"More Texts than Calls; In-N-Out for Kurt"

2009 Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth said he received a lot more texts and e-mails than phone calls. He said that his Sprint Blackberry vibrated like crazy after he won the Daytona 500 last week in the first half hour after the race finished. He thought the David Letterman appearance was cool, but quickly reminded us that the focus had to be turned back to the track and the "rest of the season". Kenseth won here in 2006 and 2007. His teammate Carl Edwards won the rain delayed race last February. Greg Biffle won the February 2005 race here.

We talked with Kurt Busch for next week's "Race-Talk" program earlier today...and the 2004 Sprint Cup champion, like many of us, heads for the iconic In-N-Out hamburger chain for their freshly made products once he gets back to the West Coast and his native Las Vegas. My personal favorite is the "Double-Double, Animal Style" combo. I kid my acquaintances that all the cars I have have an autopilot for the In-N-Out near Los Angeles International Airport on Sepuldeva.

We'll be here for a long day, and post a snapshot from the polesitter for Sunday's West Coast Matinee, later on.

"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.

"Double Back Flips for Cousin Carl; Johnson Storms to 2nd; All But Clinches"

The Roush Fenway Racing brain trust of Jack Roush, left, crew chief Bob Osborne, center, and the winning driver at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards, who moved to 2nd in points behind Jimmie Johnson. Edwards won by 2.68 seconds over Jimmie Johnson to win his 7th race of the 2008 season, and 14th of his 154 race Sprint Cup career--that's not the entire story. Johnson lost a lap because of a pit penalty, fell to 30th...regained the lead lap...and on the final pit stop received four fresh tires...and restarted the race with nine laps to go from 11th. That did not last long, as Johnson picked off every driver but Edwards to finish 2nd...and add to his Sprint Cup point lead. With Texas, Phoenix and Homestead left, Johnson leads Edwards (now second in points) by 183, and Greg Biffle by 185. When asked, both Johnson and Edwards contend that there's lots of racing left, and that anything could happen...a bad day by Johnson at either Texas or Phoenix, or both...and the title will be clinched at Homestead (which is what NASCAR is hoping for). A good day by Johnson, coupled with some Talladega like days by Edwards and Biffle, will see an early clinch.

Edwards likes the Atlanta speedplant...Johnson too, but says it drives like a bigger version of Darlington. The double back flip refers to Edwards' Nationwide Series win on Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park. Edwards always executes a back flip from the roof of his car when he wins.

We're heading back to the office to take care of business the next couple of weeks...and will rejoin you from Homestead.

"Best of The Rest"

What you see here is Greg Biffle's Ford Fusion...getting ready to take the track here at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton (about 20 miles from downtown Atlanta), GA. The track was hit with a "frog-strangler" earlier today...and the track crews are trying to take care of "weepers", which are streamlets of water that percolate through seams in the pavement. If a racing tire were to run over a slick...the effect would be like that of you stepping on an ice cube on a wood floor, and slipping all over the place.

The economy is on the minds of the drivers--make no mistake. Jeff Burton, as he is wont to do, issued a very detailed and clear explanation of how this affects the garage area. So too, the man who drives the #16 Dish TV Ford Fusion. You'll hear more on our "Race-Talk " programs in the coming few weeks.

We'll check back in with a snapshot of the top qualifier (and with lights, the track and NASCAR can go as long as they need to here) after.

"ZMax Dragway No Go; Schumacher Breaks Top Fuel Win Record; Biffle Wins at the Magic Mile; ESPN With Egg on Face with Hornaday Tempest in Teapot"

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  Due to unforseen circumstances I did not get a chance to make the trip to ZMax Dragway at Lowe's Motor Speedway. From everything I can find out--it is a palace for the straight line guys, and yes...someplace I'll put on the 2009 schedule.


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  That meant that I didn't get a chance to see Tony Schumacher win his record breaking 53rd Top Fuel final--that's one more than Joe Amato at 52. The person who succeeds Alan Johnson as Tony's crew chief in 2009 will have some big shoes to fill.


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  You gotta be in it to win it--Greg Biffle picked the right time to break a victory drought...he nipped Jimmie Johnson at the checkered flag at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a/k/a the "Magic Mile". Johnson and "Cousin Carl" Edwards are in a flatfooted tie in points atop the standings...the tie breaker goes to Edwards with 6 wins to Johnson's 4.


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  The Shaun Assael story at ESPN.com on Ron Hornaday's use of a steroid cream and the auspices under which the interview was obtained will strain relations between drivers and the ESPN beat reporters. You might want to check another Blogspot blog, The Daly Planet, for reactions positive and negative to this story.


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  Don't forget to enter our 20th Anniversary Contest.

You DID See A Picture Like This in Late July

Jimmie Johnson dominated the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway, and with served notice that he and Chad Knaus (crew chief) do indeed have something for the Chase. Domination=leading228 of 250 laps. That puts him in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

Top Finishers:

Johnson--Top Chevy

Greg Biffle, 2nd--Top Ford

Denny Hamlin, 3rd--Top Toyota

Kasey Kahne, 8th--Top Dodge

Other Notables:

Point Leader Kyle Busch--7th

Carl Edwards--6th

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.--11th (clinches a spot in the Chase)

Jeff Burton (500th career start)--17th and joins Busch, Edwards, Johnson and Earnhardt, Jr in the Championship Chase, which begins on September 14, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

See you later in the week at the Action Track.

"The Carl, Bob and Jack Show"--Roush wins at Pocono

Is it better to be lucky than good? You might properly direct that question at "Cousin Carl" Edwards and long-time crew chief Bob Osborne. Osborne called his driver into the pits for a tire stop which put him out of the lead (at the time). Osborne and Edwards had a disagreement on the strategy (or lack thereof). After a 41 minute rain delay, Mr. Osborne's strategy reminded one of another denizen of "Happy Valley"--JoPa. Edwards was in the right place at the right time afterward, and had enough to win over a charging Tony Stewart, who would have won the race if it were 10 laps longer. Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson was 3rd. I would not have wanted to be on Kyle Busch's plane this evening--the Sprint Cup point leader lost a lot of his lead because his car ran out of gas two laps from the end...as he was running fourth. So the post race show was entertaining with Jack Roush just sitting back like the "Cat in the Hat".

The points going into Watkins Glen:

Kyle Busch--3059

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.--2883 (-176)

Carl Edwards--2874 (-185)

Jimmie Johnson--2859 (200)

Jeff Burton--2833 (226)

6-12

Jeff Gordon

Kasey Kahne

Greg Biffle

Tony Stewart

Denny Hamlin

Kevin Harvick

Clint Bowyer 2512

Matt Kenseth is 13th at 2501 points.

We'll resume live blogging from the IndyCar event at Infineon Raceway outside Sonoma, California.

New Recordholder Tames Darlington, Beats Old Qualifying Record by 5.7 Miles an Hour

Greg Biffle after putting down a monster lap at the "track too tough to tame" during qualifying for the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway. Biffle put his Ford Fusion on the pole (first of 2008, 5th of his 197 race Sprint Cup career) with a speed of 179.442 miles an hour, beating the past record of Ward Burton, set in March 1996, 173.797 miles an hour. Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts 2nd...and after wadding up two Chad Knaus prepared race cars...Jimmie Johnson, the defending Sprint Cup Champion, will start 3rd. The top forty-one qualifying times were faster than Ward's previous record.

Maybe the most important team members this weekend will be those who pound out the dents...followed closely by the shock and suspension guys...and of course the crew chiefs, who'll need to orchestrate changes over the 501 mile race distance.

The "Iron Maiden"--The 'claw' in the open air "Room of Doom"

Greetings from the Darlington Raceway, a/k/a the track "Too Tough To Tame". What you see here is the template for the new spec "winged wonder" NASCAR Sprint Cup Series vehicle. If you don't conform to those specs, you will lose some serious cash, and perhaps get some time away from the track.

We helped with some radio pool reporting this morning and got a chance to talk with Greg Biffle, who says this track is even tougher to drive than last year. The cars are three seconds faster, which is a significant amount. Biffle says there may be some dust-ups on track Saturday night. The weather forecast does not call for the rain like that which we drove through this morning. How tough? Jimmie Johnson, the defending Sprint Cup Champion, is now practicing in his back-up Lowe's Chevy...after crunching up the rear of his primary machine. The field gets another practice before the pole qualifying later this afternoon.

Biffle's comments on three seconds faster need some perspective. If, say, you were the last car on the lead lap and you run laps of 60 seconds (for illustration, they're faster here) it would take a car that was running laps of 57 seconds 21 laps to catch and pass the last car (running 60 seconds), and put that car a lap down. So the next time you're at a race...take out the old stopwatch and time the car that runs last. Then time the car that runs first. That will put this in terms you can see and understand.

More later.