The Official "Sirius Speedway" Photo Album

Off The Top Rope

Former Sirius Speedway producer Ryan "El Ryno Grande" Horn mugs for the camera during the recent NASCAR Nationwide Series excursion to Mexico City. Clearly, the locals were extremely impressed!

Boo Who? Burning Busch Tempered By The Flames

Kyle Busch has taken a lot of heat lately.

Since crashing Dale Earnhardt, Jr., out of the lead with just over a lap to go at Richmond International Raceway last Saturday night, NASCAR's most controversial driver has baked in a crucible of public scorn. That kind of heat does one of two things to a person. Either they melt, or they become tempered to a strength they could never have imagined.

Kyle Busch is tempered.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver overcame loose lug nuts, numerous bouts with the wall, and challeges froma handful of determined competitors to conquer the legendary Darlington Raceway Saturday night; his third Sprint Cup win of the season and his eighth of the year in NASCAR's top three series'. The fans boooed lustily as he cut his requisite victory donuts, then amped it up another notch as he emerged from his battered Toyota in Victory Lane. It got seriously loud when he delivered a flourishing, exaggerated bow to the packed Darlington grandstands, saying that the louder they hooted, the faster he would drive.

"I don't care (about the booing)," he said. "I'm here to win. If I win, it just makes them more upset and crying on their way home. Somebody threw a beer can at me. Next time, just make sure it's full so I can enjoy it out there."

Busch is equal parts Cassius Clay, John Rocker and a young Darrell Waltrip; dominating the competition the way very few ever have, then spouting off with a reckless abandon seldom (ever) seen in today's squeaky clean, sponsor-friendly NASCAR. Love him or hate him -- and there are plenty of folks on both sdes of that particular fence -- it's difficult to deny his talent, or ignore the impact he has made on the sport. His eight victories are far and away best of any NASCAR driver this season. He has won in something -– from Late Models to Trucks to Nationwide to Sprint Cup -– in each of the last six weekends, and that streak does not appear ready to end anytime soon.

Kyle Busch is hot, like it or not.

All Labonte, All The Time: If the sponsors approve, it looks like Petty Enterprises could field an all-Labonte team next month, with Terry Labonte joining brother Bobby in a Petty Dodge when Kyle Petty heads to the TNT television booth for the midsummer stretch.

Petty will drive in next weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, with Terry Labonte and Chad McCumbee then splitting time in the car over the next seven races. McCumbee is tentatively scheduled to drive the car at Dover and Chicago, with Labonte handling the other five races.

Labonte would be the most recent former champion not in the Top 35 in owner points, guaranteeing him a starting spot in all five events. The Labonte Brothers have run as teammates once before, when Terry ran five races for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005.

No Rest For The Weary: The NASCAR Nationwide Series is off this weekend for only the second time since Daytona, but a majority of the teams will spend the week testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway. More than 40 drivers from 20-odd different teams are expected to participate in the fourth scheduled Nationwide Series test of the year.

In other testing news, Goodyear has scheduled a tire test at Daytona International Speedway tomorrow and Wednesday, in preparation for the 50th Annual Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night, July 5th. Defending race winner Jamie McMurray will join Mike Skinner and Elliott Sadler as test drivers. No Chevrolet team will take part in this test, as part of Goodyear’s regular manufacturer rotation.

And Finally... If you’re in town for All-Star week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, you might want to check out the NASCAR Collector Memorabilia Show presented by the Racing Collectables Club of America, Saturday at the Embassy Suites, just down the street from Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The show features collectors from all over the country; buying, selling, trading and display everything from die-cast cars and trading cards to racecar sheet metal and more. The show runs from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is open to the public. Tickets at the event are $10, but free tickets can be printed at goracing.com.

A number of NASCAR stars are scheduled to appear, includng Kasey Kahne, Rusty Wallace, “Humpy” Wheeler, Junior Johnson and Terry Labonte. Sirius NASCAR Radio’s NASCAR Collector will originate live from the show from 7-9 a.m., with hosts Mike Storms, Buzz McKim, Tim Trout and Howard Hitchcock. Yours truly and The Morning Drive’s Mike Bagley will emcee the live events throughout the day, so come on out and say hello.

Stewart Says Short Track Deal Does Not Signal Unhappiness With Toyota

Tony Stewart commented yesterday on the rumors surrounding his possible departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, and his alleged dissatisfaction with JGR’s offseason move from Chevrolet to Toyota.

The two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion appeared at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wednesday to help Chevrolet introduce its new midget engine, and while admitting that Chevrolet’s support of his various short-track teams constitutes a personal endorsement of sorts, he scoffed at the suggestion that he is unhappy driving a Toyota for JGR.

"It wasn't weird when we started the (short track) program…and it's not weird now,” he said. “When we started our program, Mopar provided us with engines, and both sides understood."

Stewart once again confirmed that he is talking with other teams about leaving JGR when his contract expires at the end of the 2009 season, and that he has broached the topic of terminating his deal with Gibbs a year early, if the right offer comes along. He also discussed his longtime dream of winning the Indianapolis 500, saying that he doesn’t see a return to Indy happening in the near future.

"I don't know if I'll ever get in an IndyCar again,” he said. “But if that happens, it's going to be a long way down the road, because I have a lot of commitments on the NASCAR side. There's a part of me that thinks running at Indy and in IndyCar is a chapter of my life that is closed. Then there’s the emotional part of me that says, 'Never say never.'”

Stewart said he is not interested in a one-off Indy 500 bid, adding, “I don't want to…show up for the month of May. If I am going to do it, I need to start (in the season opener) at Homestead. I need to run all of the races leading up to the month of May, to really feel like I am being fair to the team and being fair to myself. As long as I'm driving a stock car, that basically takes that part of it out of the equation."

Notes From The Cup Garage

Jamie McMurray topped the speed chart in last night’s final Sprint Cup Series test session at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. His fast lap of 185.720 mph was slower than the 186.245 recorded by Elliott Sadler on Monday night. Ryan Newman was second fastest last night, followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Scott Riggs and rookie Patrick Carpentier. Nearly 50 teams took part in the two-day test.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashed his Chevrolet during the session, dong enough damage to force his retirement for the night. Regan Smith and Kurt Busch also scraped the wall in separate incidents, doing only minor damage.

Park The Black Copter: Denny Hamlin said yesterday that the conspiracy theorists are wrong. Hamlin said his decision to stop on the racetrack after cutting a tire while leading Saturday night at Richmond was made to save his racecar, not to help teammate Kyle Busch. Hamlin said, “I didn't want to risk tearing up the car where we couldn't finish the race. I knew I had to stop, or else we were going to get a DNF. I didn't even know where Kyle was out on the racetrack. For all I know, he was leading the race."

Woods Go Retro: Wood Brothers Racing will field a special 1971 Mercury paint scheme on its #21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion in Saturday night’s Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington. Bill Elliott will drive the car, outfitted with the same candy apple red and white paint and gold numbers that David Pearson drove to five wins and eight poles at Darlington. Pearson recently turned a few laps in the original car, restored to race-ready condition by Leonard Wood after it sat for more than 30 years on display at the Darlington Raceway Museum.

Marlin Back With Ganassi: Sterling Marlin will drive Chip Ganassi Racing’s #40 Dodge Saturday night, while Dario Franchitti continues to recover from the broken left ankle he suffered at Talladega Superspeedway last month. Marlin tested the car Monday and Tuesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Franchitti was fitted for a carbon fiber brace last week, but will sit-out for at least one more week to give the ankle more time to heal. His status will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.

Sorry Kenny: A late change has Johnny Sauter behind the wheel of the #70 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet this weekend at Darlington. The original entry list had Ken Schrader driving, and that was confirmed by last weekend by Competition Director Matt Borland. But an updated Sprint Cup Series entry list for Saturday night’s race now lists Sauter as the driver. He drove for the team at Phoenix and Richmond, qualifying for both races before finishing 37th and 33rd after being swept up in a pair of accidents.

Pot Outbreak In The Cup Garage

There was a whole lot of pot running around the garage Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, and it had nothing to do with NASCAR's embattled substance abuse policy. Rather, it was a case of two "pots" calling the kettle black, in their rush to condemn the late-race actions of Kyle Busch.

"Pot #1" was old friend Jimmy Spencer, who blasted Busch on SPEED's weekly post-race program. As winner Clint Bowyer sprayed champagne in the background, the analyst formerly known as "Mr. Excitement" laid Busch out in lavender, saying the Joe Gibbs Racing driver "made a major, major mistake. He drove in the corner too hard, and he took out Dale Junior. That is...disrespect for your fellow competitor. He did not respect Junior enough to back down a little bit."

Spencer also took the NASCAR On FOX broadcast team of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds to task, accusing them of "political correctness" for categorizing the Busch/Earnhardt incident as a simple racing accident.

With all due respect to Spencer, I'm old enough to remember just about all of his racing career. I watched Jimmy race modifieds around the northeast, before he got the call to the upper echelons of NASCAR. I also saw virtually every race of his Nationwide and Cup Series careers. Nowhere in that 25-year span do I recall Jimmy Spencer ever "backing down" from a battle for the lead, especially with less than two laps to go.

The Jimmy Spencer I remember would rough you up, push you aside, even spin you out if that was what it took to win. He'd also blacken your eye in Victory Lane if you cared to discuss it further. It wasn't "disrespect" with Jimmy. It was good, hard, testosterone-rich racing; something Spencer did as well as anybody out there in his day, and something Kyle Busch is pretty good at today.

"Pot #2" was Michael Waltrip, who blasted Busch with both barrels on Monday night's This Week In NASCAR. "You can't just be that irresponsible," said Waltrip, as footage of the Busch/Earnhardt crash rolled. He called Busch's actions "unacceptable behavior," adding, "You can't just run over the leader and wreck (him)."

Amazingly, this is the same Michael Waltrip who had been thrown out of the race by NASCAR just hours before, for intentionally crashing Casey Mears.

Irresponsible indeed.

Thankfully, Hendrick Motorsports crewchief Chad Knaus was on Monday night's panel as well, and provided a much-needed dose of balance. "Just because (Kyle) has a bit of a cloud around him right now, I don't think you can throw the whole Junior Nation at him," Knaus said.

When the topic eventually turned to Waltrip's own Saturday night transgressions, he attempted to lay the blame on Mears, who triggered Mikey's high-horsepower tantrum by squeezing him into the wall moments before. "What you expect at that level is someone to not make that mistake," sniffed Waltrip, conveniently overlooking the smoke billowing off his rear tires as he pushed a helpless Mears the length of the straightaway.

It wasn't pot smoke, in the literal sense of the word. But it was ironic, in the extreme.

UPS Laying Low For Now: After being linked with a number of different drivers and teams in recent weeks, officials of United Parcel Service released a statement yesterday, saying that they are not currently negotiating with any Sprint Cup team or driver.

Michael Waltrip Racing Vice President Cal Wells said recently that UPS has had preliminary discussions with a half-dozen teams about the 2009 season, and beyond. Roush-Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith confirmed that Saturday, saying that UPS has spoken to a total of six or eight race teams, including Roush-Fenway.

But yesterday, UPS Director of Sponsorship and Events Ron Rogowski said, “As of this date, UPS is not engaged in formal, active sponsorship negotiations with any NASCAR Sprint Cup driver or race team.”

For those of you who don't speak corporat-ese, Rogowski's comments loosely translate to, "Listen guys, we don't want to have to answer questions every two days for the next six months. We're out there, we're looking, and we have talked to a bunch of teams, but we haven't decided what we're going to do yet.

"So please, leave us alone."

Batten Down The Hatches, It's Going To Be A Crazy Week

I spent Sunday afternoon at my favorite local short track; Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, VT. Before I had made it to the pit gate at 9 AM, a fan asked, "Who do you think was at fault in the Kyle Busch/Dale Jr. crash last night?"

"I don't think it was anyone's fault," I replied. "But I know who's going to get blamed!"

Junior and Kyle said essentially the same thing in their respective post-race interviews. Saturday night's late-race tangle was unfortunate, it was regrettable, and it was a racing accident. That view was echoed by eventual winner Clint Bowyer, who had the best view of anyone in the house, and by every TV and radio commentator on site.

The fan reaction, of course, was completely different.

By the time Sirius NASCAR Radio hit the air with it's Post-Race Show mere minutes after the checkered flag, the indignant inhabitants of Earnhardt Nation were lined up 10-deep to vent their collective spleen. Kyle Busch, they said, was Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler and the Unibomber; all rolled into one skinny, detestable little package. They called on NASCAR to throw him out of Saturday night's race, suspend him for his transgressions, or better yet, take him out behind the trailer and have him shot.

It continued for the remainder of the evening, and ramped up again the moment the phone lines reopened on Sunday morning. I'll bet the mortgage that Mike Bagley and David Poole will fill the Monday morning hours with it on "The Morning Drive," followed by four more hours of venom on "Tradin' Paint" with Steve Post and Chocolate Myers. Then it'll be my turn on "Sirius Speedway."

I know what's coming, and I have prepared myself in advance for it:

Caller #1 will ask (with great indignance) when NASCAR is going to "do something about Kyle Busch."

Caller #2 will announce that he Tivo'ed Saturday night's race, and that after 167 viewings of his personal, super-slow-motion replay, he has determined that Busch intentionally turned right to wreck Earnhardt.

Caller #3 will say he wishes Steven Wallace had decked Busch when Shrubby stuck his head in Wallace's car following Friday night's Nationwide Series race.

Caller #4 will opine that Mr. and Mrs. Busch are horrible parents, since both Kurt and Kyle are immature, egotistical, and the greatest threat to our American way of life since the atomic bomb.

Caller #5 will accuse me of being a Kyle apologist; adding that everyone he knows agrees that Busch intentionally took Earnhardt out, and that I am nothing more than a NASCAR mouthpiece.

I will remain calm, composed and tolerant throughout my four-hour ordeal, understanding that at the very least, this most recent controversy will sell a crapperload of tickets for next Saturday night's race at Darlington Raceway.

God Bless America!

Stewart To Haas-CNC; The Plot Thickens

More information has surfaced on the story we first discussed yesterday; that two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart is working on a deal to jump from Joe Gibbs Racing to Haas CNC Racing next season. Both ESPN.com and Sports Illustrated’s website -- SI.com – say Stewart will be given partial ownership in Haas CNC Racing, in exchange for his agreement to drive for the team, beginning in 2008.

Stewart’s contract with JGR runs through the 2009 campaign, making a move before then extremely complicated, if not impossible. Stewart's PR spokesman, Mike Arning, admitted as much yesterday, saying, “He's there this year, and he's there next year. I know for a fact that JGR is interested in retaining Tony for 2010 and beyond. They'd like him to retire at Joe Gibbs Racing. As Tony's said many times, 'Nothing's broke. Why change it?'”

The reports persist, however, saying that Stewart has begun talks with JGR officials to obtain a release from the final year of his contract. Team President J.D. Gibbs made it clear that he expects Stewart to honor his contract to the letter, saying, “The reality is, he's racing here through 2009. There's no ifs, ands or buts about that one. Our stance is he's racing for us through 2009."

The reported deal has Stewart receiving as much as a 50% ownership stake in Haas-CNC Racing, while also being paid to drive one of their two Chevrolets. Haas-CNC General Manager Joe Custer admitted today that he has spoken with several parties about the future of the team, including Stewart's representatives. That admission contradicts the statements of Haas-CNC spokesman Ron Mench, who said yesterday that there has been no communication with Stewart. Custer said that no deal has been reached, but that he would be “interested in discussing a partnership with a driver of (Stewart’s) caliber."

If the move happens, Stewart would return to the Chevrolet camp after a year with Toyota. Many observers point to Stewart’s ongoing relationship with Chevrolet -– which supplies engines to his open wheel midget and sprint car teams -– as a major factor in his decision to bolt JGR. However, Stewart drove JGR Chevrolets for many years, while receiving Mopar engines and financial backing for his short track programs.