"Happy Harvick--Bud Shootout Winner"

The 2007 Daytona 500 winner, Kevin Harvick, ended up in victory lane tonight, ending a dearth on on-track activity for the Sprint Cup cars since Homestead last November. Harvick took the lead from then leader Jamie McMurray on the last lap of a green-white-checker restart, which added three laps to the posted 75. McMurray finished second...and Tony Stewart was third. The race was punctuated by 8 caution periods, including a last lap accident which Harvick, McMurray and Stewart avoided. The race saw a record 23 lead changes among 14 drivers. The win was Harvick's first win in five tries. A. J. Allmendinger finished 5th in an RPM Dodge...and the best Toyota (as it was for most of 2008) belonged to Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch (10th). The much ballyhooed debut of Gibbs teammate Joey Logano didn't live up to the hype this evening--the rookie was involved in an early (lap 4) crash with David Ragan, Robby Gordon, and fellow rookie Scott Speed. Logano survived the ARCA event a few minutes prior...which was drawn out by some spectacular crashing...which sent drivers to Halifax Medical Center down the road from the track. Logano finished second to eventual ARCA winner James Buescher.

Tomorrow is Pole Day for the 500...when the 51 cars will take timed laps...that will take some time because cars with restrictor plates don't get up to speed as quickly. The two fastest drivers will lock in a guaranteed 1 & 2 front row. The rest is decided by a mix of results from the Gatorade Duels, qualifying results, past champion provisionals and top 35 points from 2008--that will make your brain hurt at a late hour. So, we'll get some rest, and explain it to you tomorrow morning.

"The Blue Oval Gang--2009"

From left to right around the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid coming to a Ford Store near you:

Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, David Ragan and Carl Edwards (Roush-Fenway Racing)

Bill Elliott (Wood Brothers, partial schedule)

Paul Menard (Yates Racing), Bobby Labonte (Hall of Fame powered by Yates) and Travis Kvapil (Yates)

NASCAR says their sport is strong through the turns...we'll see if all of the confidence heard on the tour is true or just whistling past the graveyard. They took a shot at the IndyCar and American LeMans Series, saying that their commitment to green is just a change of fuel, and that ethanol (when everything is considered) puts more emissions into the air than NASCAR...so says Brian Z. France, NASCAR Chairman/CEO. A bit of tunnel vision from the Maximum Leader.

Lowe's Motor Speedway deserves props for putting this on during the economic hiccup.

We'll rejoin you over the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the American LeMans Sebring test.

"Forgotten Man?"

Jimmie Johnson, 2006 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard winner (and may I remind you, the defending Sprint Cup Champion), sits on the pole for this year's edition. His lap of 181.763 miles an hour around the 2 1/2 mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was good enough for his first ever pole at Indy, 2nd pole of 2008--15th top 10 start of 2008...and of 239 races...the 15th time he's started on the pole. Mark Martin almost nipped Johnson for the pole...he'll share the all Chevy front row with a 181.393 mile an hour lap. Ryan Newman starts 3rd...best of the Dodge Boys at 180.970 miles an hour. Jamie McMurray heads the Blue Oval Ford gang, starting 8th at 180.321 miles an hour. The winner of last year's race--Tony Stewart--is the best of the Toyota crew starting 14th with a speed of 179.480.

Practice for a couple hours beckons.

UPDATE: We're seeing the same thing ESPN folks are seeing on their broadcast of "Happy Hour" final practice--some unusually quick tire wear. Competition VP Robin Pemberton said something about giving the teams an extra set (rights and lefts) of Goodyear Racing Tires. The powers that be (NASCAR Prexy Mike Helton, Pemberton, Series Director John Darby among others) will huddle after the practice finishes. Greg Stucker, Goodyear Racing Marketing Boss, says the teams will have up to 10 sets of tires for the race...and believe they have enough here in Indianapolis to take care of the teams.

We'll join you on raceday with some musings.