Sifting through Saturday's sludge

Interesting. Traffic was noticeably light around the Kurt Busch merchandise trailer at New Hampshire International Speedway on Saturday.

Maybe all the fans already ordered their stuff on-line, being that he's like New England's "second son" and all. ...

*****

The Busch Series race, the Camping World 200, just got underway, and for a few moments it was pretty neat to see Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya racing for position.

There aren't two bigger personalities -- or more talented drivers -- in this field.

*****

As one press box pundit put it, things in the NASCAR are "subject to change without notice."

The Whelen Modified Tour found that out firsthand -- again -- as their New England 100 was shortened to just 85 laps in order to make room for the glitz and glamour that is racing in TV.

Donny Lia won, followed by Ted Christopher and Ed Flemke Jr.

Hey, the race was a dreadful, singe-file parade under caution for the most part -- but a race distance is a race distance. If you know you can't fit it in during that time slot -- or think it will be pressing it -- move it. Start it later or start it earlier.

It's not fair to local teams with shoestring budgets to sit around here for 3 days, only to not let them race what they think they're going to. They were told on lap 75, while cruising under caution, the race would end in 10 laps.

No word from NASCAR on whether or not the purse was also reduced by 15 percent...

*****

While writing this, we just had our first "start and park" for the Busch Series. The honor goes to Randy MacDonald in his No. 72 on lap 14. One lap later, the No. 89 of Morgan Shepherd headed to the garage.

I'm sure those guys are "really disappointed." For all the Cup money in this division now, they still can't stop those guys from showing up and running a few laps without any intention of even going a quarter of the way.

At least they can say they have full fields. NASCAR racing is more popular than ever!

In case you missed it...

Dave Blaney won the pole for the Lenox 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

And Joey Logano won a long Busch East race.

Long day getting better already

At least Bobby Santos III rescued me from what was shaping up to be a long, frustrating day at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Traffic on the way to the track first thing in the morning, drivers doing the duck and run, cynical media types at every turn.

But the New England native Santos, making his 3rd Busch Series start of the season, qualified 4th for this afternoon's Camping World 200.

I covered Santos when he was a 16-year-old kid at Franklin (Mass.) High School, racing SK Modifieds at Thompson Internationa Speedway. He was quiet and reserved, every bit the boy chasing frogs in the pond behind the house. Not much has changed, really. Still quiet and reserved -- though he's chasing races across the country and not frogs.

He hasn't changed his attitude at all. He's unfazed.

"You really have to be that way," Santos said after qualifying behind Cup driversKevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer. "You can't change your attitude no matter what you're doing."

Oh, and he doesn't care who he's racing against, either.

"It makes it more fun (against Cup guys)," said Santos, who will make 7 more Busch starts in the Riley-D'Hondt Toyota this year. "It's what it's all about -- beating the best. If the best isn't here, then what good is it?"

Someone should tell Stephen Leicht that.

******

Harvick, Edwards and Bowyer are among 18 Cup drivers in today's race. I can't confirm it anywhere, but it's got to be at least approaching a record for a Busch Series race. Seems like Jeff Green and Tony Raines are the only 2 Cup guys who couldn't find rides.

There just aren't enough to go around.

*****

Another busy day in New Hampshire, made busier by the fact that I'm aiming to hit the PASS All-Star 200 at All-Star Speedway over in Epping tonight. Mods and Busch cars on the racing docket here.

What can I say? I'm a just a blogging-racing-media-junkie these days.

Notable quotables from NHIS

Some highlights from the New Hampshire International Speedway on Friday, where teams were working through the second day of the 4-day Lenox Industrial Tools 300 weekend:

"To be 100 percent honest with you, I don't know and I don't care. I don't. I really care about myself, my team and the people I work with, and that's about it." -- Juan Pablo Montoya, on whether former open-wheel competitors have expressed interest to him about their own moves to NASCAR.

"I'm blown away, to be honest." -- Jeff Gordon, on penalties issued by NASCAR this week to the No. 24 and No. 48 teams after failing pre-qualifying inspection at Infineon Raceway last weekend.

"The competition, of course, is No. 1. Dale Earnhardt Jr., we have to remember, is Dale Earnhardt Jr. He could sell a chocolate popsicle to a woman in a white dress. It's easy. ... Kyle Busch, he wouldn't be able to sell a favorite candy bar to a kid, I guess." -- Kyle Busch, on whether marketing and sponsor demographics play a role in his search for a new team.

"Not to drive like Sean Caisse." -- Jeffrey Earnhardt, DEI developmental driver for Andy Santerre Motorsports and son of Kerry Earnhardt, on the best piece of advice he's gotten this year from Santerre. Caisse is Earnhardt's teammate at ASM.

"I love the race track. It's fun. The Busch race is going to be a blast." -- Carl Edwards, on racing at NHIS.

Top 5 Nextel Cup drivers

Had dinner with a couple of colleagues on Thursday night in New Hampshire, and as it often does, the discussion turned to the Nextel Cup Series. (When in Rome...)

We started arguing about who are the top-5 drivers in the series.

Understanding that in a lot of ways it's a subjective argument, we tried to hammer out a few criteria for the discussion. It's not about who is the best driver under Nextel Cup conditions (i.e., 500 miles over 4 1/2 hours on cookie-cutter tracks), and it's not about who is or isn't the best quote in the garage area.

It's more a feel thing -- under any circumstances, who's the best? You've got 5 laps you've got to get out of a driver in heavy traffic -- think: lining up 7th for a green-white-checker restart at Richmond. Who do you want in your car?

Here's my top-5 list:

1. Tony Stewart. Won in everything from open-wheel Indy cars to heavy and boxy Cup cars. Excels on road courses -- which is a great testing ground for sheer driver ability -- and still hops into modifieds, sprint and dirt cars on rare occasions. When motivated to do so, he's fantastic.

2. Jeff Gordon. He's a 4-time champion whose been with both incredibly dominant teams and mediocre teams at Hendrick Motorsports. He's won on short tracks, superspeedways, mile and a half cookie-cutters, road courses and everything else. He's even had a chance to test out an F1 car. Hard to believe he can't compete in anything.

3. Robby Gordon. Anyone who can race across the desert, where if you break down you could be stranded for the 2 days it takes you to repair your machine, you're quality. Indy cars, Baja trucks, Cup and Busch cars -- not only can Gordon drive anything, he can drive it like a man possessed.

4. Juan Pablo Montoya. Win at Monaco tops the resume, quite possibly the most difficult
racetrack to win on anywhere in the world. Montoya has also displayed his driving ability against stock car drivers with road course wins in Busch and Cup competition in middle-of-the-road Ganassi equipment. He almost makes it look too easy sometimes, particularly when he's in Victory Lane and acts bothered by any attention.

5. Kyle Busch. Admittedly, this is a hard one to explain. It's as much "feel" as anything, and maybe I'm just playing the role of NASCAR lackey with this one, given how much he's been in the news. Loves short-track Super Late Model racing, which is of significance -- drivers afraid of getting in the battle, of throwing a few elbows, don't want to beat and bang for a few hundred laps. He's grown up in Cup cars, and won on short tracks and superspeedways.

Some guys I thought long and hard about, but just couldn't put them in the top-5, for whatever reason: Matt Kenseth (too much of a points racer), Ryan Newman (great qualifier, struggled since NASCAR's tire change took fuel mileage equation away), Kurt Busch (not enough oomph), Denny Hamlin (way too soon) and Kevin Harvick (cooled his hard-charging ways).

And finally... it's over

After 103 minutes and 20 seconds, 10 caution periods and 2 red flags, a marathon Busch East Series race is finally over.

Joey Logano won for the 3rd time in 6 series starts on Friday, holding off 8-time New Hampshire International Speedway winner Brad Leighton and Tim Schendel over several late-race restarts to win the New England 125.

The developmental driver has won 4 of 7 races this year, and the car that won Friday is 3-for-3 with wins at Phoenix, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Not so fast, Mr. Vickers

Brian Vickers thought he'd made Sunday's Cup race.

Vickers thought he was going to start the Lenox Industrial Tools from the 28th spot.

Instead, Vickers headed home during the marathon Busch East Series race -- after his left front was deemed too low in post-qualifying inspection and his time was disallowed.

As a result Chad Chaffin and the No. 49 team made the race, after Mike Bliss resigned this week and Chaffin took over the driving duties.

Blaney takes the pole; Lepage makes race

Dave Blaney topped a surprising qualifying session Friday afternoon, and he will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Vermont driver Kevin Lepage qualified 38th to make the show, the final driver to qualify on time.

Blaney was one of the drivers not locked into the top-35 with a guaranteed starting spot. Blaney's lap of 29.426 seconds (129.437 mph) beat out 2-time NHIS race winner Kurt Busch to give Toyota its 1st pole in Nextel Cup competition.

It was Blaney's 2nd career pole. His last came at Rockingham in February of 2003 -- some 158 races ago.

Reed Sorenson, Johnny Sauter and Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top-5 in qualifying, helping put some unfamiliar faces at the front of the starting grid.

Time to Wise up

There's one thing I'm looking forward to this afternoon at New Hamphshire International Speedway, and it's got nothing at all to do with Nextel Cup cars, Kyle Busch's future plans or wunderkind Joey Logano.

I want to see Josh Wise in action.

The 24-year-old driver from Riverside, Calif., starts 3rd in today's New England 125 for the Busch East Series. It's the first time the 2006 USAC Silver Crown champion has seen New Hampshire.

In fact, development driver only found out on Tuesday that he was going to be here in the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota entry. Wise said that the team was so hurried to get here that the seat in the car isn't even his. He doesn't know how many more BES races, if any, he'll be running, and his only prior stock car experienced is in ARCA cars and Craftsman Trucks.

There's no better way to see if a guy's got some talent than to throw him to the wolves and see how he reacts.

Green flag's at 5:10 p.m.

Blaney blisters practice sheet

The Car of Tomorrow is showing signs of creating the parity NASCAR hoped it would.

The top 10 in Friday practice for the Nextel Cup Series featured two drivers who must qualify on time for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300. Among them was Dave Blaney (29.438 seconds, 129.384 mph), who was the fastest of the 49 cars.

David Reutimann was 9th-fastest (29.684, 128.312 mph). Robby Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya and Reed Sorenson were also among the top 10.

At the other end of the spectrum, however, Kevin Lepage was only 48th fastest at 30.284 seconds (125.769 mph). In case you're wondering, A.J. Allmendinger was dead last at 30.329 seconds (125.583 mph).

In the Busch Series, Shane Huffman went to a backup car after slapping the wall and wrecking the rear end of the No. 88 Navy Chevy during rookie practice.

Clint Bowyer was fastest in Busch practice at 29.410 seconds (129.507 mph).

New look for an old staple

LOUDON, N.H. -- A New Hampshire International Speedway garage area that used to be decorated with the grizzled veterans of the New England short-track racing scene is now littered with teen-aged drivers and Nextel Cup Series teams.

Welcome to the Busch East Series.

"It's changed a lot," said Andy Santerre, a Cherryfield native and four-time series champion who now owns cars for drivers Sean Caisse and Jeffrey Earnhardt, the grandson of the late Dale Earnhardt. "There are a lot of teams now that have the financing to buy and bring good equipment."

Continue reading the whole story in today's Kennebec Journal at: http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/sports/stories/4044436.html

Busch cars, Bahre and Juan Pablo

It took all of 20 minutes to find my first little nugget of Friday morning.

Juan Pablo Montoya, the most recent Nextel Cup Series race winner, walking through the Busch Series garage -- the least secure place in the field -- complete with firesuit and Oakleys, and not a single person even acknowledged his presence.

No fans, no crew members, nobody. Sure, he gives off this air of being above it all -- but his anonymity in a Busch garage speaks to the lack of respect Formula One racing gets in this country. This is one of the most accomplished and talented racers in NASCAR, and still no one notices.

Think he could walk through the streets of Monaco without drawing attention?

*****

The Busch Series cars are on the track, prepping for the Camping World 200 on Saturday. They don't qualify until tomorrow morning.

*****

The NASCAR Busch East Series will have a title sponsor here in September, with the running of the Aubuchon Hardware 125. All parties are hopeful the deal will be extended after that time.

"I'm sure, Mike, if you give them enough ink," said NHIS owner Bob Bahre, speaking to outstanding Boston Globe auto racing writer Michael Vega, "they'll come back."

Line of the week I

This was overheard from a driver at New Hampshire International Speedway on Thursday.

"I'd love to drive for Michael Waltrip Racing," the driver said. "You get weekends off."

Yeah, that about sums it up.

Only 1 Moore at Loudon

To hear his father tell it, Ryan Moore is happy with his slightly altered career path.

Moore was hired by Evernham Motorsports 4 weeks ago, and he's working as the car chief for Erin Crocker. That according to Kelly Moore, who was at New Hampshire International Speedway for the Busch East Series New England 125, means preparing ARCA cars, and any other rides that Crocker may have over the next few months.

"He's liking it," Kelly said of Ryan. "It's a small crew, and Ray's been very good to him so far."

In addition, Ryan Moore, who was married a few weeks ago, has run 3 USAC Silver Crown races. Kelly said he was unsure if there were anymore USAC race's on Ryan's slate this year, but did say he won't be at NHIS this weekend.

"It's too hard for him to be here and not race. He wants to race," Kelly said. "I just didn't have enough crew to do a second car, not the way it needs to be done."

Day 1 in the books

17-year-old wunderkind Joey Logano put the finishing touches on Thursday at New Hampshire International Speedway by winning the pole for tommorrow's New England 125 for the Busch East Series.

Sean Caisse will start 2nd in a car owned by Andy Santerre, with Michael Waltrip Racing developmental driver Josh Wise 3rd.

Logano drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, and has already won 3 races this season -- 2 in the East Series and 1 in the West.

But it was Caisse who ripped off the best line of the day. He said his first experience with NHIS came as a 15-year-old, when he snuck into the track's infield. He was stopped by Cup driver Morgan Shepherd and asked, on the spot, if he had any experience spotting.

"I said, 'Yeah,'" Caisse lied. "But it was pretty easy, because he just rode around in last place all day."

*****

It was a long day for Andy Santerre Motorsports.

First, the No. 1 car of Jeffrey Earnhardt blew a motor in practice and didn't have it repaired in time to take a qualifying lap. He'll start 40th in the 43-car field Friday.

Then, the team worked hard throughout the day to try and remedy the No. 44 of Caisse. That car, which had wrecked at Iowa Speedway in May, was completely rebuilt but never as fast as the team had shown in a test session at NHIS prior to the Iowa race.

Reality check for Busch, please

There were a lot of ways I wanted to go with this one, but I think letting Kurt Busch speak for himself is the best way to go.

Let's just say, Busch isn't exactly in touch with what racing fans in New England think.

"The fans really embraced Kurt Busch up in that area," Busch said, speaking, of course, about himself in the self-important 3rd person. "So I'm like a second child, I guess, to Ricky Craven in that area."

Wait. Read on. It gets better.

"And the flat track, to me, suits my driving style, and I do consider myself a little better on the short tracks," he said. "And, even though it's a mile and they consider it a superspeedway, every racer out there will tell you it races more like a short track. And that's why there are so many people in the New England area that buy tickets to this race."

Uh, Kurt, I generally hate to speak for the fans, but they buy tickets because for decades Cup racing wasn't available to New Englanders who either didn't want to or couldn't afford to travel south. They buy tickets because it's the biggest spectator sport in the nation, anywhere. They buy tickets here because they have a lot of fun attending races.

They don't do it because you're a second child or because it's a superspeedway dressed as a short track or whatever else.

TC takes Mod pole

Sun is out and it's hot, hot, hot -- but everything's on schedule at the Magic Mile.

Ted Christopher just won the pole for the Whelen Modified Tour's New England 100, which rolls off on Saturday afternoon. Donny Lia, who's won 3 of the first 5 tour events this season, will start second. Jimmy Blewett qualified third after replacing his driveshaft, one that broke during his warm-up lap.

Christopher has 4 wins in a Modified at NHIS, all of which came in a car owned by James Galante. But, now Christopher's driving for Ed Whelan, after Galante was implicated in organized crime charges and had all of his racing assets -- among other things -- locked up.

"It still bothers me knowing that that car is sitting in storage, but it's never been beaten," Christopher said. "It will be back someday. It was the best car ever, by far.

"That motor never went anywhere else, that whole car never went anywhere else (but NHIS)," Christopher said. "It was just a Loudon car. I still miss that car."

Christopher now has 7 career Mod poles at the track.

*****

The Busch East Series is readying for its qualifying session.

Landon Cassill in a National Guard-sponsored car fielded by Hendrick Motorsports was quickest over Matt Kobyluck and Joey Logano during practice.

It's a sellout

For anyone other than track owner Bob Bahre who might care, the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 this Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway is sold out.

NHIS public relations guru Fred Neergaard made the announcement early Thursday afternoon.

It marks the 25th consecutive Cup sellout for the track, which first hosted the series in 1993. It's also the longest it's taken to sell the more than 100,000 seats.

No Letarte at Loudon

Steve Letarte's homecoming will have to wait until the September race at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Hendrick Motorsports has decided not to appeal the suspensions levied by NASCAR this week, after the teams of Jeff Gordon's No. 24 and Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 were found in violation during pre-qualifying inspection last week at Infineon Raceway.

Included in those penalties were 6-race suspensions for both Letarte, a native of Cornish, Maine, and Chad Knaus, the crew chiefs for the cars in question. Letarte is being replaced with car chief Jeff Meendering, and he is eligible to come off his suspension with the Aug. 19 race at Michigan International Speedway.

Both drivers were also docked 100 points, as were the owners, in addition to sizeable fines.

More Sox for New England sports fans

The Boston Red Sox are everywhere, and even a NASCAR excursion won't deprive fans of that.

During a press conference at Fenway Park in Boston on Thursday morning, Roush Fenway Racing announced that Carl Edwards' No. 99 Ford will cary the Red Sox logo on it in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. The sponsorship comes in conjunction with Red Sox sponsors Lumber Liquidators and Gillette.

In addition to Roush's ownership ties to Sox owner John Henry, Edwards is a member of the Gillette Young Guns program, a NASCAR sponsorship.

The Red Sox are already slated to host Roush Fenway Racing Day at the ballpark on Friday, when they return home from a 9-game road trip to host the Texas Rangers.

On track: Whelen Modified Tour

The ride to New Hampshire International Speedway was free and clear this morning (or, as they say in the racing vernacular, "Clean and Green").


We're locked in and the Whelen Modified Tour is on the track as I write this, running through the first of many practice sessions this weekend. They're expected to qualify -- weather permitting -- at 2:50 this afternoon. The driver of the shuttle running from the media parking lot to the infield said serious thunderstorms should blow through here sometime later today.


Of course, that also means that they will bring with them some much needed cooler weather -- and we're expected to top out temperature-wise in the upper 60s and lower 70s for the rest of the weekend here.


Make sure to check back often, as we're going with semi-live updates all 4 days of the NASCAR weekend here. Green flag No. 1 of the weekend flies in 29 hours and 15 minutes with the New England 125 for the Busch East Series.

More NASCAR on TV

Maybe ESPN should focus on making the NASCAR-related programming it does have better instead of just adding more to the lineup. Then again, the network has alwasy emphasized quantity over quality quality. (See: NFL Live)

Nextel Cup team owner Ray Evernham, a northeast native, will host the new show "Race Wizard." The program begins airing at 11 a.m. on July 7 -- and it's supposedly going to be "intriguing" and "innovative." Of course it's promising to look into topics such as (brace yourselves) what spoilers do and why cars swerve during caution laps.

I can hardly wait. No, really.

Just when you thought we couldn't possibly get anymore NASCAR shows on the tube -- I mean, there is hardly enough on already, right. I mean, with NASCAR Performance and Road Tour Challenge, what else could we possibly need?

Who knew?

Oxford 250 tune-up?

The most recent driver to enter the Oxford 250 on July 22nd apparently needs a little practice.

Kevin Lepage of Shelburne, Vt., has entered this weekend's Nextel Cup Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway. Lepage is one of 49 drivers hoping to qualify for the Lenox Industrial Tools 300, and he'll try and do so in the unsponsored No. 37 Dodge owned by Bob Jenkins.

Lepage has 11 career Cup starts at NHIS, with no top-10 finishes among them. Both his average starting and finishing positions are outside the top-30 in Cup rides at the 1.058-mile facility. Only 2 drivers entered this weekend have worse average starting spots and only 2 have worse average finishes than Lepage at NHIS.

2 days and counting...

Just 2 days left until we begin the marathon weekend of 725 laps of racing, encompassing 765 miles across 4 different NASCAR divisions.

As far as I'm concerned the July (uh, sorry, June) weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway trumps the September weekend. Even though it's not quite Oxford 250 territory (at least, the old Oxford 250 -- I'm reserving judgement on this year's version until I get to see it) and the September Cup race kicks off the 10-race Nextel Cup Chase, there's something about Loudon in the summer.

Maybe it's because the first Cup race I ever attended came during 'tire-gate,' when Jeff Gordon won after taking only 2 tires on a late stop, prompting Mark Martin and owner Jack Roush to spout cheating accusations. Maybe it's because it's where I first got to interview (along with, like, 135 of my closest friends) Richard Petty. Maybe it's because of the sheer size of it all -- 100,000 fans, the biggest teams in racing, Cup, Busch, North and Mod cars all in one place.

Whatever it is, the energy sucks me up every time. I work, work, work, stay up late and get up early, and gleefully chase stories that will be old news an hour later. And with this whole blog thing now, wow. Sky's the limit.

Can't wait to update, analyze and immerse myself.

Parity reigning at Wiscasset Raceway

Fairfield driver Jeff Burgess won the 30-lap Late Model Sportsman feature last Saturday at Wiscasset, making it 8 different winners in 9 races there this season. Only Chris Thorne of Sidney has won twice in 2007.

That says two things, as far as I'm concerned.

For starters, the division has more depth than any of the track's other 5 weekly divisions. Given that 40 percent of the teams have visited victory lane, it's a testament to the quality of one of Maine's most underrated weekly classes.

However, that many different winners suggests that perhaps the handicapping system is too severe. Instead of starting the previous week's top finishers at the back of the top-10 on the grid, they go all the way to the rear of the field.

Repeat winners aren't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, repeat winners polarize fans and generate interest in a track's program -- giving the impression not that the racing is equal, but somehow it is rigged so that the best teams can't succeed.

That's a wrap 2

Click here for a roundup of the weekend's racing across Maine.

Gear jammin': Infineon Raceway

Top 4 stories from the Toyota SaveMart 350:

1st gear -- Montoya becomes 2nd non-U.S. born driver to win Nextel Cup race: Sunday's win may have stamped Juan Pablo Montoya as one of the best drivers of this generation, though he rarely receives enough credit for that. On his resume: a win at Indianapolis, a win at Monaco and two NASCAR-sanctioned victories. Not only can he drive virtually anything -- high praise stock-car types love to heap on Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, and rightly so -- but he can win in them, too. Canadian Earl Ross, at Martinsville in 1974, is the only other non-U.S. driver to win a Cup race.

2nd gear -- Fuel mileage: Michigan and California have nothing on Sonoma when it comes to fuel strategy. The decision whether or not to pit had as much to do with when to do it. Montoya crew chief Donnie Wingo opted not to pit, hoping to conserve enough fuel to make it to the end. Robby Gordon, who dominated the first half of the race, did pit and it cost him a top-10 finish when he pitted too long too late. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart lost top-5 runs because they were forced to stop.

3rd gear -- RCR's run: Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th, respectively, saying 2 things about Richard Childress Racing. They've got a great Car of Tomorrow program on the road courses and they've got a handle on fuel mileage. Harvick and Burton have both won at New Hampshire International Speedway, the Cup circuit's next stop, and Bowyer is closing in on career win No. 1. This could have been the start of a summer run from these 3 cars.

4th gear -- NASCAR penalties: Punishment will certainly be handed out this week for the Nos. 24 and 48 teams, but what NASCAR chooses to do could impact more than a few points or a couple of wallets. A 100-point penalty for each (which is what Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team got at Darlington in May) would keep Gordon in the points lead but drop Jimmie Johnson from 3rd to 5th. Suspensions for crew chiefs Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus should be in line, too, and for Knaus -- a repeat offender in the NASCAR books -- it could be especially harsh.

Super sub, Sonoma and Super Late Models

Instead of a mid-day nap between fishing excursions, I'm trying to flesh out a few things, beginning with the No. 20 Rockwell Automation team's win in the AT&T 250 Saturday night at Milwaukee.

Who won, anyway? Should we say it was Aric Almirola, whom NASCAR credited with the win, or should it be Denny Hamlin, who did the driving that earned the win?

Clearly, without Hamlin behind the wheel, it's 50-50 at best that we'd see Almirola pick up his 1st career Busch Series win. But was supplanting Almirola in the seat and putting Hamlin in the car on lap 59 the right thing to do?

Almirola's refusal to speak with reporters after the race speaks volumes about his feelings on the matter, and I'm inclined to take his side here. Sports is full of unwritten rules, and there's got to be one for an occasion like this. Once the green flag flies, the integrity of the race team must be maintained. Short of injury or illness, the man who is turning the wheel when the green comes out ought to be the same one doing so when the checkered falls.

Sure, they ask how many and not how, but a 1st win ought to be something special for a young driver. Almirola was robbed of that feeling and was understandably miffed. Teen-aged evelopmental driver Joey Logano signed with Joe Gibbs Racing because he felt the place operated like one big "family," but the decision they made part way through the race Saturday smelled a whole lot more like "corporate America" to me.

Hamlin and the entire JGR team just took "Busch-whacking" to an entirely new -- and distasteful -- level.

*****

I love road course racing, but NASCAR needs to make a decision -- either take them off the schedule entirely or add another 6 or 8 to make that form of racing a significant portion of the slate.

They'll likely go with the former, considering most stock car drivers are raised to run on ovals and oval-track racing is where NASCAR makes its name. It's a perfectly acceptable solution.

And while I think road course races showcase driving talent like no other tracks do, separating the Jeff Gordons, Tony Stewarts and even Robby Gordons from the Brian Vickers and Ryan Newmans of the world, it's time to say good-bye.

*****

Only 20 cars showed up for the PASS North Series race at Scotia Speedworld on Saturday, roughly a half-dozen fewer than average for a PASS race in Canada, especially a 200-lap event.

That tells me that maybe Super Late Model/Pro Stock racing isn't as wonderful as we're all being told.

Then again, Wiscasset Raceway's new owner, Doug White, has made bringing back the Pro Stock division priority No. 1 at the facility.

That tells me that maybe there are a bunch of teams out there with Pro Stocks just hankering for a place to race them every week in central Maine.

I'm not sure which side will ultimately "win" out, but I'm sure of a couple of things. The American-Canadian Tour and Late Model racing will succeed no matter who is or is not racing a Super Late Model or Pro Stock. It's too inexpensive, by racing's standards, not to generate a ton of interest. Of course, I'm equally certain that for whatever reasons, fans don't accept extra-distance Late Model races as the same way they do extra-distance Super Late Model races. Maybe it's driver recognition, maybe it's that they know one car is badder and faster than the other.

And, unfortunately, if fans aren't buying into it, it doesn't matter how much the media covers it, how great the racing is or how many cars enter races. For proof of that, one only needs to look up "Indy Racing League" in the encyclopedia. Those aren't fans dressed as empty seats, they're just plain old empty seats.

Cassius Clark wins PASS North race at Scotia

Cassius Clark overcame some bad luck during a pit sequence Saturday night at Scotia Speedworld to put a Ford in victory lane at the Forbes Chevy-Olds 200.

Clark was the leader with 60 laps to go when the caution flew, but pit road was not opened until after he had passed the opening. Everybody pitted behind him, forcing the No. 8 EJP team to pit one lap later and restart at the tail end of the field. Within 30 laps, Clark had used the outside groove to pass Johnny Clark and Ben Rowe, who were battling for the lead at the time.

"It's a real fun track for me," said Cassius Clark, who started 9th in the slim 20-car field and had the lead before the lap 50 mark. "It's a really flat track, and you have to slow down a lot for the turns. It's about picking the right line. There's a wide backstretch and a tight frontstretch, so there's two distinctive ways you have to run the corners."

Unofficially, Rowe, Trevor Sanborn, Johnny Clark and Shawn Turple rounded out the top-5 behind the winner.

It was Clark's 1st win of the season in PASS North Series competition, after he was disqualified for a win at Speedway 95 in May when his engine failed post-race tech.

"We've run well in every race so far," said Clark, of Farmington. "We're right there and staying at it, and we're ready to go."

PASS North is at All-Star Speedway in Epping, N.H., next Saturday night for the All-Star 200.

Keeping an eye on Milwaukee

I'm watching the Busch Series race at Milwaukee tonight, and not only because I'm a fan of whenever any of NASCAR's "Big 3" visits one of its traditional spots.

Given that the Camping World 200 at New Hampshire is only a week away, watching this race on a flat, mile racetrack could tell us a lot about who will be strong heading to Loudon. And, the way Carl Edwards has dominated both the Busch Series and the first half of the AT&T 250, we just may see our first repeat Busch winner at NHIS next week.

How good are these guys? Well, Edwards won at Nashville a few weeks back without having seen the track for so much as a single lap of practice or qualifying. On Saturday, Edwards flew in from Sonoma, Calif., (site of Sunday's Toyota SaveMart 350 for the Cup Series), got a brief word of advice from Roush Racing teammate Travis Kvapil and then went out and ripped off a qualifying lap.

Amazing stuff, and sometimes these guys just don't get the credit they deserve. They can flat-out drive.

Edwards is showing that againt tonight.

Rich get richer at Infineon

The disparity between the teams at the top of the Nextel Cup circuit and those at the bottom widened a little more on Friday at Infineon Raceway.

On the surface, NASCAR's penalties keeping Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson parked in the garage during Friday's on-track activities seemed severe. Not allowing the teams to qualify after finding something wrong with the front ends of each car tried to send the message that Car of Tomorrow violations will not be tolerated.

But the message that teams are going to hear is that it's OK for the big guys to get caught "working in the gray area."

Both Gordon and Johnson will make the Chase for the Nextel Cup this season. Gordon could skip out on the Toyota SaveMart 350 altogether and retain the points lead while sitting in an easy chair next to his new baby girl's crib. Johnson, too, is solidly in the top-12, and both drivers have already earned bonus points for wins this season, ones that will be applied when the Chase gets underway at New Hampshire in September.

Not being allowed to qualify only means that crew chiefs Steve Letarte (No. 24) and Chad Knaus (No. 48) will have to be a little creative early in Sunday's race with pit strategy to try and earn some track position. By the halfway mark of the event, we'll hardly remember all this hullabaloo.
And sure, NASCAR will likely fine, suspend and dock points from a variety of people on both teams sometime next week.

But as we all know, qualifying these days only truly matters to the teams outside the top-35 in points. And if any of those teams were caught with the same things the Hendrick guys were before practice on a Friday morning, they'd be out of a whole lot more than a few practice laps.

They'd be going home before they ever hit the track.

I'm of the mind-set that if it happens before practice, before qualifying, then teams should have the chance to right the wrong. Sure, the bigger teams will still have an advantage, but at least the little guys would have their chances to push the envelope and recover from wrongdoing.

Because by simply pretending to play big, bad, tough guy, NASCAR has sent the wrong message.

The unspoken truth in all this Infineon mess is that the Hendrick, Childress and Roush teams of the Cup world can tinker and survive. But the bottom feeders better not try too hard to pick up speed by working in the "gray area" of the rulebook.

If NASCAR doesn't like what it sees when one of those teams hits the tech shack, there will be no chance to fix it and make amends. They'll park you for the day and end your weekend before you ever hit the track for a single lap of practice.

Hendrick teams in hot water

That's Racin'.com is reporting that the Chevrolets of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are sitting in their garage stalls at Infineon Raceway, awaiting word about possible penalties from NASCAR via an afternoon press conference.

According to David Poole's story, the cars are without their rear wings. Poole also reported that one unverified rumor said the the two Hendrick Motorsports cars could be parked for the rest of the day -- and not allowed to either practice or qualify for the Toyota SaveMart 350.

The issues were apparently discovered during pre-qualifying technical inspection. Word from NASCAR was expected to come down before Friday's scheduled practice session at 3:30 p.m. eastern time. Qualifying is slated for 7:05 p.m. eastern on the 1.99-mile road course.

Timing is everything

Having the Nextel Cup race at Loudon next weekend doesn't feel right. Maybe that has something to do with lagging ticket sales there this year.

Typically, in the life of an auto racing journalist, there's a symmetry to the season.

April and May whet the racing appetite, and you bounce around from track-to-track for a few weeks reacquainting yourself with tire barriers and pit areas. June then rolls in with a few big shows and warmer weather that gets you through to the Fourth of July. After pigging out on hot dogs and cold beer, you begin to turn your attention to the mid-July race at New Hampshire International Speedway. You work on some preview stuff, cover the week's worth of activity there -- and then there's the Oxford 250, a week's vacation fishing on a lake somewhere, and you're ready to document the championship hopefuls at all the local tracks throughout August.

Then there's September, and you chart the point battles as they shake out lap-by-lap in a 35-lap Late Model feature at Unity or Wiscasset or Oxford. You hit Loudon one last time before fall sets in, finish it off with a couple of weeks of extra-distance open races back at home and the year is over.

But, I've got to tell you, Loudon snuck up on me this year. School just got out. Championship battles haven't even begun to shake out a the short tracks. Vacation is still six weeks away.

Heck, the Cup cars haven't even raced at Daytona yet.

I wonder if my union still allows me to cover Cup racing before I have a heaping helping of watermelon.

Bellefleur finds his voice

Gary Bellefleur wanted to stay in racing anyway he could. Now, the Stetson racer just tries hard to balance his schedule every weekend.

Bellefleur is the track announcer at Unity Raceway, but he also competes regularly on the PASS North Series and part-time at Speedway 95 in Hermon. In last Sunday’s DNK Select 150, Bellefleur finished 16th in the 24-car field.

The Pro Stock driver typically calls races Friday nights at Unity before running either at Speedway 95 on Saturdays or running the PASS race somewhere else.

“When I was racing (at Unity) they always said I wouldn’t say (crap) if I had a mouthful of it,” Bellefleur said with a laugh. “But I tried out on the microphone and they hired me on the spot.”

Bellefleur applied for the position at Unity after they abandoned the Pro Stock division in the fall of 2005.

“At the time, money was getting tight and the Pro Stocks looked like they were going away,” Bellefleur said. “I just wanted to find something so I could stay involved in racing.

“Sometimes I miss the racing part of it, but the extra income helps out. If nothing else, it buys me one more tire a week.”

Read the whole story in today's Kennebec Journal.

Petty ride to start in Maine

Kyle Petty's annual charity ride will begin in the Pine Tree State. Or, perhaps more fitting a ride across country during an off week for the Nextel Cup Series, we should say it will start in Vacationland.

The Kyle Petty Charity ride, now in its 13th year, to benefit the Victory Junction Gang Camp for seriously ill children will start in Bar Harbor on July 14. For the first time, it will travel a North-South route covering 2,800 miles and end up in Hollywood, Fla., near Miami on July 20.

The ride features 250 NASCAR personalities and motorcyle enthusiasts.

All-Star at All-Star

Count Kyle Busch in for the PASS North Series event on June 30.

The Nextel Cup Series driver will enter the No. 51 owned by Maine's Steve Perry in the All-Star 200 at All-Star Speedway. The Cup Series is in New Hampshire International Speedway that weekend, and All-Star Speedway is in nearby Epping, N.H.

Busch twice entered the Oxford 250 in cars owned and prepared by Perry's now defunct SP2 Motorsports team and this will be the 4th time they'll team up.

"He's a great kid and he really enjoys coming back to his roots whenever he can," Perry said. "Each time we've been involved with each other, Kyle has been capable of winning the race, but we've always gotten bit by some type of gremlin. Hopefully, we'll be around at the end of the race this time and he can show what he can do."

Feels like 1st this time

Last July, it was a last-lap pass that brought a first superspeedway victory for a veteran NASCAR Busch East Series driver at New Hampshire International Speedway. Mike Olsen drove his No. 61 Chevrolet to a slim victory over Sean at the finish-line.

Caisse had led the previous 84 laps, but Olsen set up his last-turn-of-the-last-lap surge perfectly.

"I was pretty happy," Olsen said. "It’s no secret that I’ve been trying to do that for quite a while. Then to do it on the last lap of the last corner was pretty awesome. Gosh, I felt really happy. I felt like I had fulfilled a goal of mine. As anybody who fulfills a goal in their life knows, that’s a pretty cool feeling."

The win played a major part in his team’s already rolling momentum toward its second series championship. Olsen and the Little Trees team, based in nearby North Haverhill, N.H., arrived at NHIS hot off their victory a week earlier at a half-mile track in Northeast, Pa., where he and Caisse had also battled to a one-two finish.

"Momentum was on our side," Olsen said. "It was still a tight (points) battle all the way, but we kept the lead in the points from there on out."

As he climbed from his car in Victory Lane, he could hear the vocal cheers his "home turf" fans.

"You can definitely hear the crowd there. The track’s not far from my shop, so we have a lot of fans there, and a lot of fans of my grandfather (New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame member Stub Fadden) … they knew what it was all about and how long we had been trying to win there. It was definitely a pretty cool feeling. We’d like to be able to do that again, for sure. It was exciting for the fans, too, which is what it’s all about. If the series puts on good races for them, they’ll want to come back and be part of it."

Preparation in the race shops will be a big part of race day success in the New England 125. June 28 qualifying is preceded by one 90-minute practice session. Teams will have more than two hours to make final adjustments between practice and qualifying.

Veteran NASCAR Busch East Series drivers have always appreciated the opportunity to race at NHIS. The Bahre family, led by Bob Bahre and his son, Gary, built the Loudon track without guarantee of any NASCAR-sanctioned races, but hosted the original NASCAR Busch North Series as many as six times in a single season when they operated a .333-mile paved oval in Oxford, Maine, helping establish the series. Later, in 1990 when NHIS opened, they hosted as many as four events in a single season to help grow the series into a division that has become a destination series for some, and a driver development series for others.

"The Bahre family and Bob and Gary supported us very heavily with their track in Maine," Olsen said. "They did whatever they could do to make the series work. When they built Loudon, they made sure we were included in all the big weekend events there. That’s huge for us to race in front of a crowd that size when the Cup cars are there."

Drivers also appreciate the race purses that their events at NHIS offer. The New England 125 has posted awards of $221,048. The prize money is important, but the Bahres’ relationship with the series drivers goes beyond the business of racing.

"Bob and Gary are very thoughtful and have always taken care of the competitors very well. They are very good to the people in our series," Olsen said.

Olsen is the reigning NASCAR Busch East Series "Milestone Man." Among active full-time drivers, he leads the series in many categories: longevity, now in his 19th consecutive season; starts, 274 entering Loudon; consecutive starts, 190 entering Loudon; money won, $1,146,114 entering Loudon. He’s won plenty of awards in the series in addition to his 2001 and 2006 championships: 1993 Most Improved Driver; 2001 Busch Pole Award champion and Most Popular Driver Award winner, and was a 2006 AARWBA All-American Racing Team nominee in the Touring Series category.

-- courtesy NASCAR PR

Sub drivers, sub-par finishes

Count me among those who just don't care that some teams will use road course ringers this weekend at Infineon Raceway.

A decade ago, sure, it was a big deal. Then, those part-time drivers, even with teams that weren't frontrunners on ovals, had a shot at top-5 finishes or even visits to victory lane.

But welcome to Nextel Cup Series racing, circa 2007. It costs upwards of $20 million annually to run a team, and these teams take races -- even two road course races each season -- very seriously. Cars are built specifically for these tracks, and cars and drivers test at places like Road Atlanta and Virginia International Raceway to fully prepare.

For those drivers who still aren't comfortable turning right, too, there are driving schools and 1-on-1 instruction.

Chase-eligible teams aren't taking their drivers out of the seat for a weekend, and those teams that are willing to do so at Infineon or Watkins Glen are so far removed from contention that a race or two will hardly have an impact on their seasons.

Take Hall of Fame Racing, for instance. They're replacing Tony Raines with Ron Fellows in the No. 96 on Sunday, and there's two problems with that. First, they're 27th in the standings, almost 200 points ahead of 35th and the last automatic qualifying spot -- enough that they could skip Infineon altogether and still be in the top-35 come Monday. Second, they're cheating Raines out of valuable seat time. In two or three years, what if this becomes a Chase-eligible team that needs a good finish at Watkins Glen to solidify its position? Raines lack of experience could one day bite the team in the hindquarters.

Ringers? Not these days. The Gordons, Stewarts, and even the Earnhardts and Montoyas, are far better suited -- and equipped for success at Infineon.

It's a girl, now go race

Funny thing that parenthood.

It's also been a hot topic with two athletes with magnificant star power embarking on fatherhood for the first time in Jeff Gordon and Tiger Woods. One popular theory among the media-types and talk-show mongrels is whether or not either of these two will "lose focus" or become "less motivated" now that they're dads to a couple of little girls.

Wowsers.

I'm a competitive person by nature. I don't like losing a story anymore or less than I like losing at NASCAR 07 on the old PlayStation. Most people who know me would tell you I'm one of the most competitive people they've ever met, and yet that doesn't even put me on the same planet as world-class athletes like Gordon and Woods.

These guys are who they are because they are some of the most driven (pun intended), intense and focused competitors in the world. They win races and tournaments and championships because they're not willing to let anything stand in the way of their craft. Right or wrong, that includes wives, children and extended family.

Being a father of two now, I can tell you that my motivation to succeed professionally went even higher once I was "Dad." Part of it is being a role model, certainly. Someday, I want my kids to see me and be proud of my abilities and work ethic.

And I'm not even Jeff Gordon. Or Tiger Woods. Heck, I'm not even Justin Labonte or Casey Martin.

Seems Jeff and Tiger aren't going to let up at all now. In fact, if I were the rest of the field -- once a couple of sleep-deprived weeks pass -- I'd prepare for new and improved versions of both.

Gulp.

You've been outlawed

Mike Harnish Jr. wrecked on the first lap of his heat race and actually gained ground in the PASS Outlaw Late Model standings on Sunday, because then-point leader Jay Sands was credited with a last-place finish after a blown motor.

Brian Whitney went into the race without his crew chief and car owner and came out of it by taking over the series lead.

Matt Lee picked up a 3rd-place finish after driving off the track at Unity Raceway not once, but twice -- leaping two spots in the points to 4th.

Does that about sum up Sunday's wreckfest of a PASS Outlaw Late Model 100?

Whitney finished second to Charlie Colby and, thanks to Sands' misfortune, the self-described "30-year-old kid" is now 6 points ahead of Harnish at the top of the standings, despite never having driven anything more than go-karts as late as last autumn. Whitney also worked for the most part without the services of owner/crew chief Ron Nason, as Nason was busy helping his father Ralph Nason run both the Outlaw and North Series races the same day.

Meanwhile, Harnish, who couldn't even begin to list all the damage done to his car after a chain-reaction crash on lap 1 of Sunday's second heat, rode around without power steering to finish 6th and inch closer to the top.

OK, everybody take a collective breath now...

Whoopdie-Doo

So, Stephen Leicht won a Busch Series race at Kentucky over the weekend, and suddenly we're supposed to be jumping up and down about how he's on the fast track to Nextel Cup stardom.

How about we touch the brake pedal just a tad...

Over the last 2 seasons, only 3 non-Nextel Cup drivers have won Busch Series races, and that includes Leicht last Saturday night. Those 3 victories, as you can probably deduce if you've been following this sport for any length of time (say, 3 or 4 weeks) came when the Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series were racing in different places on the same weekend.

David Gilliland and Leicht each won at Kentucky, while Paul Menard won at Milwaukee.

Despite winning the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500, Gilliland hasn't exactly set the Cup world on fire -- posting only 2 top-10 finishes this season and just 4 top-20 runs. A run-in at Michigan during practice last weekend prompted Tony Stewart to suggest that Gilliland had been rushed to the Cup level after his "upset" Busch win at Kentucky in '06. Menard, for his part, has been struggling in a part-time DEI ride for years under the sponsorship of his surname.

To suggest that Leicht is now the next big thing suggests that NASCAR has very few rising stars in its stead these days. Of course, that's also because the Busch Series is one giant Cup test session each weekend, leaving promising young drivers parked in the garage before they ever get to a track.

Fresh-faced and all of 20 years old makes Leicht like too many other young NASCAR personalities, and thus far, he's done very little to differentiate himself from the pack. No, strike that, he's done nothing to separate himself. Saturday's win was the 1st and only of his Busch career; the 1st and only for Robert Yates Racing in the Busch Series.

But, truly, you could throw the likes of Leicht, Gilliland, Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray and Reed Sorenson in a hat and pull them out 1 at a time. Without the shiny paint job and sponsor suit, could you really tell which driver was which?

Sooner rather than later

Rumors of the Pro Stocks' return to Wiscasset Raceway in 2008 aren't exactly accurate. If new track owner Doug White has his way, they'll race there on a weekly basis beginning this August.

White announced Tuesday that he will hold an informational Pro Stock meeting at the track at 7 p.m. on July 11 for all interested drivers, team owners and potential advertisers. If all goes well, White will begin featuring the division at Wiscasset beginning on Saturday night, August 4th -- one week after he officially assumes ownership of the facility.

White is hoping to have more than 20 teams express interest, but said that he would consider bringing the division on board with as few as 15 established teams. His original plan was to bring the Pro Stocks to Wiscasset beginning next year, and only on a bi-weekly basis.

After several meetings with PASS president Tom Mayberry, White decided on a full-time, weekly return.

"I think that way would be better for everybody," White said. "Some might still choose to only race every other week, but we still want to have that continuity. To keep a better fan base, it's better to have them on a weekly basis."

Another ACT date

For those of you who just can't get enough Late Model racing at Oxford Plains Speedway, you're July just got a little busier.

OPS and the American-Canadian Tour have agreed to run the ACT Time Warner Cable 100 on July 7 at the track. It will help replace 2 ACT dates that had been canceled -- one at St. Sanair and one at Circuit Ste. Croix.

It adds one final "test" date for the same Late Model cars prepping for the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains on July 22.

The St. Sanair date was originally listed for the same night the Time Warner Cable 100 is being run.

I've heard one scenario suggesting that a PASS North Series event could be added for St. Sanair this year, and it just so happens that PASS is off on July 7. However, it's a big, fast track (7/8-mile) and there's not a history between PASS and St. Sanair to speak of.

Rock on, dude

Well, considering that the Lenox 300 isn't going to start until about the time they decided to give the Pocono 500 the green flag a couple of weeks back, we'll all have something to do other than drink beer and stare at the cars lined up on pit road.

The rock group Hinder will play a pre-race concert at New Hampshire International Speedway on July 1. Who needs fireworks?

The group is best known for its hit "Lips of an Angel," and I'm all for something other than the traditional "post-race" concerts at the track. You know, the ones where only like 42 people are still sitting in the stands to watch -- and most of those people are already hung over.

Spud's off the market

Racing will return to Spud Speedway on July 14, tentatively speaking.

The track in Caribou, Maine, which had long been on the market, was purchased by Greg Veinote of Newburgh. Ralph Nason Sr., who owns Unity and Autodrome Montmagny in Quebec, was the previous owner of the .333-mile facility.

According to the track's Web site, Veinote has 3 divisions he plans to run there -- street stocks, teens and 4-cylinders.

Senior tour

The old-timers will be out in full force for the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway next month, as word comes down that former Nextel Cup Series driver Kevin Lepage will join 2-time Cup champ Terry Labonte in the July 22nd race.

Who's next? Dick Trickle? James Hylton?

This will be the 5th 250 for the Shelburne, Vt., driver who has more than 200 career Cup starts on his resume. Lepage, 45, has never finished higher than 11th in the 250.

Of course, his addition does nothing to dispel notions that -- with the race running under American-Canadian Tour Late Model rules -- that it's now a "Vermont" race. Critics of the race as a Super Late Model event in recent years suggested it was a "Maine" race, favoring Maine race teams.

“It’s going to be fun to go back to where it all began, to see some old faces and see how I stack up against some of the young guns,” Lepage said. “When I heard about the TD Banknorth 250 going to the late model rules package and bringing all those Vermont drivers into the mix, I thought it would be fun to give it a shot.”

Lepage will drive for Archie St. Hilaire of Old Orchard Beach. Todd Graffam of Lyman will serve as the crew chief.

Lepage's entry is the 171st for the race.

That's a wrap

Click here for a roundup of the weekend's racing across the state of Maine.

Johnny and Jimmie?

After Johnny Clark won the DNK Select 150, he radioed to his team and suggested that he was to Unity Raceway what Jimmie Johnson is to Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Ouch.

Almost immediately after Clark told the story, he realized how silly it sounded. "No, don't write that," he said. But before he'd put two more sentences together, he was back to drawing the same conclusion again.

"I mean, he wins everything there," Clark said of the Nextel Cup Series driver, who has made Lowe's his personal stomping ground in recent years. "They even repaved the thing, and he still wins."

Clark, of course, feels that his team enjoys the same success at Unity Raceway, particularly on the PASS North Series. Clark's first win in a race of more than 150 laps came at Unity in 2004, and he clinched his 2nd series championship by finishing 3rd at Unity last September.

Goofy and bold comparison or not, Clark does have a point. According to him, he's posted an average finish of 1.8 at Unity in his PASS career. Jimmie Johnson's resume at Lowe's isn't much different.

"I told (the team) that they should name Unity after us, like they call that place the 'House that Jimmie Built.' "

It's Father's Day

John Clark got just what he wanted on Father's Day.

"He just gave me the best Father's day present," Clark said after his son and defending PASS North Series champion Johnny Clark won the DNK Select 150 at Unity Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Johnny Clark led the final 96 laps and held off Richie Dearborn and Cassius Clark on a restart that came with 6 laps remaining. Mike Rowe and Ben Rowe, the series points leader, rounded out the top five.

"I told him yesterday I wanted him to win for me, and he went out and got her done," John Clark said.

"We come to Unity Raceway expecting to win," Johnny Clark said. "We've just been so good here."

Clark's average finish at the track over the last 5 years is 1.8. He finished third here in a race last September to claim his second PASS title.

Gary Norris Jr. won the 40-lap Modified event for his 2nd win of the season. The 75-lap Sportsman feature went to Dan McKeage, a Beech Ridge Motor Speedway regular.

The entire show is over, and with a rain delay included, took just under 6 hours to complete.

Bump... and you'd better run

Charlie Colby just won Sunday's 100-lap PASS Outlaw Late Model event, one shortened to 94 laps in a mercy killing, but boy did the race change on lap 58.

Unity Raceway track owner Ralph Nason was leading and in cruise control when he was chased down by the lapped machine driven by 3-time Unity champ Matt Lee. Lee nudged Nason in turn 4 on lap 57, and one lap later had pulled underneath Nason to try and get back on the lead lap down the backstretch. Nason slowed momentarily, and Lee dove under Nason as they headed for turn 3. The two made contact, and Nason was sent headlong into the dirt embankment as Lee continued on.

Lee was placed back on the lead lap, at the tail end, while Nason was on a wrecker and done for the day.

"I got into him a little bit, and he didn't like it," said Lee, who rallied to finish 3rd. "He gave it back to me down the straightaway. I think he cut a tire down."

"The guy got into me, so I locked the brakes up to try and get away and I went straight into the ditch," Nason said.

Not to worry, Nason fans. He made some repairs to the car and is planning to be back to start 8th for the DNK Select 150 in the same car.

Other than that, it was just your average 75-minute, 11-caution, attrition-filled PASS Outlaw race. And there's only 265 green-flag laps across 3 features left to run today.

Unofficially, the top five was Colby, Brian Whitney, Lee, Jim Rosenfield and Michael Thomas.

Rain delay

The rain has come and gone at Unity Raceway.

Heavy rain pelted the track, beginning at 1:56 p.m. and lasting only a few minutes. Shortly after 2 p.m., a steadier rain begain falling, holding off the start of the second PASS Modified heat race.

After 41 minutes of waiting and track drying, the Mods were back on track and underway at 2:39 p.m., and so was the program.

Weston, rain clouds and Wiscasset

Until Sunday, Nate Weston hadn't raced at Unity Raceway since the track's opening day in May. After a last-minute rules change at Unity, the 2006 Super Street champion at the track decided not to call one place home.

Weston will run 14-15 races this season, running all 8 PASS Sportsman division events and hitting open shows with larger purses to round out the slate.

"The competition is good (with PASS)," Weston said following practice for the 75-lap main later in the day. "The cars, generally speaking, have more money into them and guys are less apt to want to wreck."

*****

Uh-oh. I just noticed rain clouds moving in over the Unity backstretch. We're not even 8 minutes into the show (with Ben Erskine taking the first heat race over Matt Lee) and it's looking ominous all of a sudden.

*****

John Crawford, who will help new Wiscasset Raceway owner Doug White with the promotional side of the show, said the Pro Stocks will return to the track in 2008. He said racers should keep an eye out for future announcements regarding a meeting in the next few weeks about the change to the lineup.

They're thinking about going with the division, very tentatively speaking, on a bi-weekly basis.

We're plugged in and ready to roll

There are 24 Super Late Models in the pits for the DNK Select 150 at Unity Raceway, the highlight of a PASS racing quadruple-header at the track today.

Reigning PASS North Series champion Johnny Clark was fastest in final practice Sunday morning, turning the .333-mile oval in 14.849 seconds (90.915 mph). It's notable because Clark is here with a car that was new at the start of the season and has yet to see the Unity asphalt. He's also using a completely new setup in that car.

Cassius Clark was second-fastest in the No. 8 Ford at 14.872 seconds (90.775 mph). Sam Sessions, who's here in the No. 1 car, and Mike Rowe were the only other cars to turn laps under the 15-second barrier.

Matt Lee was fastest in Outlaw Late Model practice at 15.193 seconds (88.857 mph).

Here's the schedule for today:

Heats: Outlaw Late Models, Modifieds, Super Late Models and Sportsman; all are 10 laps, except for the Supers which will run 3 12-lap heats. Features will follow at approximately 4:30 p.m. in the same order, with a Sportsman consi likely to come after the Modified main.