Allmendinger wins Kansas pole despite late draw

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Despite a late draw on a slick track that warmed throughout Saturday's qualifying session, AJ Allmendinger claimed the pole for Sunday's STP 400 at Kansas Speedway, posting a lap at 175.993 mph (30.683 seconds). In winning the second Coors Light pole award of his career, his first since 2010 at Phoenix and his first since joining Penske Racing this season, Allmendinger edged Kevin Harvick (175.747 mph) by .043 seconds at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway, which will begin a facelift -- repaving and reconfiguration -- as soon as Sunday's race is over. Lineup | Practice 1 | Practice 2 Joey Logano, the first driver to make a qualifying run, was third fastest at 175.724 mph but must start from the rear on Sunday because of an engine change during Friday's practice session. Denny Hamlin, Logano's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, claimed the fourth starting spot at 175.667 mph, with Mark Martin (175.484 mph) posting the fifth-fastest lap. In a disappointing session for the Fords, Sprint Cup points leader Greg Biffle qualified 17th at 174.706 mph, the fastest of all the Ford drivers. After finishing second at Martinsville to Ryan Newman in the sixth Cup race of the season, Allmendinger was gratified to continue the momentum for his No. 22 Penske Racing team. "More than anything, I put so much pressure on my shoulders to go out there and perform," Allmendinger said. "They [his Penske team] are used to winning, running up front, getting poles. It's good just to build momentum. "So, hopefully, we have a solid 400 miles. It's good, but we know the bigger picture's on Sunday, and I'm happy to be part of the team." Out Front: Miss Coors Light talks with Allmendinger Harvick knew he had a good lap going but said he might have gotten overly excited in the second set of corners. "That might have cost us the pole, but overall it's been a great year for us qualifying-wise so far," Harvick said. "The cars have been fast every week, and as soon as we put together a whole weekend without me making a mistake or things not going exactly right, I think everything's going to come together nicely. "So I'm pretty happy with the way everything's gone so far this year." Tim Andrews, Jeff Green and Tony Raines failed to qualify for the 43-car field.

Roushketeers run Texas

There were three distinct favorites for the Goody's Fast Relief 500 and they all ran strong during the course of the race. Last year, the same predictability was evident at Texas Motor Speedway as three drivers swept the top five. Equally important, these three drivers shared a car owner and that suggests the Roush Fenway organization has a great set of notes from which to work.

When a group of drivers dominates like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have at Martinsville or the Roushketeers have at Texas, fantasy owners are met with a different challenge than most weeks. If they place the favorites on their roster, it is impossible to make up ground on the competition unless circumstances alter the finish of the race like they did in the Goody's Fast Relief 500. Playing the long odds is equally dangerous because Gordon and Johnson were destined to finish first and second before David Reutimann stalled on track and brought out a late-race caution.




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Success predicts success

Texas provides a unique solution. While it is true that Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards will be heavily favored, there are a number of other drivers for a variety of teams who have been consistently strong. Last year, two drivers who were not racing for Roush Fenway swept the top 10 and another five earned back-to-back top-15s.*

There is an even greater reason to limit the statistical pool to a driver's Texas record. Last year, 35 racers competed in both events on this track and from the very top of the order to the middle of the pack, and they backed up one run with a similar one later in the season. Edwards and Biffle's top-five finishes in both races were within a single position of one another. Edwards finished third in the spring Samsung Mobile 500 and second in the fall AAA Texas 500; Biffle finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Casey Mears was 26th in the spring and 25th in the fall, and four other drivers finished within two positions in the pair of races. In total, nearly two-thirds of the drivers competing in both Texas events last year finished the fall race within seven spots of their spring effort. It is hard to find a track with a greater degree of consistency.

The Favorites

The three current Roushketeers were not only among the most consistent drivers last year, they were the strongest. All three swept the top five and all of them finished the AAA Texas 500 within three spots of their spring effort. Just as important, the group carried that momentum over from previous seasons, which gives them a balance of recent momentum and career strength.

Kenseth may very well be the strongest of the three at Texas. His victory in this race last year was the second on this track during his career, but the first since 2002. He wasn't simply logging laps in the intervening years, however; the driver of the No. 17 earned four runner-up finishes from 2006 through 2010, as well as another two third-place results. In his last 13 attempts, he has amassed nine top-fives and finished worse than 12th only once. Moreover, he's earned these results despite a variety of circumstances that include green-white-checkered finishes, fuel mileage races and rain-delayed events. That tells fantasy owners that Kenseth and crew are capable of adjusting to any condition, and it makes him a must have racer.

Biffle should also be on nearly every roster, even if that means fantasy owners have to take a gamble and add an extra mid-cap driver. Like Kenseth, he enters the weekend with a three-race top-five streak and his string of top-10s goes back even further than his teammate. The No. 17 stumbled once in the last three years, but Biffle is riding a current wave of seven consecutive top-10s; most of these results were also top-fives, so while he has struggled on other tracks, this has been one of his safe harbors.

Logically, as the third driver to sweep the top five last year, Edwards should round-out the list of favorites. But fantasy owners might want to look a little deeper in the record book to select their third driver. Look back to 1998 and Texas is the sight of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s first Nationwide series win in the Coca-Cola 300. This is also the sight of his first Cup victory in the 2000 DirecTV 500, and he came close to repeating it in 2002 when he finished second to Ryan Newman. This has long been one of his favorite tracks and that continued through last year. While he struggled periodically in 2011, he was one of five drivers to sweep the top 10 at Texas. Jump ahead to this season, and he's running as strong as ever; Earnhardt could break his long winless drought this weekend if he and crew chief Steve Letarte can keep up with the No. 88's adjustments.






Texas

Brad Keselowksi helps pick the studs and duds this week.
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Dark Horses

Clint Bowyer is the fifth and remaining driver to sweep the top 10 at Texas last year. At the start of this season, fantasy owners greeted his move to Michael Waltrip Racing with caution because Bowyer was leaving one of the marquee teams in racing for one with fewer resources. In NASCAR's age of parity, however, the amount of money spent on a car has diminished in importance and driver skill is taking a front seat. Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Mark Martin are making a difference in the cockpit of their Toyotas, and they should be judged by their records instead of the perceived value of their organization. Bowyer's second-place finish in this race last year was a great feat in itself and it was confirmed by a ninth-place finish in the AAA Texas 500. This season, Bowyer has nearly swept the top 15 again in the first six races and the only time he stumbled was at Phoenix after cutting two tires in the opening laps of the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

Fast tracks like Texas should not be particularly kind to dark horses, but they have run well on this course in the last couple of years. Paul Menard has run consistently strong in his last three events and given his modest salary cap, he could be the most pleasant surprise of the week. He finished 10th in the fall 2010 race, improved to fifth at Texas in spring 2010 and completed a sweep of the top 15 during the fall. He has not lived up to his potential in the last two races of 2012 -- with a 19th at Auto Club and a 26th at Martinsville -- but he started the year with three top-10s in his first four attempts. Menard will still have some of that momentum to carry him over into the Samsung Mobile 500.

Underdogs

Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon seem to have had a contest to see who would experience the worst luck in the opening weeks of 2012. Kahne has consistently sustained crash damage, while Gordon's list of misfortunes has been much more varied. Both of them have cost fantasy owners a lot of points after showing promise early in the season. Perhaps the off week will allow them to reset and hide from cruel fate, but until they get to the end of a race in one piece and earn a top-10 finish, it is best to leave them in the garage.

Joey Logano is another driver who has shown a lot of unfulfilled promise this season. He started out strong with a pair of top-10s in the first two races of 2012. Back-to-back 16ths at Vegas and Bristol weren't all that bad considering his career record on those tracks. Unfortunately, he continues to slip down the order with a 24th at Auto Club and last week's 23rd at Martinsville. He is still one of the most talented drivers in the field and, given time, he will flatten out these peaks and valleys. Fantasy owners want to cheer for him from a distance until that day comes.

Keselowski's favorite track has competition

It's been a busy start to the 2012 season. After crossing the country a couple of times, we can use this weekend to reflect on the solid start to the season that we've had, along with spending time with friends and family over the Easter holiday.

But before we get to any of that, we spent two days in the Irish Hills of Michigan for the Goodyear tire test on the new Michigan International Speedway surface. I was expecting ridiculously fast speeds, and the track did not disappoint. Now, I'm partial to MIS as the only Michigan driver in the Cup Series, but you have to applaud everyone at the track for their continued upgrades. It really is one of the nicest places we visit. Hopefully, we all did our job during the test, and we'll go back with a tire that not only will put on a good race but also will hold up to the high speeds.





“

To borrow a phrase from golf on this Masters weekend, there is a new leader in the clubhouse with [Michigan]. It is a beast.

”

-- BRAD KESELOWSKI

And we definitely had some very high speeds. The "Blue Deuce" topped out at about 210 mph on the first day. We'll have to wait and see what rules package we come back with in June, but the track is super smooth and should be in perfect shape for the first race.

Over the years, we have seen tracks that have differentiated themselves -- risen to the top, so to speak -- as being the biggest, the baddest and/or the fastest. Places like Charlotte, Texas and Atlanta all had a legitimate claim at one time or another. However, to borrow a phrase from golf on this Masters weekend, there is a new leader in the clubhouse with MIS. It is a beast.

Now, I know a lot of us missed the off weekend that we used to have after the race at Las Vegas. I get it. We're in Daytona for almost two weeks, then we head to the West Coast for another 10 days to race at Phoenix and Vegas. That's a lot packed into a couple of weeks. For me, I like that we kept racing with no break. It allowed us to keep the momentum from the first few races when we got to Bristol.

I get asked a lot about my favorite race track. More often than not, I'll say "wherever you win." But if I had to make a list, Bristol Motor Speedway would be at the top. There is a track in Toledo, Ohio, where I ran super late models growing up. It was a half-mile, medium-banked oval. We ran around that place in 15 seconds. To me, the first lap I ever took on this race track felt just like I was in that late model car in Toledo, Ohio, and that made me really, really comfortable at Bristol from day one.

When we got to Bristol last month, I was really excited about the speed we had shown throughout the season. We were fast right off the truck, so I told everyone on Twitter that I had the best car I'd ever had in the Cup Series. Pretty strong words, but we were able to back it up by leading 232 laps to pick up the win.

There are other places that perhaps have a little more prestige, but Bristol defines a race team. It asks so much of you, whether it's just in practice being lined up on pit road and dealing with the noise and the havoc that practice can be, or the hot day of getting through tech and making those last adjustments, or as a driver, 500 laps in the bowl trying to keep your composure. This race track can really test a team, and I think that the teams that come out on top, whether it's driver or whatever, I think that they show what it takes to overcome adversity.

featuring a patriotic paint scheme for the NASCAR Unites program. (NASCAR)

WASHINGTON -- The annual White House Easter Egg Roll has been rolling strong for 134 years. This year's version had an element of rolling thunder to it.

The No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a special appearance at The Ellipse in the nation's capital Monday, helping to kick off a patriotic initiative "NASCAR Unites -- An American Salute." The six-week program is designed to unify the NASCAR industry and fans in celebrating America and supporting military families.

Adding a unique twist to Monday's celebration was the sight of an 800-horsepower race car adjacent to the National Mall, greeting the estimated 36,000 attendees at the White House event. The car debuted a spirited red, white and blue paint scheme, designed to rally support for the initiative.

Three NASCAR executives and their families took part in the festivities, which included concerts, colorful eggs, face-painting and a story-telling session with the First Family. On hand were: Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR vice president of public affairs and multicultural development; Kim Brink, managing director of brand, consumer and series marketing; and Sandy Marshall, executive director of the NASCAR Foundation.

"I cannot think of a better way to launch the program than having Dale Jr.'s National Guard car at the White House Easter Egg Roll event," Marshall said. "It was great to see the families so excited to see a Sprint Cup car near the White House lawn."

Besides Earnhardt's star-spangled No. 88, other racers in all three national series will sport distinctly American paint schemes and trim packages. Defending Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart, current Cup points leader Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski and Danica Patrick are some of the drivers already on board.

The initiative will be at its most visible at races around two traditional national holidays -- the May 27 Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the July 7 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, right after Independence Day. A total of nine tracks will be involved during the six-week span.

The significance of the announcement and the Charlotte track's long-running history of celebrating Memorial Day wasn't lost on Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx, who attended his first egg roll with his family.

"NASCAR's support of military families is legendary," Foxx said. "There couldn't be a better time than Memorial Day to recognize our veterans and to do it in such a way that NASCAR is doing it this year. It's so appropriate given the solemnity of the day and that we are so grateful for the veterans who have given their lives and their time to our country."

The eyes of electronic fuel injection

Just six weeks after replacing the tried and true carburetor, electronic fuel injection already has proven to be a game-changing technology in NASCAR -- both in a good and bad way.

Just about everyone knows about Tony Stewart's balky circuit breaker at Phoenix, and the failed fuel pumps suffered by Penske's two drivers at Las Vegas. Those teething problems were surprising but not unexpected.



“

You can now diagnose the failure rather than presume something. It does make the end product better.

It'll probably be this summer before we fully integrate the culture of NASCAR with this new science. But it's a great opportunity.

”

-- LEE WHITE

Hendrick Motorsports director of engine operations Jeff Andrews has a different story to tell. After the seven cars with Hendrick engines practiced at Martinsville Speedway last weekend, team engineers took the data to the shop in Concord, N.C. They hooked up a test engine on the dyno, and using telemetry collected hours before, were able to make specific changes to the computer program that controls the EFI.

"We actually came back here to our shop on Saturday and did some running with some of the data we gathered from Martinsville," Andrews said. "Then we did some more adjustments to the calibration and mapping for the race on Sunday."

How well did it work? Behind a dominant performance by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick cars led 455 laps -- and even though the team didn't land Rick Hendrick that elusive 200th win, the engine department still had reason to celebrate with Ryan Newman at race's end.

As the seven-post shaker rig has revolutionized chassis setups, the EFI telemetry that's available every time a car returns to the garage area isn't just providing an impact on engine design and tuning, but helping drivers "see" what their teammates are doing behind the wheel.

"The drivers can look at each other's throttle traces and brake pressures, and really compare driving styles," Andrews said. "Before, it was verbal conversation -- 'I'm doing this here, this is where I'm getting back on the throttle and this is how I use the brake.' Now there's data. You're able to sit down and look at that between practice sessions."

And the biggest fear drivers had with the switch -- whether they'd feel the difference in throttle response between carburetors and EFI -- has been largely mitigated, according to Howard Comstock, manager of engineering for Chrysler Group's Street and Racing Technology Motorsports division.

"A lot of people were worried about drivability with EFI and we've seen none of that," Comstock said. "That's not surprising. We had a pretty good idea that we had it figured out, that you'd make these things drive.

"If you don't bring it up to the drivers, they don't bring it up to you. And that's all good news for us."

For the most part, crew chiefs also have been able to make a seamless transition. Darian Grubb, crew chief for Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota, said there haven't been any surprises.

"It's more just a learning curve of a whole new system," Grubb said. "We've been working with carburetors for over 60 years. Just having to learn all the new systems and everything being computerized and just making sure everyone is up to speed with the technology."

For him, it's "a new thing to pay attention to every day."

Electronic fuel injection has been on Doug Yates' mind for months. As head engine builder for Roush Yates Engines -- the main supplier for Ford's Cup engine program -- Yates has been at the forefront of the EFI transition.

For a guy who has been tinkering with engines since his father, Robert, let him work in the race shop as a teenager, Doug Yates understood the intricacies of the carburetor perhaps better than anyone else in the garage. But he can barely contain his excitement when the subject of EFI gets brought up.

"It's an exciting time to be an engine builder," Yates said. "With all the information we have today that we've never had before -- and what we can do with that information -- has continued to make the engines perform better at the track. And also understanding the limits of the engines."

Just like tuning a piano, tuning a race engine takes a trained ear. For an engine tuner, the switch from carburetion to electronic fuel injection is akin to a recording studio making the leap from analog to digital.

That's not to infer that EFI is more "sterile" or requires less artistic ability to master. Yates said it's just a different way to achieve a similar solution.

"The whole weekend goes differently now," Yates said. "With carburetors and distributors, you'd look at the spark plugs and listen to the engines, think about things and make your decisions. Now, you have data you can look at from here until tomorrow. And you're building that database."

For decades, engine building has been a matter of trial and error. Design a part, machine it, put it on the car and see if it can withstand the stresses of 500 miles at 180 mph. If it does, refine it. If it doesn't, start over.

But for the most part, there were very few ways to measure exactly why parts and pieces break. Until now.

"Especially when you build multiple engines for several teams, you kind of tend to [gravitate to] the worst condition," Yates said. "If one person has an engine failure, you'd go to work and protect for that.

"Now you have the information and can see that every engine doesn't experience the same operating conditions, operating temperatures. So now you can make a better engine down the road because you understand better what the operating conditions are. The information will make us better."

Andrews already has seen the benefits. You can spend unlimited hours --and dollars -- on computer-aided design, in the dyno room and at testing, and at the end of the day, still wonder if everything will work correctly.

That's why being on the track in racing trim -- and being able to collect real-time data -- is so critical. It provides that little extra peace of mind about engine function and reliability.




EFI technology

Welcome to the computer age, and that means engine builders are trading in their wrenches and benches for laptops and software.
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"The conditions inside of the car and under the hood -- and all of the things that go on during the weekend, whether it be restarts or pit stops, temperatures and brief overheating periods -- these are all things now the engine management system reacts to," Andrews said. "Once you start throwing seven [engines] out there every weekend, your sample rate goes up dramatically. And so does the likelihood of what we like to refer around here as 'new challenges.' "

Yes, Kasey Kahne had engine issues at Martinsville, but Andrews was quick to point out that even though the team still is investigating the reasons why, EFI was not to blame.

If anything, the telemetry helps determine the 'smoking gun,' said Ron Sperry, components design engineer for GM Racing Group. Data acquisition helped figured out the underlying cause of Jeff Gordon's problems in the Daytona 500.

"In the Jeff Gordon failure, we could see coolant loss," Sperry said. "Now, we couldn't see it immediately, but with the telemetry after the fact, we could go back and look at the historical data and see that he did have a coolant loss and it led to a piston failure later in the race.

"You can now diagnose the failure rather than presume something. It does make the end product better. And now piston temperatures are more consistent. You now have consistency from cylinder one to cylinder eight."

Now that EFI has been race-tested at every configuration -- with the notable exception of a road course -- Andrews can't wait to measure the progress his group has made.

"We have a list of feedback and areas of improvement from Las Vegas that we've addressed and are anxious to get to Texas to try those out," Andrews said.

Andrews isn't the only one. Toyota Racing Development president Lee White has been an adamant supporter of electronic fuel injection since the topic first came up in conversation. With 180 employees in California supporting TRD's program, he envisions a time not too far in the future where EFI becomes "routine."

For now, it's more a matter of getting man and machine working together.

"Everyone is still learning to mesh that five inches between the driver's ears with what's coming out of their laptops," White said. "It'll probably be this summer before we fully integrate the culture of NASCAR with this new science. But it's a great opportunity."

The times they are changing

Amid the frenzy of what would become the closest championship battle in the history of NASCAR's premier series, it went virtually unnoticed. As Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards traded jabs on and off the track at Texas, Martin Truex Jr. piloted a brand new race car to an eighth-place finish -- his best in Fort Worth in almost two years. While momentum swung among the title contenders at Phoenix, David Reutimann recorded his first top-10 in 17 weeks. And while the racing universe was transfixed by the events at Homestead, Truex quietly finished third -- right behind the two drivers who decided the championship between them.

Given the circumstances, the progress was almost completely overshadowed, lost in a heavyweight championship bout that dominated the final few weeks of the 2011 campaign. But not at Michael Waltrip Racing, which was rolling out its new and clearly more competitive race cars for the first time and laying the groundwork for what would be a major step forward in 2012.





“

We thought we were better than we were ... [there has] really been a culture change.

”

-- MARTIN TRUEX JR.

These days, there's no overshadowing the progress being made at MWR. It commands attention, from the positions Truex and new MWR driver Clint Bowyer occupy in the top 10 of the current Sprint Cup standings, to a No. 55 car that's proven competitive whether it's Mark Martin or Brian Vickers behind the wheel. The vehicles at MWR are faster, more balanced and less prone to wild swings in consistency. The development of those cars has fueled the rise of an organization that one year ago seemed to be taking large steps in the opposite direction.

"There's not hardly anything on the car that's the same," said Rodney Childers, crew chief on a No. 55 car shared to this point by Martin and Vickers. "From this time ... last year to now, there's not anything on that entire car that's the same. It's really basically like starting over."

And to a large degree it was.

Teams build their cars off one master chassis, and Childers said top organizations like 10-time champion Hendrick Motorsports revamp that base vehicle every six months or so. MWR, by comparison, was still basing everything off a chassis that had been built in 2009 as recently as the middle of last season. Eventually, that car grew outdated, and performance suffered as a result.

The impact was clear at a three-car operation that mustered just four top-fives between them, and went without a victory for the first time in three seasons. After a few years of creeping up on the elite teams in NASCAR's top division, MWR suddenly seemed to lag well behind.

Last April, that lack of performance began to eat at Childers.

"I started getting pretty irritated and banging my head against the table in many of our meetings," he remembered, "saying, 'We've got to start over. We've got to build a new car. We've got to build all-new suspension. We've got to redo everything.' Of course, that's hard to accept and to say you have to do that. To even say, 'We have to step back and punt' is hard to do. The more and more we got toward that, the more people starting thinking, you know, that's really the right thing."

And so they punted, pouring more efforts into what they hoped would be a brighter 2012 season instead of trying to right a lost 2011 campaign. MWR began holding weekly Tuesday meetings open to anyone in the shop that might have an idea about how to build a better car. The focus was on improving aerodynamics, lowering the center of gravity, and rethinking the vehicle in its totality rather than envisioning it as just a chassis with pieces added on.

Other things happened, too. Lines of communication with manufacturer Toyota became clearer, and Childers struck up a working relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Dave Rogers that stemmed, of all things, from Childers being angry over an accident involving Reutimann and Kyle Busch at Kansas.

It all began happening well before MWR brought in key additions like new director of competition Scott Miller or new crew chief Brian Pattie, who runs things on Bowyer's car. And it brought with it a degree of change that Truex believes affected not only the team's vehicles, but the fiber of the organization as whole.

"I think early last year, at some point, we actually thought our cars were better than they actually were, for some reason," Truex said. "... It was a company-wide thing where we just started doing things different, building new stuff, changing the way we did things. And it really changed our perspective ... we thought we were better than we were, I guess I'm saying.

"It's really been a culture change, I think as a company, to now. No matter how we run, we're working harder than anybody else and trying to be the best. If we run third, we're not happy with that anymore. So, it's fun. It's fun to be a part of that. It's fun to see the enthusiasm around the shop, and everybody wanting to win races and be the best out there. Obviously, it's paid off for us."


MWR is A-OK

Michael Waltrip Racing has seemingly learned from the ills of its past as a team, creating some buzz this season.
SPEED RaceDay: Truex Jr.
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That much is evident in the standings, where Truex sits sixth and Bowyer ninth. The No. 55 car, with its array of drivers, ranks ninth in owners' points. MWR's drivers have already combined for more top-five finishes than they had in all of last season, and Truex is riding a streak of eight top-10s in his last 11 starts dating back to last year. That's the kind of consistency that nets Chase berths, and it's the kind of consistency MWR has been noticeably lacking -- until now.

No question, MWR upgraded its personnel with the additions of Bowyer, Martin, Miller and Pattie for this season. But the improvement in the race cars started before those human pieces began to be added, and the increased mechanical performance has allowed MWR to take maximum advantage of that upgraded roster. Truex could feel the difference in the new car the first time he slid behind the wheel. That was last fall at Texas, which, in retrospect, stands as the starting point for the rebirth of this six-year-old franchise co-owned by Waltrip and Rob Kauffman.

"The car just had a good feel to it, and it had speed," Truex said. "The biggest thing we noticed was, in green-flag pit stops during the race, the car was really fast. On new tires, the car had speed. It's not always driving perfect, which they never do, but the car has speed in it. It's easier to be fast even when the car is off. So, it's been easier to work on. And one of the things I've noticed about it that I've liked is it's more user-friendly.

"You don't go to bed on Saturday night worried to death the balance is going to shift 180 degrees from what you had in practice and were happy [with], to when the race starts. So, it's been a little bit more consistent for us and that's been a big key for us this year."

That's a stark difference from past seasons, where MWR cars could vary from race-contending to middle of the pack in consecutive weeks. "No matter how hard you try, it's still a hand-made piece," Miller said. "But I think we've gotten our [quality-control] system down a lot better to where we're a lot more consistent, and know a lot more about what we've got from week to week than probably they have before."




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Miller made the move from Richard Childress Racing to MWR the week of last fall's Texas race, arriving the same time as the new cars. Childers said the new vehicles were debuted late last year because the team wanted to get them some track time before the end of the season. Then, they'd know what to fine-tune for the upcoming campaign. Once that was done, the team had to build its fleet for 2012, growing from just a few new vehicles to enough to supply three full-time programs. That's where Miller, known for his organizational acumen, came in.

"A lot of the groundwork was already in place when I walked in the door," he said. "Part of the process is being able to get that much work done, and being efficient in getting it done with limited resources ... compared to Hendrick Motorsports, say. It's relative. So trying to get that much work done for three teams to start the year on all new equipment was really a huge task. I've tried to help coordinate that, and make things more efficient, and push for things with the ownership that I felt we needed to make that process better. That's kind of where I came in."

Drivers pitched in with feedback, much of it positive. Miller, who won six times as a crew chief on the Sprint Cup level, began putting more responsibility in the hands of his lead wrench-turners, which was welcome.

"The thing Scott Miller did was, he came in, he took all that stuff in, and he started listening to the crew chiefs more than what had been going on before," Childers said. "And he said, 'We're going to get this thing to where these three guys are happy with what they're taking to the race track. Because if they're not happy, they don't have any confidence going into the weekend.' He did a real good job of organizing it all, getting the fab shop working with the crew chiefs, getting it all to mesh a little bit, instead of them all being separate departments and things like that. He did real good with that part of it. And then, from a crew chief standpoint, everybody is working together pretty well."

It certainly seems that way, judging from the results.

The team's high-water mark came three weeks ago at Bristol, when all three MWR vehicles finished inside the top five for the first time ever. But it goes beyond one race -- the team's three programs have finished inside the top 10 in 11 of a combined 18 starts this season. It shows week-in and week-out the kind of performance that threatens to win races and secure Chase berths. And if that happens, it will be powered by a vehicle that was overlooked when it debuted during last year's championship hunt, yet may very well play a role in deciding the next one.

"That's where we're at now, is just looking for that next step," Truex said. "So hopefully, we'll be able to get there."

The times they are a-changin'

Amid the frenzy of what would become the closest championship battle in the history of NASCAR's premier series, it went virtually unnoticed. As Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards traded jabs on and off the track at Texas, Martin Truex Jr. piloted a brand new race car to an eighth-place finish -- his best in Fort Worth in almost two years. While momentum swung among the title contenders at Phoenix, David Reutimann recorded his first top-10 in 17 weeks. And while the racing universe was transfixed by the events at Homestead, Truex quietly finished third -- right behind the two drivers who decided the championship between them.

Given the circumstances, the progress was almost completely overshadowed, lost in a heavyweight championship bout that dominated the final few weeks of the 2011 campaign. But not at Michael Waltrip Racing, which was rolling out its new and clearly more competitive race cars for the first time and laying the groundwork for what would be a major step forward in 2012.

We thought we were better than we were ... [there has] really been a culture change.

These days, there's no overshadowing the progress being made at MWR. It commands attention, from the positions Truex and new MWR driver Clint Bowyer occupy in the top 10 of the current Sprint Cup standings, to a No. 55 car that's proven competitive whether it's Mark Martin or Brian Vickers behind the wheel. The vehicles at MWR are faster, more balanced and less prone to wild swings in consistency. The development of those cars has fueled the rise of an organization that one year ago seemed to be taking large steps in the opposite direction.

"There's not hardly anything on the car that's the same," said Rodney Childers, crew chief on a No. 55 car shared to this point by Martin and Vickers. "From this time ... last year to now, there's not anything on that entire car that's the same. It's really basically like starting over."

And to a large degree it was.

Teams build their cars off one master chassis, and Childers said top organizations like 10-time champion Hendrick Motorsports revamp that base vehicle every six months or so. MWR, by comparison, was still basing everything off a chassis that had been built in 2009 as recently as the middle of last season. Eventually, that car grew outdated, and performance suffered as a result.

The impact was clear at a three-car operation that mustered just four top-fives between them, and went without a victory for the first time in three seasons. After a few years of creeping up on the elite teams in NASCAR's top division, MWR suddenly seemed to lag well behind.

Last April, that lack of performance began to eat at Childers.

"I started getting pretty irritated and banging my head against the table in many of our meetings," he remembered, "saying, 'We've got to start over. We've got to build a new car. We've got to build all-new suspension. We've got to redo everything.' Of course, that's hard to accept and to say you have to do that. To even say, 'We have to step back and punt' is hard to do. The more and more we got toward that, the more people starting thinking, you know, that's really the right thing."

And so they punted, pouring more efforts into what they hoped would be a brighter 2012 season instead of trying to right a lost 2011 campaign. MWR began holding weekly Tuesday meetings open to anyone in the shop that might have an idea about how to build a better car. The focus was on improving aerodynamics, lowering the center of gravity, and rethinking the vehicle in its totality rather than envisioning it as just a chassis with pieces added on.

Other things happened, too. Lines of communication with manufacturer Toyota became clearer, and Childers struck up a working relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Dave Rogers that stemmed, of all things, from Childers being angry over an accident involving Reutimann and Kyle Busch at Kansas.

It all began happening well before MWR brought in key additions like new director of competition Scott Miller or new crew chief Brian Pattie, who runs things on Bowyer's car. And it brought with it a degree of change that Truex believes affected not only the team's vehicles, but the fiber of the organization as whole.

"I think early last year, at some point, we actually thought our cars were better than they actually were, for some reason," Truex said. "... It was a company-wide thing where we just started doing things different, building new stuff, changing the way we did things. And it really changed our perspective ... we thought we were better than we were, I guess I'm saying.

"It's really been a culture change, I think as a company, to now. No matter how we run, we're working harder than anybody else and trying to be the best. If we run third, we're not happy with that anymore. So, it's fun. It's fun to be a part of that. It's fun to see the enthusiasm around the shop, and everybody wanting to win races and be the best out there. Obviously, it's paid off for us."


MWR is A-OK

Michael Waltrip Racing has seemingly learned from the ills of its past as a team, creating some buzz this season.
SPEED RaceDay: Truex Jr.
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That much is evident in the standings, where Truex sits sixth and Bowyer ninth. The No. 55 car, with its array of drivers, ranks ninth in owners' points. MWR's drivers have already combined for more top-five finishes than they had in all of last season, and Truex is riding a streak of eight top-10s in his last 11 starts dating back to last year. That's the kind of consistency that nets Chase berths, and it's the kind of consistency MWR has been noticeably lacking -- until now.

No question, MWR upgraded its personnel with the additions of Bowyer, Martin, Miller and Pattie for this season. But the improvement in the race cars started before those human pieces began to be added, and the increased mechanical performance has allowed MWR to take maximum advantage of that upgraded roster. Truex could feel the difference in the new car the first time he slid behind the wheel. That was last fall at Texas, which, in retrospect, stands as the starting point for the rebirth of this six-year-old franchise co-owned by Waltrip and Rob Kauffman.

"The car just had a good feel to it, and it had speed," Truex said. "The biggest thing we noticed was, in green-flag pit stops during the race, the car was really fast. On new tires, the car had speed. It's not always driving perfect, which they never do, but the car has speed in it. It's easier to be fast even when the car is off. So, it's been easier to work on. And one of the things I've noticed about it that I've liked is it's more user-friendly.

"You don't go to bed on Saturday night worried to death the balance is going to shift 180 degrees from what you had in practice and were happy [with], to when the race starts. So, it's been a little bit more consistent for us and that's been a big key for us this year."

That's a stark difference from past seasons, where MWR cars could vary from race-contending to middle of the pack in consecutive weeks. "No matter how hard you try, it's still a hand-made piece," Miller said. "But I think we've gotten our [quality-control] system down a lot better to where we're a lot more consistent, and know a lot more about what we've got from week to week than probably they have before."




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Miller made the move from Richard Childress Racing to MWR the week of last fall's Texas race, arriving the same time as the new cars. Childers said the new vehicles were debuted late last year because the team wanted to get them some track time before the end of the season. Then, they'd know what to fine-tune for the upcoming campaign. Once that was done, the team had to build its fleet for 2012, growing from just a few new vehicles to enough to supply three full-time programs. That's where Miller, known for his organizational acumen, came in.

"A lot of the groundwork was already in place when I walked in the door," he said. "Part of the process is being able to get that much work done, and being efficient in getting it done with limited resources ... compared to Hendrick Motorsports, say. It's relative. So trying to get that much work done for three teams to start the year on all new equipment was really a huge task. I've tried to help coordinate that, and make things more efficient, and push for things with the ownership that I felt we needed to make that process better. That's kind of where I came in."

Drivers pitched in with feedback, much of it positive. Miller, who won six times as a crew chief on the Sprint Cup level, began putting more responsibility in the hands of his lead wrench-turners, which was welcome.

"The thing Scott Miller did was, he came in, he took all that stuff in, and he started listening to the crew chiefs more than what had been going on before," Childers said. "And he said, 'We're going to get this thing to where these three guys are happy with what they're taking to the race track. Because if they're not happy, they don't have any confidence going into the weekend.' He did a real good job of organizing it all, getting the fab shop working with the crew chiefs, getting it all to mesh a little bit, instead of them all being separate departments and things like that. He did real good with that part of it. And then, from a crew chief standpoint, everybody is working together pretty well."

It certainly seems that way, judging from the results.

The team's high-water mark came three weeks ago at Bristol, when all three MWR vehicles finished inside the top five for the first time ever. But it goes beyond one race -- the team's three programs have finished inside the top 10 in 11 of a combined 18 starts this season. It shows week-in and week-out the kind of performance that threatens to win races and secure Chase berths. And if that happens, it will be powered by a vehicle that was overlooked when it debuted during last year's championship hunt, yet may very well play a role in deciding the next one.

"That's where we're at now, is just looking for that next step," Truex said. "So hopefully, we'll be able to get there."

Hamlin experiences Augusta inside the ropes

Denny Hamlin made his reputation as a driver.

Bubba Watson made his reputation with his driver.

But Watson, one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, left his driver in the bag during Wednesday's traditional Par 3 Contest at Augusta National Golf Club, a day before competition in The Masters starts in earnest at the vaunted club in eastern Georgia.

Hamlin carried Watson's bag during the par-3 event played on Augusta National's nine-hole executive course. The par-3 layout measures 1,060 yards compared with the championship course at 7,435 yards. Short irons, not the driver, are the order of the day on the short course.

Golf is one of the sports, like NASCAR, that really hasn't changed in how it's played since its inception.

”

-- DAVID RAGAN

Hamlin and Watson have become close friends through their mutual interest in golf. Born in Bagdad, Fla., Watson now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., where Hamlin spent much of the most recent NASCAR offseason working on his game. Coincidentally, both Hamlin and Watson play golf left-handed

Hamlin reportedly lowered his handicap considerably during the winter, but he is loath to admit it, given the damage a single-digit handicap might do to his ability to get an edge in the occasional golf wager. But Hamlin's talent was in evidence last year when he acquitted himself admirably in the Wells Fargo Championship pro-am in Charlotte, N.C.

Serving as a caddie to the men who can really play the game is a different matter, even if it is in the informal atmosphere of the par-3 tournament, where golfers' children have the run of the fairways and occasionally hit shots for their fathers.

Hamlin got his shot to join the pros Wednesday, but missed a putt for birdie on hole No. 9. Still, the experience of being a participant at one of golf's most famous venues made an impression on the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

"It was a cool experience to come to Augusta and caddie for Bubba in the par-3 tournament," Hamlin said. "We have become pretty good friends over the past couple years, and I have to thank him for the opportunity. I'll be rooting for him in The Masters this weekend."

Hamlin wasn't the only driver who got a taste of Augusta National this week. David Ragan visited the course in his native Georgia for early practice rounds on Monday.

"Being from Georgia, we kind of take for granted that the Masters happens right in our backyard," said Ragan, who drives the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports. "Some friends of ours always get tickets every year, but typically we're always racing, coming off a race weekend and getting ready for another race the following weekend.

"But we have the off weekend this year, so this was the first time I had some downtime to be able to do some of the things that normal people get to do."

Though golf and NASCAR racing take place on vastly different venues, Ragan sees similarities between the traditions of both sports.

"Golf is one of the sports, like NASCAR, that really hasn't changed in how it's played since its inception," Ragan said. "You look at NASCAR, running the Daytona 500 and the Southern 500 and those types of traditional races. They stick with a lot of the same procedures that have been in place since day one.

"Technology might help drive the ball farther on the golf course, just like technology helps give us more horsepower to go faster, but the core basics of the sport are still very much the same as they were when they first started."

Kenseth posts best M'ville finish since 2002

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Matt Kenseth called it "a recipe for disaster."

The two fastest cars all day -- Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon -- were sitting first and second but on old tires. The rest of the field was on fresh rubber. And three laps were left to decide the winner of the Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Talk about a little déjà vu for Kenseth. Two years ago, he and Jeff Gordon traded bumps in a similar situation, with Kenseth getting the worst of it, going from first to 18th in the span of two laps.
This is probably my worst track and we had a top-10 car all day and ran in the top 10 all day.

So Kenseth was more than happy to have a different view of this one. And it definitely worked to his advantage the second time around, as he wound up finishing fourth -- his best Martinsville finish since running second to Bobby Labonte in 2002.

"When the top two didn't get tires after 100-some laps, you knew it was going to get pretty crazy," Kenseth said. "I didn't know it was going to get that crazy in the first corner, but you knew it was going to be nuts."

When Ryan Newman bumped Clint Bowyer on the first of two green-white-checkered restarts -- making it three-wide on NASCAR's narrowest track -- Kenseth knew that wasn't going to turn out too well.

"I was just hoping I wasn't going to be caught up in whatever wreck was going to happen," Kenseth said.

With cars spinning and crashing in front of him, Kenseth slowed in the top groove -- somehow avoiding getting drilled from behind in the process -- and eventually swung back down the track to safety.

That put him fifth on the race's final restart. This time, Kenseth found his path clear and was able to overtake Martin Truex Jr. for fourth on the last lap of the race.

"I was right behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. and I was boxed in," Kenseth said. "With just two laps, if you're not in the first two rows, there isn't enough time to really get anywhere unless somebody slips up. Fortunately, [Junior] was able to get a good run off Turn 2 after the white flag and we were able to pass a couple of cars and get a good finish."

Patient Matt Kenseth? Not usually, especially when it comes to Martinsville, where patience can be in short supply.

"I usually lose mine every year here," Kenseth said. "You have to be a little bit patient, you have to have some give and take. Circumstances dictate that a lot of times. You have to have some space to be able to let people go and that type of thing, too. You just try not to burn the brakes up and drive it too hard and run into somebody or something."

Kenseth started 21st but worked his way into the top 10 early on, thanks to two long green-flag runs that played into his car's strength.

"We were OK for about 10 laps," Kenseth said. "Then from about Lap 10 to Lap 40, we weren't very fast. And then until we'd pit, most runs we were competitive. We needed a little bit more, but this is probably my worst track and we had a top-10 car all day and ran in the top 10 all day."

Kenseth knew he didn't have anything for Johnson, Gordon or Junior -- and on short runs, Denny Hamlin was better -- but Kenseth climbed from his car Sunday with two positive thoughts.

One, he didn't wind up wrecking -- or getting wrecked. That wasn't the case here last fall, when Kenseth was involved in several skirmishes with Brian Vickers, eventually ruining Kenseth's championship hopes.

Two, his No. 17 Ford was competitive throughout. Despite disappointing outings at Phoenix, Las Vegas and Fontana, Kenseth now has three top-five finishes -- including the Daytona 500 win -- and is in a four-way tie for third in the standings.

"We've been so up and down [in 2012], and had cars that ran really good but the finishes haven't showed that," Kenseth said. "So I'm happy to get a top-five here.

"Hopefully, we can get some finishes rolling so if we do that, we don't have to worry about the points. They'll take care of themselves. But we've got to keep getting these finishes."

Newman offers no apology for Martinsville victory

In no way, shape or form was he going to apologize to anyone for what transpired during the final laps of the Goody's Fast Relief 500 to help him get to Victory Lane on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. On the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish after a caution came out on Lap 498 of what had been scheduled for a 500-lap event, Newman's No. 39 Chevrolet rammed into the back of Clint Bowyer's No. 15 Toyota and appeared to play a role in setting off a chain reaction that took out the top three cars in the field at the time, clearing the way for Newman to motor through the melee and onto the victory.


Somebody had to win; it might as well have been us. ... It worked out for us.


But Newman and others put the blame for the wild wreck that took out Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson squarely on Bowyer.

"In the end, we did what we needed to do," Newman said. "We put ourselves in position to win. [Second-place finisher AJ] Allmendinger raced me clean and Clint [Bowyer] took out the rest of 'em on the first [green-white-checkered restart]. Somebody had to win; it might as well have been us. ... It worked out for us."

Newman said he anticipated a melee on the first G-W-C restart after the late caution that was brought about when David Reutimann's No. 10 Chevrolet rolled to a dead stop on the frontstretch.

"You kind of know what's going to happen. I did what I had to do to get a jump on the third-place car. That's really who I was racing," Neman said. "Jeff was on old tires and Clint wasn't so his car might have been a little better, so he stuck his nose up under there. That's what you've got to do at Martinsville.

"Everything really hinged on the 10 car stalling on the front straightaway. That made for a pretty interesting finish."

Newman acknowledged that Gordon, who led a race-high 328 laps, wasn't very happy with him immediately after the race.

"Jeff came up and hit me [afterward], I'm not sure why," Newman said. "I'm sure it was because he had a dominant race car and he didn't win. But it wasn't me that caused that wreck. It was Clint who drove down underneath there.

"Clint put 'em three-wide, bounced off the curb and jumped up into 'em, from what I saw. That's what caused everything. I was going to make a run on Clint to do the same thing he was trying to do to Jeff. But Clint blocked me and I hit him right at the start-finish line and that kind of propelled him up to where he got up into the 24 car once they got to the corner. It worked out to my favor. I mean, it wasn't intended to be that way -- but it definitely worked out to my favor."

When he held off Allmendinger on the second green-white-checkered restart, it resulted in Newman's 16th career victory. It was the first in his career at Martinsville and his first of the young 2012 season.



Crew chief Tony Gibson admitted Newman didn't appear to have a winning car. But he applauded his driver for putting the car into position to do precisely that in the end, when it was the only time that really mattered.

"Clint cleared the way for us and Ryan did the rest," Gibson said. "He drove a great race all day long, never gave up -- and like I've said a million times, you put him somewhere near the front with 10 to go, look out. He's going to have a shot to win it."

Actually, Newman didn't think he drove a great race all day. He had to overcome a speeding penalty on pit road that put him one lap down at one point.

"We ended up going a lap down because of my speeding penalty, and that was totally on me," Newman said. "But we never gave up and did an awesome job of making changes to the car. We were not a dominant race car, but we put ourselves in contention. The way the strategy and everything worked out, coming in for two tires [on the last pit stop] and Clint kind of clearing out Turn 1 for us, we were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.

Kahne tops at Martinsville for second pole of year

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Kasey Kahne proved once again that he's a fast starter, but he's still in dire need of a strong finish.

With a 97.128 mph (19.496 seconds) lap in Saturday's time trials, Kahne edged Kevin Harvick (97.048 mph) for the top starting spot in Sunday's Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Kahne claimed his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Martinsville and the 24th of his career.

* Out Front with Miss Coors Light: Rachel and Kasey

Four-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin (97.003 mph) will start third after running the exact same speed as Clint Bowyer. Hamlin won the tiebreaker for the position based on current owners' points. Ryan Newman (96.988 mph) will start fifth.

In his first year in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Kahne has posted an average starting position of 7.8, but his average finish has been a disappointing 26.6.

"It's a tough track to qualify and a tough track to race -- always has been one of my tougher ones over the years," said Kahne, who has led a total of 19 laps at the famed short track (average finish of 20.7, one top-five and two top-10s in 16 starts). "I'm glad we can start up front, have a great pit stall -- that No. 1 stall -- I think that helps throughout the whole race with track position.

"Hopefully, we'll have a solid day [on Sunday]. That's what we need to do. We've had great Fridays and Saturdays but just haven't put together a Sunday yet."

Brian Vickers, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Joey Logano will start from positions 6 through 10, respectively.

Series points leader Greg Biffle qualified 27th as Ford drivers had a rough day at the .526-mile track. Marcos Ambrose led the Ford contingent with a 12th-place effort in time trials. Biffle, however, was more optimistic about the race itself.

"We feel like we're pretty decent in race trim," Biffle said. "Qualifying was our biggest struggle. It's not where we wanted to be, but we've got 500 laps to get there."

The No. 37 Ford of Tony Raines failed post-qualifying inspection when NASCAR deemed the car too low. Accordingly, the qualifying time was disallowed, opening a starting spot for J.J. Yeley.

Scott Speed and Mike Bliss failed to qualify for the 43-car field.

Sharing EFI information has its limits, drivers say

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- If NASCAR is about to enter a new era of cooperation, where competing teams and organizations share much of the same information relating to new electronic fuel injection systems, the drivers have two words to add to the conversation.

They can look at all the data they want, but unless you're Tony Stewart doing what Tony Stewart does with his talent, you're not going to have a restart like he does.

It's kind of like this: if you've got a video game and everybody knows how to win, how fun is that? Keep the challenge in it without giving away all the answers.

"I'd rather not have that," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "It would be a benefit to be able to see all that. But I think it's a slippery slope.

"With the fuel injection it brings in the ability this year to be able to see data that we've never been able to see before. I think we should ease into how we use that data -- and how NASCAR allows us to use that data -- kind of slowly so as to not upset the culture of the sport, or how things have worked in the past. I think if we take this new door that has been opened to us and abuse it, it might not be good for the sport. I think it's better for competition for everybody to have a few secrets."

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, said he agrees with Earnhardt.

"The thing with us drivers is what we do with the pedals and steering wheel and all that stuff is all our proprietary stuff," Edwards said. "From NASCAR's perspective, I can see how they would want everyone to not have an advantage and [how they would want to] keep feeding everyone information to make it tougher and closer.

"But I know for me personally, with the fuel-mileage things and other stuff, there have been times when I thought there were things I did in the car that I wouldn't want anyone else to see. If those days are over, then they are over. I guess that's just the way it is."

The ushering in of EFI has brought NASCAR a new reality where there are mounds of data available through computers that never before could have been measured inside the car during competition. For instance, "mapping" of race winner Tony Stewart's engine data could provide insight to other drivers as to how Stewart repeatedly was able to stage faster restarts than the rest of the field during last Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas.

In fact, fellow driver Jimmie Johnson said it already has for him. As driver of the No. 48 Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports, Johnson's team has a technical alliance with Stewart's No. 14 Chevy team at Stewart-Haas Racing. So it's not unusual for them to share information anyway. There's just more of it to share -- or not to share -- now.

"I did look at Tony's data and definitely have a direction and know what's going on," Johnson said. "It's a complicated thing that I'm certainly not going to share for the world to see. But I've got a clear direction of where to work."

And that, Johnson said, is the way it should be -- in that SHR and HMS have that technical alliance. He just wouldn't necessarily want NASCAR to go share all the information he's just learned with competing teams who drive Toyotas for Joe Gibbs Racing, Fords for Roush Fenway Racing or Dodges for Penske Racing, and so on.

"In a situation like what we have at Hendrick, from the inception or start of Stewart-Haas Racing having that relationship with Hendrick, we've been sending information back and forth. It's designed as a two-way street. So it's good to have that," Johnson said. "Amongst those six cars, that's the way it is. That's the way it works and I'm sure it's the same way through Roush and their satellite teams."

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Dodge for Penske Racing, said he thinks he understands why many drivers are fearful of the new information age.

"The ultimate fear is whenever you involve computers, you replace humans -- whether it's in the car or out. And that's been the fear for the last 60 years. This is no different," Keselowski said. "This sport has always managed to maintain the human element. The real fear is that as that technology develops, the human element will become less and less critical and the sport will lose some of its substance -- just as anything else would."

Meanwhile, Sprint Cup series director John Darby insisted that the drivers' fears are largely unfounded. He said NASCAR has yet to share widespread EFI information from the season's first three races with teams or organizations, and pledged that the governing body would indeed be very careful about what it dispenses when the time comes.

"We've got data files from cars that we've downloaded from our first three races," Darby said. "Part of what we're doing right now is going through the data to understand what would be of value from tuning an engine operation versus the data you could extract that would be driver information, if that makes sense.

"Our interest is not to show the world where Tony Stewart slammed his throttle to the floor on a restart. It's about how the engine was tuned, whether it be a fuel map or a timing map. That's all we're worried about."

Teams then can use the general information given them by NASCAR to help alleviate possible engine-wear issues that might be related to the new fuel-injection systems. Plus Darby thinks the theory that a driver can learn to perform better on a restart by merely looking at computer data is a long shot for most.

"There is enough driver-characteristic information that could be extracted from the data if it was looked at properly, but we have no interest at all in passing that out. That would be up to the individual teams," Darby said.

"The bottom line is that a driver having a great restart and fuel injection have absolutely nothing to do with each other. That comes from the driver's talents. They can look at all the data they want, but unless you're Tony Stewart doing what Tony Stewart does with his talent, you're not going to have a restart like he does."

Earnhardt just thinks less is more in this case, and hopes NASCAR doesn't share too much with the entire racing world. He tried to put it in a perspective that everyone should be able to understand.

"It's kind of like this: if you've got a video game and everybody knows how to win, how fun is that? Keep the challenge in it without giving away all the answers," Earnhardt said.

Kahne sees a turnaround on the horizon in 5 car

CONCORD, N.C. -- He was involved in three wrecks during Speedweeks, most notably one in the Daytona 500. At Phoenix, he got loose off a corner and hit the wall. At Las Vegas, he came home in the middle of the pack despite setting a track record in qualifying. At Bristol, he crashed when his spotter told him he was clear, and he wasn't. At California, he competed with the knowledge that one slip-up might knock him -- unthinkably -- outside of the top-35 cars in owners' points, which have guaranteed starting spots in each Sprint Cup event.

It's hardly been the start Kasey Kahne envisioned in his debut season with powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports, an organization that's won 10 titles on NASCAR's premier series, and is chasing its 200th race win. But Kahne looks at the fast cars he has every weekend, looks at the potential within his No. 5 team, and delivers a warning.

I knew going in, that just because I was going to Hendrick Motorsports didn't mean I was going to start winning more races.

"We've got fast cars," he said Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "I think all the guys have been really quick at the majority of the tracks we've been to. All the Hendrick guys. I feel like our engines are doing great, our cars are awesome. Myself, I'm still learning things there, but I feel lime we're getting pretty good at it. I feel like we're competitive. We've had some bad luck and made some mistakes and things, but I think we can be a contender as this season goes, for sure."

Much like Jeff Gordon, whose similar run of early season misfortune has him just two spots north of the 27th-place position his teammate currently occupies in the standings, Kahne's cars have been fast every week. That much is evident in Kahne's starting positions this season, the past four of which -- including the track-record pole run at Las Vegas -- have been inside the top 10. The issue has been finishing, something complicated by a mistake here or there, or just plain bad luck.

By necessity, it all reached a head last weekend in Southern California. Owners' points change from 2011 to the current season for this week's event at Martinsville Speedway, and heading to Auto Club Speedway, Kahne sat uncomfortably near the top-35 cutoff. His No. 5 car was loose early, but improved to the point where it was about the seventh-fastest vehicle in the race. Long green-flag runs made it tough for Kahne to gain track position, and rain ended the event before the car came in. But an uneventful 14th-place finish was relief enough, given that it ensured Kahne won't have to make Sunday's race -- or any later ones, for that matter -- on speed.

* Standings: Driver | Owner

"I was a little worried at California," he admitted. "If we had one more bad race there, we would have been fighting for position at Martinsville, which would have been unheard of for us. I was glad. We didn't finish where we wanted to, but if 200 laps were there, we would have had a pretty strong car by the end of that race. I was fine with that, and we're solid now. We just need to keep it up. We need to keep finishing strong, having good race cars like we've had, and I think it will all work itself out."

It was difficult not to foresee all kinds of potential in the combination of the 11-time race winner Kahne with Hendrick, the best team of the sport's modern era. Kahne had won with much lesser organizations, including at Phoenix this past fall for a Red Bull team that was a one-year stopover for the driver, and about to go out of business because its sponsor was pulling out. That he was making the move with Kenny Francis, his longtime crew chief and trusted friend, made the pieces fit together that much more snugly.

Or so it seemed. But for all of Hendrick's promise and Kahne's talent, it was still a new team, and it brought with it an adjustment. Drivers like Kahne operate on feel, their bodies telling them how each of the tires are doing, and how the vehicle itself rolls through the corners. Hendrick's cars are somewhat different than what he had been used to at Red Bull -- and Richard Petty Motorsports before that -- and figuring out that feel takes time. At one point in the race in California, for instance, Kahne's car behaved in traffic in a way that was different from practice, and he wasn't prepared for it.

Such are the smaller, unseen fine-tuning processes a new driver must go through with a new organization, regardless of how many races he's capable of winning. Teammates Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have all been at Hendrick for years, and to a certain degree know what to expect from the vehicles underneath them. Kahne is just starting to get there.

"They do things for a reason [at Hendrick], and they've done them for a long time," Kahne said. "Jeff and Jimmie and Dale, they know exactly where they're at, and so do their crew chiefs and teams, and they're working on stuff. We are slowly getting there. We have the speed, but putting together that whole race is what is a little more difficult."

Knowing the car is fast helps. So does knowing the owner supports you, no matter how trying the first weeks of the season have been. Kahne said he and Rick Hendrick talk or text every week, and occasionally enjoy longer periods of time together like a flight to California for a sponsor event. Over and over again, he said, the boss has relayed the same message -- the cars have speed, fortunes will change, and you'll be fine. There's never any shortage of encouragement from the top.

"I just think if your owner is still behind you, and speaking highly of what you're doing and how your team is, and sees what your team is and what's going on and isn't putting it all on you ... you just feel good about it," Kahne said. "You feel like you're fine and you'll get through it and you'll figure out what those problems are we've had. Maybe it's bad luck, maybe it's not. But he's been right there and has told me, don't worry about it. We have another car for next week that's just as good, maybe better."

It's all helped Kahne keep up his own spirits. "I feel really confident with everything we have, and it just takes time to get acclimated and figure some of that stuff out," he said. "I think we're getting there, I think we're getting closer. As we put races together, I think we'll show [it] and we'll get back to where we need to be."

That would be battling for race wins and potentially a Chase berth, although Kahne does have to get back inside the top 20 in points to make himself eligible for a wild card to NASCAR's 12-driver playoff. For now, though, sunrise appears on the horizon. The California run staunched the bleeding, for the time being. Kahne's left knee, which underwent surgery for a torn meniscus prior to the Daytona 500, doesn't swell up on him anymore after races. He's even started running again, albeit at a slower pace than he's used to. In the upcoming off weekend, he's heading to Attica, Ohio, to race sprint cars, his first love.

It was that or the Bahamas. Sitting on the couch wasn't an option.

"It's actually a pretty nice couch," he said. "I just don't spend a lot of time on it."

There's too much else to do, primarily salvaging his Sprint Cup season after an opening month of frustration and bad luck. These days, though, Kahne feels like he can see the corner. It's just a matter of turning it, and watching all the potential that exists with his new organization spring to life.

"Probably because of the results, I feel a little bit on edge maybe for some of the races, just because I want to run better and things," he said. "But I knew going in, that just because I was going to Hendrick Motorsports didn't mean I was going to start winning more races. It's still a huge team effort, and there's still a lot of things you have to do right in order to run up front and contend for those wins. It takes a little bit of time. I think we've had some time now, and we're getting pretty close. I think we're pretty good as a team, and hopefully we can start running in the top 10."

Court refuses to revive ex-driver Mayfield's suit

RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal appeals court on Monday refused to reinstate former race car driver Jeremy Mayfield's lawsuit against NASCAR over his 2009 suspension for failing a random drug test at Richmond International Raceway.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a federal judge did not abuse his discretion in dismissing Mayfield's complaint against NASCAR; its owner, Brian Zachary France; and a drug testing company.

Mayfield sued for defamation, unfair and deceptive trade practices, breach of contract and negligence after France held a news conference to announce the driver had been suspended for testing positive for a "performance enhancing" or "recreational" drug: methamphetamine. U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen, in Charlotte, N.C., had tossed out the lawsuit because Mayfield had twice -- as a driver and an owner -- signed documents waiving his right to sue.

"In this case, the liability waiver is enforceable under Florida law," Judge Roger Gregory wrote in the unanimous appeals court opinion. Gregory was joined by Judge Barbara Milano Keenan and visiting U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady.

Florida law governed because NASCAR has its headquarters in that state.

Mayfield's attorney, Tillman Finley, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Helen Maher, an attorney at the New York firm that represented NASCAR, said the ruling verifies the fairness of the organization's substance abuse policy.

"This case was never about anything more than NASCAR's ability to keep the sport clean and our competitors safe," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's senior vice president for racing operation.

Mayfield, 42, has argued that a combination of the over-the-counter allergy medication Claritin-D and the prescription medication Adderall for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder led to the positive test. He also argued that NASCAR's testing system was flawed and that it did not follow federal guidelines in its testing methods.

After failing his first drug test, Mayfield was given the option of having another sample evaluated to confirm or refute the first test. The second sample also was positive for methamphetamine, and NASCAR suspended him until he completed a recovery program. A few days later, France went public with the results.

Mayfield made his NASCAR debut in 1993. He recorded five victories, 96 top-10 finishes and $30.2 million in career winnings.

Earnhardt keeps carrying flag for Hendrick stable

FONTANA, Calif. -- Kasey Kahne is battling back from a near-disastrous start. Jeff Gordon is watching something else go wrong every week. Jimmie Johnson is showing only a glimpse of the consistency he once used to win five consecutive championships at NASCAR's highest level.

I like how our season is going so far. If we can keep going like this, we might get some opportunities like we did last year of winning some races and seal the deal eventually.

That's certainly the way it's been through the first five weeks of this Sprint Cup season, as consistently strong runs by NASCAR's most popular driver have made him the class of what has long been NASCAR's best organization. It happened again Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, where Earnhardt was one of several drivers to stay out of the pits during a caution for rain, and parlayed that move into an eventual third-place finish when wet weather forced officials to call the event 71 laps short of its scheduled distance.

"We drove the car up to fifth before the weather came. We had been watching the weather all day. We felt certain if it started to rain, it wasn't going to stop," Earnhardt said. "We made the right choice by staying out and building ourselves into the top three."

It was no fluke finish for Earnhardt, who was in the top 10 for almost the whole race before recording his second-best finish of this young season. In the process he moved up three positions to third in points, making him easily the highest-ranking driver in a Hendrick Motorsports stable that's suddenly juggling one problematic issue after another.

There's Kahne, who pulled himself off the top 35 bubble with a 14th-place finish Sunday but still languishes low in the standings. There's Johnson, who had smoke emitting from his No. 48 car just as the rain came and was bailed out by the weather. And there's Gordon, who saw another great car go for naught -- this time because of a pair of pit penalties that relegated him to a 26th-place finish.

And then there's Earnhardt, who maybe hasn't won since 2008, but is sailing along despite all the havoc around him.

"Jeff had a little trouble on pit road. Jimmie, they decided to come down pit road because they thought it was not going to run all day. They've been beating us most of the weekend," Earnhardt said. "We've really been competitive, though. I like how our season is going so far. If we can keep going like this, we might get some opportunities like we did last year of winning some races and seal the deal eventually."

Sunday, his teammates weren't as fortunate. Johnson had one of the better cars in the race, but smoke began billowing from beneath his vehicle shortly after NASCAR threw the caution for rain. A radio problem only complicated the issue, which turned out to be a severed oil line. Johnson watched his oil pressure plummet, fell backward in the running order, and yet salvaged a 10th-place finish when the race was called due to weather.

"I really don't know what had happened," Johnson said during the red flag before the race was ended. "I was just idling along and my friends pulled up alongside of me and were pointing. They said, 'You're smoking.' I heard it over the radio and I could obviously see and smell it, but I don't know what really caused it yet. It's just a wild change of events, because when I came to pit road and took four tires, I wanted it to dry up real quick. Now I'm sitting here praying for rain."



He got just that. "If we did go back to green-flag racing, we would be multiple laps down," crew chief Chad Knaus said. "We don't really know what happened to the car just yet. We've got to get it in here and take a look at it."

Gordon wasn't as fortunate, and added another chapter to his litany of 2012 frustration. At Daytona, he was caught up in a wreck. Last week at Bristol, he was knocked out when Earnhardt's tailpipe inadvertently cut down the left-rear tire on his No. 24 car. Friday in Fontana he spoke about feeling some pressure to get good finishes to match good cars like the one he had Sunday, which ran in the top five for much of the event.

But it all unraveled on pit road, where Gordon first had to serve a stop-and-go penalty that put him a lap down, the violation coming when he dragged a fuel can -- and the fuel man attached to it -- out of his pit box. Later, taking two tires to try to gain track position, his crew was flagged for having a tire get away. Gordon finished 26th in the race, and dropped to 25th in points.

Meanwhile, Earnhardt just keeps rolling along, propelled by crew chief Steve Letarte, good finishes, and strong cars almost every week.

"I'm really happy," he said. "I'm performing better. Most of the credit has to go to Steve and the team. Those guys did a great job today on pit road. We had some really good stops. Steve is doing an amazing job. He deserves most of the credit for how well we're running. He's giving me really good cars, cars that are fun to drive, relatively easy to drive."

Hamlin knocks teammate Busch off Fontana pole

FONTANA, Calif. -- Kyle Busch had the pole for Sunday's Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway -- until Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin took it away from him.

Hamlin circled the two-mile track in 38.626 seconds (186.403 mph) to claim his second Coors Light pole award at Fontana and the 10th of his career, and he did it by taking the opposite approach from his teammate -- running the bottom of the track through Turns 1 and 2 rather than the top groove.

Busch and Mark Martin both ran 185.534 mph, with Busch getting the second starting spot for the fifth race of the season by virtue of a higher finish in last year's owners' standings.

* Out Front with Miss Coors Light: Denny and Rachel talk

Martin will start third, followed by series points leader Greg Biffle (185.510 mph) and Kasey Kahne, who also tied for the fourth spot, with Biffle winning the position on owner points.

Hamlin ran a spectacular lap despite ignoring the example of teammate and eighth-place qualifier Joey Logano, who ran the top of the track and picked a line through the corner many drivers who followed him in the qualifying order sought to emulate.

Hamlin thought the gusty wind would have more of an effect on the high line, and the driver of the No. 11 Toyota had run the bottom of the track during his mock qualifying runs in practice.

"Everyone had a different way of doing it," Hamlin said. "It seemed like there were some guys who were five lanes up and some who just worked their way down. We were one of the few cars that ran all the way on the bottom.

"That's where we practiced, and I didn't want to change that. I'd done all my qualifying runs early in the day and practiced race runs on the bottom. Really, I think I would have been less efficient running the top, even though it might have been faster. My safest route was to take the bottom, and I just took what it gave us."

After seeing Logano take the provisional pole with his run on the top in the first two corners, Busch did the same.

"I've never run 1 and 2 up in the third lane like that," Busch said. "I think Joey kind of started the trend there, and a lot of people picked up it and started running some really good times. And lo, and behold, one of the only guys that runs the bottom -- Denny -- beats you."

A Toyota driver has never won a Cup race at Fontana, but with Camrys in the top three positions on the grid, the odds have improved for the Japanese car maker.

Robby Gordon, Joe Nemechek and rookie Timmy Hill failed to qualify for the 43-car field. Nemechek had not missed a Sprint Cup event since failing to qualifying at Phoenix in November 2010. Friday's DNQ broke a string of 41 consecutive successful attempts.

Keselowski Looking to change results

FONTANA, Calif. -- Keeping momentum going after a Cup Series victory can be a very difficult task, especially early in the season. In four races there have been four different winners, four different manufacturers in Victory Lane and only five drivers have two or more top-fives. The reason is the Cup Series has been on four very different and unique tracks. That trend continues Sunday as the Cup Series makes its annual visit to Auto Club Speedway.

Last week's winner at Bristol, Brad Keselowski, recognizes just how challenging going from the .533-mile short track to the wide, fast two-mile Fontana, Calif., oval will be.

For me, it's great to have won last week, but that win doesn't guarantee any performance here at Fontana.

"It's a big change," Keselowski said. "I think that if you look at the schedule and the first five races, we've covered every genre that we can. From restrictor-plate tracks to a one-mile flat track in Phoenix to a mile-and-a-half, high-banked track in Vegas and Bristol, the very short, high-banked track and now a flat, two-mile track [at Fontana]. We've covered all the genres that we can. It's a real test of any team.

"For me, it's great to have won last week, but that win doesn't guarantee any performance here at Fontana. It's going to come down to aerodynamics and platform control here at Fontana. It's going to be a different race for sure."

The challenge is even greater for Keselowski because Fontana just hasn't been kind to him in his short Cup career. What makes it more interesting is the driver of the No. 2 Dodge has been successful at Michigan and Kansas, tracks similar to Fontana's wide-open layout.

"Up until last year here, I'd say that I've never run well at the big, flat tracks at the Cup level," Keselowski said. "We had some success at Kansas, which I think is the most similar track to this, how it widens out. I feel like we've had some success at Michigan as well. I think that we've made the cars a lot better. I don't feel like that I've had a good car here at the Cup level."

If Saturday's practice speeds are any indication, that trend is about to change.

Keselowski was seventh in the first practice with a speed of 183.875 mph and fell slightly with a lap of 180.424 mph, the 11th-fastest in Happy Hour.

Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin paced first practice with a lap of 186.018 mph followed by Matt Kenseth (185.209), Ryan Newman (184.928), Tony Stewart (184.554) and Kevin Harvick (184.270).

In final practice, Hamlin continued to show he is one of the drivers to beat this weekend with a lap of 182.034 mph. Jeff Gordon had a huge improvement from the first to second practice. The No. 24 was second-fastest (181.360) in Happy Hour after running 17th in the first practice. Clint Boywer (181.214), Jamie McMurray (181.132) and Kyle Busch (181.050) rounded out the top five.

With an average finish of 24.3 and three finishes of 21st or worse in three Cup starts, Fontana ranks as Keselowski's third-worst track behind Daytona and Las Vegas. But despite dismal results in Los Angeles' Inland Empire, Keselowski enjoys his annual visit.

"I've never disliked [Fontana]. I like coming to a wide track to race on," Keselowski said. "This place, you get a really big draft down the front straightaway when the pack gets together on a restart and that really causes some great racing when we get to Turn 1. I was in one of those great races, in a big wreck because of it. It's still really cool to get that big run off of Turn 4 and feel that big effect of the draft here. It's one of the most interesting things about Fontana."

Keselowski will start Sunday's race 17th -- a career-best at Fontana. So perhaps this is the year he will break through. Keselowski feels all he needs is one good race to reverse his fortune at Fontana and after Saturday's practices, that hopefulness will be in the cockpit Sunday.

"I feel like, as a driver, that you just need to go to a track, have one good car there and it can completely change your outlook because you get a feel for what you need to perform there," Keselowski said. "Then you're able to replicate it when you come back; maybe your car isn't right and you know what to do to it to make it right.

"This track is one that I've never gotten that feel. Whether the car wasn't right to begin with or I wasn't able to tune it in, who knows. It could be all of the above. I've never gotten that here. I feel that we can get there, especially how we've performed at the Nationwide level before. We have a lot of reason for optimism."

Blue Bunny joins Johnson's Helmet of Hope for '12

FONTANA, Calif. -- Five-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson kicked off the 2012 Helmet of Hope campaign Friday at Auto Club Speedway by announcing Blue Bunny Ice Cream as the title sponsor of the program. Johnson unveiled this year's helmet, custom designed by Jason Beam and complete with ice cream scoops.

"We're thrilled to have Blue Bunny Ice Cream as the title sponsor for this year's Helmet of Hope," Johnson said. "Blue Bunny and the Jimmie Johnson Foundation share the same passion for helping those in need. We look forward to recognizing 13 great charities together this year."

To learn more, click here
The Helmet of Hope program, which began in 2008, allows fans, consumers and media members across the country to nominate their favorite charity to receive a $10,000 grant and special recognition on Johnson's race helmet. This year's Helmet of Hope campaign will run for six consecutive Sprint Cup race weekends beginning at Martinsville Speedway in April and culminating at Darlington Raceway in May. Nominations are currently being taken and will be accepted until 5 p.m. ET on May 7 at www.HelmetOfHope.org. To date, the program has contributed more than $300,000 to 49 different charities.

New this year, each selected charity also will receive a special Blue Bunny ice cream party. The Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope will be worn by Johnson in June during the Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway.

"Blue Bunny is honored to be title sponsor for the Helmet of Hope program," said Mike Wells, president and CEO, Wells Enterprises Inc., makers of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. "The opportunity this program provides in assisting awarded organizations aligns with our company fundamentals and beliefs. We are committed to being a good corporate citizen in those communities in which we live and work by contributing our time, talent and resources."

Blue Bunny selected the United Way of Siouxland to be the first charity featured on the Helmet of Hope. The United Way of Siouxland raises funds for a variety of partner organizations in northwest Iowa, where Blue Bunny is based. The organization focuses on helping children achieve their potential, promoting financial stability, and ensuring basic "safety net" services are available for those in need. United Way of Siouxland will dedicate the dollars to the Imagination Library, a literacy program in partnership with Dolly Parton's Dollywood Foundation, which provides free books to area children from newborn to 5 years of age. In addition to United Way of Siouxland, Johnson will draw two charities each week to be included on the helmet, one from fan submissions and one from media submissions.

Six-race suspension of Knaus, Malec overturned

CONCORD, N.C. -- NASCAR chief appellate officer John Middlebrook overturned on Tuesday an earlier ruling by the governing body that had threatened to cripple the No. 48 team of driver Jimmie Johnson for the 2012 season.

In doing so, Middlebrook rescinded the loss of 25 Sprint Cup championship driver and car owner points assessed, and also rescinded six-week suspensions levied against crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec. The only penalty that remained in place was a $100,000 fine for Knaus -- while both he and Malec will remain on probation until May 9.


I'm glad it's over with, for sure. It's been a tough 30 days for everybody. Everyone on the No. 48 team and at Hendrick Motorsports put a lot of effort into this to prove our innocence, and it proved worthwhile.

With the restoration of the 25 driver points to his total, Johnson made a jump Tuesday from 17th to 11th in the point standings heading into Sunday's race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

Related: Penalties rescinded on Knaus, No. 48 team

Team owner Rick Hendrick spearheaded the final appeal Tuesday, along with Knaus. They met for about six hours with Middlebrook and NASCAR officials who defended their decisions to levy the penalties in the first place -- before Middlebrook eventually made his ruling at about 3:45 p.m. ET.

"I'm glad this is over. It's been a long 30 days, I guess. I appreciate the opportunity that we were able to present all the facts," Hendrick said. "I'm happy with the outcome -- to see the points reinstated, to see Chad and all our guys reinstated. I would have liked to have seen the fine gone, too, because I don't see that there is any reason for any penalty."

Spokesman Kerry Tharp of NASCAR said the governing body stands by its inspection process, despite Middlebrook's ruling. He also said there was, by definition, a rules infraction because the $100,000 Knaus fine remained intact.

"We think the process speaks for itself, and we think it's a good, fair process," Tharp said. "I think there is still evidence that there was a rules infraction. The $100,000 fine is intact, so there was a rules infraction committed.

"I think we take on the responsibility of regulating that garage, and we take that very, very seriously. The ability for us to regulate the sport is paramount. We've got to be able to do that, and we will continue to do that, and we think the sport is better off for it."

Knaus added: "I'm glad it's over with, for sure. It's been a tough 30 days for everybody. Everyone on the No. 48 team and at Hendrick Motorsports put a lot of effort into this to prove our innocence, and it proved worthwhile."

The penalties were assessed by NASCAR prior to Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway for alleged illegal modifications to the C-posts on the No. 48 car, which could provide a race car with an aerodynamic advantage. The C-posts are supports that extend from the roof to the rear deck lid on a race car.

Knaus and Malec initially each were issued six-week suspensions. In addition, Johnson was docked 25 driver points and the team also was docked 25 owner points. (Johnson's car owner technically is fellow driver Jeff Gordon, not Hendrick).

Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, had said last Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway that he remained "optimistic" the penalties would be reduced or possibly even overturned altogether. After having an initial appeal denied by a three-member NASCAR appeals board on March 13, Tuesday's appeal was the final such opportunity for Hendrick Motorsports to make that happen.

Johnson's reason for optimism stemmed from the fact that Middlebrook, a former General Motors executive, had prior to Tuesday reduced suspensions in all three appeals he had heard since being appointed to his current position in 2010. In only one of those cases did the penalties being appealed involve points as well as suspensions, however, and in that case Middlebrook did not reduce the points penalty.

Hendrick said his company produced "about 20 photos" and 10-15 pages of detailed documentation proving that they had attempted to comply with NASCAR regulations regarding the C-posts at every turn. Knaus earlier contended that the same C-post configuration had been run on the No. 48 car on all four restrictor-plate races last season, and that each time the car had passed multiple inspections both at the track and at NASCAR's R&D Center.

Hendrick said his team also argued there were other cars at Daytona whose C-posts were called into question during visual inspections and that NASCAR allowed those teams to then work on their cars before presenting them for inspection again. He said the No. 48 car was not given that same opportunity -- and insisted that the car had not been altered in any way after passing a detailed inspection at the R&D Center itself in January, prior to taking the car to Daytona in February.

Asked if he felt vindicated, Knaus said: "To a degree. Obviously we're not very happy about the fine. That's an awful lot of money for something that really, obviously, proved to be OK. So that hurts a little bit.

"But it's not about vindication. It's over with. Now it's time to move on and get our focus back on trying to make the Chase and seeing what we can do with the No. 48 team again."

Knaus, No. 48 team down to final appeal

Chad Knaus is down to his last stand.

The crew chief on Jimmie Johnson's team should find out Tuesday whether he will have to serve all or part of the six-week suspension handed down by NASCAR for illegal body modifications made to the No. 48 car prior to the Daytona 500. A final appeal of Knaus' suspension and other penalties levied for the Daytona infractions is slated to be heard at the NASCAR Research and Development Center by John Middlebrook, the chief appellate officer of the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel.




Ruling not appealing

An appeals board ruled in favor of the penalties levied against the No. 48 team, leaving owner Rick Hendrick with one more option.
Panel upholds all penalties
Off to chief appellate officer
Johnson still optimistic
Sound Off: Johnson upbeat
Caraviello: Carnival breaks out
H2H: A must win?
Knaus' Hendrick Motorsports team lost a preliminary appeal last week to a three-member board from the appeals panel, but NASCAR's appeals system allows the team one final plea. Knaus has been working in the interim pending the appeals process, but if NASCAR's penalty is upheld Tuesday, the crew chief would be forced to sit beginning with this weekend's event at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California.

"If things stand, it will be a huge blow to the team," Johnson said last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. "I feel like we can work through it and still have a chance to win races, but it would be very difficult."

In initial inspection prior to the Daytona 500, officials confiscated the No. 48 car's C-pillars -- the posts that run from the roof to the rear deck lid -- for allegedly being modified to give the vehicle an aerodynamic advantage. Although the car never made it onto the race track with the parts in question, the sanctioning body still came down hard. Knaus and car chief Ron Malec were each suspended six races, Knaus was fined $100,000, and Johnson was docked 25 driver points.

Hendrick Motorsports has argued the car in question has competed in other restrictor-plate races, and passed inspection on those weekends without incident. Hendrick and team vice president, Ken Howes, made that argument last week to a three-person appeals panel comprised of Leo Mehl, a former executive at Goodyear and the Indy Racing League; Dale Pinilis, operator of Bowman Gray Stadium, a short track in Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Jon Capels, former chairman of the United States Auto Club. The trio unanimously upheld NASCAR's penalties.

Now the team's case comes down to a final appeal to Middlebrook, a retired General Motors executive who has a long relationship with Hendrick, who fields Chevrolets in NASCAR and operates a number of car dealerships. In 2010, Middlebrook reduced a monetary fine and a suspension levied against the crew chief of Clint Bowyer's former No. 33 team at Richard Childress Racing, but upheld a points deduction.

"I have hope that this next appeal will be heard and we will have a different outcome," Johnson said. "There is no telling how it is all going to shake out."

If the penalties are not overturned or reduced, Knaus and Malec will sit out until the May 12 event at Darlington Raceway, and the No. 48 team will need to find someone else to call the next six races. And Johnson would remain 17th in the Sprint Cup standings, thanks to a penalty that left him with negative points in the immediate aftermath of the Daytona 500.

"I feel like that Hendrick Motorsports definitely feels like there is a reason to be appealing, or we wouldn't be taking this next step," said Jeff Gordon, who is the listed owner of Johnson's No. 48 car. "Whatever the decision that is made, we will live with it and move on. We feel like we are in the right and [NASCAR] feel like they are, and that's why there is an appeal process."