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* WENDESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2007 12 JHBPHi i 5 --•- 1 .-,a,;. .. JHHIIM| JpiMHPMHPHBBBHIMMh^ ■ M ■ »\ JM ißtJi Hn a Jy flf VB ON-THE-TUBE- AH times Eastern Nextel Cup Life Lock 400, 1 p.m., Sunday Buech Series Yellow Transportation ■UB# II 2 300,3 p.m., Saturday Truck Series /MMMT Mountain Dew 250, Afrffffit/ _ _ - . « CHAMNMI. 3:30 p.m., Oct. 6 ■ BURNING ISSUES Dale Earnhardt Jr. said it's go ing to take 15 years to get the full potential out of the Car of Tomorrow. So maybe tomorrow isn't here yet, after all. * Talladega figures to be a cru cial test for the COT, which has never been raced on a track larger than Darlington (1.366 miles) or on one where restric tor plates are used. S> Both Clint Bowyer and Carl Ed wards would rather win at Kansas Speedway than any where else. Bowyer, from Empo ria, Kan., and Edwards, from Co lumbia, Mo., won the two races leading up to the one at their home track. *■ The COT was designed in part to reduce the effect of “aero push,” the phenomenon that of ten gives the vehicle out front a distinct advantage. At least for now, it seems as if aero push is greater in COTs than in the oth er design. * Twenty-eight of the final 41 laps in Dover’s Nextel Cup race were run under caution, thanks to a succession of crashes. The Busch race was even more mgrred by crashes. ► The topsy-turvy results of the Dodge Dealers 400 tightened the Nextel Cup points standings at the top. Pending any action taken against Edwards’ winning team, the top four were separat ed by four points. ► The overall range from first to 12th increased from 102 points to 158, however. Eighteen points separated the top six drivers, but from seventh place on back, the Chase morphed into a game of catch-up. The championship can be won by consistency, as Tony Stewart proved in 2005 when he claimed the title even though he didn’t win any of the final 10 races. ► The likelihood, however, is that each of the 12 Chase partici pants will suffer at least one bad race. A driver who visits vic tory lane several times can probably afford a couple of bad showings. - WHO’S H &&m. AND WHO’S NOT •* E* v ► Who’s hot Carl Ed wards, from Columbia, Mo., and Clint Bowyer, from Empo ria, Kan., have won the races leading up to Edwards the race at their home track, Kansas Speedway. ► Who's not Denny Hamlin lost 76 points in the Chase, and Kurt Busch dropped 49. But it's early yet, and there's plenty of time to recover. The Points Race Nextel Cup 1. Jeff Gordon 5,340 2. Tony Stewart - 2 3. Carl Edwards - 3 4. Jimmie Johnson -jl 8. Kyle Busch -10 3. Clint Bowyer -18 7. Martin Truex Jr. 46 8. Jeff Burton -75 9. Kevin Harvick ■ 115 10. Matt Kenseth 116 3UL Kurt Busch -151 12. Denny Hamlin 158 Busch Series 1. Carl Edwards 4,153 2. David Reutlmann - 754 3. Kevin Harvick 888 4. Jason Leffler 908 6. David Ragan* -1,065 6. Bobby Hamilton Jr. -1,107 7. Greg Biffle 1,234 8. Marcos Ambrose* -1,255 9. Stephen Leicht -1,322 10. Mike Wallace -1,352 Craftsman Truck Series ■L. Mike SWnner 3.064 3. Ron Hornaday Jr. 3. Travis Kvapil -181 4. Todd Bodlne -314 5. Johnny Benson 398 0 ■ Race: Life Lock 400 ■ Where: Kansas (City, Kan.) Speedway (1.5 miles), 267 laps/400.5 miles. ■ When: Sunday, Sept. 30 ■ Last year's winner: Tony Stewart ■ Qualifying record: Matt Kenseth, Ford, 180.856 mph, Oct. 8, 2005. ■ Race record: Mark Martin, Ford, 137.774 mph, Oct. 9, 2005. ■ Last week: For an hour or so, Carl Edwards and his No. 99 Ford stood out like a beacon over the ravaged grounds of Dover International Speedway. For one bright, shining moment, it was Camelot. But Edwards, whose third win of the season WHAT’ SU PN EXT Greg Biffle - r ipw . ;,v" ' - - 11 yS KuJ mm Id mi 4 WKmmMS m I |y 1 jfl m § /§§ John Clark/NASCAR This Week Greg Biffle says that NASCAR Is becoming more like Formula One - less emphasis on driving and more on technology. Biffle’s Baffled Veteran says NASCAR technology is spinning out of control fast By Monte Dutton NASCAR This Week DOVER, Del. As a driver, Greg Biffle fits the racer’s cliche “up on the wheel,” but times are changing, and Biffle is concerned that stock-car rac ing is losing its identity in a way that isn’t being widely perceived. Biffle frets about technology spin ning out of control. “This sport ... is changing really fast,” he Said. “I’ll be interested to see, over the next 10 years, how it changes. I think it will change even more. “We’ve entered a whole new era out here. That’s going to change the way a car drives and the way a guy drives it. It’s going to change where dominant, successful drivers come from in the Cup Series. We’re experiencing a his toric departure.” Biffle isn’t worried about Formula One drivers in NASCAR. He’s worried about FI technology. Until recent years, a key factor in Drivers change, but the beers remain the same By Monte Dutton NASCAR This Week DOVER, Del. - Kurt Busch succeeded Rusty Wallace in 2006 as Miller Lite’s represen tative in NASCAR, and he was asked about the prospect of Kasey Kahne succeeding Dale Earnhardt Jr. as driver of “the Budweiser car.” “Things develop over time,” said Busch, “and I think people are receptive to change when things take time to develop. ... No one guy is going to replace Rusty (Wallace) with the same impact Rusty had developed with the Miller Brewing Com pany over the years. “The same thing falls into place with Dale Jr. leading that other beer company as long as he did, ... so it’s going to take Kasey (Kahne) some time to develop into that guy and the fans to look at him as that guy. In time it will balance out. He definitely is one of those quiet, shy guys, with probably the loudest sponsor there is.” ► If you have a question or a comment, write: NASCAR This Week, c/o The Gaston Gazette, RO. Box 1538, Gastonia, NC 28053 - semes will undoubtedly stand, left the scene blissfully unaware of the fact that his winning car had flunked post-race inspection. According to NASCAR officials, the right rear corner of his car was a half inch too low. It was a fitting end to the most flawed and blemished of Nextel Cup races. Following the estab lished pattern, NASCAR will al most certainly do something to Edwards and owner Jack Roush, but not much. Edwards won the race comfortably, fin ishing .671 of a second ahead of Roush Fenway Racing team mate Greg Biffle and covering the field so thoroughly that only five other cars even finished on the lead lap. HNBTO»ANB»BQtaF6* Not the prevailing view Jimmie Johnson, who has two teammates in the Chase, said he doesn’t believe it’s an advantage. “I’ve been through some dif ferent scenarios,” he said, "and I feel like, when you’re the only guy in the Chase (from one team), there’s a little bit more of an advantage because it’s to the company’s best interest that you win the Chase. Grant ed, the engines are all the same, but you get the engine with a couple more horsepow er. You get all the focus. “There are some small deci sions that can be made to give that one teammate just a little bit of an advantage, not a lot, not something that you can probably measure, but it does make a small difference.” It’s time Robert Yates talked about his decision to re-, tire and turn his team over to son Doug. BUSCH SERIFS ] ■ Race: Yellow Transporta tion 300 ■ Where: Kansas (City, Kan.) Speedway (1.5 miles), 200 laps/300 miles. ■ When: Saturday, Sept. 29 ■ Last year's winner: Kevin Harvick ■ Qualifying record: Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 178.938 mph, Oct. 8, 2005. ■ Race record: Jeff Green, Ford, 129.125 mph, Sept. 29, 2001. ■ Last week: Denny Hamlin fought off flu symptoms and won the race at Dover International Speedway. IN SPQTUGHT Nextel Cup Series success was the ability of a driver to communicate to his mechanics the proper feel of a car. Now it’s flip flopped. Highly detailed computer models determine the fastest way around the track, and finding a driver who can adapt to what is essentially predetermined is now crucial. “Some people deny that fact,” said Biffle, “and say, yeah, it might help. No. We were at Loudon (N.H.) last week, and the engineer, who has all the simulation stuff in Michigan, could determine what it was going to do to change the front sway bar better than what we could determine at the track. “Everything I can tell from the seat of my pants and I tell them to do to the car is totally wrong. If you want FI technology in the United States, in NASCAR, you have it now. The seven post shaker rigs and the simulation stuff that we have now is better than us coming to the race track.” Biffle thinks NASCAR doesn’t realize the implications of what’s happening. GRAFTSMANTRUCJ^ ■ Race: Mountain Dew 250 ■ Where: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66 miles), 94 laps/250.4 miles. ■ When: Saturday, Oct. 6 ■ Last year's winner: Mark Martin ■ Qualifying record: Mark Martin, Ford, 182.320 mph, Oct. 6, 2006. ■ Race record: Mark Mar tin, Ford, 138.207 mph, Oct. 7, 2006. ■ Last week: Travis Kvapil drove a Ford to victory at Las Vegas Motor Speed way. No. 16 Nintendo Wii Ford “The kids do so much better when it’s their decisions, when they have to tough through it,” he saidl’Tt’s just hard to pass the wisdom. It’s hard to pass on anything to your kids, but Doug Yates is pretty close on my heels to help build this the last 20 or so years. “He’s not like a normal sec ond-generation, silver-spoon kid, but he’s learning. He wants to do this, and the best thing for me to do is let him make these decisions, whether it be the number or how he runs or what he does. It’s up to Doug.” Survivor Jeff Gordon summed up Sunday’s slugfest this way: “It wasn't pretty, but it was effective because we survived and a lot of people didn't. What this race is about is survival. We certainly didn't have the car we hoped to.” Copycats Jeff Burton passed up an opportunity to “NASCAR doesn’t know it’s that dras tic of a swing right now, but that’s the whole stock-car deal,” he said. “I think, over the next year, they’re going to be disappointed with how much engineer ing and data is driving these cars. “They need to get their arms around the data-acquisition stuff. I’m not say ing we don’t need to have data at tests, but it’s gotten out of hand quickly, and I don’t know what the solution is. I think there’s a tidal wave coming. Un til three weeks ago, I didn’t realize it. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is no longer what people think it is.” Two years ago, Biffle was runner-up for the Nextel Cup championship. The Vancouver, Wash., native has been rookie of the year and champion in two of NASCAR's three major series. He is the only driver to win champi onships in both the Craftsman Truck (2000) and Busch (2002) series. Want to read more from Monte Dutton? Check out http//www.gas tongazette.com/sections/sports/nascar praise the impending arrival of more internationally known drivers for instance, Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti and Scott Speed —■ in NASCAR. “This sport has been a mon key-see, monkey-do sport for a long time,” he said, calling Nextel Cup “a copycat series.” While Burton conceded that having drivers of international renown compete in NASCAR is a compliment to NASCAR's growth, Burton said, “There’s not much innovation in that driver search.” A dynamic world Kyle Busch said the year has made him a better man. Busch is moving to Joe Gibbs Racing next year after being shoved out the Hendrick door to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. “It’s been a learning experi ence,” he said. “It’s been some thing different. I'm still build ing on trying to make sure we finish out the year strong and that we’re able to compete for the championship. Sept. 30 "jf Fmjgtu Distance: 1.5 mile oval ' Length of frontstreteb: 2,685 ft., XJm Length of backstretch: 2,207 ft | gag, Mites/Laps: 501 mi. - 334 laps CT I | HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL FEUD OF THE WEEK V E R S U S Hamlin Denny Hamlin vs. Kyle Petty The second-year sensation and the veteran clashed on the track and in the garage, as Petty was so infuri ated at Hamlin that he interspersed his lecture with a forceful tag of Hamlin’s helmet visor. “I watched the Busch race (which Hamlin won), and I know Denny (Hamlin) was sick,"said Petty. “I just didn’t know he was hallucinating and needed three lanes to get up off the corner, because he ran all over me.” Retort ed Hamlin, “I know Kyle (Petty) gets run over a lot, and a lot of the rea son is that he's so far off the pace.” NASCAR This Week's Monte Dutton gives his take: “Sometimes It’s hard to come up with a weekly feud. Sometimes it's hard to come up with just one.” FAN TIRS Kids get quite a deal at Martinsville this season Martinsville Speedway is offering a kids’ ticket deal for the Oct. 21 Subway 500. When an adult purchas es a regularly priced ticket on the back straight, kids .12 and under get in free. The child's ticket must be picked up at the ticket office when the adult ticket is purchased. All chil dren need reserved tickets to get into the backstretch grandstands, so when buying adult tickets, please make the ticket agent aware of the number of children's tickets needed. Adult tickets on the back straight are $47 and $42 and may be purchased by calling 1-877-RACETIX or online at www. racet ickets. com. *t€TT€RSfROM-OURfIEAP£ftS» Not exactly a big fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr. (We) don't know why Hendrick let Kyle Busch go and hired Dale (Earn hardt) Jr. Busch is a much better driver. Not everyone likes Earnhardt. (We) hope Busch does a super job for someone else, and Earnhardt goes down the crapper like the last year and so far this year. Mr. and Mrs. William Kidder Jr. Paisley, Fla. You certainly have the right to your opinion, and you're right about Kyle Busch being a very talented driver. “The biggest thing is that you grow as a person. I’m 22 years old, so I’ve got plenty of room to grow as a person and under stand the dynamics of this work, I guess. That’s just part of it.” Smokey Yunick Award Roger Penske, a champion as both a driver and car owner, will receive LMS’ Smokey Yu nick Award in ceremonies be fore the Bank of America 500. Penske’s teams have won 20 national championships in vari ous series, NASCAR being a notable exception. Penske Rac ing fields the Dodges of Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman. “Roger Penske has been rac ing since 1958,” said LMS pres ident Humpy Wheeler, “and his businesslike approach to the sport established the template from which today’s race teams operate. “Roger’s leadership has had a far-reaching impact on the in dustry, and he’s played a major role in elevating motorsports to the status it enjoys today.” Petty