"OK, I'd Like to Be At the Race Track, Driving the Fastest Car"

At 50 years, 197 days, Mark Martin becomes the oldest pole winner of a major auto racing event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, by winning the pole for Sunday's 16th running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. NASCAR'S hottest driver with four victories, and now four poles this season, qualified first with a lap of 182.054 miles an hour--49.436 seconds to go 2 1/2 miles. Starting alongside Martin is 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya, at 180.083 miles an hour.

The caption is a quote from Martin's press briefing after picking up the pole award, and being asked about his mind set after a couple years of semi-retirement.

The series point leader, Tony Stewart, will start from the 7th position. Stewart has two Brickyard wins.

Montoya can help owner Chip Ganassi make some racing history. If he wins, Montoya will be the only driver in Indy history to notch a victory in the two major auto racing events. Montoya has competed in the 500, the 400 and the Formula One US Grand Prix here. Scott Speed competed in both the Grand Prix, and will now compete in the 400.

Happy Hour and a Half awaits. I'll continue to Tweet any updates.

"Wiiiings on the Pole"

Brian Vickers won the pole for the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, with what he described as an almost perfect lap of 183.439 miles an hour around the 2 mile oval, which seemed to have more participants than spectators on this second day of festivities--the traditional pole day for the Sprint Cup cars. Upon further review by his Red Bull Toyota team, the engine was found to be lacking and was slated to be replaced. This will, if it happens, do two things: it elevates three time and defending Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson to the point when the green flag falls on Sunday, because if Vickers' team does replace the engine, Vickers will be placed in the rear of the field after taking a lap as the pole sitter. That change will also move Jamie McMurray to second for the start. McMurray drives for Roush Fenway Racing--with four victories in the last four years. The rest of the "Roushketeers"--Greg Biffle 5th (starts 4th); David Ragan 13th (starts 12th); pointleader Matt Kenseth 24th (23rd) and last year's winner, Cousin Carl Edwards 25th (24th).

Kurt Busch would move to third starting spot as a result. This is, of course, contingent on no one else having to go to the rear of the field.

The Dale Earnhardt, Jr. vs Brian Vickers controversy is getting old. Both drivers talked about it. The Italians have a word for all of this: "Basta!" (Enough, already!).

Rookie Scott Speed was the fastest rookie, and will start 9th (8th); fellow rookie Joey Logano takes the green from 34th (33rd).

We'll rejoin you on Sunday for the Matinee.

"Buzzie's Kid on Pole; Red Bull 2nd; Champ starts 30th--Cousin Carl 4th..and still no wins for Kevin 'Happy' Harvick"

David Reutimann (son of Northeast modified legend Buzzie Reutimann) won his first pole in Sprint Cup competition for the season ending Ford 400 at Homestead, with a lap timed at 171.636 miles an hour. Scott Speed jumped into the Red Bull #83 car and proceeded to put it on the front row...while teammate Brian Vickers drove the #84 Red Bull car to a 20th starting position (all about the points for 2009--very important for Speed...since he'll be a rookie without any NASCAR testing).

As for the points race...Jimmie Johnson didn't qualify well...but they don't pay points for qualifying. Johnson will start the race 30th...and if he finishes there, he locks out "Cousin Carl" Edwards, who starts from the outside of Row Number 2 (4th).

What is interesting here, is that the #29 car (pictured above) of Kevin "Happy" Harvick, has yet to visit Victory Lane in 2008..."Happy" starts 5th. The other surprising non winners are Matt Kenseth (3rd) and Jeff Gordon (37th).

But Wait, There's (Really) More: The NASCAR testing ban goes into effect on January 1, 2009. Like all other NASCAR rules, it is written in pencil, with a big eraser. To hear major domo Mike Helton explain, the ban will supposedly save teams 100K per test per car--almost 100 million dollars over the entire industry. No tests can occur at NASCAR sanctioned tracks. Will tests occur? The tire supplier--Goodyear--will continue their program, and benevolent NASCAR will jawbone racing boss Stu Grant to make sure all teams are represented fairly--Stu says no problem.

Fairness is supposedly a part of NASCAR's decision loop. Fairness would dictate a rules freeze for 2009. Fairness and NASCAR are, in reality, mutually exclusive terms.

We'll post some comments and snapshots from the Ford 400.

Also...there will be a very trying time for the industry beginning Monday. NASCAR teams are expected to begin layoffs and downsizing once they return to North Carolina. This downsizing will spread--no doubt--to the way the series is covered by print and broadcast media outlets.

JJ "Has Somethin' For 'em at the Tricky Trioval"

This result happened last weekend at Indianapolis...so for the second time in a week...Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin will start first and second for this weekend's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway--a/k/a the "Tricky Trioval". Maybe the race at Chicagoland Speedway (where Johnson was beaten by point leader Kyle Busch) served as a defining moment--where crewchief Chad Knaus and JJ said "enough". The Knaus crew had to replace some balky shifter mechanisms before Johnson went to qualify...Mark Martin was fast at 167.560 miles an hour. Johnson put his Lowe's Chevy Impala SS on the pole with a lap of 168.215 miles an hour. Johnson's key to this race is tire management--during qualifying, drivers want to beat the snot out of the tires, because this 2 1/2 mile trioval is very abrasive. During the race, drivers want to conserve tires, because the track is so abrasive. Kasey Kahne will start the race 7th in his Budmobile (Dodge Charger). The point leader, Kyle Busch, struggled in practice, and didn't find a lot more speed in qualifying, so he'll start 27th out of 43 cars.

ARCA Note: Scott Speed is making the transition to full fendered cars with style...he's on the pole for Saturday's ARCA race. I wonder what might have happened had he been allowed to get a couple of years testing for the main Red Bull team in F1--and then try his hand. Dieter Mateschitz is a good judge of talent, IMO.