Inside Dish: Junior getting hot at the right time
By Lee Spencer
With three races remaining in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup, Dale Earnhardt Jr. trails points leader Matt Kenseth by just 84 points. At Atlanta on Sunday, Junior's favorite car delivered its seventh top 10 in 12 races this season. That's also the car he'll race this weekend at Texas, where he won his first career Cup race. Excluding a DNF in 2002, the No. 8 has an average finish of 6.29 at Texas. In eight starts at Phoenix, the site of the November 12 race, Junior has scored two wins and four top fives. As for Homestead, where the season will end and Junior's top finish was 13th, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. is encouraged that DEI teammate Martin Truex had one of the fastest cars in a test at the track last month. The No. 8 car should benefit from what the No. 1 learned. . . .
Is there any American racing series Tony Stewart can't conquer? Before winning Sunday's Nextel Cup race, Stewart locked up the IROC championship on Saturday. Stewart also has won the Indy Racing League championship and the USAC Triple Crown. Stewart, the defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champion, did not make the Chase this year, but he has two wins since it started. . . .
Next year is expected to be Sterling Marlin's last full-time season on the Nextel Cup tour. Marlin will turn 50 in June, and his first Cup race was in 1976. If Marlin runs part time at MB2 in 2008, that will open the door for Mark Martin to return to a 36-race schedule and contend for the Cup. Given that Martin has two DNFs in the Chase, another chance might not be a bad thing. . . .
After salvaging an 11th-place finish at Memphis in the Busch Series race last Saturday, Juan Pablo Montoya will run the balance of the NBS schedule and is expected to make his Nextel Cup debut at Homestead. Montoya had a strong test at the 1.5-miler and will have veteran spotter Tab Boyd guiding him the rest of the year. . . .
Former Ganassi Racing general manager Andy Graves, 36, has signed on as the senior manager for Toyota's NASCAR Cup program. Graves, who also has worked as a crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports, will have an office in Mooresville, N.C., so he can split time among all three Toyota operations. . . .
Robby Gordon's Ford effort is full speed ahead for 2007. Gordon has two Car of Tomorrow Fusions in the works, his first speedway car is expected to visit the wind tunnel in the next two weeks, and the body is being hung on the first intermediate car. . . .
Sam Hornish, the 2006 Indy 500 winner and a three-time IndyCar champ, will attempt to qualify for the Busch races at Phoenix and Homestead. . . .
General Motors will run the Impala SS instead of the Monte Carlo at Car of Tomorrow races in 2007. Although DaimlerChrysler won't admit it will similarly run the Avenger instead of the Charger, one Dodge engineer says, "It would make sense."
By Lee Spencer
With three races remaining in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup, Dale Earnhardt Jr. trails points leader Matt Kenseth by just 84 points. At Atlanta on Sunday, Junior's favorite car delivered its seventh top 10 in 12 races this season. That's also the car he'll race this weekend at Texas, where he won his first career Cup race. Excluding a DNF in 2002, the No. 8 has an average finish of 6.29 at Texas. In eight starts at Phoenix, the site of the November 12 race, Junior has scored two wins and four top fives. As for Homestead, where the season will end and Junior's top finish was 13th, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. is encouraged that DEI teammate Martin Truex had one of the fastest cars in a test at the track last month. The No. 8 car should benefit from what the No. 1 learned. . . .
Is there any American racing series Tony Stewart can't conquer? Before winning Sunday's Nextel Cup race, Stewart locked up the IROC championship on Saturday. Stewart also has won the Indy Racing League championship and the USAC Triple Crown. Stewart, the defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champion, did not make the Chase this year, but he has two wins since it started. . . .
Next year is expected to be Sterling Marlin's last full-time season on the Nextel Cup tour. Marlin will turn 50 in June, and his first Cup race was in 1976. If Marlin runs part time at MB2 in 2008, that will open the door for Mark Martin to return to a 36-race schedule and contend for the Cup. Given that Martin has two DNFs in the Chase, another chance might not be a bad thing. . . .
After salvaging an 11th-place finish at Memphis in the Busch Series race last Saturday, Juan Pablo Montoya will run the balance of the NBS schedule and is expected to make his Nextel Cup debut at Homestead. Montoya had a strong test at the 1.5-miler and will have veteran spotter Tab Boyd guiding him the rest of the year. . . .
Former Ganassi Racing general manager Andy Graves, 36, has signed on as the senior manager for Toyota's NASCAR Cup program. Graves, who also has worked as a crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports, will have an office in Mooresville, N.C., so he can split time among all three Toyota operations. . . .
Robby Gordon's Ford effort is full speed ahead for 2007. Gordon has two Car of Tomorrow Fusions in the works, his first speedway car is expected to visit the wind tunnel in the next two weeks, and the body is being hung on the first intermediate car. . . .
Sam Hornish, the 2006 Indy 500 winner and a three-time IndyCar champ, will attempt to qualify for the Busch races at Phoenix and Homestead. . . .
General Motors will run the Impala SS instead of the Monte Carlo at Car of Tomorrow races in 2007. Although DaimlerChrysler won't admit it will similarly run the Avenger instead of the Charger, one Dodge engineer says, "It would make sense."
