Category: Featured Stories

Over the previous weekend we watched Tony Stewart “smoke” up Atlanta-Georgia following Sunday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. In Nationwide Series action we watched a popular driver, crew chief and team owner return to victory lane. Meanwhile in the truck brigade an “onion” returned to victory lane only to get attacked by a “rowdy Busch.” With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

HOORAH to Tony Stewart for an outstanding driving performance while winning Sunday’s Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta. “Smoke” led this race eight times, for a race high 176 laps, and returned to victory lane for the first time since the Kansas race last October which was 31 races ago. The win was Stewart’s first of the season, third at Atlanta and 38th career win. Stewart’s win streak also remains intact. He’s won at least one race in every year of his time spent in the Sprint Cup Series which began 12 years ago. It also moved him from sixth to fourth in the championship standings and officially clinched a starting berth in the 2010 Chase For The Championship.

HOORAH to the Darrien Grubb led Stewart Haas Racing Team for their outstanding performance on pit road. With tire management being such a critical factor in this race, there were a lot of pit stops. The vast majority of these stops for the #14 team were in the low 12 second range.

On the subject of the team’s pit stops, HOORAH to the race winner’s dad, Nelson Stewart, who helped his son out by shining a bright flash light up and down the pit stall so his driver could find his stopping point on a heavily congested, hard to see, pit road.

WAZZUP with some of those restarts? Stewart clearly had a rhythm problem on some of the double file restarts and it often cost him track position. There were times when he actually came over the radio and apologized to his team for the results. But Stewart redeemed himself during the final restart when it mattered the most. With 25 laps left he came in for his final stop for tires and fuel. His team responded with another outstanding pit stop that placed him on the front row. Stewart relocated his restart rhythm and ran away during the final laps for the win.

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WAZZUP with the lap 153 incident that is going to force Greg Biffle to wait one more week to clinch his Chase berth? Some brief contact from Ryan Newman sent Biffle sliding into Elliot Sadler who went front bumper first into the wall. The entire front end of Biffle’s Ford was severely damaged and had to go behind the wall.

That leads to a HOORAH for his team, as well as members of other Roush Fenway Racing teams, who did an outstanding job completely restoring the front of this race car. Biffle returned to the track 71 laps down, but that return elevated him from a 40th place finish to 36th. He now needs to finish 43d next week in Richmond to clinch his Chase berth.

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WAZZUP with Ryan Newman being involved with yet another major incident in this race? At lap 302 Newman made a three wide move that accidentally led to contact with Kasey Kahne. That hit sent Kahne’s Ford into the side of Kurt Busch’s Dodge. The impact forced Kahne to make an unscheduled trip to the garage due to a flat tire and a broken water tank. Prior to that incident Kahne was a major player in this race and led 16 laps. He wound up 32nd and 15 laps down.

Kahne also wound up very angry at Newman and retaliated during the waning moments of the race. He gave Newman a shove that almost turned him sideways. At the time Newman was listed as 13th in the points and was attempting to gain some ground on Clint Bowyer, in 12th, in an effort to find some way to sneak into the Chase line up via the back door. The hit from Kahne allowed Bowyer to pass Newman for position. Newman finished the race 117 points away from 12th and will now require a surprise miracle next week at Richmond to make the Chase.

Kahne and Newman were caught on camera exchanging some angry words on pit road after the race. But don’t be looking for the “F” word from that incident: (I was referring to the word feud, what word were you thinking about?)

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Speaking of Clint Bowyer: he deserves a HOORAH for a rock steady driving performance in the Atlanta race that led to a seventh place finish. He now needs at least a 28th finish at Richmond next week to clinch a Chase berth.

Carl Edwards also gets a HOORAH for his Atlanta driving performance and his second place finish. Many race observers noted that this effort resembled the days of old when Edwards and Roush Fenway Racing were such a strong force in the Cup series.

WAZZUP with the uncharacteristic performance of the Joe Gibbs Racing teams? After leading the race seven times, for a total of 74 laps, Denny Hamlin finished 43d when a blown engine ended his evening. He dropped from fifth to tenth in the standings but still managed to clinch his starting berth in the Chase.

Team mate Joey Logano nursed a weak engine, everyone thought was going to expire, to a 27th place finish. Kyle Busch was the Joe Gibbs highlight with a fifth place finish but was no where near the factor in the race that many expected.

WAZZUP with the bizarre in car radio incident that garnered driver David Reutimann a black flag? NASCAR has a strict safety rule that demands one hundred percent radio contact between a driver and his track spotter. Reutimann’s radio failed and he was ordered, via the black flag, to pit road for repairs. At first the team thought the problem may have been the radio control switch on the steering wheel and were planning to hand their driver a back up steering wheel. It turned out that the handling of Reutimann’s car was so bad that his arms were flailing up and down while trying to turn the steering wheel. During the course of that action he accidentally unplugged the wire that connects the team’s radio to his driving helmet. Reutimann eventually managed to get back on the lead lap and drove to a 16th place finish.

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HOORAH to Jamie McMurray for winning Saturday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Atlanta event. McMurray is having an outstanding season in the Cup ranks and collected another feel good moment after collecting his eighth career series win for JR Motorsports which is co owned by Dale Earnahrdt Jr. and Rick Hendrick. McMurray, in the #88 Hellman’s Chevrolet, led the race three times for a total of 48 laps, including the final 23 circuits, to give his team owners their first series win of the season. It was also great to see an emotionally charged Tony “Pops” Eury Sr. return to victory lane as the winning crew chief.

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HOORAH to Todd “The Onion” Bodine for winning Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the Kentucky Speedway. It was Bodine’s fourth win of the year and 21st series career win. He also padded his series points lead to 261 over Aric Almirola. With only seven races left in the season, it’s looking like Bodine is going to collect his second series championship.

But WAZZUP with that bizarre confrontation the race winner had with driver Kyle Busch in victory lane? On lap 81 Busch and Bodine were racing close together when Bodine spun out. Ironically, it was the trip to pit road, to replace flat spotted tires, that gave Bodine’s Toyota truck just enough fuel to go the remaining distance when the other teams had to pit for fuel late in the race, Bodine was able to stretch a tank of fuel 55 laps.

In victory lane Bodine raised a lot of eyebrows when he said “I’d like to thank Kyle Busch for driving dirty, sucking me down and getting me spun out.” He went on to suggest that it was Busch’s actions that set up his team to make the race winning fuel gamble. However it was noticed by many that there was no contact between the trucks and many observers openly wondered what it was that Busch did wrong.

Meanwhile Busch was in his car hauler changing clothes when he heard Bodine’s accusations on television. He surprised everyone by showing up in victory lane to express his anger. Busch later explained that he confronted Bodine in victory circle because there was no time to talk to him later. He had to catch a plane to Atlanta that night where he was scheduled to race in the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup events that weekend. In a sheer note of irony Busch was flying to Atlanta that night in a private plane owned by Bob Germain who also happens to be the owner or Bodine’s racing team.

After some brief moments of yelling and finger pointing, Busch left victory lane. The media reporter then asked Bodine what it was all about. Bodine replied “I’ve always had a lot of respect for Kyle. Slowly but surely I’m losing it. That’s a shame. It’s not just the truck series, it’s every division he races. He’s so good. He’s without a doubt one of the best drivers NASCAR has ever seen. He doesn’t have to drive like that to win races but he does it and he’s getting away with it because NASCAR won’t do anything about it. He was mad because I called him out on it.”

The following day in Atlanta Busch responded by saying “I don’t feel like I’m a dirty racer. I feel like I’m a hard racer and an aggressive one, but I wouldn’t call it dirty, dirty is when you run into the back of someone on the straightaway and put them in the fence.”

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HOORAH to three year old Ella Gordon, the daughter of NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who teamed up with Sam Bass, the official artist of NASCAR, to completely redesign the paint job on her dad’s #24 Chevrolet. Called “My Papa’s Car,” the design featured Ella’s original art work as well as her hand prints. The project was created to bring awareness to the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation which supports pediatric cancer research. The foundation’s logo was on the hood of the car and that leads to a HOORAH to Gordon’s long time primary sponsor, Dupont Automotive Finishes, who gladly relinquished their advertising space on the car to support this important cause.

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Finally this week we have a HOORAH to the Song Of Atlanta Show Chorus and to Ernie Haase and Signature Sound for their performances of “The National Anthem” prior to the Atlanta NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup events. These performances were extremely well done and polished with a strong sense of spiritualism and patriotism. It was a nice change from past performances from burned out looking rock stars and newly crowned pop stars who warble their way through the song like they don’t have a clue what a privilege it is to be asked to perform “The National Anthem” at a major event in this country.

So they’re going to rid Atlanta of a race? Anyone watching the race on Sunday night would have to ask why. Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of the most competitive racetracks on the circuit. So many close finishes can be remembered over the years, and even though Sunday’s finish wasn’t that close the racing was better than good.

So what gives? It’s almost as if money means more than racing. Sure, money is a big part of the business. Track owners have to make money to pay purses and provide the amenities that race fans love, but is it coming at the expense of good racing?

Over the years, we’ve seen places where the racing was good, go away. Darlington lost its signature race—the Labor Day weekend Southern 500. No other place defines NASCAR like Darlington on Labor Day. We’ve seen the high-banked one-miler at Rockingham get closed for “lack of attendance.” Of course, having the races at Halloween and in the midst of winter may have had something to do with it.

North Wilkesboro went away so New Hampshire could have a date. Now, Atlanta, in business for 50 years, has lost a date because of a business deal—and poor attendance at Atlanta’s spring race. Atlanta’s March race has always drawn anywhere from 80,000-110,000. Not bad for a place that advertises that it has seating for 91,000 people and has always been plagued by bad weather.

Kentucky has seating for 65,000 folks and owner Bruton Smith says he is going to add seats. I’m happy for the folks in the Cincinnati-Lexington area, but keep that attendance up or else be prepared to see that date go elsewhere.

I guess the point of my article is that NASCAR is slowly taking away all of the history of the sport. Once upon a time, the southeast had Rockingham, Darlington, Charlotte, Atlanta, North Wilkesboro, Talladega, Daytona, Martinsville and Richmond hosting two races each. Where there were once 16 races in the region where the sport began has now become 12. The Carolinas alone hosted eight races and now they host four.

In the meantime we see other tracks draw poorly and have boring racing. I realize the need to make a buck, but what about the racing? Is that important anymore? Or are we to believe the radio programs that tell us it’s the best it’s ever been?

NOTES:

Elliott Sadler must be the unluckiest driver on the planet. It he doesn’t get taken out by a blown engine, it’s being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sunday night was no exception. Sadler was running well and got caught up in something not of his doing. Apparently, he lost his ride with Richard Petty Motorsports, and has few takers for 2011. He’s a talented guy and we hope things turn around for him soon.

The same could be said for Kasey Kahne. Kahne ran well and took the lead in the closing laps only to be tapped by Ryan Newman. It wasn’t intentional, but Kahne’s retaliation was. Amazingly no one is calling for his head like they have Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.

The same thing happened to Greg Biffle. Wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily, it didn’t cost the Biff a place in the Chase.

Kudos to Ernie Haase and Signature Sound for a dynamite rendition of the National Anthem before the race.

Jeff Gordon might be second in points, but he’s far from competitive these days. In fact the only Hendrick Motorsports entry that is somewhat competitive is the No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson. Wonder why?

Finally, Bill Elliott is doing amazing things with the Wood Brothers’ car. The underfunded team needs better sponsorship. Maybe in 2011?

Wow, can you believe it?? We finally hear a good anthem. It has been a long time for that.

We kick off Labor Day at Atlanta Motor Speedway heading into the sun and nice evening for 500 miles of door to door action.

Denny Hamlin along with Ryan Newman will lead our 43 drivers to the start finish line. Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart will be in tow for the top five. By the way only one driver has won the race from the pole.

We will keep an eye on Casey Mears who starts 43^rd, Marcos Ambrose starting 32^nd, Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr. starting 25^th.

The pace car leads the field out of turn four and in control of the front row. Then all of a sudden it’s…

GREEN FLAG as we see a huge amount of smoke from the fireworks that were shot off as the field drove along the back stretch. Hamlin and Newman race side by side for the entire lap where Hamlin is scored with the first five points.

Lap 4 Martin Truex Jr. attempts to pass Stewart but Stewart has the power to hold the position. Lap 5 we almost see Edwards slap the outside wall of turn 4. Lap 6 Mark Martin start his day 17^th and rapidly fall back to 27^th. Lap 8 we see a battle between Edwards and Kyle Busch form up but they hold their starting positions.

Lap 10 early movers on the track see last night’s Nationwide winner Jamie McMurray move up to 8^th from his start of 12^th as well as Elliott Sadler 17^th from his start of 22^nd. Lap 16 Newman for the lead coming out of turn four.

Lap 18 Jimmie Johnson is starting to challenge Stewart for 4^th. Johnson started 7^th. We also see on lap 19 A.J. Allmendinger passing Greg Biffle for 11^th. Lap 22 Newman leads Hamlin by a half second.

Lap 35 we had a drop in our coverage for a few laps but we are back with Hamlin in the lead over Kyle Busch by 1.5 seconds. Newman has slipped back to 4^th after a Stewart pass. Lap 38 Jeff Gordon slips back to 14^th after Paul Menard passes him for 13^th.

Lap 38 the start and park drivers segment are underway as Michael McDowell and Joe Nemechek head to the garage. NASCAR warns the teams of Kevin Conway and Mike Bliss to pick up their speed or they will be heading to the garage too.

Lap 43 we also see the lap down list growing as Patrick Carpentier, J.J. Yeley, Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland and Brad Keselowski are on the list. Lap 44 add Dave Blaney to the list with Bobby Labonte and Reed Sorenson to be next.

Mike Bliss and Conway head to the garage. Lap 46 Sam Hornish Jr. is the first one to pit road. Lap 46 Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch are on pit road. Lap 48 Sorenson is in along with Stewart, Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Edwards. Martin and ten others are in.

Lap 49 the floodgates are open as another ten head onto pit road. Lap 50 Kyle Busch is busted for too fast on entry to pit road. We see that McMurray missed pit road for his first attempt.

Lap 54 after the round of pit stops Stewart is the leader followed by the rest of your top twenty drivers of Hamlin, Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, Newman, Johnson, Edwards, Biffle, Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Menard, Kevin Harvick, Montoya, Ambrose, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and McMurray.

Lap 55 Hamlin is back in the lead. Lap 58 Ambrose has moved up the most positions to 13^th. Lap 70 Kyle Busch heads to pit road for a vibration. Kurt Busch falls a lap down as well. Lap 71 Stewart takes the lead again. Are the cars are back on track except for Nemechek.

Lap 75 your top ten drivers are Stewart, Hamlin, Kahne, Edwards, Truex Jr., Johnson, Biffle, Allmendinger, Menard and Harvick. Lap 77 Harvick started his day 29^th and is up 19 positions to 10^th.

Lap 79 where are our spotlight drivers? Mears is 31^st and one lap down, Ambrose is 18^th and up 14 positions, Logano 26^th one lap down but up five from his start and Earnhardt Jr. up 9 positions to 16^th from his start of 25^th.

Lap 84 Hamlin closes in on Stewart for the lead. Stewart is able to stay in front of Hamlin on lap 86 as they have to contend with lap down drivers. A surprise of the race is Jeff Burton running 24^th and just about to go a lap down. Lap 88 Hornish Jr. heads to pit road for a scheduled stop. Hamlin is the leader.

Lap 90 Johnson running behind Kahne and Truex Jr. is big time sideways out of turn four. Lap 91 Keselowski is on pit road. Burton falls a lap down. Lap 92 pit stops begin as Kurt Busch heads to his pit. Lap 93 Bowyer is in. Lap 94 Martin is in danger of going a lap down. Newman is in for a stop with Mears.

Lap 96 McMurray is in with a few other drivers in the back of the field. Reutimann is having issues with his radio as the team asks NASCAR to black flag their driver to make his stop.

Lap 97 Stewart and Jeff Gordon are in with many of the leaders. Lap 100 most of the stops are complete, Kyle Busch is out of pit stop rotation and currently in the top five. Your top twenty drivers are Stewart, Hamlin, Truex Jr., Edwards, Kahne, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Menard, Harvick, Biffle, Allmendinger, Newman, Bowyer, Montoya, Jeff Gordon, Reutimann, Earnhardt Jr., McMurray, Ambrose and Kenseth. So far we have seen 12 lead changes among 4 leaders and no cautions as of yet.

Lap 110 as Johnson has moved up a few positions to 6^th and challenges Kahne for 5^th. Lap 114 Jeff Gordon may have a better setup on the car as he closes in on Montoya for 11^th. Johnson takes 5^th from Kahne.

Lap 116 Harvick’s move to the front continues as he is up to 8^th ( a move of 21 spots). Lap 120 we have 19 drivers on the lead lap. The issue with Reutimann was that he knocked the cord out from his helmet. The issue places him two laps down.

Lap 125 Kenseth falls a lap down with Martin, Ambrose, Earnhardt Jr. and McMurray who may the next ones on the list. Lap 127 Hamlin takes the lead back from Stewart. Lap 130 we have been watching Logano for a few laps now and he may have an issue with the engine.

Lap 131 Martin falls a lap down. Earnhardt Jr. falls a lap down lap 133 and will be the lucky dog as…

YELLOW FLAG lap 134 for debris. The leaders head to pit road. The race back is Hamlin, Stewart, Edwards, Harvick and Truex Jr.

GREEN FLAG lap 139 as Edwards shoots the middle of the leaders as they head into turn one followed by Truex Jr. leaving Stewart in the dust for a moment. Lap 141 Johnson heads to the outside wall in turn one, just misses it while Hamlin slips back a few spots after Edwards takes the lead followed by Truex Jr. and Johnson.

Lap 143 Kahne Challenges Biffle for 7^th.

YELLOW FLAG lap 144 as Hamlin blows his motor on the front straight. Kyle Busch wins his lucky dog position. We are going to be under this caution for some extra laps with the oil on the front stretch. The leaders head to pit road on lap 148. The race out of pit road is won by Stewart who is followed by Edwards, Truex Jr., Johnson and Harvick. We will see about 21 drivers who are wave around drivers. Martin, Mears, Kenseth, Ambrose, Ragan, Smith will go back on the lead lap and Kyle Busch is the lucky dog. This will get us back to 23 drivers on the lead lap.

GREEN FLAG lap 152 as Edwards runs the outside line, Stewart on the inside line.

YELLOW FLAG lap 152 as Biffle makes contact with Newman as they head into turn three. Biffle slides sideways in the middle of the track facing the apron, sliding down into Sadler’s car which shoots him into the outside turn four wall. Kyle Busch and Earnhardt Jr. are missed by inches. Harvick was on the outside of Sadler and may have some slight damage, but we cannot tell yet. Burton is the lucky dog.

We have a whole bunch more wave around drivers.

GREEN FLAG lap 162 as Johnson did what Edwards did on the last restart to take the lead. Lap 163 (halfway) lots of action in the middle of the pack. Lap 166 a few battles as Earnhardt Jr. moves into 10^th. Lap 168 Gordon challenges Kahne for 5^th and takes it coming out of turn two.

Lap 169 Kyle Busch passes Kahne for 6^th. Stewart closes in on Johnson for the lead. Stewart takes it on lap 170. Lap 173 Harvick was running back in 13^th but is on the move once again as he passes Earnhardt Jr. for 10^th. Menard follows Harvick and takes 11^th. Harvick continues his move forward passing Kahne to take 9^th.

Lap 177 Harvick takes 8^th from Montoya. Lap 178 Kyle Busch closes in on McMurray for 6^th. Trouble for McMurray as he picks up a flat tire and just makes it into pit road. Lap 181 battle between Harvick, Kyle Busch and Kahne for 7^th. Harvick takes it.

Lap 182 battle for 4^th place as Truex Jr. holds off Gordon. Lap 183 Gordon takes the position. Lap 185 Stewart has the lead on Johnson by 2.1 seconds and 3.8 seconds over third place Edwards.

Lap 187 we see battles between Kahne and Kyle Busch for 8^th, Bowyer and Martin for 15^th. Our spotlight drivers run with Mears in 26^th, Ambrose 17^th, Logano 31^st and Earnhardt Jr. 10^th.

Lap 193 our movers of the race currently are Harvick 4^th from his start of 29^th, Gordon 5^th from 18^th, Earnhardt Jr. 10^th from 25^th, Burton on a big comeback 11^th from being a lap down and his start of 26^th and Ambrose 16^th from his start of 32^nd.

Lap 196 drivers who have fallen back are Newman 21^st from his start of 2^nd, McMurray 23^rd from 12^th, Reutimann 22^nd from 24^th, Biffle 36^th from 15^th and Hamlin out of the race from the pole position.

Lap 200 (125 to go) your top twenty drivers are Stewart, Johnson, Edwards, Harvick, Gordon, Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Montoya, Kahne, Burton, Earnhardt Jr., Allmendinger, Martin, Bowyer, Ambrose, Speed, Smith, Kurt Busch, Menard and Newman. So far…

YELLOW FLAG lap 201 for Ragan spinning out coming out of turn two. We saw 19 lead changes among 6 drivers and as of now 4 cautions. Kenseth is the lucky dog. The leaders head to pit road. Stewart, Johnson, Edwards, Gordon and Kyle Busch are the top five back to the track.

GREEN FLAG lap 206 as Stewart and Johnson are three wide with Edwards a Kyle Busch pushes him forward. Earnhardt Jr. almost has contact with Ambrose as Earnhardt is 12^th. Lap 208 another three wide between Keselowski, McMurray and Sorenson for 23^rd.

Lap 210 another three wide battle for Kahne, Gordon and Burton for 8^th. Ambrose slipping back to 15^th. Lap 211 Montoya moves past Kyle Busch for 4^th place. Lap 212 Reutimann battle with McMurray for the lucky dog position. Two laps later McMurray has the position.

Lap 213 Stewart begins his move away from Johnson by 1.4 seconds. Lap 219 we have 21 drivers on the lead lap. Down one lap we see McMurray, Reutimann, Sorenson, Mears, and Ragan. Two laps down are Gilliland, Blaney, Elliott and Logano. Three laps down are Labonte and Kvapil. Four laps down are Carpentier and Hornish Jr.

Lap 224 either way back or parked in the garage are Nemechek, McDowell, Conway, Biffle, Yeley, Sadler, Bliss and Hamlin. Lap 225 (100 to go) your top ten drivers are Stewart, Edwards, Montoya, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Truex Jr., Harvick, Kahne, Burton and Allmendinger.

Lap 226 we see Biffle who returned many laps ago limping back out of turn three to pit road. Lap 229 Burton hooks the apron to pass Kahne for 8^th. Lap 235 Biffle is back in the race. Stewart leads Edwards by 2.2 seconds, 3^rd place Montoya by 4.2 seconds, 4^th place Johnson 5.4 seconds and 5^th place Kyle Busch 5.6 seconds.

Lap 246 as the green flag run continues on and drivers are looking way out of shape in the corners. Kyle Busch, Harvick and Johnson are just hanging on from losing control of their cars.

Lap 250 pit stops begin.

YELLOW FLAG lap 253 as we are halfway through the pit stops as Harvick blows a left front tire in turn one after missing pit road entrance then car parts fly off the front fender on the track. We will see how this shakes out for scoring in just a minute as it shows Harvick as the leader and should be down several positions.

Lap 259 NASCAR has Harvick head to pit road for an extra lap to square away the error where we have 19 drivers on the lead lap. We see a few drivers come in to pit road like Gordon and Martin. As most pitted, they do not come back. During the closed pits Harvick came in several times, he will serve a penalty going back to the field.

McMurray is the lucky dog. Ragan, Keselowski will go to the back of the field as well for speeding on pit road.

GREEN FLAG lap 263 as Edwards and Stewart get the show going again. Stewart may have spun his wheels, which allows several drivers to get around. Kyle Busch and Truex Jr. pass to take 2^nd and 3^rd.

YELLLOW FLAG lap 265 as Speed blows his engine in turn three. Sorenson is the lucky dog. Menard takes his car to the garage for an engine issue as well. The field drives around for several laps before pit road is open. The race back is Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Edwards, Kahne and Stewart. Mears is the lucky dog.

GREEN FLAG lap 275 (50 to go) as Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon who remained on the field lead us back to racing. Edwards and Truex Jr. restart back in 8^th. Lap 277 Gordon is passed by Johnson and Edwards who take 4^th and 5^th. Lap 278 Kahne takes second place from Kyle Busch who remained on track.

45 to go as Kahne takes the lead from Kurt Busch. Johnson passes Kyle Busch to take over 4^th place. 44 to go Ambrose passes Newman for 15^th. 43 to go Gordon continues to fall back to 8^th. 42 to go Johnson to challenge Edwards for 2^nd and takes it.

40 to go Johnson closes in on Kahne for the lead. 38 to go coming out of turn two Johnson works on Kahne. By turn three Kahne holds him off. 36 to go it’s a three way battle for the lead between Kahne, Johnson and Edwards.

35 to go Kahne mirror driving to hold Johnson and Edwards back. 33 to go we almost saw Johnson make a pass but was way loose and did not make it. 31 to go Montoya battles with Truex Jr. for 7^th.

YELLOW FLAG with 30 to go as Keselowski is completely sideways and does not hit anything, big time luck for his team. Reutimann is the lucky dog. The field heads to pit road. Edwards is the first back to the track followed by Stewart, Kahne, Johnson and Kurt Busch.

GREEN FLAG with 24 to go Stewart does not spin his wheels like the past few times and takes the lead. Kahne connects into Kurt Busch and is the looser with a flat tire.

YELLOW FLAG and 23 to go as some pieces fly off of Kahne’s car. Ragan is the lucky dog.

20 to go we have Stewart, Edwards, Johnson, Newman, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Truex Jr., Kenseth and Ambrose as the top ten.

GREEN FLAG and 18 to go as Edwards and Stewart lead us again to racing. Stewart spins the tires once again but recovers and has the lead solidly. 16 to go Newman and Johnson battle for 3^rd place with Kurt Busch in tow.

15 to go as this is our battle as Stewart and Edwards leave the field behind.

14 to go it’s game on between Burton and Kyle Busch for 6^th

13 to go as Kurt Busch works the outside and Burton on the inside with a big power save as he passed Kurt Busch in turn four and was almost sideways.

11 to go as Burton moves into 5^th to leave Kyle and Kurt Busch battle for 6^th.

10 to go as Stewart leads Edwards by 1 second. McMurray and Sorenson fight for 14^th.

9 to go it’s Bowyer versus Kurt Busch for 7^th.

8 to go as McMurray has to fight for 15^th with Reutimann.

7 to go Burton closes in on Newman for 4^th place.

6 to go Stewart leads as Burton almost made it past Newman coming out of turn four.

5 to go Stewart over Edwards by 1 second

4 to go Newman has the position as they have to deal with lap down driver Kahne.

3 to go as Newman was pushed out of shape by Kahne.

2 to go Stewart by 1.2 seconds over Edwards

WHITE FLAG for Stewart out of turn four “RING THE BELL BABY” exclaims Stewart.

CHECKERED FLAG for Stewart.

The top ten in overall points are locked in the Chase.

Your top ten finishers were Stewart, Edwards, Johnson, Burton, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Newman, Montoya and Ambrose.

The race lasted for almost four hours. We saw 27 lead changes among 9 leaders and 8 cautions for 53 laps.

Stewart led the most laps with 175, Hamlin led 71. Edwards led 28 and Kahne 16. Kurt Busch and Newman led 10 laps.

The hunt for team sponsors for the Hendrick Motorsports racing stable hit a high and low point last Saturday in Atlanta. First off Rick Hendrick announced that Quaker State Motor Oil was returning as an associate sponsor on all four of his Chevrolet teams and would be the primary sponsor for Mark Martin’s no. 5 team during four races next year.

On the down side Hendrick announced that Jeff Gordon will not be shopping at Walmart next year.

All through out the 2010 racing season Hendrick Motorsports has captured our attention for a variety of reasons. There was Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team who scored five wins in short order only to develop a tail spin that now has them ninth in the championship standings. This is despite the prospects that say he still favored to win five consecutive titles.

Then there was the concern over the performance levels of the Hendrick #88 team and Dale Earnhardt Jr. This was followed by equal performance concerns regarding Mark Martin and the #5 team which is a factor that still surprises many observers.

Let’s not forget about several months of trying to find the company’s new hire, Kasey Kahne, a ride for 2011 while waiting for him to join the #5 team full time in 2012.

Somewhere in the middle of these dramatic moments we all had a tendency to overlook another surprising element from Hendrick Motorsports: four time series champion Jeff Gordon, for the first time in his NASCAR Sprint Cup career, seems to have sponsorship issues.

Out of 36 Sprint Cup points race, plus two special non points events, Gordon is fully sponsored in 2010.. The National Guard signed on as the primary sponsor for eight races, the Pepsi Cola Corporation products signed on for two races and Gordon’s long time sponsor, DuPont Automotive Finishes, signed on as primary for the remainder of the schedule.

However, in recent months, DuPont indicated that wanted to scale back their NASCAR sponsorship program for the 2011 season. Their current contract with the team ends at the end of this year. This is, of course, another testament to the current state of the nation’s economy.

In late July came rumors that Walmart could be the answer to the #24 team’s 2011 sponsorship profile. Yes, Walmart the nation’s number one retailer. The one major corporate entity who, in their illustrious history, has never really expressed much interest in a marketing partnership with major league sports in America. When you think about it, Walmart’s exposure level has been just fine without the wide world of sports.

Typical of their status as the nation’s number one retailer, Walmart interest in NASCAR racing began with a project much larger than just team sponsorship. They are reported to be in negotiations with NASCAR for a direct license agreement. Simply put, Walmart would become NASCAR’s exclusive retailer in the mass market space. Such an agreement could find Walmart using the direct license to select suppliers and set prices on NASCAR themed souvenirs such as hats and T shirts. In effect, the result would be a NASCAR located inside of a Walmart store. It appears that, at this point in time, negotiations for a direct license agreement are still ongoing.

From all this came rumors that Walmart might also be interested in direct team sponsorship. Their Executives reportedly visited many NASCAR Sprint Cup shops in late spring-early summer. Granted, Walmart will need the cooperation of these major teams for the direct license program to work but it was also an opportunity to get an up close look at the teams as individual entities in case an individual sponsorship program was an area they wanted to further explore.

The rumor mill hit a fever pitch and said Hendrick and Walmart executives were in serious talks regarding Gordon’s team. That actually turned out to be true. But on August 25th a statement surfaced indicating that a business relationship between Walmart and the #24 team wasn’t going to happen. The statement came from what was described as an in house company newsletter and stated “while we continue to employ a range of marketing initiatives to deliver our message of Save Money Live Better to our customers this is one we will not be doing.”

During a press conference, held last Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hendrick acknowledged that a sponsor opportunity with Walmart wasn’t going to happen. “You talk to a lot of people, and they were someone we talked to,” he said adding “we got down the road a bit but timing is one of those things, possibly we’ll do something down the road with them but it won’t be next year.”

Hendrick also expressed optimism that the open sponsorship issues for his entire racing stable would be resolved soon and pointed out that many of the companies that he’s dealt with in the past will be returning next year. “We’ll be announcing details in the next 60 days. In the past, you would announce mid year but companies are waiting longer and longer. We plan to have everything done at the end of November.”

Hendrick has every reason to remain optimistic regarding his #24 team. After all, he will be presenting sponsor opportunity for Jeff Gordon, a four time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, a driver who clinched his 2010 berth in the Chase three weeks early and someone who truly has a good chance of making that “drive for five” championship theme a reality. It’s also well known that, when it comes to representing the goodwill needs of a sponsor, Gordon is one of the best ambassadors in the business.

All this means is: he won’t be shopping at Walmart next year.

Mark Martin is one of NASCAR’s most talented drivers. That’s why some of his fans did not complain too much when owner Rick Hendrick made some questionable moves to Martin’s No. 5 team over the offseason, moving engineers from Martin’s team to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr, who struggled in 2009.

Maybe if Martin’s knew how 2010 was going to turn out, the griping would have started earlier.

Martin has had an extremely disappointing 2010 season, he hasn’t found victory lane yet and hasn’t had back to back top ten finishes since Talladega.

Something even more surprising is that the runner-up in last year’s chase, won’t even race for the title this season as Martin was mathematically eliminated from the chase after a terrible 21^st place finish at Atlanta on Sunday.

The 51 year old from Batesville, Arkansas will have to wait until next year to try and get his first Cup title.

Many people point towards the offseason moves as the cause for Mark Martin’s struggles.

Dave Moody has stated numerous times he thinks those changes have had an effect on Martin’s season.

Many drivers would have moaned and groaned about the changes, Mark Martin hasn’t. Deep down it has to bother the heck out of Martin to know his prime years of running for a championship in a Hendrick Motorsports car are dwindling down and in 2010 he won’t even have a shot at it.

Maybe Martin doesn’t care anymore? Some people might say. That is nowhere near the truth. Martin is one of the most passionate people in the sport. He would just sit home and not race if he didn’t care anymore. He’s made his money and his name. Yet, Martin wants that prize that has been o so close for many years.

Martin is a professional. That’s what it comes down to. He understands the team atmosphere at Hendrick Motorsports and understands why the move was made.

Yet his fans are livid. “I want my team back,” one fan screamed on a talk radio show earlier in the week. “We were good last year it wasn’t our fault so why,” the fan continued.  

And Mark Martin continues his silence about the subject. Martin has had his share of distractions this season. Kasey Kahne rumors of taking over the No. 5 car were a distraction to him no doubt. The Jimmie Johnson/Jeff Gordon feud was a distraction as well.

Maybe Martin doesn’t want his comments to be a distraction towards Jimmie Johnson’s and Jeff Gordon’s fight for the championship this season. Maybe Martin’s too professional to blame someone else for his struggles.

Interesting! Maybe Martin doesn’t want certain fans to turn against him with comments like that. Whatever the reason may be it sure is a problem and Martin has been silent about it.

Mark Martin has always been called one of NASCAR’s classiest drivers. This season however, he has shown his classiest side yet.