Earlier this week, Lowe’s Motor Speedway President Humpy Wheeler announced his annual pick to win the All-Star race. He did not step out on too much of a limb, picking Carl Edwards to win the million dollar race. Edwards has won at similar tracks to Lowe’s three times this season, at California, Las Vegas, and Texas. He likely would have won at Atlanta, but blew an engine there.
Edwards may be able to attribute some of his and his teammates’ success to a legal adjustment that his team is making on the cars.
According to many in the garage, Roush-Fenway Racing is installing the rear-end housing (the rear-axle and components) at a slanted angle, to give the cars more grip. Other teams are catching on, as evidenced by the number of slightly crooked cars testing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last week. So far, despite complaints from drivers like Jeff Gordon, NASCAR has not decided to ban the practice.
This, of course, is not the first controversy to surround his team this year. After his win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the lid on the #99’s oil reservoir protector was discovered to be loose, giving him an aerodynamic advantage. Edwards and the team were docked points, fined, and crew chief Bob Osborne was suspended for six weeks. He is now back atop the #99 pit box.
Labonte and McCumbee to share Petty’s #45
Staying retired is just as hard as landing a Cup ride. Two-time Sprint Cup champion Terry Labonte has been chosen by Petty Enterprises to drive for Kyle Petty, while he takes seven races off. Petty will be a broadcaster for TNT during six of those races and he will miss the 7th one to attend his daughter’s wedding.
Labonte will run the car in five of those races, meaning that the #45, which is far outside the top-35 in owner’s points, will have a guaranteed spot in the races, because Labonte would be the most recent champion attempting to qualify for those races.
Texas Terry retired as a full-time driver from Hendrick Motorsports after the 2004 season, but remained with the team and drove a part-time schedule. In 2005, he drove a handful of races for Joe Gibbs Racing’s struggling #11 team, before Denny Hamlin took over that ride. Labonte also drove the first five races for Hall of Fame Racing in the #96 car in 2006, helping guarantee that team a spot in each of those races and thus a spot in the top-35. He also raced Michael Waltip Racing’s #55 on a road course last year, to help that team gain points. His last official race was supposed to be at Texas Motor Speedway in 2006, but he has since run additional races, to help struggling teams. Labonte’s run at Petty means that he will be a teammate to his brother Bobby, who drives the #43.
Chad McCumbee will race at Dover and Chicagoland, the first and last races of Petty’s absence. He has previous experience with the team, having raced at Pocono and Michigan last year when Petty took off, and at Texas this year, when team officials decided to replace Petty with him in the #45. His best finish in those starts is 25th.
Kyle Petty will race in the Coca-Cola 600 next weekend and attempt to make the All-Star race, via the Sprint Challenge, this weekend, before taking off. He will return to action for the Brickyard 400 on July 27th.
In other Petty Enterprises news, the organization will team up with BAM Racing for the Sprint Showdown. The #49 Dodge will run in that race, with Petty crew chief Bill Wilburn and driver Chad McCumbee. Marathon Oil will sponsor the entry. BAM Racing cut back its schedule earlier this season, when a sponsorship deal for the team fell through. That development left driver Ken Schrader without a ride, however…
RCR selects Schrader to run #33 in Coke 600
Maybe BAM Racing’s sponsorship void is the best thing to happen to Ken Schrader in a while. Since he lost a chance to drive with that team, he has had the opportunity to drive in better equipment, piloting both the #70 Hass-CNC Chevy and the #40 Chip Ganassi Dodge. The Hass team fired Jeremy Mayfield and has used a tandem of drivers since and Dario Franchitti is injured, giving Schrader and others a chance to drive the #40 car.
This week, Richard Childress Racing announced that Schrader will pilot the #33 Camping World Chevy, a fourth RCR entry, in the Coca-Cola 600. Schrader won the fall race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 1989, driving for Rick Hendrick.
Franchitti still injured, #40 skipping Sprint Showdown; Sauter in #70
Doctors have not yet cleared Dario Franchitti to return to the racetrack. The 2007 IRL champion will still sit on the sidelines, despite having been fitted for a carbon fiber brace for his broken ankle. There is still no timetable for his return
In light of absence, his team, the #40, of Chip Ganassi Racing, has elected to skip the All-Star race festivities. The team has been under-funded for the entire season and likely is saving its resources for points-paying races.
The team does have a sponsor for the Coca-Cola 600, as Nintendo Wii and Target have formed a partnership for a one-race sponsorship. Nintendo and Target are also sponsoring another Ganassi team in the Indy 500.
Hass-CNC and Johnny Sauter will team up again for the Sprint All-Star Race weekend. The #70 Chevy will race in the Sprint Challenge, where the top two finishers transfer to the All-Star race. Sauter transferred to the big race last year, finishing 2nd behind Martin Turex Jr.
Truck Series returns at Lowes
The Craftsman Truck Series has had a relaxing schedule for this first third of the season, but that is about to change, as the teams prepare for a seven consecutive weekend stretch of races, beginning in Charlotte.
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 is on Friday night at 7 p.m. All of the action can be seen on Speed Channel.
Last year’s champ Ron Hornaday leads the Truck points standings by 61 over Rick Crawford, who is just 10 points in front of 2006 champion Todd Bodine. Kyle Busch, who is now 6th in the standings, after missing the Kansas race, will return in the #51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota. He has two Truck Series wins this year.
Stripes earned by Georgia boys at Darlington; Ragan in Chase contention
David Ragan obviously does not believe in “the sophomore slump”. He has turned many heads in the garage and around the nation with his performance improvement this season. Darlington was no exception, as Ragan lead the #6 AAA Ford to his 2nd top-five in three races, with a solid 5th place finish. He ran up front for much of the night and managed to bring the car home with minimal damage. Kyle Busch, despite having more damage than Ragan, won the Dodge Challenger 500 handily. Busch now leads the standings by 79 points over Jeff Burton.
Ragan’s pit crew gained him several spots with fast stops during the race. These factors, combined with lousy luck amongst some current Chase contenders, allowed Ragan to move to 12th in the driver’s points, the cut-off for the Chase for the Cup. He is just two points ahead of Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne and 42 points behind his teammate Greg Biffle.
Darlington was more dismal for the other Georgia Cup entries. Bill Elliott brought the retro-schemed #21 Motorcraft Ford home several laps down in 30th and Reed Sorenson and the #41 Target Dodge struggled to finish 32nd.
Ragan’s luck meter ran a little bit lower in the Nationwide Series race at Darlington, as the #6 Discount Tire Ford got caught up in a late race wreck, sending Ragan home with a 27th place finish and a two spot drop in the points to 6th. Tony Stewart won the race, the sixth consecutive win for Joe Gibbs Racing in the series and their 8th this year. Clint Bowyer leads the points by 112 over Kyle Busch.
Canton’s Chase Miller is starting to gain some attention himself, as he finished a solid 8th place in his first run at Darlington Nationwide Series race.
Nationwide teams gain insurance during Lowe’s testing
To no one’s surprise, Carl Edwards ran some hot laps during the NNS test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this week, turning a fastest lap of 182.710 mph. Chase Miller turned some more heads, pounding out the 2nd fastest overall lap, followed by his teammate Kasey Kahne. Jason Keller and Edwards again in another #60 car, rounded out the top-5 speeds.
More bad news for the #21 RCR team
Richard Childress Racing will no longer continue to field the #21 Chevy this season, unless the team can find a sponsor. The car, shared by Bobby Labonte and Stephen Leight, has run a blank, black paint scheme, similar to Dale Earnhardt’s, in almost every race this year, with sub-par results. If a sponsor is found for some or all of the races, no decision has been made as to which driver will race the car.
Kevin Harvick drove the #21 in the Nationwide Series for several years on either a full or part-time basis, winning the 2006 championship and many races. He now has chosen to race solely for his own team, Kevin Harvick Inc. Before this season, the #21 had changed sponsors every year for the last three years. RCR will now focus its Nationwide Series efforts solely on the standings-leading #2 BB&T Chevy, driven by Clint Bowyer.
Jarrett rides into the sunset
Dale Jarrett races for the final time in Saturday night’s All-Star race. He will return to the #44 UPS Toyota, as he is guaranteed a spot in the race. David Reutimann will return to the #00 Aaron’s car and try to race his way into the All-Star race in the Sprint Challenge. Michael McDowell will get back in the #00 driver’s seat in the Coca-Cola 600.
Tune in to the Bellamy Strickland 120 with Captain Herb Emory for the latest All-Star race updates from Lowe’s Motor Speedway, this Saturday, from 2-4 p.m., on News/Talk 750 WSB and online at wsbradio.com.
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