Richard Petty Motorsports "Welcomes" Penske Racing to Ford

I find it curious that another team would feel the need to publicly welcome a team to coming under the same manufacturer umbrella. But that's exactly what Richard Petty Motorsports did today following the announcement that Penske Racing will be joining the Ford family next season (while still running Dodges for the next 10 months).

Although I'll admit some of the phrases sound as though RPM isn't exactly thrilled with another team coming to Ford: why say anything along the lines of "evaluate all of our options"?

Statement from Richard Petty Motorsports Regarding Today’s Ford/Penske Racing Announcement

“We welcome Penske Racing to the Ford Racing Family in 2013. Additional teams mean more information for everyone and that's a very good thing from a competition standpoint.

“We have a partnership with Roush Fenway Racing and we are happy to be a part of the Ford Racing program. As we always do, we will evaluate all of our options and make decisions based on what is ultimately best for our race team.”

Danica Patrick Earns Rave Reviews for Daytona Pole

On Friday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, Danica Patrick became just the second woman to win a pole in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series.

The GoDaddy girl went out and posted a lap of 182.741 mph, narrowly edging the time of 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne.

Following qualifying, third-place qualifier Elliott Sadler had high words of praise for Patrick.

“In the last 24 months, I’d say she is by far the most improved driver we have on the circuit,” Sadler said. “Last July, that was kind of her breakthrough race as far as I’m concerned as far as drafting and feeling comfortable racing with her.”

The only other woman to win a pole in NASCAR’s second-tier series was Shawna Robinson at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1994. Patrick already holds the record for best finish by a female in any NASCAR national touring series, a fourth-place run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Nationwide race last March.

Patrick has high hopes for Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300. “Any [driver] that sits on the pole is expected to do well because they have one of the fastest cars,” she said.

A win is not out of the question for Patrick. Last July at Daytona, she teamed up with Tony Stewart, leading laps on multiple occasions, and was in position to threaten for the win before being caught up in a late-race crash.

At any race, she is glad for a positive development after crashing hard on the last lap of her Gatorade Duel on Thursday. “I was thinking how disappointing the end of the day was yesterday and how happy you can be 24 hours later. It’s a good turn of events.”

A proposal for a new and improved points system

The new points system is quite good, but here's an idea for how to make it even better.

Problems solved:

1. Not enough incentive/reward for winning
2. Qualifying is meaningless
3. Why reward a driver for staying out to lead a lap under caution?

There are other benefits to my proposed system as well...click the link to check them out!

First testing of 2012 shows NASCAR still working on rules for Daytona 500

NASCAR drivers finally hit the track in preparation for the 2012 season during a three-day test session at Daytona International Speedway last week.

“We’ve had a good test and gained a lot of information,” said Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton. “We know that when we come out of here, there will be some loose ends we have to tie up as we get all of our information together and come up with our final plans for Speedweeks. I can say that all in all everything is going according to plan.”

The new rules include a smaller radiator, a smaller spoiler, and larger restrictor plate openings. Drivers acknowledged that the changes made it more difficult to hook up in two-car drafts, and did quite a bit of old-fashioned pack racing at NASCAR's request.

“We did some drafting, which is very interesting,” said four-time NASCAR series champion Jeff Gordon. “With the smaller spoiler and restrictor plate, cars have a lot of power, a lot of speed and that has changed things a bit.”

RCR auctioning off Clint Bowyer's 2007 Daytona 500 wrecked car, and much more!

NASCAR fanatics, find your perfect Christmas gift here! Richard Childress Racing is auctioning off a wide variety of items today, from a wrecked Daytona 500 car, to a transporter, to pole- and race-winning memorabilia, to race-ready ARCA and late model vehicles.

You can find information on the auction and view  pictures of the items being offered here: http://www.ironhorseauction.com/index.php?subp=1&sct=109&pg=ap&pid=24384&ap_sub=fp

Can Kurt Busch Get Anything Right?

The order and placement of words is important after all, not that NASCAR's resident genius Kurt Busch would know, of course.

After his mutual release from Penske Racing and decision to see a sports psychologist, Kurt Busch said "I never want to take for granted that it's a privilege to earn a living as a NASCAR driver."

Hmm. I'd think he WOULD want to take it for granted that it's a privilege to make a living driving race cars. Looks like the elder Busch bro got a little mixed up in a pseudo-double-negative type of situation. What he said is the equivalent of "I want to take for granted that it's my right to earn a living as a NASCAR driver." Oops.

Kyle Busch to Present Award at American Country Awards

Kyle Busch's crazy year is taking another interesting twist. Tonight, the Sprint Cup driver will present the Female Artist of the Year award at the second annual American Country Awards at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

The awards show will air live on FOX from 8-10 p.m. ET, and the five nominees for Female Artist of the Year are Sara Evans, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.

Jeff Gordon shows off break dancing skills in Vegas!

Tony Stewart gets call from President ... and is worried about reception aboard Air Force One!

Speaking on Day 3 of NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week in Las Vegas, Tony Stewart had this to say on a call he received from Mr. Obama.

“It is a huge honor to get a call from the President of the United States,” Stewart said. “I was more nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to hear on the phone very well, being from Air Force One, but they got great service up there. He just congratulated us on a great season. … The First Lady was giving him updates from the track, so I was really proud that he was following our sport and cared enough to call yesterday.”

Homestead musings: Tony Stewart, Five-Time and more

I may have whiffed on a number of my Homestead predictions, but I nailed the biggest one.

That is, I predicted that there was exactly one way for Tony Stewart to win the 2011 Sprint Cup championship: Win the race.

And that's exactly what Smoke did. He refused to be denied in his quest to win a third career championship, and first as an owner/driver.

Carl Edwards did just about everything in his power to earn his first career Cup title—winning the pole and leading the most laps—but in the end Stewart did the one thing he absolutely had to do to steal the title.

It was disappointing to see Jimmie Johnson go down in the fashion he did on Sunday. The no-longer-efending-Sprint-Cup-champion was running in the top five but had an issue with his carburetor, relegating him to a quiet 32nd-place finish. For the first time in his 10-year career, Johnson finished outside the top five in the final standings (sixth, to be exact).

All in all however, it was an incredible race. NASCAR couldn't have scripted the final chapter in the championship battle any better. The one thing that put a damper on the entire affair was the weather. The three cautions for rain—one causing a red flag period lasting over an hour—were unfortunate, but completely out of NASCAR's hands.

Congrats to 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart!

Tony Stewart Wins Third Sprint Cup Title!

Tony Stewart earned his third career title in dramatic fashion, winning the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Carl Edwards hot on his tail.

When the race ended, Stewart and Edwards were exactly tied in the points. However, Stewart won the tiebreaker based on his greater number of victories throughout the season.

Stewart led 65 laps en route to his fifth win of the 2011 Chase, breaking Jimmie Johnson's record of four wins in a single Chase. Stewart, the last driver to win a championship prior to Jimmie Johnson's five-year title reign, became the first to win after the end of Johnson's streak.

It was the first time an owner/driver won the title since Alan Kulwicki won the Winston Cup in 1992, driving for his own underfunded single-car team. Stewart isn't the underdog that Kulwicki was, but it's remarkable to see an owner/driver win the title in this era of NASCAR.

Read the complete story here!

Homestead predictions: Carl vs. Tony and more

There's no shortage of storylines at Homestead. By far the biggest is the championship battle between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart. Here are six predictions for Sunday's race, from least important to most.

6. Brian Vickers will wreck someone, and be wrecked—and he won't be back in the Cup Series in 2012

Brian Vickers has been a wrecking machine the last few weeks. At Martinsville he seemed to be involved in altercations with half the field, and last week he took Matt Kenseth out of the race. I'd be surprised to see him still running at the end of the race on Sunday.
And Vickers hasn't done himself any favors with potential employers for 2012. After this type of behavior, I doubt he'll find a viable ride in the Cup series for next season.

5. There will be a fight

We’ve seen some entertaining fights at Homestead in recent years—the 2009 fight between Tony Stewart and Juan Montoya comes to mind.

Candidates for a fight include Vickers, Montoya and Martin Truex Jr. I would have included Kyle Busch on this list a few weeks ago, but I don’t think he’ll be stupid enough to do anything foolish at this point, possibly putting his entire NASCAR career at risk.

4. Lame-duck drivers will not run well

I don’t think that David Reutimann, Mark Martin, Brian Vickers, or Clint Bowyer will have strong runs in their last races with the current team.

Sure, these guys and their teams are competitors at heart, but there’s not much to race for and lame-duck teams are at an inherent disadvantage. The one exception to this is Kasey Kahne, who has been running lights-out all Chase long and won the race at Phoenix last week.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will fall out of the top 10

Junior is sitting seventh in the standings, but he won’t rise any higher; Matt Kenseth in sixth is 32 points ahead of him, too far ahead to catch.

However, the four drivers behind Earnhardt in the standings are within 10 points of his position. Junior has no top-10’s at HMS and has finished 27th or worse in the last four races at the track. With another finish like that, he could easily slip to 11th in the standings and miss out on the championship celebrations in Las Vegas next month.

2. Jimmie Johnson will get his 10th straight top-5 points finish

Johnson is currently fifth in the points, two ahead of Matt Kenseth and three behind Brad Keselowski. I don’t think he’ll win on Sunday, but he generally runs well at Homestead and he’ll finish in front of at least one of the two drivers around him in the points.

However, Johnson will finish with fewer than three race victories in a season for the first time in his career. His only wins this season came at Talladega and Kansas.

1. Stewart will win the race and become a 3-time champion

Tony Stewart is three points behind Carl Edwards heading into the finale, and Edwards runs extremely well at Homestead. I think the only way Stewart wins the title is by winning the race—and I predict he’s going to do just that, winning his third championship in emphatic fashion. With five victories during the Chase, no one could say he didn’t earn it.

One-on-one interview: 2003 Trucks champion Travis Kvapil looks to raise his game

There is a lot of uncertainty in the NASCAR garage right now. David Reutimann recently lost his job at Michael Waltrip Racing and Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports, is another driver whose ride is in limbo.

I had the opportunity to interview Kvapil at Martinsville on October 29. Kvapil hasn't had a Top 10 finish since 2008 while driving for Yates Racing, but the No. 38 team achieved a major goal two races ago with a 21st-place finish at Talladega, moving into the Top 35 in owners' points and guaranteeing the team a starting spot in future races.

The main goal for the team over the remainder of the season is to stay in the Top 35 in owners' points, guaranteeing them a Daytona 500 starting position. Kvapil gave the team a boost by finishing an impressive 16th and on the lead lap at Martinsville.

Of course, Kvapil isn't certain he'll even be with the team in 2012. He certainly hopes to be and he's giving the team his best effort in the meantime.

"Looking forward, I'm not sure how it's going to work out. I hope I’ll be with the team, but we don’t have plans worked out past this year," Kvapil said. "I think leading into 2012 the big priority for the 38 car is keeping it in the Top 35 in points...Obviously, to start the year off guaranteed a spot in the Daytona 500 and the first five races is a huge asset for this team, so that’s goal number one."

Kvapil discussed the challenges his underfunded team has faced throughout the season.

"We’ve had a lot of bad luck and misfortune and just odd things happen to us through the season to hold us back, but hopefully we got that all behind us and we’ve turned the page. The last month or so has gone really well, we’ve had some really good races, and so because of all that we got ourselves back in the Top 35 and we’re just maintaining through the rest of the year."

Kvapil has driven several seasons in NASCAR's Truck series, with nine wins and the 2003 championship to his credit. I asked him whether he'd consider moving back to the trucks if there was a good ride available.

"If there’s an opportunity, you’ve always gotta look at it," Kvapil said. "My goal personally is to be in the Sprint Cup series. I feel like I’ve proven myself at this level, and my biggest career challenge is to ultimately have success and to win races in the Sprint Cup series. I’ve been able to do that—win races, win the championship—in the truck series, so I kind of want to keep moving forward and accomplish the goals that I have."

Kvapil believes that his team is on the cusp of greater things, and hopes to stick around to reap the results of the labors during the past few seasons.

"Front Row Motorsports is a small team, but we’re growing. This is only its fifth or sixth year, and it’s made huge strides in all aspects from being a car that’s just there to a car that is competitive at times," said the 35-year-old driver. "We’re looking to make it a Top-20 car week-in and week-out, and I feel like our team, personnel-wise, is in place. Ford sounds like they’re possibly willing to help us out some more technically, and a few of those things fall into place, and this team can be pretty competitive. I’ve been here for two years now, and I’d like to stay with them and keep growing with them."

I asked Kvapil about the success of Regan Smith and the one-car Furniture Row Racing operation. Smith achieved his first career Cup series win at Darlington earlier this season. "That was really big for Regan. They have a great affiliation with Childress and engineering support, but still, they’re a single car team based out of Denver and doing their own thing. You look at Trevor Bayne, driving part-time in the Wood Brothers car, who was able to go out and win the Daytona 500.

"The way that NASCAR has the rules structured, everybody has a pretty small box to work in, and all the cars are as equal as they’ve ever been," explained the Wisconsin native. "Getting the right equipment, the right people around you, and maybe some sort of technical alliance with a bigger team, are the keys to the smaller teams finding success and having a chance to win races."

Kvapil isn't sure where whether he'll be returning to the No. 38 team in 2012, but with the success he has achieved in his NASCAR career, he should be able to find owners willing to offer him a ride at some level.

5 Reasons Carl Edwards to Believe Carl Edwards Will Win the Title at Homestead

On Sunday, we will witness the perfect NASCAR showdown: Carl Edwards vs. Tony Stewart.

The Ford Nice Guy against the sometimes cantankerous owner/driver.

Only one driver will emerge victorious with the title of NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Sunday evening at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The title fight has never been closer heading into NASCAR's season finale. Edwards leads Stewart by the slimmest of margins, a mere three points—three positions on the track, or less than the points differential between first place and second.

Who will be Sprint Cup champion come Sunday evening?

Click here for five reasons to believe Carl Edwards is the man to get the job.

My first 2012 prediction: Johnson will be back with a vengeance

For the first time since 2005, Jimmie Johnson will not be hoisting the Sprint Cup championship trophy at Homestead-Miami Speedway following the season finale.

After finishing 14th at Phoenix on Sunday, Johnson is 68 points behind leader Carl Edwards and is mathematically eliminated from title contention.

Now that Jimmie Johnson's unprecedented title streak is finally over, the question is how the No. 48 team will respond in 2012.

Will they fade into the pack and lose their perennial status as the team to beat? Or will they be back with renewed hunger for the title?

To find the answer to that question, let's turn to what Johnson himself has to say regarding the end of his era of dominance. After last week's race at Phoenix, Johnson addressed how he is dealing with the fact that he won't be NASCAR's champion for the first time in six years.

"There's definitely disappointment," Johnson said. "I think that will be the emotion I deal with first. And then over the offseason, I'm sure it will kick in some and reflect. I'll reflect then, but still—in order for us to be where we want to be next year, we've got to work very, very hard during this offseason to understand what's up, and that's not going to make it all that relaxed. So, I'm up for the challenge. This team is. My guys work so hard, and we'll learn and grow from this."

Read my complete analysis on Bleacher Report here.