Busch takes pole, Kahne looks to build on All-Star win 
Kyle Busch ran a fastest lap of 185.433 on Thursday to take the pole position for Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600. Kasey Kahne, looking to build momentum after an impressive win in the All-Star Challenge, qualified second making for a formidable front row featuring two of NASCAR'S hottest young guns. Kahne's season starting promising with four top-10's in five races, but has yet to find consistency as of late. Busch on the other hand has been arguably the best driver up until this point of the season, winning three races and riding high atop the Sprint Cup points standings. Kahne will be attempting to lay the ground work on a much more consistent season compared to last year, while Busch will try to stretch his points lead over Jeff Burton into triple digits.

TOP PICKS
Kyle Busch: The aforementioned Busch has been on an impressive early season tear, picking up wins at Atlanta, Talladega, and Darlington. The points leader has not had the best of luck at Lowe's in the past, but with his momentum this may be his best shot at winning one of NASCAR's premier races.

Kasey Kahne: Kahne smoothed over doubts that he was capable of putting together a solid string of runs by passing Jimmie Johnson for the victory in the All-Star Challenge. He will be going after another big payday, but will have to contend with drivers that will be on their best game. Kahne swept both Lowe's races in '06 and is starting to figure out what it takes to make it to the Chase.

Jimmie Johnson: Mr. Lowe's himself has collected five wins at his sponsor's track, sweeping the season's races there in '04 and the '05 seasons. Johnson is usually a virtual lock to finish in the top-five or above, but his best finish there last season was only 10th. Most drivers would take that any year, though Johnson seems to hold himself to a higher standard here since he owns on this intermediate speedway.

SLEEPERS
Brian Vickers/A.J. Allmendinger: Allmendinger managed to hold off a hard-charging Sam Hornish Jr. to take Sprint Showdown to get in the All-Star race. And with Vickers qualifying third, this pair of teammates could give the wily vets a run for the money Sunday night. Vickers may be the most likely to surprise fans, but Allmendinger running up front and showing signs that he's starting to "get it" in NASCAR may be a sign he is ready to take the next step.

Greg Biffle: Biffle hasn't broke the top-10 at Lowe's since finishing seventh two seasons ago, but is racing for a major extension with Roush Fenway. Never underestimate drivers with jobs on the line. Biffle has 11 career wins at intermediate tracks.

Jamie McMurray: Kahne's season hasn't been nearly as inconsistent as McMurray's. He had his breakthough win at Lowe's while subbing for Sterling Marlin in only his second Cup start. McMurray will need help, but he has proven he can get up front and keep a lead here.

NO CHANCE
Ryan Newman: Newman has never had good luck here and has not finished above 27th in his past four races at Lowe's. Will at least look to avoid finishing in the latter half of drivers in this race.

Juan Montoya: The driver everyone loves to hate has yet to score big at any intermediate track that isn't a road course. With Marlin filling in for Franchitti and Reed Sorenson being the only other Ganassi driver in the field, Chip might have a better day with his Indy Cars than his Cup teams.

Elliott Sadler: Sadler hasn't finished on the lead lap at Lowe's since the spring race in '05 when he finished 13th. Sadler might have a small window to chase the leader if he gets towards the front where teammate Kahne is, but look for him to keep sliding back.

Could someone please tell Kyle Petty to just go away?

The dude is an embarassment to the Petty name and by remaining in the spotlight of the camera from time to time it only reminds us all of what a disappointment he has been in the NASCAR circuit.  Then again it seems like a lot of drivers can't live up the the hype of their daddy.  Just ask Little E.

I saw Kyle going on about how he was splitting time driving with another racer and that he wasn't worried about losing his spot.

He should be worried that his sponsor's are falling faster than a one liner from Jimmy Dinsmore.

Carl Edwards was penalized 100 championship driver points Wednesday by NASCAR for a rule infraction involving the oil tank lid cover on his car following his victory Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Edwards stay atop the Sprint Cup leader board was short lived as he went from a 21-point lead over Kyle Busch to seventh place following the penalties. Edwards also lost the 10 bonus points he would have gotten when the points are reshuffled for the Chase to the Championship should he be one of the 12 drivers to qualify for the 10-race playoff. It is the first time that NASCAR has deducted those points for winning a race since that bonus system was put in.

Edwards crew chief Bob Osborne was fined $100,000 and was suspended for the next six races, while team owner Jack Roush was penalized 100 owner points. NASCAR discovered the infraction during post-race inspection that the lid from Edwards' oil tank had come off. NASCAR officials said that could create an aerodynamic advantage because it allows air to escape inside the car to create more downforce.

Rusty Wallace, whose Nationwide Series team was fined for a similar incident at Daytona before it was overturned, said that would create a minimal advantage at a track such as Las Vegas. The biggest difference between Edwards' car and Wallace's Nationwide team is that the lid came completely off the Sprint star's car. They were bent in several Nationwide cars.

Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith said that it is in the best interest of the team for Osborne to begin serving his suspension immediately starting with this weekend's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Missing races earlier in the season would be better than and not be as detrimental as it would be closer to the start of the Chase. Chris Andrews, the head of the engineering department at Roush Fenway, will serve as Edwards' interim crew chief until Osborne returns. He will be assisted on top of the pit box by Robbie Reiser, Matt Kenseth's longtime crew chief, who was promoted to general manager of the race teams during the offseason.

Edwards will be better off getting this penalty out of the way this early in the season. Had something like this happened much closer to the Chase started, it may have had a major effect on whether or not he would be in the playoff. Even if what they were penalized for, at least in the eyes of some experienced racing personnel, only gave them a slight advantage on the track. Edwards has plenty of time to catch back up.    

NASCAR's so called "Car of Tomorrow" officially became the "Car of Today" at the beginning of the 2008 season, but for the first time, the new car will be raced at a 1 1/2 mile oval Sunday in Las Vegas. The Car received mix reviews during it's trial run in 2007 (run in about half the races) but those races were all at tracks less than 1 1/2 mile. NASCAR has seven tracks that are listed at 1 1/2 mile, and with around 40 percent of the races coming on these "cookie-cutter" tracks, NASCAR needs these cars to perform well at the intermediates.

A huge test was passed last weekend, as the race at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California produced some of the best racing at a two-mile oval in some time. Carl Edwards edged Jimmie Johnson and won a rain-delayed but competitive race. A good show at Vegas will quiet alot of doubters, a bad contest will fuel those same critics.

In a sport that promotes parity, Hendrick Motorsports won exactly half (18 out of 36) of the races in 2007. A ton of those victories came in the COT, and it was refreshing to see a team that struggled a large part of 2007 with the new car, Roush Racing, win in the second race of 2008.

The success of the new car depends on three things

1. TV ratings-stunk last year, and need improvement.

2. Parity- If Hendrick or any other team dominates again, it will likely start effect variable #1

3. Quality of Racing- The most important variable.... a boring race effects TV ratings, which effects sponsors, which effects the sport....

 Time will tell on the "New NASCAR" but one thing is sure... if you lose your base fan, you lose your heart... if the base doesn't like the new car, it's unlikely any new fans will be able to replace the old fans passion and love for the sport.

The biggest problem at the Sprint Cup race in Fontana, California last week wasn't the rain fiasco; it was the large number of empty seats. This problem is nothing new  to the track either. Since the Auto Club Speedway opened, attendance has been lower than expected and it is clear it isn't getting better. Maybe the track should cut down to one race, maybe they shouldn't race in California the same weekend as the Oscar's, maybe they shouldn't hold a race there a week before the Las Vegas race or just maybe the area doesn't want a track. Whatever the reason for the poor attendance, major changes could be on the way to address the problem.

Gillian Zucker, president of the speedway, announced that possible reconfiguration of the track is being discussed with the goal of creating a two-mile restrictor plate track. The process would be extremely expensive (upwards of $10 million) with additional banking and new soft walls needing to be installed, but the hope is that the tight racing that has made Daytona and Talladega famous will save the floundering attendance figures.

Zucker said that the idea of creating a third plate track on the Sprint Cup schedule came from Michael Waltrip, which isn't a shock considering all four of his career wins have come on plate tracks. Most drivers don't like giant, multi-car wrecks, so I imagine Mikey is in the minorty on this proposal, but the fans might think otherwise.

Personally, I don't want to see another plate track. Plate racing is geared toward the fans that only watch the end of a race and those that tune in the hopes of seeing a big wreck, neither of which I really care about anyway. At plate tracks, drivers can cruise around in last place, half a lap behind the leaders and charge to thr front with 20 to go. It makes 90% of the race meaningless. Adjustments are minimal at best, and good equipment and pure luck trump actual driver ability and strategy. Why do you think Mikey has four wins at plate tracks and hasn't even sniffed victory lane at any other track?

I like tracks where every lap matters and cars can be adjusted and go from the back to the front and vice versa. California has that already, and it isn't a bad race to watch. There was plenty of two-wide racing in last weeks event, Carl Edwards made a nice late-race charge past Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson to win and Kyle Busch must have passed 100 cars.

I don't think the problem is the track configuration, but if track officials are determined to make a change they should go with something original. Leave major differences in the banking between each set of corners or make drastic progressive banking to create even more racing grooves. Give the fans soemthing they have never seen. Going from a duplicate track of Michigan to a duplicate track of Daytona and Talladage, isn't a very revolutionary idea. 

NASCAR officials need to review their inclement weather policy after what took place yesterday at the Auto Club 500 in Fontana, California.  Currently, there only seems to be one rule:  Get in the race on Sunday at all costs.

It rained a ton this weekend in Fontana.  The rain also unloaded on the track again several hours before the race was to begin.  Once the rain let up, all parties agreed, including the drivers, that the race could be gotten in yesterday if two things occured:  1) NASCAR dried the track sufficiently, paying special attention to weepers (seeping of water through cracks in the track) that are notorious at Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway), and 2) No more rain came down.

Neither happened.

In thier zeal to get the race in yesterday no matter the cost, NASCAR didn't take the time after they dried the track to make a double-check to see if the infamous weepers were rearing their ugly heads.  Well not until they allowed the drivers to do that for them, at least.

You guessed it.  As soon as the cars got to moving, and the green flag flew, the weepers kicked in and massive puddles were created on the track.  The puddles were big enough to be seen on the television coverage at one point, and even those of us without HD could see them.  Naturally, several cars ran through the water, spun out, hit the wall, and were out of the race within the first 20 laps.   (Remember:  NASCAR mandates that the tires on the cars have no tread.  They are known as 'slicks'.  Appropriately titled for yesterday). 

It was only after Casey Mears had an incident with the weeper puddles, whereby his car ended up on its roof, did the NASCAR officials red flag the race and decide to take care of the problem. Anyone ever heard of the word "proactive"?  NASCAR knew that this track in particular has had this problem in the past when it rains, yet didn't take the extra time to monitor the situation before the race began. 

Listen, we all understand the issues at hand here.  If you cancel the race and run it on Monday, you lose a signficant portion of your television audience, it makes your revenue sponsors unhappy, it all ties into money.  We get it.

But shouldn't the safety of the drivers come before the money guys?  I mean, isn't this the very same organization that spent millions on research in order to develop what eventually became known as the Head And Neck Safety restraint (HANS)?  They did that only in response their most popular driver, Dale Earnhart, dying on the track.  Is it going to take somebody else, like maybe Dale's son, Dale Earnharnt, Jr., succumbing to the same fate before they re-evaluate their inclement weather policy (assuming there is one, and there is serious debate of that after yesterday)?

After Earnhardt, Jr. was collected in the aforementioned Mears crash, he had this to say, "The track's real dirty and everybody's sliding around.  The track ain't ready today.  The track's dirty, and this was a bad move."  Denny Hamlin was the first car to tangle with the weepers, "...we should not be racing on that racetrack right now.  I hit a slick spot and my car took off.  I hit a wet spot and I'm not going to be the last."  The Casey Mears incident happened just a few laps later.

The sad part of all this is that this a problem, unlike on-track collisions, that is easily rectifiable:  Get tires with tread.  Period.

NASCAR teams have the world's best engineers continually developing new engines that can generate 10 more horsepower than ever before, or get 10 more miles per gallon than ever before, and conversely, NASCAR itself has some of the world's best engineers to oversee the team's engineers and make sure they aren't cheating.  You're telling me with all that MENSA-like brain power involved, NASCAR can't come up with a set of tires with tread that can run on wet surfaces?  Seriously?

The Car of Tomorrow (COT) debuted at several tracks last season.  This season it has become the Car of Today, as it will be run at all tracks.  Before that car design ever hit a single track in testing, NASCAR asked Goodyear (the exclusive tire provider) to come up with a tire with new rubber compounds that will allow the car to run properly.  They did this because the COT has some design features that had never before been used on a stock car (mainly a rear wing).  Goodyear got right on it.  As of this writing, there have been no significant problems with tires on the COT.

You're telling me that Goodyear can invent new molecular compound structures for tires, but they can't figure out how to put tread on a racing tire that allows these stock cars to run on wet surfaces?

The old argument to all of this has always been that it doesn't matter anyway because the cars don't have windshields that are made of glass, therefore they can't have windshield wipers.  Without wipers they'll never be able to run in the rain. 

Pardon the pun, but that doesn't float.

You don't, and shouldn't run these cars in the rain itself.  You wait for the rain to stop completely, then give the crew a few minutes to install the "rain tires" and away you go.  You don't have to waste time even bothering to dry the track because the cars have tires that can handle the wet surface.  Or, if it makes NASCAR feel better, they can have a reduced drying time, get the track somewhat dry and send them out.  Either way, it's less time for the fans to wait during the delay, the cars are safer on the track, and NASCAR can keep their hell-bent way of attempting to get races in on Sunday.

It doesn't take a genius, or a NASCAR engineer, to figure that out.

NASCAR promised me a race. At 10 p.m. they said it would start at 11. At 11, midnight was the start time, then 1 a.m. and finally two in the morning. Like any loyal fan, I stayed up, not wanting to miss any racing action. When 2 a.m. rolled around, what did I get? I got a 30-second interruption of an episode of Whacked Out Sports that I was forced to suffer through, telling me that the race is being run tomorrow at 1 p.m Now I will go to work with less than four hours of sleep and I'll miss the race anyway. Not cool NASCAR.

How long does it take to get to California from Cincinnati? Brian France and I need to have a talk.

It is about 1:30 in the morning, and I am still awake, waiting to watch the end of the Auto Club 500. Coverage started at 3:30 in the afternoon and since only 87 of 250 laps are complete, this race will take at least 12 hours to run. At this point, I have no choice but to stay up until the end. It's like staying out late in the race on old tires. I've already committed and there's no turning back now. I can handle the lack of sleep, but I'm starting to worry that I will have to leave for work before the checkered flag waves. Whatever happens in the final 163 laps, I have to commend NASCAR and FOX for some very entertaining hours of rain delay coverage.

Bad jokes, interviews with every driver and crew chief that could be found and a 30-minute conversation about the pinewood derby were some of the highlights, but nothing could top the quest to find a name for FOX's newest piece of technology - Gopher Cam. For those that aren't as obsessed with NASCAR as I am, Gopher Cam is an in-ground camera that shows the cars running over the top of it. Everytime there is a shot from the in-ground camera, a goofy gopher graphic appears on the screen. Kyle Busch won the contest, naming the graphic Skid.

As far as I am concerned, the graphic should just be called stupid like all the other weird graphics that go along with NASCAR television coverage these days. There is no way that these things attract new fans and they only annoy the die-hard ones. The Aaron's Lucky Dog can go the way of Old Yeller. We don't need thermo-cam. I already saw that in Predator. Don't even get me started on Draft Boost. The glowing aura around the cars, looks like something out of Star Trek. 

Well, I've killed some time and the race should go green soon. Before I go though, I have one last question. Does Tom Cruise know he was never an actual racecar driver? I mean, I got a tear in my eye when Cole Trickle pulled into victory lane at the Daytona 500, but Days of Thunder wasn't even that great and certaintly doesn't give him enough street cred to walk around the pits talking NASCAR. Now if he had been in Stroker Ace, it would be a different story.

Over the past couple of decades NASCAR has emerged as America's favorite racing series. How it got there is an amazing, one of which is largely based the Daytona International Speedway, site of Sunday's infamous Daytona 500.

This year's edition marks the 50th running of "The Great American Race" and there is no denying the race's spot at the top of the heap. Still, it is interesting to note that NASCAR starts their season with the biggest event, yet every other major professional sport (NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL) does it in just reverse.  Many people get all revved up early in the season about NASCAR, but 36 weeks later only the extreme diehards are tuning in.

It was only in recent years that NASCAR added the "Chase for the Cup" to bring higher interest to the season's final 10 races. In the end, it hasn't mattered much. There could be four drivers within spittin' distance of each other on the last race of the year, the TV draw would not match the one that the season's first race will bring.

There is no doubt that the buzz around NASCAR has somewhat leveled out. Don't kid yourself, it has come a long way in the number of fans but it is not growing at nearly the rate it was just five years ago. The problem is that NASCAR does great to grab these fans in early in the year for the big race, but then can't retain them. Many of the people that jumped on the bandwagon just a short time ago are starting to jump off!

I'd hoped to have done a longer post on today's race, but time seems to have gotten away from me.  So, here are some quick predictions for the Daytona 500:

• Sam Hornish Jr. will finish in the top 15, which would be a respectable finish for the former Indy 500 winner.  I'd give Dario Franchitti a chance to get there too if he wasn't starting in the 20th row.
• Kurt Busch will find a way to finish in the top 5, even from his starting position of #43.
• Dale Jarrett will struggle in what will likely be his final Daytona.  Too bad, he's one of the classiest drivers in the history of the sport.
• One of the Hendricks cars is going to go out early; I'll guess Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• My predicted top 5: Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin.

Your picks welcome below.

I've had enough!

Here are just some of the things we learned in yesterday's so-called "sports" world. 

Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens are both big, fat liars.  Both have lied so often, and about so many different things, neither of them will be prosecuted because no one, federal investigators included, is able to make heads-or-tails of their lies.  Heck, I'm not even sure if Clemens and McNamee can keep all their lies straight.  The congressional hearing was the biggest waste of time on the planet.

Kelvin Sampson is still calling recruits illegally, even after he's been punished at two different universities for it.  Now it appears that he's sullied the previously good reputation of Indiana University.  And worse yet, it appears the Athletic Director knew of Sampson's past, and either boldly ignored it or just decided to take a flier and hoped he'd change his ways.  No dice.  As the saying goes, a leopard doesn't change their spots.

The one actual sports news story from yesterday also got screwed.  The Mavericks and Nets had a deal in place to trade Jason Kidd for a whole host of players, expiring contracts, etc.  Unfortunately, Devean George was one of the players involved going from Dallas to New Jersey and guess what?  He doesn't want to leave.  Even stranger, he has an obscure provision that allows him a no-trade clause in his contract.  I say obscure because George is on a one-year deal that he signed at the beginning of this season.  Who the heck gets a no-trade provision on a one-year contract?  Anyway, he decided to exercise that clause because, let's be honest, who the hell wants to go to New Jersey when you've been playing for Mark Cuban?  Needless to say, the Dallas fans were brutal on George last night, and several times is almost got U-G-L-Y.

And lastly, UK fans were going bonkers/borderline insane over the stomping they suffered at the hands of Vanderbilt two nights ago.  For those of you who missed it, they were handed their worst beat-down in close to 20 years.  They only scored 11pts. in the first half.  Any witty quip I could write here would just be piling on.  I won't do that.

So in the interest of public service, I would like to get the sports world off to a fresh start.  Let's refocus on the games.  Out of the abyss of darkness comes light.  Yesterday might have been one of the worst in sports news, but today is going to be one of the best.

For NASCAR fans, like myself, the Twin 125 qualifying races at Daytona are today.  That marks the official countdown to the Superbowl of racing, the Daytona 500.  And for real NASCAR geeks, once again like myself, it's time to start evaluating drivers for my fantasy team.

The baseball fans can finally come out of their winter hibernation, as pitchers and catchers report to most camps today.  That means that there are only a scant number of days before all of Spring Training in full-effect.  For you fantasy players, again I'm guilty, you can officially begin answering some of those offseason question marks you had about your teams.  In my case, I need to see if Randy Johnson's back is healed enough for me to warrant keeping him in my keeper league.   I'm sure you have similiar questions. 

And not to be forgotten, if you're a golf fan, you have another tournament in a beautiful location.  The Northern Trust Open (formerly the Nissan Open, or the LA Open for those of you who go way back) in beutiful Pacific Palisades tees off today.  For those of you who are not golf fans, but have HDTV, I highly suggest you flip over every now and then this weekend to see the view in HD.  No better Zen for a sports fan than that.  Definitely worth the look.

So cheer up sports fans.  The dark days of needles, gauze, and abcesses on the ass are behind us.  We're going full steam ahead toward the light.  The light that is the goodness of sports.

The Cincinnati Enquirer had an outstanding insight in to Greater Cincinnati sports in Sunday's edition. They played off of President Bush's State of the Union Address, scheduled for Monday night, and conducted an on-line survey soliciting fans opinions of local college and pro sports. There were some interesting trends that developed from the nearly 11,000 voters:

COMPLETE RESULTS

--The Bengals received three times more votes than any other catagory with UC Football (not Reds) finishing second

--The Bengals finished 11th out of 12 in fan confidence (that makes Miami football look pretty bad)

--97% percent of UC fans think program is better than it was 2-3 years ago (duh?)

--Xavier Hoops come in second overall in Approval ranking, behind OSU football (nice job Muskies)

--More Miami University votes than the University of Kentucky (where did the Tristate UK fans go)

--More KY Speedway voters than Ohio State (but we still think OSU game should be played in Fountain Square)

--64% think Reds are better than they were 2-3 years ago (that's not saying much)

--61% think Bengals are worse than they were 2-3 years ago (The buzz of Marvin's Jungle Juice is wearing off...and what a hangover it is)

Those of you that have been purchasing ticket packages at Kentucky Speedway, in the hopes that this would gain you first dibs on Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup tickets when they were able to secure a race, sorry about your luck.  U.S. District Court Judge William Bertelsman issued an opinion yesterday, dismissing the Speedway's lawsuit alleging unfair business practices against NASCAR and ISC (International Speed Corporation). 

The decision basically kills any hope of Kentucky Speedway gaining a Sprint Cup race, short of track owner Jerry Carroll purchasing another track and then moving its race to Sparta.  Judge Bertelsman's decision was a summary judgment, which basically means that he did not even believe that the Speedway had even a legal leg to stand on to bring suit against NASCAR.

No one should really be surprised by this.  NASCAR has been very effective at taking control of its own operations, using ISC to purchase many of the tracks that it runs races at and building new tracks under that umbrella.  The relationship between the two is borderline incestuous - I'd love to see org charts of the two organizations to see how many lines cross corporations - but as the legal opinion reads, "...a producer of a product is free...to select its distributors and and to refuse to deal with would-be distributors..."  So the relationship is pretty much legalized, and there's not much getting around this now.

Here's where it's going to get very interesting.  NASCAR doesn't deal very well with dissenters.  They won't strip any races from Kentucky Speedway - that'd be extremely bad P.R.  But there's other ways they could exact their pound of flesh.  For instance, this year's Nationwide Cup Series (formerly Busch Series) race at the speedway is scheduled the day before the Sprint Cup race in Brooklyn, Michigan.  This way, some of the Sprint Cup drivers can race here and then get easily up to Michigan, thus helping Kentucky Speedway's attendance.  Don't be surprised if, in 2009, Kentucky's race might be the day before the Sprint Cup race in Infineon, California.  If you don't think NASCAR's spiteful enough to pull something like that, you just haven't been watching the series long enough then.