies as the creepiest They Make It post -- hell, the creepiest post, period -- I've ever done. I'll explain why in a moment.

Anyway, these are the fabled "Estrada" sunglasses from Tony Stewart's bizarre but undeniably fascinating Burger King commercials. They can be yours too, provided you win an ebay auction for one of the 150 pairs. However, please note that these are not actual sunglasses and should not be used as such. You can use 'em to attract the opposite sex at racetracks all the livelong day, though.

Now for the creepy part -- and I swear this is true -- as I was putting the final touches on this post, a UPS truck rolls up. The deliveryman brings a small package to the door. Inside the package was this. I kid you not. About the only thing that would've made it creepier was if the Burger King himself had delivered the shades, but no -- it was just a plain ol' UPS dude. Still, I may be on to something ... next post, I'm writing about a winning lottery ticket atop a basket of Five Guys burgers and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches.

But now I feel like Estrada is watching me ...

The hat tip: Estrada, of course! Plus Burger King and their crack ad agency. Got some NASCARiana for us to check out? You'll have to go high to top this, but give it a shot at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. Estrada!

From the Couch: Mark Martin flows with ... Gucci Mane?

Honestly? Mark Martin listens to Gucci Mane?

Gucci Mane? Mark Martin? What the hell? He's messing with us, right? The fact that Mark Martin knows who Gucci Mane is scares me. The fact that he lifts weights while rocking out to Gucci Mane downright disturbs me. The mental image of Mark Martin pumping himself up in a mirror, blowing up his eight different sets of bicep curls, and popping about (with his hat turned backward, I picture) while shouting, "I'm starting off my day with a blunt of purp/no pancakes just a cup of syrup" is the single most bizzaro thought to cross my mind in decades.

And let's be frank, Gucci Mane sucks. Purp and syrup don't even rhyme.

Junior finally expressed what everyone unambiguously knew - that his season is one big dump - and yet it was still ubiquitous news. (Yes, I understand why.) But Mark Martin professed his man love for the CEO of So Icy Entertainment and no one noticed? If I were Mike Helton, I'd forget about Jeremy Mayfield and get those drug testers to Mark Martin's house stat.

Rockstar lifestyle mic don't make it
Living life high everyday click wasted
Sippin on purple stuff rolling up stanked
Wake up in the morning ain't 10 o'clock drinkin
Party party party let's all get wasted
Shake it for me babygirl do it butt naked

I rest my case.

(Okay, no I don't. I have too many questions? Mark knows that his first name isn't really Gucci, right? Does Mark know what a blunt is? Is Gucci honored to count Mark as a fan? Does Mark hang backstage at his shows? Has Mark given Gucci a ride-along? Should I start looking over my shoulder?)

Okay, so we've now established that Mark Martin has a sense of humor - a damn good one at that. What else did we learn this week?

Oh yeah, Junior has seasonal affective disorder. He is clearly sad. Fair enough. I hate winter, too.

Also, JPM can whine, man-oh-man can he whine. He takes the adult male hissy-fit to a whole new level. That is not constructive criticism. It's crapping out of the mouth.

Brian Pattie: Juan, how's the car buddy?

JPM: Refuse. Swill. Flotsam. I most dislike Jeff Gordon. I swear Kevin Harvick looks like Philip Rivers. Turn two smells like old lady breath. Rubbish, I tell you. I fart a bowel movement on this car.

Or, you know, thereabouts.

I'm positive there isn't a driver out there who hasn't completely wronged him. And I loved that he blamed Jeff Gordon for his torn up car on Saturday night. No, Juan, that wasn't Jeff's fault. You see, he was leading the race. What? You still don't understand? Look, just relax, breath deeply and repeat after Gucci:

My flow is amazing hottest in the nation
Ice game super stupid but my money game crazy.

Hey, it's worked for Mark.

Quit crying about Jimmie Johnson and appreciate history

As Jimmie Johnson piles up victory after victory en route to a possible fourth straight Cup championship, the only thing rising faster than the 48 team's standing is the tide of whining, complaining, moaning and bitching about how horrible it is that Jimmie Johnson is winning. It's reached near-deafening levels, so let's see if we can run down some of the gripes, shall we?

• "The 48 team is a bunch of cheatin' cheaters!"
• "The Chase/cookie-cutter tracks/Car of Tomorrow is sooooo boring!"
• "NASCAR was so much better back in the Good Old Days."
• "Jimmie Johnson is as interesting as three gallons of melted vanilla ice cream."

And on and on and on. I've got my own thoughts about all these whines, but I'll let Don Corleone take this one:

Slap 'em silly, Vito! That's exactly what all the complainers need, a bracing little dose of reality. Here's the deal, friends: you're watching history at work here. You may not like it right now, but thirty years from now, your grandchildren will be asking what you were doing when you had the chance to see one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. And you'll say ... "I was promising to leave NASCAR!" And they'll say, "Was that the 50th time you made that promise, or the 60th?"

Why's it so hard for people to accept that maybe, just maybe, Johnson might be one of those once-in-a-generation talents like Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan? He and Chad Knaus have connected in a way that no other team has done, he's got a crew that can prepare a car precisely for any given track. They've recognized that it's not just about mashin' the gas and turnin' left; there's strategy involved that any team could pursue, but doesn't. Is that Johnson's fault, then, that other teams can't keep up?

Also, quit the whining about cheating; nobody's under more scrutiny than Johnson. Let's break down this "NASCAR is helping Johnson" nonsense, JFK conspiracy-style. If Jimmie Johnson wins, who benefits? Johnson, of course, but who else? Everybody who's not a 48 fan is raging at NASCAR right now; where's the benefit in that? If there was going to be conspiracy, why wouldn't it pump up Junior to championship contention? (Hey, as long as we're through the looking glass, why not get totally freaky?)

For the record, I'm not a Johnson fan; I'm a Tony Stewart guy, and would like nothing better than for Smoke to take JJ to the house. But I'll also be upfront about it -- I'm jealous as hell of Johnson's success and the glory his fans bathe in. And so are you. Look inside yourself. Admit the truth. You'll feel better.

In the end, if you don't like Johnson winning everything, it's pretty simple: your guy's got to step it up. Until that happens, quit your crying. That's not NASCAR.

Fans at Lowe's Speedway had plenty of room to spread out

There's a classic moment in This Is Spinal Tap where the band's manager tries to rationalize why he doesn't have the Tap booked in Boston: "It's not a big college town." The irony being, of course, that Boston has almost as many colleges as it has annoying Red Sawx fans.

Something similar surfaced Saturday night as the drivers circled past wide swaths of empty seats. I could almost see the NASCAR PR folks spinning the empty seats with a "Charlotte's not a big NASCAR town" rationale.

I can find exactly one commentary on the empty seats at Charlotte -- this one by Tom Sorenson, in which he details the usual litany of excuses: the weather was awful, Junior's season stinks, watching Jimmie Johnson and the Car of Tomorrow is dull, and on and on. Sorenson pulls no punches -- "I've seen most of the Sprint Cup races here since 1981, and I don't ever remember a race - a Sunday or Saturday race, not a race rescheduled because of a rainout - with fewer fans" -- and he shouldn't have. Saturday night's attendance was abysmal, and NASCAR's got to face some tough realities as a result.

There's nowhere on Earth that's more NASCAR-mad than North Carolina. So when you can't get those folks out to a race, something is very, very wrong. This isn't a tired old "racing was better in the old days" argument -- in the old days, Richard Petty and the rest used to win by three laps.

NASCAR fans love to dump on California, but let's be honest -- we've had two straight races now, on opposite coasts, of pretty lifeless racing. Now, with California, that's to be expected -- but is it possible that the NASCAR season has just run out of momentum? Maybe two dull races, combined with an all-too-expected result, have forced the casual fans to tune out and the hardcores to stay home? What do you think?

Maybe it's not Johnson, but it's different, isn't it? [ThatsRacin]

Even if NASCAR's not running, NASCAR commercials are

With this week's race running on Saturday night, NASCAR fans had a free Sunday to kick back and survey the world around them -- which meant most of us tuned into other sports. (What, go outside? Spend time with the family? Do chores? Are you insane?)

Anyway, in between watching the Tennessee Titans pull the equivalent of a start-and-park, we got to see some of our favorite drivers pop up in commercials. Over at Scene Daily, Jeff Gluck makes an interesting point about the way that NASCAR can increase its brand and reach even when races aren't going on.

"NASCAR is constantly searching for ways to penetrate the 'stick-and-ball' sports market and attract new fans, occasionally with a little success," Gluck writes. "But as the sanctioning body well understands, a terrific way to spread its message is to have sponsors that use the drivers in advertising campaigns."

Here's the thing -- I'm so close to all this media stuff that I can't possibly be an impartial observer. But what I'm wondering is, what's the perception of various NASCAR drivers in the world outside? Tony Stewart, obviously, has a solid rep because of the Old Spice/Burger King "Estrada" commercials, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. looks like everyone's conception of a good ol' boy, but what about the rest? Do you think the average non-NASCAR fan can differentiate between Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne? Is there more that these drivers ought to be doing to establish their own personas (a la Michael Waltrip, the down-home genius of the NAPA commercials)?

Personally, I think that NASCAR needs to do all it can do to spread its image far and wide; I'm not one of those "keep it a Southern thing" fans. So what's your take? Which drivers are doing the best job of spreading the NASCAR gospel to the unwashed masses?

NASCAR commercials in non-racing broadcasts good for the sport [Scene Daily]

Chase Watch 2009: NASCAR, where 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 48

 

With only five races left in the season, we continue to assess who's up and who's down in the Chase for the Cup. And there are a whole lot more of the latter than the former.

Current standings (movement): Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon (+2), Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch (+1), Juan Pablo Montoya (-3), Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman (+2), Kasey Kahne (+2), Carl Edwards (-2), Denny Hamlin (-2), Brian Vickers.

Who's up: Who else? Johnson strengthened his hold on the top spot, stretching his lead over Martin from 12 points to 90. Gordon continues his charge up the leaderboard, but with Johnson at the top, Rainbow is but an afterthought. Further down the line, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne continue to solidify their top-flight status.

Who's down: Thanks for playing, Juan Pablo. His streak of top-five finishes came to a crashing end Saturday night with his range of problems all over the 42 car. Edwards continued his slide into irrelevance in 2009, and Hamlin's second week of car problems torpedoed what had been an optimistic shot at a title.

Outlook: Johnson has done what everyone who's not a fan of the 48 hoped he wouldn't -- jump out to a large lead. And now, with only one driver even within 100 points of him, it's going to require at least one total flameout by the Johnson crew, and probably two, to give anybody much of a chance. Hate on Johnson all you want, but somebody's got to step up and challenge him for more than one race.

All right, your turn. What's your take on the Chase?

Victory video: Jimmie Johnson reels off another one

Yes, Jimmie Johnson won again. No, nobody outside of the 48's fans is happy about it. But deal with it. We'll be talking more about this in the next day or so, but for now, just accept the fact that Johnson is wheeling better than anybody else in NASCAR right now, and it's going to take a real catastrophe (Talladega?) to derail his dead-bang march for Title No. 4. Here, check out how he works over the field in the final laps of Saturday night's race:

It's fine work by Johnson, and it's going to take a serious charge from someone to even make it interesting over the next few weeks. Tony Stewart, Mark Martin or Jeff Gordon could do it, of course, but will they?

Running wide open: The NASCAR Banking 500 talkback thread

Time for the final night race of the year, and we're glad you're spending it with us. Really. We get lonely on Saturday nights. So gather 'round the virtual fire and pop open some real-life beer and talk with your virtual friends and watch some real-life racing and ... well, you see where I'm going here.

Anyway, the Chase is about to get very interesting or very boring, one of the two. Either tonight's the night Jimmie runs away with everything, or tonight's the night that somebody steps up and knocks Mister I-can-win-anything off his blue-and-yellow horse. My bet's on Jet Ski there doing just that. (Additional verbiage courtesy of the very funny folks at lolNASCAR. Check 'em out during commercials.) Enjoy the race, everybody!

The Chrome Horn, episode 27: Bobby Labonte

It's been an up-and-down year for Bobby Labonte, with few ups and a whole lotta downs. Initially optimistic at the idea of running in the No. 96 Ask.com, things turned sour recently when Labonte was excused from the seat, to put it politely, to make room for Erik Darnell. But he's back in the 96 this weekend, running a special pink car to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We discuss that, and also the Hall of Fame and other matters of interest throughout the season, including the way Bobby was treated way back when he showed up in Cup-level racing. It's fun stuff, and you can get an advance look at the car Bobby will be driving in Charlotte after the jump.

Feel free to give comments and suggestions at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. Play, download or subscribe to us through our new iTunes site; we'll love you no matter what you do.

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The Chrome Horn, episode 26: Jamie McMurray

Jamie McMurray has been something of a forgotten man this year. After ending 2008 with a flourish, he's struggled, along with all his Roush teammates, to find any kind of groove. Earlier this summer, he was told that his services would no longer be required for next year, making him a free agent. And while there are plenty of potential opportunities out there for him, nothing has materialized as yet.

We spent the conversation discussing what went wrong at Roush and what could go right next year, and also talked about his sponsor for the Charlotte race, Jeremiah Weed sweet tea. (Best name of the year, in my opinion.) Check it out; I think you'll dig the interview.

Feel free to give comments and suggestions at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. Play, download or subscribe to us through our new iTunes site; we'll love you no matter what you do.

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Pit Chatter: What's in a name, after all?

Welcome back to Pit Chatter, where we learn the truth about what goes on behind the scenes with your favorite drivers. Today: the name game.

[Scene: The Hendrick secret lair. Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin are sitting in thick, comfortable leather chairs watching a 120-inch plasma flatscreen television. Ken Burns' Civil War documentary is on.]

Mark Martin: Okay, wait for it ... wait for it ... THERE! There I am! See? On the fourth horse to the left!

Jimmie Johnson: Who sponsored that horse, Mark?

Mark Martin: See, that's just silly. Sponsoring a horse? That just makes no sense. Not even funny.

Jimmie Johnson: Couldn't line up a sponsor, could you?

Mark Martin: [sighs] Nope. Fat Jack's Hardtack said I was too old.

Jeff Gordon: People can be so cruel.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr. bursts into the room.]

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Howdy, boys!

Jimmie Johnson: Good lord, Dale! What's that on your face?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. [patting his face]: What? My face?

[Jeff takes one look at Dale's face and starts crying. Mark pats him on the shoulder.]

Mark Martin: There, there, laddie. Dale, son, your face -- it's all wrinkled and scrunched. Looks a whole lot like the skin on my --

Jimmie Johnson: That'll do, Mark.

Mark Martin: -- backside!

Jimmie Johnson: Ugh. You went there.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Wrinkled ... ? [He runs his hands over his face, then nods.] Oh, I gotcha. Fellas, this is a smile!

Jimmie Johnson: Of course. Been so long since we've seen one on you, we thought you'd been in a wreck or something.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Not in the last couple days. Fellas, I'm smiling because I got great news! I got into the Hall of Fame!

[Silence as the other three drivers look uncomfortably at each other.]

Jimmie Johnson: Um, Dale, I don't think you got in ...

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: No, I did! It was the Frances, and Richard Petty, and Junior Johnson, and me!

Jeff Gordon: Oh, boy.

[Mark Martin begins whistling a Civil War-era tune.]

Jimmie Johnson: Dale, I'm not sure how to tell you this. You didn't get in.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Sure I did. Dale Earnhardt. Everybody heard it.

Jimmie Johnson: Dale ... they were talking about your dad.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Daddy? Huh. I thought it was kind of weird that I got in already, before you guys, but I wasn't going to say anything.

Mark Martin: Well, son, winning isn't everything.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Winning?

Jimmie Johnson: It isn't?

Mark Martin: It's like I told George Washington Jr. -- if you want to escape your father's shadow, you've got to go create your own! Make your own name great, even if you have to change it!

Jeff Gordon: What did George Washington Jr. change his name to?

Mark Martin: Milford Hodgepot.

Jimmie Johnson: Never heard of him.

Mark Martin: Yeah, the system doesn't always work the way it's supposed to. Point is, Junior, if you want to make the Hall of Fame without coasting on the Earnhardt name, you're going to have to do something different.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Something different ... [Junior thinks for a long time, then snaps his fingers.] Got it! Thanks, guys! [He dashes out of the compound.]

Jimmie Johnson: If the boy needs wins, I could've given him a few of mine. They're making a real mess in the house.

Jeff Gordon: Shut up.

[Cut to driver introductions on Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Jimmie, Jeff and Mark are already out, having entered to varying degrees of cheers and boos. And then the strains of Snoop Dogg's "What's My Name?" begin wafting over the audience.]

Jimmie Johnson: Oh no.

Announcer: AND NOW ... DRIVING THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY CHEVY ... WELCOME DALE FRANCE!

[The other Hendrick drivers shake their heads in disbelief as Dale points at them and grins wider than he has all year.]

Jeff Gordon: Got to give him credit. If there's a name that'll get him into the Hall faster than Earnhardt ...