Category: Featured Stories

During the previous weekend we witnessed a 500 mile race at the Talladega Super Speedway that had 87 lead changes in 188 laps. We watched a beleaguered Chase team rise to the top of the charts and find victory lane again. We learned the true value of computerized scoring loops. We watched the Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship standings turn into a NASCAR dream come true and we were treated to a tailgate party that was simply awesome.

With those thoughts in mind let’s begin with:

HOORAH to Clint Bowyer for winning Sunday’s Amp Energy Juice 500 at Talladega. The win was Bowyer’s second of the season and 4th career win. Team mate, and fellow Chase contender, Kevin Harvick finished second. That leads to a HOORAH to team owner Richard Childress who collected his 11th team win at Talladega. When you consider the overall status of this organization last year, their 2010 season has been an amazing turn around.

HOORAH to the power plants manufactured by Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines. Their good work has led to victories in all four of this year’s high speed restrictor plate races.

HOORAH for the computer scoring loops that actually determined the winner of this race. When the caution came out during the final lap, NASCAR officials had a high tech reference center at their disposal to determine which car was in the lead when the yellow came out. Naturally, an important review of this nature took a few moments. Meanwhile Bowyer and Harvick were cruising in front of the fans waiting for the final decision. Only team owner Richard Childress knew for sure he was supposed to report to victory lane. He just wasn’t sure which driver he was going to be shaking hands with.

HOORAH to both of these drivers for stopping on the front stretch to shake hands. That’s the kind of post race class we like to see.

HOORAH to Kevin Harvick’s crew led by crew chief Gil Martin. Harvick sustained some front end crash damage after Marcus Ambrose spun in front of him. In a sheer note of irony it was his team mate and race winner, Bowyer, who accidentally tapped Ambrose to launch the accident. The Harvick team did an outstanding job with patching up the front end of the car while keeping their driver on the lead lap. Harvick took it home from there.

WAZZUP with driver A J Allmendinger and that horrible accident that brought out the final caution to begin with? The destroyed race car was absolutely the last thing the financially strapped Richard Petty Motorsports needed to see. Prior to the race Allmendinger admitted that he had knots in his stomach because he’s not sure about his future with the team.

But that crash does lead to a HOORAH for the safety innovations installed in NASCAR’s Car Of Tomorrow from the very beginning. This accolade also applies to the SAFER barrier walls that is employed by the speedways the series races at. It wasn’t that many years when an upside down crash, like Allendinger’s, would have become an extremely serious incident.

HOORAH to the Chase standings that followed this race. With three races left in the season, Jimmie Johnson has a slim 14 point advantage over Denny Hamlin and is only 38 points ahead of Kevin Harvick. The 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase For The Championship has the makings of a shootout and NASCAR has to be thrilled with what they’re seeing right now.

WAZZUP with no one wanting to draft with Jimmie Johnson during the final laps of this race? Could it be that no one wants to see this #48 win a fifth consecutive championship?

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Have I told you lately how much I love the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series?

HOORAH to Saturday’s Mountain Dew 250 and the exciting finish NASCAR’s truck drivers presented the fans. The sight of race winner Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola and Johnny Sauter racing three wide to the checkers, only two-one thousandths of a second apart, was breath taking.

HOORAH to Kyle Busch Motorsports for taking over the lead in the coveted owner’s point championship. Steve Germain, owner of Todd Bodine’s Toyota, started the race 39 points ahead of Busch in the standings. Busch finished the race 42 points ahead of Germain.

WAZZUP with all of the bump drafting that often doesn’t work between these trucks? Prior to the race Series Director Wayne Auton warned the teams about bump drafting saying the bumpers on the trucks just simply weren’t a good match for this type of activity.

WAZZUP with the drivers not heeding this warning. With three laps left in the race, it was an ill timed and placed bump draft that turned Todd Bodine’s truck which caused him to collect Ron Hornaday Jr. The Hornaday truck wound up on its roof. Once again a HOORAH goes out the NASCAR mandated safety equipment which more than did it job by allowing Hornaday to leave the infield medical center with a smile on his face.

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This week’s NASCAR notable quotable HOORAH goes to the always fun Michael Waltrip. Each year, during the Halloween racing weekend the SPEED Chanel’s crew assigned to the truck series goes all out with the costumes. This year they chose to dress like the characters from the television show “Gilligan’s Island.” That included Waltrip’s transformation to playing the millionaire’s wife: Mrs Thurston Howell III. During the excitement level of the final ten laps in this race, Waltrip yelled “this is making my make up run.”

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Our final WAZZUP of the week contain some rather bizarre circumstances. The WAZZUP goes to the Dusty Whitney owned #46 Dodge team driven by Michael McDowell. During a pre race inspection by Sprint Cup officials last Friday it couldn’t help but be noticed that there were some ball bearing rolling out of the front of the car. It turned out that the car’s lower A arms had been hollowed out and filled with the bearings. This unique maneuver lowers the car’s center of gravity and improves handling capabilities. It also allows the team to remove some weight from a higher portion of the car. NASCAR is expected to respond with a penalty sometime on Tuesday. It’s a good possibility that the price of ball bearings could soar to around $5,000 per pound.

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Finally this week comes a sad GOD BLESS to the family, friends and fans of Jim Hunter, the NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications, who passed away last Friday, at the age of 71, following a valiant battle with cancer.

Hunter’s motorsports career spanned six decades. He was an award winning member of the motorsports media, a motorsports author, a public relations rep for Dodge Motorsports and President of the Darlington Raceway in addition to his presence in NASCAR’s top executive line up.

Anyone who has ever had the privilege of meeting Mr Hunter, and talking racing with him, fully understands just how big of a loss his passing was to the NASCAR nation.

At the track described as NASCAR’s ‘wild card’, famous for white knuckle racing, insanely close finishes and the infamous ‘big one’, Talladega Superspeedway’s Amp Energy Juice, run on Halloween no less, delivered on all accounts, for the most part.  Here are the surprising and not surprising tricks and treats from HallowDega:

Surprising:  What was most surprising was the length of time that it took to finally declare the winner after yet another close finish at Talladega.  With Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick exchanging handshakes as they waited for what seemed like an eternity to find out which one had won, NASCAR finally declared it was Clint Bowyer after reviewing and re-reviewing the videotape.  This was Bowyer’s second Chase win and he is now left to wonder what could have been since his penalty put him dead last in the Chase race.  After thanking Juan Pablo Montoya for pushing him to a great finish, Bowyer just had two words after finally being declared the victor, “Hell yeah.”

Not Surprising:  Kevin Harvick, with a bruised, beat up, and bear-bonded race car as a result of an early wreck, finished runner up to his Richard Childress Racing teammate.  As Harvick said, “We kept it 1, 2 in the right house and beat the guys we needed to.”  Harvick has now finished seventh, first, first, and second at this season’s restrictor plate races at Daytona, Talladega, Daytona and Talladega respectively.  Harvick is now just 38 points behind Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, tightening up the championship competition considerably.

Surprising:  At a track that he loves and where his father had such success, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. did lead laps early in the race to the delight of the crowd, particularly Junior Nation.  But surprisingly, Junior, usually so solid in plate races, made a mistake in the draft, clipping Jeff Burton in the corner and sending the veteran for a very wild ride.  Burton was so upset, knowing that he had a good car, that in spite of his hard impact, decimated vehicle and even a brief fire, he got out and promptly kicked his race car.  Junior also sustained significant damage, and although he was able to eventually return to the track, he finished a cursed 39^th in his The Legend of Hallowdega race car.

Not Surprising:  While Junior usually loves the restrictor plate tracks, one driver in particular just hates them, especially Talladega.  So it was not surprising to hear A.J. Allmendinger declare after flying through the air and hitting the wall upside down, “I hate this place.  I always have and I always will.”  Allmendinger admitted that he has never flipped before and will most likely seek the services of his chiropractor wife Lynne for his sore neck and back.  Allmendinger finished in the 32^nd position and time will tell if he will be at the next race due to the financial turmoil currently affecting his race team, Richard Petty Motorsports.

Surprising:   At a track known for the ‘big one’, a wreck that traditionally occurs at Talladega, often taking out at least twenty race cars and a major portion of the race field, it was surprising that the ‘big one’ just did not occur.  There certainly were a few wrecks along the way, but they were more isolated instances involving just a handful of cars.  The majority of cautions were for debris on the track rather than carnage from the dreaded ‘big one’.

Not Surprising:  Although no major wrecking occurred, there were the unbelievably frequent lead changes.  In fact, the race at Talladega this year yielded 87 lead changes, so almost every driver got their chance to be out front at one point or another.  It was also not surprising to see those infamous two-car breakaways that have also become a hallmark of Talladega, moving duos from the back to the front in the blink of an eye.  Both race winner Bowyer and runner up Harvick took advantage of the two-car hook ups with Juan Pablo Montoya and David Reutimann to thank respectively.

Surprising:   It was surprising how depressed Denny Hamlin was after a top-ten finish at Talladega.  Hamlin stated glumly, “I wish I could have had a better show.”  Hamlin’s depression was also surprising given the championship contender battled back from being a lap down to finish in the ninth position.  Hamlin is now just 14 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson in the Chase standings, yet still in a gloomy mood.

Not Surprising:   At one of NASCAR’s wildest and most unpredictable tracks, it was not surprising to see some non-traditional drivers lead laps and get good finishes.  Juan Pablo Montoya, who started on the pole, proved that he is quickly becoming a plate track ace with his third place finish.  David Reutimann, who studied at the feet of team owner Michael Waltrip, also had a great run, finishing fourth.  The youngster Joey Logano had a great ride, finishing fifth and scoring his first three top-10 finishes in a row in his Cup career. Reutimann’s Diamond Waltrip Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth and Brad Keselowski did Penske proud with his top-ten placement.

Surprising:  It was a major surprise that after hanging in the back all race long and finally deciding to make their move to the front that teammates and four-time champions Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were not able to seal the deal.  The two hooked up late in the race and charged to the front, leading a few laps.  But Gordon seemed to just get spooked, saying his car was “blowing up”.  He fell back, leaving Johnson alone in the draft, while he tried to diagnose his issues.  Although both drivers finished well, in the seventh and eighth spots respectively, Johnson was left shaking his head after the race, saying he still did not know what was going on with his teammate.

Not Surprising:  In spite of Gordon’s issues, Jimmie Johnson soldiered on, in spite of some damage that he sustained in one of the on-track incidents.  Johnson, apparently ditching the lucky horseshoe, credited his baby Genevieve’s Halloween costume, an angel with a halo, as his ‘Dega good luck charm.  Johnson maintains the points lead in the Chase as he continues his historic quest for a fifth consecutive championship.

With just three races left in the season to decide the winner of the Sprint Cup, the NASCAR aces will head deep in the heart of Texas.  The AAA Texas 500 will be held at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, November 7^th at 3:00 PM on ESPN.

Talladega has come and gone on Halloween and all that can be said is the fans got a good show. Whether it was racing is up for debate. At least the ‘big one’ never happened unless you consider A.J. Allmendinger flipping through the air at the end of the race.

One or more things are clear. The Earnhardt-Childress engines are the class of the field. Where once Robert Yates was the power king of racing engines, that program, now known was Yates-Roush engines, now takes a back seat. It may be in third place by now with Hendrick in second, for that matter. Not one Ford qualified in the top 15 while the Chevys, Toyotas, and Dodges looked down on them. Of course, racing and qualifying are two different animals with Matt Kenseth running up front until the end, but the end result is what is important and Earnhardt-Childress engines had cars in first, second, and third place followed by two Toyota Racing engines.

The racing, if that’s what you want to call it, was spirited. One driver called it luck that the big wreck didn’t happen, but five wide at times was flirting with disaster. And it didn’t happen. The end result was that Jimmie Johnson amazingly came out of this mess with a bigger lead. With Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon laying back in the field for most of the race, the television network was able to hear Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, tell him it was time to go and the loyal teammate followed. It pushed the strong Hendrick engined cars to the front and in a position to win. Jeff Gordon thought he had am engine problem and got out of the draft, which proved false. That was probably the only thing that kept Johnson from winning. Gordon discovered that he didn’t have that problem and rallied back to a top ten finish.

That’s another problem. With NASCAR’s rule that once the white flag is shown that the field is frozen on cautions, it becomes almost impossible for the fan in the stands to know who won. Heck, even the TV guys couldn’t figure it out. So, we had two drivers who were running a race having to wait until film or digital photography to determine the winner or the finishing order. In fact, Johnson was listed as the eighth finisher for some time, one place behind his main challenger. After some investigation, Johnson was determined to be the seventh finisher with Denny Hamlin two places behind him. Hamlin instantly went from only two points behind Johnson to 14 points behind. The final determinations were probably accurate, but why not just have a green-white-checker finish so that the fans can actually see who won? I guess that would be too simple.

The argument is that we could have too many starts at a place like Talladega, but isn’t that the point? Why go through all the problem of shotgun starts and making sure folks see the race end without a caution only to have that happen in a case like this? It’s another example of faulty thinking and should be looked at for next season, but it won’t.

Regardless, Clint Bowyer, the guy who won the first race in the playoff system won his second race without penalty and the scoring dilemma continues to exist. Nothing like progress, right?

Well The Amp Energy Juice 500 is over. Hallowdega has given way to All Saints Day and the commercial rate on ESPN has gone back to normal.

The Amp Energy Juice 500 appeared to be an exciting race of side by side balls to the wall racing. With the top contenders not necessarily being chase drivers. Note that I said appeared to be. The reason for that is that there were no fewer than 29 sets of 6 – 8 commercials in the broadcast. Approximately every 3 minutes we went to commercial. We missed 2 restarts and 2 caution flags none of which did we get on replay. I think it’s just a shame they had to interrupt the parade of commercials to show us any of the race at all. Please note the sarcasm here.

ESPN and ABC are the absolute worst when it comes to broadcasting NASCAR. You either wait for the football game. You wait for the baseball game. You wait for tennis, yeah tennis. Or you watch commercials more than you watch the race.

The camera work for Talladega was horrible. Obviously most of the camera work was done from the blimp. Long range shots that made it difficult to identify cars made the race frustrating to watch. For instance, it was incredibly frustrating to try and figure out where your driver was in the line of hot wheels appearing Sprint Cup cars if he was driving a black car. The only easily identifiable black car in the field was the M&M’s Toyota and it was because from the normal camera angle that was used, it had orange polka dots on the hood.

Come on ESPN you are suppose to be the leader in sports coverage and this is the second time that you were obviously unprepared and ill equipped to deliver a suitable broadcast that was way over funded by the amount of commercials. You didn’t have Elliott Sadler’s wreck at Pocono and the entire Talladega race was horrible. There to date has not been a replay to show what actually triggered or happened to the 43 car of A. J. Allmendinger. Other than we watched him flip wildly and the slam the wall.

NASCAR for the last couple of years has been concerned about the drop in TV ratings and the drop in the number of tickets sold. They don’t seem to be able to come up with the reason. If I may be so bold as to suggest to them that they watch the same TV broadcast that their fans at home watch I think they might find the reason. The interruption of the broadcast of commericals for the race is minimal. No one wants to sit and watch the same commercials over and over and over. The third or fourth set people change the station. They turn to NFL coverage where there are 1/4 as many commercials.

People are not going to buy a ticket to come and see the type of racing that they see on TV. The race itself maybe excellent if you are there in person, but what is shown on TV is so broken up and follow the leader in appearance that it’s boring. Perception is reality. And the perception is that NASCAR has become a choppy half hearted manipulated show and not a race at all. The penalties to Bowyer after Richmond only served to solidify that. Without the penalties Bowyer would be 5th in the points and still mathematically in the hunt. With the penalty it’s all Harvick, Hamlin and Jimmie.

The appearance is that they manipulated the championship with the penalty. Especially since they claim they had warned the team numerous times. If that is the case why did you wait until the first chase race to penalize the team and take them out of contention for the championship? There was either someone you didn’t want in so you let it go so that Bowyer would get the last spot or you didn’t take him seriously until he won and you realized oops this messes up our plans. Note that I said it is the appearance. But again Perception is Reality. That reality hurts TV ratings and ticket sales. It hurts fan loyalty.

The race itself what we saw of it was exciting. There were many stand out performances. For instance, Jeff Burton in his 31 CAT Financial Chevrolet, Burton was lightening fast and would have no doubt been a contender for the win had he not got caught up in the accident with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr was well Dale Jr again. He was burning up the track and his competition. He was smooth. He was in control. He was calm and he was calculating. Then he misjudged Jeff Burton’s drop to the middle and caught him with a bump draft too far to the right. Taking them both out of contention for the win. But Dale Jr led 24 laps, more than any other driver. And he showed a lot of class when he exited his car and immediately went to the Infield Care Center to apologize to Jeff Burton.

Kevin Harvick’s dramatic run for the win in a badly damaged Realtree Chevrolet was inspiring. It certainly shows he has the never say die attitude of a champion. It also shows that his pit crew and team also have that same attitude.

Clint Bowyer has never given up. Not with the penalty. Not with the micro scrutiny. He has come to the front when he had the car and made every effort to win. His fight to the checkers attitude won him the Amp Energy Juice 500. He won by a bumper. He won in literally a photo finish.

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon stroked their way to strong finishes. They waited around the back markers and played it safe all day long until Chad Knaus made the announcement it was time to go. Then they went to the front with Johnson pushing Gordon. When Gordon thought his engine was failing he quickly ducked out of the draft line so as not to take Jimmie with him when the engine let go. But it didn’t let go. The misinterpertation of the problem did however, end the shot at the win for both drivers.

The Sprint Cup drivers avoided the big one for the most part. Although the wreck on the last lap came close how close we really don’t know because we didn’t actually get to see it. But at least, this time Talladega didn’t become a million dollar junkyard despite speeds in excess of 200 mph. Perhaps this should be a point of reference for Robin Pemberton and NASCAR. The drivers are capable of more than you give them credit for. And when you let go, they take off and low and behold all is well.

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Congratulations to Clint Bowyer on an exciting victory and to RCR for having the class of the field once again at the super speedways. Congratulations to Kyle Busch on his Camping World Truck Series win. And most of all congratulations to Dale Earnhardt Jr on showing he is every bit as talented and classy as his Jr. Nation thinks him to be.

That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

Sunday is known as the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Corporate NASCAR pulled their heads off their shoulders and became too corporate again Saturday when Robby Gordon, who’s Speed Energy Toyota will roll off from the 42nd position Sunday, had an issue with his new energy drink and Sunday’s race sponsor AMP Energy.

Of course, NASCAR will say the incident that I am about to tell you about had nothing to do with the race sponsor and will say it was something they can’t discuss.

Robby Gordon had his personal truck parked in the owner/driver parking lot at Talladega Superspeedway. Nothing should have been wrong, yet when Robby went to find his truck something was wrong.

“It’s gone,” Gordon said. “I guess it’s in some impound yard somewhere. But it’s my personal truck.”

Why would they tow his personal truck? Because Gordon had his Speed Energy logo on the truck, trying to promote his energy drink introduced this weekend a little bit more.

Corporate NASCAR has gone way too far.

Watching Undercover Boss last Sunday Night on CBS, a crew member on a Michael Waltrip Racing team had told NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Marketing Steve Phelps that NASCAR had become too corporate and he would like to see that change. Phelps had said it would be hard but they would try working on that.

Too bad the Hollywood urban legend told to their fans last Sunday night was just that.

We all know NASCAR and the International Speedway Corporation (who runs Talladega Superspeedway) are run by the same people and the ultimate decision came down from the NASCAR people.

NASCAR already regulates series sponsorships without allowing another major gas company or cell phone company to sponsor a team due to their ties with Sprint and Sunoco. What’s next, if you have a sponsor on a car that is a rival to the race sponsor, their logos will have to leave the track and you will have to find a new sponsor for that weekends race?

Shesh! Can anyone tell me why NASCAR is losing fans?

What started as a relatively calm weekend got its green flag with Camping World Truck Series. Side by side racing was the course for the day. Bump drafting in trucks whose bumpers do not line up requires skill and caution. In a series that touts itself the entry level NASCAR touring series, this field was split with experience and relative inexperience.

It was that inexperience that caused most of the issues on the day, with wrecks on pit road entry and finally the big one which saw Ron Hornaday flip 5 times in the Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 33 Chevrolet, after being collected by Todd Bodine who spun after an attempt at bump drafting by Grant Enfinger went bad. Hornaday was unhurt but the truck itself was destroyed.

However, there was light in the darkness, the first person to Hornaday was fellow competitor Todd Bodine. It is that kind of concern, friend or not, that shows that through the years Todd has learned what it means to be a champion. His concern and his actions showed the class of a champion and spoke highly of the human being and man that he is.

The truck race had the closest finish in Truck series history since the implementation of electronic scoring, with Kyle Busch winning by .002 seconds over Aric Almirola; however, the finish was not without controversy. Kyle got sideways, due to air turbulents, just before the start finish line, and ended up with the left side tires below the infamous yellow line trying to save the truck.

Almirola was understandable disappointed and stated, “It says plain as day in the rule book you can’t improve your position going below the yellow line. But NASCAR said no penalty to Busch because Kyle’s truck was sideways when he was next to me, that’s what made him go below the yellow line. I don’t have a clear understanding of the (yellow line) rule, I guess. A part of me feels that I got robbed.”

Busch after watching the replay stated, “I was already alongside him well before I got below the line. Judgment call. It’s on NASCAR.”

Kyle Busch used good judgement. Although many fans have already begun saying it’s controversial and have began making negative statements about Kyle, the finish, and of course NASCAR’s ruling on the incident. The bottom line is that by exercising that judgement, he saved a major wreck that would have taken many of the front runners if not all of them out at the finish line.

At that point in the race, the odds of someone getting hurt were astronomical. The situation would have been along the lines of the 1993 Talladega crash of Rusty Wallace only with more trucks involved. By choosing to control the truck by moving two tires below the yellow line, Kyle Busch avoided that for himself and all of the competitors on the track with him.

Sometimes I think that we get so use to disapproving of a specific driver, in this case Kyle Busch, that we just out of habit disapprove. That we don’t watch the replay and look at it from a unbiased point of view.

In the past, I have said that although Kyle is an extremely talented young man in the race car/truck, his immaturity and lack of judgement hurts the publics ability to take him seriously in a positive way. But Kyle Busch is growing up. He is maturing. He is growing. Not only as a man but as a driver as well. He used judgement that benefitted not only himself and his effort on the race track but protected his fellow competitors as well. I will call a spade a spade. But this time it’s a diamond.

Kudos to Kyle Busch and his team on one of the most dramatic and hard fought wins of the season in the CWTS. You earned it and you deserved it.

There will be more races and other opportunities for Aric Almirola. His talents also were show cased today. His move to JR. Motorsports next year will only continue to polish his obvious talents and increase his prowess in both the Nationwide Series cars and the Camping World trucks.

His disappointment will stay with him. This will be a race that he looks at for a long time and thinks I let that one get away. But there are plenty of those in every career. What makes the mantle of a champion is how he deals with them. Does he learn from them and grow, or does he spend the rest of his career pinning for what could have been.

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Other notable performances in the truck series today were Ken Schrader who managed to show the “younguns” that the old dog still knew plenty of tricks and led the race in Kevin Harvick Inc.’s #2 Chevy before finishing 11th with a truck that was badly damaged in the big crash with 4 laps to go.

Also, congratulations to Jennifer Jo Cobb on showing the prescence of mind to keep her cool when running out of gas and coming back to finish 23rd 4 laps down in her drivenmale.com/Driverboutique.com Ford. She ran in the lead pack through the early part of the race before running out of gas before halfway. She showed herself to be an extremely capable driver and not just another pretty face in her first attempt at Talladega.

Tomorrow as the world prepares for the spookiest night of the year, Halloween, the Sprint Cup series will tackle Talladega. As is the case with the trucks, the Sprint Cup competitors will hold their breath and use all the talent and skill available to them to avoid “The Big One.” Who will come out on top here? Will it be a Chase contender? A spoiler? Or will JR. Nation finally be appeased with their first win since 2008? Only the spirits of Hallowdega know for sure.

Tune in to see the filmette by AMP Energy Juice called “The Legend of Hallowdega” before the race. The short film by renowned director Terry Gillam features David Arquette and Terry Kirk, as well as appearances from some of NASCAR’s legends and the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports, Legend of Hallowdega, #88 Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Jr. You can watch previews at the site, www.legendofhallowdega.com.

Finally, thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends and associates of Jim Hunter, NASCAR’s Vice President of Communication, who passed away last night at the age of 71 after a long battle with Lung Cancer. He had an impact on the sport that we love that will long live after him. It was his direction and support that helped create many of the stars of today in our sport. He cared about them and the fans and all the people that worked in and around NASCAR. He will truly be missed.

In a show of respect, Talladega Superspeedway will lower the track flags on property for Jim Hunter; however, they can’t lower the U.S. flag without a decree from the Alabama Govenor. There was no word on whether that was requested by NASCAR. The speedway also announced Sunday morning that their press box will be renamed to honor Hunter.

The Fourth Turn will be back after Sunday’s race with observations and insights on the AMP Energy Juice 500. Until then, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.