David Newton now says that Tony Stewart has lined up Office Depot as a sponsor if he finalizes a deal with HAAS CNC Racing.

Martin Truex Jr. had his primary car taken away by NASCAR today as during tech inspection the car did not fit the roof template.  They were given one shot to fix it and that did not occur.  He has now gone to a backup car.

Dario Franchiiti is going to be having a meeting with Chip Ganassi.

BAM Racing is going to make an attempt to come back for the race at Indianapolis.

Randy Moss is now 50% owner of Morgan-Dollar Motorsports which is going to field the #81 Chevrolet with Willie Allen as the driver at Kentucky Speedway on July 19th.

Friday July 4th at 12:30PM at the Daytona International Speedway infield media center Rick Hendrick is going make official plans for the #5 team.

For The ESPY awards Kyle Busch has been nominted for “Best Breakthrough Athlete and “Best Driver.”  Jimmy Johnson and Dario Franchitti have also been named in the “Best Driver” catagory.

He can drive in the Nationwide series for Chip Gannasi for the rest of the season.  That will give him some experience, but the Nationwide Series cars are not the same as the Sprint Cup cars though which is a big problem.  The economy is not hot at all right now and will probably not improve enough for Chip Ganssi to get a full time sponsorship for 2009 so fielding him in a third car may not happen at all.

His best option for a 2009 Sprint Cup ride is if Reed Sorenson leaves Chip Ganassi for another team.  I do not think this is ever going to occur though.  Both Reed and Dario are not super NASCAR performers this year and I do not think either one of them will command much attention on the open market for a ride with a different team.

His best option imo is to stay with Chip Ganassi and go back to the IRL for the rest of the 2008 and for the full 2009 season.  Chip will have a much easier time getting a sponsor for Dario in the IRL. If Chip can find some partial sponsorship for a Sprint Cup race or two then Dario has a chance to race a Sprint Cup car in 2009.

Dario may love to do Sprint Cup racing now, but at this point of time it is going to have to be hold.

Hendrick Motorsports is expected on friday to say that Mark Martin is going to drive the #5 car next year.  The link says it is a full time ride.

Kerry Earnhardt is going to drive the #8 Nationwide series car for the Friday night race.  It will be his first Nationwide series start for JR Motorsports.

Chad Walter was the crew chief for the #5 Nationwide series car was fined for using inappropriate language at the New Hampshire race on Saturday.  His cash fine is 10 grand and is put on probation until the end of the year.  Rick Hendrick also winds up with a 25 point owner fine and Landon Cassill picks up a 25 point driver fine.

Some Felix Sabates comment on Dario Fracnhitti and his NASCAR future:

“So he’s got his choice. If he wants to drive the Nationwide Car, get some more experience, maybe we’ll get a sponsor for next year or go back to the IRL. It’s up to Dario, he has a contract and we intend to honor it.

This came from the XM show Dialed in with Claire B. Lang.

MOUNT POCONO, PA — Race packages are still available as Caesars Pocono Resorts teams up again with Pocono Raceway to offer the special Race Fan Package for race fans attending the NASCAR Pennsylvania 500 Race. The all-inclusive three-day package begins on August 1st and includes breakfast and dinner, attendance to exclusive parties, lodging, Paddock passes, Concourse Level Race tickets and transportation to and from the raceway for the Pennsylvania 500 on August 3.

             Race Fan Packages are available at Paradise Stream Resort in Mount Pocono , PA and include:

• Welcome party and pool-side champagne celebration
• Saturday night steak dinner
• Grab & go breakfast on Sunday
• Paddock pass (pre-race pit pass)
• Concourse Level race tickets
• Luxury bus ride to and from track
• Post race dinner feast back at the resort

            Race Fan Packages are priced at $1,595 per couple and require a minimum three-night stay. Guests must stay Sunday night to ride the bus to and from the race.  Race packages are still available but are expected to sell out. 

            For information about the Race Fan Packages, contact 1-800-972-7168 or visit www.CPResorts.com/press.

This leaves 71 people out of a job.

It looks like he may still race for them though in the Nationwide Series though.

Johnny Sauter is going to get to ride the #08 car sponsored by getFUBAR.com at the LifeLock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway and the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In another PR Coca-Cola is having a give-away contest this weekend.  It anyone one of the 13 Coca-ColaRacing Family Members wins the race on Saturday you can goto Cokezero.com, follow some instructions and get one free bottle of CokeZero.

Being out front in was the best thing possible for you car most of the race, but the pit strategy won out in the end.

What was up with Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Busch out on the race track???  It does not look like they will solve anything soon.

Tony Stewart during the race wound up being the 13th driver to pass the 10,000 laps led mark.

ESPN has up a 7 minute video from the Sunday Outside The Lines show they produce looking at the high cost for a NASCAR team.  It is one piece of the 30 minute show.

David Newton says that on Tuesday we are going to have an official announcement that Aric Almirola is going to be the full time rider of the 8 car in 09.

Hunt Brother Pizza has extended a sponsorship deal with  HAAS CNC racing.  For the next race at Daytona #66 car driven by Scott Riggs the company is going to be a primary sponsor.

On The SPEED Report TV show Ray Dunlap says that Kobalt Tools may wind up being the sponsor for the Craftsman Truck series.

Randy Moss Motorsports is going to be racing for the first time this season on July 19 at Kentucky Speedway with the #81 car.  That is also his jersey number for the NFL team he plays for.

Bruton Smith is looking to add an IRL race for the New Hampshire track.

Jeff Burton aid that he thinks he has a good car.  Kevin Harvick stated that track position is key.  “I think the car is fast on the long run,” said Clint Boyer.  “Still got to learn the track,” said Patrick Carpentier.

The green flag drops and in a few laps Patrick looses the lead to Kevin Harvick.  Kevin busted out to a two second plus lead before it went all away and finally on lap 46 Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to get the lead of the race.

Green flag racing continued and a massive amount of green flag pit stops occurred around lap 67.  After green flag pit stops all went down Kevin Harvick was able to take the lead of the race again.

The first caution of the day finally comes out on lap 86 as Dario Franchitti spins out with some help from David Reutimann.

Caesy Mears and Brian Vickers decide to stay out while the rest of cars on the lead lap come in for tires and fuel.

After the green flag dropped it was another long green flag run that worked for Casey and Brian.  During this green flag run Tony Stewart made his way up to second place, but could not pass Casey at all.  The debris caution finally came out on lap 140 which saved Mears and Brian from making a green flag stop in the next few laps.

Everyone comes in and Tony Stewart was able to get the lead off the race.  It was only a short green flag run this time that only lasted until lap 152 as Joe Nemechek spins out.

The cars up front stay out this time.  The green flag drops again and Tony Stewart was able to bust out a couple second lead.  He kept the lead of the race and then the caution comes out on lap 201 for the car of A.J. Allmendinger that blows up.  Tony Stewart was able to keep the lead of the race after pit stops.

At the drop of the green flag Michael McDowell and his engine blows up, the caution flag does not come out for this and he was able to make it all the way around track

The next caution finally comes out on lap 217 as Aric Almirola spins out from some help from Kasey Kahne.  Most of the cars stay out and by this time some rain was getting close to the area.

With 75 laps left to get Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were fighting it out for second spot.  With 70 laps to go Denny Hamlin takes over the third spot from Jeff.

Jimmie Johnson then starts to close in on Tony. With 45 laps to go he was right behind him.  With 30 laps to go nothing has really changed in the top five, but the caution comes out.  Dale Jr. was attempting to get on pit road, but Jamie McMurray slams really hard into him.

“I never saw the 88,” said Jamie.

Denny Hamlin takes the lead off pit road with Jimmie Johnson in second.  Tony Stewart taking two tires winds up back in sixth.  Kurt Busch and eight other drivers do not pit.

At the drop of the green flag it was not long before the caution comes out with 22 laps to go for the spinning cars of Sam Hornish Jr. and Clint Boyer.  Under the caution period on turn one Juan Pablo Montoya spins out Kyle Busch who then smashes into Juan.

Juan Pablo Montoya said that he was not happy at all for the way Kyle was hitting him and intently turned him.

“He thought he beat to the caution flag,” said Kyle Busch.  He stated that he did not know what his beef is.

The rain finally starts to fall now and with 17 laps left the red flag gets posted for rain.  At the time of the red flag it was Kurt Busch in first with Michael Waltrip in second and J.J. Yeley in third.

After a few minutes NASCAR winds up calling the race giving Kurt the win of the race.  Kurt said that he played the strategy game and that he needs to put in a big run to get into the chase.

After the race ended Kyle Busch and his big lead gets chunked big time down to 67 points to Jeff Burton and 144 points to Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The 2008 rules have teams getting only seven open test dates and the teams can hold private tests on any track they like.

“Z Line Toyota is not bad,” said Kyle Busch.  Clint Boyer said that he enjoys this place.

This race has a streak of 21 straight different winners and at the end of the race the streak would continue.

At the drop of the green flag it did not take long and the caution came out for the spinning car of Brad Coleman. Brad stated that all he needed was to get his car out of the mud in order to get back in the race and that going through the infield care center along with sprinting back to his car cost him fifteen laps.

This finally led to nice green flag run that saw Kyle Busch get the lead of the race on lap 10.  Clint Boyer took it back at lap 18 and then in a few laps Tony Stewart took the lead.  Clint Boyer retook the lead on lap 33 and was finally able to bust open a one second plus lead.

The next caution finally came out on lap 47 as Landon Cassill spins out with some help from Bobby Hamilton Jr.  By the time of wreck Landon made it all the way back to around sixteenth spot in the field.  “Had a great race car,” said Landon.  “I tried to pass him clean.”

The leaders pit and Clint Boyer was able to keep the lead of the race.  This led to another long green flag run where Kyle Busch was able to get the lead of the race quickly after the green flag dropped again.  He started to bust out a two second lead over Tony Stewart.  The caution finally came around lap 100 for the spinning car of Derrike Cope.

The leaders pit and Kyle Busch was able to keep the lead of the race off pit road.  After some laps of green flag racing on lap 112 David Reutimann was able to get the lead of the race and keep until the caution flag came out for debris on lap 128.

The leaders come in again and Carl Edwards working on some tire strategy takes the lead of the race with Greg Biffle coming out in second.

With 65 laps to go Tony Stewart fully makes the pass for the lead of the race from Carl Edwards.

With 50 laps to go it was Tony Stewart in the lead with Denny Hamlin in second and Kyle Busch in third.  Twenty more laps go by and nothing has changed at the top with Kyle Busch around 1.3 seconds back of the leader Tony Stewart.

With 20 laps left Kyle Busch fell back to almost 2 seconds back of leader Tony
Stewart.  The trio of Joe Gibbs drivers would then go on to finish 1-2-3 for the race today as the caution came out on the final lap for the spinning car of Greg Biffle.

“These guys are awesome,” said Dave Rodgers who was the crew chief for Tony Stewart today.  He stated that the gamble paid off when taking two tires.

“This is for Dave Rodgers,” said Tony Stewart.  “Proof what this program is about.”

“A great finish for everyone,” said Danny Hamlin who finished in second.  He stated that taking only two tires does upset the balance of the car a bit.

“Good finish for the Z Line Toyota,” said Kyle Busch.  He stated that track position was more important at the end of the race.  Kyle ended the race in third place.

“I don’t know,” said Carl Edwards on weather taking two tires was better than taking none.  “We just couldn’t get it done.”  Carl finished in fifth.

Brad Keslowski said that he was a top five car at the end, but he just ran out of laps.  He finished the race in tenth.

At the end of the race Clint Boyer and his lead shrinks, just barely.  He now leads David Reutimann by 182 points and Carl Edwards by 188 points.