As a member of an elite group of NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers who have won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson – one could reasonably assume – might be brimming with confidence entering Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the 2.5-mile track.

Think again.

Though Johnson won at Indy on the way to his first Cup title in 2006, the Hendrick Motorsports driver believes his overall record at the track is a more accurate reflection of his Indy resume.

In six starts at the famed oval, Johnson has just two top-10 finishes. Meanwhile, he’s placed 36th or worse three times.

The two-time defending Cup champion has an average starting and finishing position of 20.2 and 23.5, respectively, at the Brickyard.

“We’ve struggled at Indy for some reason - it’s definitely on our list of tougher tracks,” said Johnson, who has led just 33 laps in his six Indy starts. “We were able to get a win there a couple years ago so we know we’re a team capable of winning there. We just have to have all the pieces fall into place for us.”

Last season, Johnson’s bid for a second-straight Allstate 400 win ended when he was collected in an eight-car accident on lap 45 and then cut a tire and hit the wall 16 laps later. He finished 39th.

“It seems like it hasn’t been bad performances that have kept us from good finishes,” Johnson said. “We just tend to get caught up in a wreck or have some bad luck in the pits.”

Johnson hopes to change that this weekend.

“A solid finish is definitely within reach if we can just stay out of trouble,” he said. - scenedaily.com

Tony Stewart is serious about Sprint Cup team ownership -- serious enough that he's able to resist the allure of one great race that he's never won, but still calls to him year after year. As his own boss, there'd be nothing to stop him from turning his NASCAR vehicle over to someone else for one weekend next May, and resuming the chase for that Indianapolis 500 victory that's teased and eluded him over the course of his otherwise illustrious career.

But he's not going to do it. There's too much to do at soon-to-be re-christened Stewart-Haas Racing for the new team owner to allow his thoughts to drift to open wheels and bottles of milk.

"With this new venture, I feel like I need to focus that much more energy toward the Cup program. When I was just strictly going to be a driver, it's a lot easier to try to do things outside the box, but I feel like now I've got more responsibility on me, and I'm responsible for a lot more people," Stewart said Tuesday, on a conference call with reporters.

"Even if the logistics worked out, I don't see myself trying to go back and run the 500 anymore. It's just something that the amount of work and dedication that it's going to take to be a part of this organization and try to help it be successful [is] going to take a lot of time and effort, and the month of May, it's a long, long event. It's not just a three-day event like it is on a Cup weekend. So dedicating and splitting my time up between the two events is just going to dilute my effort with what we are doing on the Cup side so, I'm just going to focus on that."

Stewart has indeed come a long way from the argumentative, hotheaded driver he was earlier in his career, when he appeared terribly uncomfortable in the NASCAR spotlight and had routine run-ins with officials or reporters. He's not that same person today, as evidenced by his willingness to take on a Sprint Cup ownership role at which he had previously expressed no interest. This is a big burden, bigger than his transition from IndyCars, bigger than anything else he's taken on. Stewart seems to grasp that. The fact that he's willing to forego the Indianapolis 500, the one event he was born and bred to win, speaks volumes.

Of course, the fact that he has two trophies from the prestigious NASCAR event at the big speedway surely doesn't hurt. If Stewart were to retire from competition tomorrow, his legacy at Indianapolis and elsewhere would be secure. But looming over everything, even the stretch run this season as Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli try to make the Chase one last time with their No. 20 car, is the unenviable task of turning around a program with two vehicles outside the top 35 in owner points. If it happens, it will be Stewart's name, reputation, ability and will that do it. If Stewart succeeds in transforming the now barely competitive band called Haas CNC Racing into winners, it will be an accomplishment at least on a par with any championship he's ever won.

That burden is just beginning to settle on his shoulders, just as another -- the pressure of leaving Joe Gibbs Racing -- is beginning to ease. Although the organization's name hasn't changed yet, he's already playing the owner's role. Last Monday, Stewart had his first team meeting at the Haas shop, addressing employees who soon enough will be working for him. Now the search is under way to identify why an outfit with a sizeable shop and plenty of in-house technical acumen, a Chevrolet team that receives bodies, engines, and engineering support from seven-time champion Hendrick Motorsports, simply hasn't clicked.

"I'm not sure that I fully understand exactly what is holding them back right now, but I do know that they have got good resources and it's just a matter of figuring out where the break is in the system there. There's obviously something that's not exactly the way, obviously, that we want it to be or they want it to be right now. It's just going to take some more time, and I think being able to be at the shop a lot the rest of the year will help with that," Stewart said.

"As far as how long it's going to take, I don't know. I honestly don't know the answer to that. I wish I could say that everything would be perfect by the time that we go to Daytona, but I think it's going to be a work in progress right now. You look at the caliber of the teams and the quality of car owners that are out there, it's going to be a lot of work to get caught up to where they are at, but that's something that I'm excited about is having that challenge and taking whatever time that it takes to get it where we want it to be, and to be a team like a Joe Gibbs Racing or a Hendrick or a Roush or Childress."

That work is well under way. Friday morning at Indianapolis, Stewart will formally unveil his car number and primary sponsor, widely believed to be No. 14 and Old Spice. He needs to hire a new chew chief, someone who will fill the sizeable void left behind by Zipadelli, the friend and confidante who has helped guide Stewart through some troublesome times. He needs another car sponsor and another driver, the latter "not narrowed down to just one," he said, despite the focus on Ryan Newman, who will break from Penske Racing at the end of the year. There are new people to hire and old employees to retain, processes to review and a multitude of puzzle pieces to be fit into place.

And none of those tasks can wait, not with 2008 preseason testing less than six months away and the clock ticking. From the outside, it appears a terribly tall order -- challenge for a Chase berth in his No. 20 car, while laying the groundwork for turning around a team that's recorded just one top-five finish in its seven-year history. But as Stewart's racing results will suggest, he's never one to shy away from a challenge or back off when under pressure. This is a driver who has won championships while facing tremendous personal duress, whose interests in other series have taught him how to prioritize and delegate, who's been wearing so many hats for so long now that one more shouldn't matter.

Of course, that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. In this economic climate, where sponsors are scarce and at least one manufacturer -- General Motors, Chevy's parent company -- is pulling back, unseen pitfalls surely exist. For now, at least, give the new team owner some credit for doing the one thing drivers aren't supposed to do: look beyond this week's race. Give him some credit for thinking about more than just himself when he could have used ownership as a platform to chase the Indy 500, and everybody would have understood. Give him some credit for realizing the challenges and being prepared, even though he has another championship to chase and a final season with Joe Gibbs Racing to finish.

"If I wasn't excited about doing this, I think that would probably bother me a lot," he said, referring to the pressures inherent in ownership. "But, I mean, I'm excited about it and I'm excited about all the pressure that we have going into next year now. It's something that we've been looking forward to." - nascar.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR tried to even out the competition in the Nationwide Series on Wednesday by ordering all teams using Toyota motors to squeeze down their horsepower before this weekend's race in Indianapolis.

Toyota has won 14 of 21 races this season in the Nationwide Series, and all but one of them came in a Camry fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. The exception was JGR driver Kyle Busch's victory at Charlotte in May in a car fielded by Braun Racing.

NASCAR ordered all the Toyota motors to use a smaller restrictor that will knock down 15 horsepower in the motors.

NASCAR recently sent 10 different motors for testing, and found that David Reutimann's Toyota was the best with an estimated 3 percent horsepower advantage over the competition. JGR's No. 18 car -- which Busch drove to victory at Chicago right before the motors were tested -- was second.

Roush Fenway Racing's Nos. 16 and 17 Fords were next, followed by JGR's No. 20 car, which has won nine races with four different drivers this season.

JGR builds its own motors for its two Nationwide Series cars. The rest of the Toyota engines in that series and the Craftsman Truck Series come from Triad Racing Development, a Bill Davis-owned company that leases engines.

Toyota president Lee White did not immediately return a call for comment.

Technically, the new guidelines aren't directed solely at Toyota. But because the automaker is working with a brand new engine and has access to the latest technology, Toyota teams have gained an advantage over the manufacturers using older engine models.

If the other manufacturers should reach the stage at which Toyota is currently, they would be subject to the horsepower guidelines NASCAR mandated Wednesday.

Chevrolet has been pushing to use its new engine in the Nationwide Series, and many believe that model is on par with the Toyota motors.

NASCAR amends Nationwide Series Rule Book

NASCAR has issued a technical bulletin amending the Nationwide Series Rule Book. Effective as of July 23, 2008, section 20A -- 5.10.4 is amended as follows:

"At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes. Unless otherwise authorized, the carburetor restrictor will be issued by NASCAR."

"Eventually, all teams that upgrade to new engine packages will be subject to this rule modification," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. "Over the years in our sport, we've taken steps on numerous occasions to help maintain a level playing field among our competitors and we will continue to do so." - ap

Here's a quick test.

Who's leading NASCAR's Nationwide tour at the midpoint of the season? Is it Carl Edwards? Kyle Busch? Clint Bowyer? Tony Stewart?

Here are some hints.

Busch has won five Nationwide races. So has Stewart. And Denny Hamlin has three wins.

So which driver leads the Nationwide tour?

That's Clint Bowyer. With one win in 21 starts.

On the owner's side, Joe Gibbs is running away with things, with 12 wins in 21 races.

So who gets the big trophy at the end of the season, if things stay as they are?

Well, this just shows how confusing the NASCAR system is. There's one set of standings for drivers, a separate set for team owners.

NASCAR's Saturday series has had an identity crisis for several years now -- it's Sprint Cup Lite, dominated by Cup team owners and Cup drivers.

And this is just more fodder for those complaining, and wanting NASCAR to define more clearly just what this series really is. But there probably won't be a shake-up any time soon.

NASCAR racing, after all, really is more about the drivers than all that other stuff.

Carl Edwards' win Saturday night, in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 was memorable not for Edwards logging his second win of the year but for the man he beat -- Joey Logano, who continues to tease the NASCAR faithful with the promise of what he might be able to do when he finally gets in a Cup car.

Mark Martin has been shouting Logano's praises for more than six years. But Logano, because of NASCAR rules, really wasn't able to make a statement in this division until after he turned 18 in May.

Since then, Logano has been very impressive. In his last three Nationwide starts, he has won at Kentucky Speedway and has run second twice. He made his debut with a sixth at Dover in May. In his five Nationwide starts, Logano has qualified in the top 10 each time and has won poles at Nashville and Kentucky.

Logano is expected to get a couple of Cup rides later this season, and there is considerable talk that he might take over Tony Stewart's Cup ride next year when Stewart leaves Gibbs. There are also indications that NASCAR executives might like Logano to stay in the Nationwide series in 2009, to give it some of his star power.

At the moment, Logano is getting close scrutiny from NASCAR executives, to see if he really is ready for the big leagues. Logano led 42 of the 200 laps Saturday and never ran lower than fifth.

"We had a pretty good night," Logano said. "We made a lot of adjustments during the race, and we could run well at both ends of the track. We could turn the center well, but had no forward bite … or we were too tight in the center and had good forward bite. We couldn't really get it right where we wanted to.

"But it seemed like Carl Edwards got it right where he wanted to."

One critical area for Logano to study will be pit stops. "We gained a lot of spots in the pits … but I lost a lot of spots in the pits with me driving," he said. "But that's part of the learning curve as a rookie."

In fact, Logano might have lost the race in the pits. He was leading when the last caution came out with 50 miles to go, but he stalled the engine on his pit stop and restarted fourth.

"I screwed up coming out of the pits, and I tried passing on the restart, and the car got free and lost a spot," Logano said. "By the time we got back by all of those cars, I was about 15 car-lengths back, while Carl gradually started pulling away. Before I knew it, he had a straightaway lead on me.

"I never gave up, but he had such a big lead that even if I was a half-second quicker at the end, I was never going to get there. My only hope was a caution and then something happening….

"We were a second-place car, and there's nothing wrong with that." - journalnow.com

According to a story last week from Associated Press, "That seems to be just the first step in what could be a huge drop in support by GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC for tracks and teams in the NASCAR's top three professional divisions."

The obvious explanation is that U.S. automakers are in financial trouble, so sponsorships tend to be the first expenses to go. Less obvious – and wildly speculative – is that they may be reconsidering the optics of having loud cars zipping around a track senselessly burning fuel and spewing emissions.

Car enthusiasts will tell us auto racing serves an important purpose — and to be fair, in many respects, it has. As one letter to the editor pointed out, "Auto racing has either invented or improved a number of innovations we use on our cars every day." The list includes rear-view mirrors, traction control, better tire design, advanced breaking and better fuel-injection that has improved fuel economy and lowered emissions.

If that's the case, you'd think NASCAR would be on top of the automotive world's leading trend: electric drive systems and the move toward plug-in vehicles. If GM is betting the farm on its electric Volt car, NASCAR doesn't appear to be following — let alone leading.

It's not uncommon for presidential candidates to sponsor NASCAR racers, but Barack Obama decided against it this month. "Stock car racing could be seen as being antithetical to any green automotive policies that Obama might support," a recent entry on the blog Autobloggreen speculated.

So here's my suggestion: What about starting a NASCAR division dedicated to the racing of electric cars? Cars could be repowered during pit stops with battery swaps. Each team would be allowed a certain number of batteries. That way, teams aiming to win would have to focus on improving battery range and power density.

This sounds like a better way to drive innovation in a world trying to wean itself off oil. When former U.S. vice-president Al Gore challenged Americans last Thursday to move toward a carbon-free electricity system within 10 years, many wondered why he focused on electricity and not transportation fuels.

Truth is, he was focusing on both. Gore emphasized a need to invest in a "unified national grid" that could tap into renewable power sources from across the continent — wave and wind on the coasts, solar and geothermal in the southwest, wind farms in the Midwest, and hydroelectric in the north.

He suggested such a grid could be made more efficient by connecting them to a national fleet of electric cars to "sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid."

Canada take note.

When people tell me about the problems with renewable energy technologies — that they're intermittent, not reliable, and too costly as a result — I wonder whether the bigger picture is being seen. The grid and transportation are destined to become more closely intertwined in coming decades as we seek energy efficiency and security.

Take the issue of energy storage. Critics like to point out that wind, for example, is useless unless we have an economical way of storing its energy and dispatching that energy when we need it. They argue affordable, large-scale storage simply doesn't exist.

But fast-forward a decade or two. Imagine a million cars connected to the grid charging up only when the wind blows and the sun shines. Imagine being able to sell power from your electric car back to the grid for a premium. Imagine utilities buying up used car batteries on the cheap, stitching them together and creating massive storage banks used to smooth out demand and supply on the grid.

Tony Posawatz, senior engineering executive heading up GM's Volt program, told Reuters last month the car maker has already been approached by several utilities about the idea of redeploying used lithium-ion car batteries to store renewable energy for use when electricity demand is highest.

These aren't wild and crazy dreams. These are real discussions in support of a powerful, world-changing trend. GM is serious about it, and so are the utilities. As one analyst told Reuters, the Volt represents "the big paradigm shift" – and the international community is watching.

Moving ahead with the expansion and modernization of any electricity system without considering this trend is simply irresponsible. As for NASCAR, staging an all-electric event might help solve its sponsorship woes. - thestar.com

TNT's final broadcast of a Sprint Cup Series race this season saw a significant drop off from last season, probably in part due to the race's movement from Sunday afternoon a year ago to Saturday night this year.

The July 12 race at Chicagoland Speedway received a 3.7 rating on TNT, down 23 percent from the 4.8 it received in 2007 when it was broadcast on Sunday afternoon.

The July 11 Nationwide Series race received a 1.6 rating on ESPN. The same race a year ago, broadcast on a Saturday afternoon rather than Friday night, received a 1.9 rating on ABC.  - thatsracin.com

Tony Stewart will drive the No. 14 Chevrolet in his debut next season with his own Sprint Cup Series team, Stewart-Haas Racing, and will share sponsorship from Office Depot and Old Spice, the Observer has learned.

A formal announcement of Stewart's car number and sponsorship plans will be made this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, multiple sources said Monday.

There has been a lot of speculation Stewart could announce his new teammate for next season this weekend but sources said Stewart-Haas Racing would have no announcement about teammates at Indianapolis.

The leading candidate for the second SHR ride is Ryan Newman, who announced last week he was leaving Penske Racing at the end of this season.

However, while he may end up with Stewart's team, Newman is still considering other offers, sources said, including a late offer from a fellow Dodge organization, Gillett Evernham Motorsports.  - thatsracin.com

Here's a quick test.

Who's leading NASCAR's Nationwide tour at the midpoint of the season? Is it Carl Edwards? Kyle Busch? Clint Bowyer? Tony Stewart?

Here are some hints.

Busch has won five Nationwide races. So has Stewart. And Denny Hamlin has three wins.

So which driver leads the Nationwide tour?

That's Clint Bowyer. With one win in 21 starts.

On the owner's side, Joe Gibbs is running away with things, with 12 wins in 21 races.

So who gets the big trophy at the end of the season, if things stay as they are?

Well, this just shows how confusing the NASCAR system is. There's one set of standings for drivers, a separate set for team owners.

NASCAR's Saturday series has had an identity crisis for several years now -- it's Sprint Cup Lite, dominated by Cup team owners and Cup drivers.

And this is just more fodder for those complaining, and wanting NASCAR to define more clearly just what this series really is. But there probably won't be a shake-up any time soon.

NASCAR racing, after all, really is more about the drivers than all that other stuff.

Carl Edwards' win Saturday night, in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 was memorable not for Edwards logging his second win of the year but for the man he beat -- Joey Logano, who continues to tease the NASCAR faithful with the promise of what he might be able to do when he finally gets in a Cup car.

Mark Martin has been shouting Logano's praises for more than six years. But Logano, because of NASCAR rules, really wasn't able to make a statement in this division until after he turned 18 in May.

Since then, Logano has been very impressive. In his last three Nationwide starts, he has won at Kentucky Speedway and has run second twice. He made his debut with a sixth at Dover in May. In his five Nationwide starts, Logano has qualified in the top 10 each time and has won poles at Nashville and Kentucky.

Logano is expected to get a couple of Cup rides later this season, and there is considerable talk that he might take over Tony Stewart's Cup ride next year when Stewart leaves Gibbs. There are also indications that NASCAR executives might like Logano to stay in the Nationwide series in 2009, to give it some of his star power.

At the moment, Logano is getting close scrutiny from NASCAR executives, to see if he really is ready for the big leagues. Logano led 42 of the 200 laps Saturday and never ran lower than fifth.

"We had a pretty good night," Logano said. "We made a lot of adjustments during the race, and we could run well at both ends of the track. We could turn the center well, but had no forward bite … or we were too tight in the center and had good forward bite. We couldn't really get it right where we wanted to.

"But it seemed like Carl Edwards got it right where he wanted to."

One critical area for Logano to study will be pit stops. "We gained a lot of spots in the pits … but I lost a lot of spots in the pits with me driving," he said. "But that's part of the learning curve as a rookie."

In fact, Logano might have lost the race in the pits. He was leading when the last caution came out with 50 miles to go, but he stalled the engine on his pit stop and restarted fourth.

"I screwed up coming out of the pits, and I tried passing on the restart, and the car got free and lost a spot," Logano said. "By the time we got back by all of those cars, I was about 15 car-lengths back, while Carl gradually started pulling away. Before I knew it, he had a straightaway lead on me.

"I never gave up, but he had such a big lead that even if I was a half-second quicker at the end, I was never going to get there. My only hope was a caution and then something happening….

"We were a second-place car, and there's nothing wrong with that." - journalnow.com