THE STORY LINES:
1. JIMMIE JOHNSON WINS @ KANSAS:
2. WALTRIP COULD ADD AMBROSE? (SceneDaily.com)
3. ALMENDINGER IS OUT OF #84 NEXT WEEK: (NASCAR.com)
4. STANTON BARRETT TO IRL: (SceneDaily.com)
5. MIKE WALLACE TO DRIVE #33 FOR RCR @ TALLADEGA: (RCR PR)
6. PAUL NEWMAN PASSES AWAY: (ABC News)
7. PAUL MENARD MOVES TO YATES RACING: (AP)
8. KYLE PETTY OUT OF #45? (Winston-Salem Journal)
9. DEI STRUGGLING TO FIND SPONSORSHIP:
10. ARMY MOVES TO #39 STEWART-HAAS CHEVY: (captainthunderracing.com)
“The three horse race” just distanced themselves a little further from the pack Sunday. It appears the Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Greg Bifle teams are turning up the heat on the rest of the “Chasers”!! Sunday they all, in their own way, showed dominance during the Kansas race. It was an extremely exciting final three laps!! With Johnson leading the race, Edwards made up about ten car lengths down the back stretch of the last lap. Going into turn three Edwards drove it so deep and blew by Johnson by approximately 3 car lengths, but couldn’t keep his Ford off the outside retaining wall. Edwards just hit it hard enough to slow his momentum and Johnson went back by him as they exited turn 4 heading to the finish line!!! What a finish to the race!!!!
Several driver changes were announced or hinted. A. J. Almendinger has been released from the #84 Red Bull Racing Toyota. The team announced that Mike Skinner and Scott Speed will share ther ride for the rest of 2008. Next year Scott Speed, the former Formula 1 and possibly new ARCA champ, will be the new pilot of that ride. Paul Menard will take his Daddy’s money, Menard’s Home Improvement Stores, and leave DEI for Yates Racing. Speaking of DEI, the Army sponsorship is leaving and moving over to the #39 Stewart-Haas Racing Ryan Newman Chevy. That leaves DEI in a quandry over sponsorship money!!! The #8 and #15 have no sponsorhip money, likewise the #01 has only a 12 race deal. There is likely a change of driver for the #45 Petty Dodge. It appears that there is a power stuggle going on in that organization! VP of Operations, Robby Loomis, is intimating that Kyle Petty has driven his last race in the #45 Petty Dodge. However, Kyle doesn’t seem to be going along with that decision!! Lastly, there is a rumor flowing through the garage that Michael Waltrip Racing may be interested in adding Marcos Ambrose and his sponsor Little Debbie’s to his stable.
In conclusion, this reporter would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge the passing of Paul Newman. Not only was Paul Newman an extrordinary actor, father, husband, entrepenuer, and philanthropist; he was an excellent race car driver in his own right and CART/IRL car owner. To this reporter, there were several characters he portrayed that were memorable! Newman played the title character in “Cool Hand Luke” and the phrase that resonates in my mind is “what we have here is a failure to communicate“!!!!! His role in “The Hustler” and reprised again in “The Color of Money” were classic!! Lastly his two pictures with Robert Redford, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, were classic Paul Newman!!!!Newman started the company, Newman’s Own, giving all the profits to charity!!!
He was intrumental in starting “The Hole In The Wall Gang”, a non-profit camp for terminally ill children. He gave to charity tens of millions of dollars in his latter years! The Hole In Wall Gang idea was influential to Kyle and Patti Petty in forming THE VICTORY JUNCTION GANG CAMP.
Go rest high on that mountain, Paul Newman, your work here on earth in done!!
