Lepage continues to ride along

DAYTONA BEACH -- Somewhere along the way, Kevin Lepage transformed himself from hungry young racer into a realistic veteran with a love of racing.

When exactly that happened Lepage isn't sure. But he does feel like joining with car owner Doug Taylor for a full season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this year has given him a new lease on life -- his racing life, that is.

"There's things you've got to do in life, and I'm very excited to be in the Nationwide Series, especially with a new opportunity and a neat team," said Lepage, the 45-year-old native of Shelburne, Vt. "There's just so many new things right here that maybe it gives me a new outlook on life in racing."

Lepage got his start on New England's short tracks in the American-Canadian Tour and what is now the Camping World East Series, racing on his father's dime as he shaped a career that ultimately took him to a full-time ride for Cup Series owner Jack Roush in the 1990s. The last few years, however, Lepage has gone into virtually every offseason with no guarantee of having anywhere to race come spring.

Owner Doug Taylor called Lepage less than a month ago about driving for him this season, and the team worked furiously to get to Daytona for Saturday's season-opening Camping World 300 -- so furiously that number decals still had to be affixed to the No. 61 Ford as of Wednesday morning.

It's not the Sprint Cup Series, Lepage said, but as he learned last year, there are no guarantees at stock-car racing's highest level.

"I went to almost all the (Cup) races last year and only made 2 of them," Lepage said of his time in Bob Jenkins' No. 37. "It's so disappointing as a driver to go through all that. To get a good Craftsman Truck or Nationwide Series ride was what I was looking for, but to have this come together late, it's better than nothing. I think the relationship I had with Doug Taylor in the past, I think it's going to fulfill everything I want to do this year. To be back at the race track every week, it's a good thing.

"I'm at the point in my career where, hey, if I race I race, if I don't I don't. A lot of guys haven't been through what I'm going through. There's several guys out there right now that don't have a job, and they're probably saying, 'What am I going to do?' "

Lepage -- who made a start in the Oxford 250 last summer -- drove in the Nationwide Series for Taylor in 1998, earning 1 of his 2 career Series wins at Bristol Motor Speedway that season. In 25 races together, the team posted 10 top-10s.

He's excited about racing at Daytona, too -- where he has a career-best finish of 3rd in Nationwide competition in 2002 and ran 9th in an untested and unproven Cup car in 2005. Admittedly, part of him wishes he had a Cup ride for the 50th running of the Daytona 500 this Sunday.

"I came here when I was 10 or 12 years old with my dad," Lepage said. "It's disappointing today that we're talking about the Nationwide Series and not going for the 50th anniversary of the (Daytona 500), because I was here for the 40th and I really wanted to make it to the 50th."

But, more to the point, he's just happy to have gainful employment behind the wheel of a race car.

Lepage thinks his days racing with his father have made him a candidate for low-budget teams, despite the sport's trend to put young drivers with steep financial backing in available seats. He knows how to work on race cars himself, he's easy on equipment and he helps out wherever he can.

Taylor is buying cars from Roush Racing and powering them with Yates Racing engines. According to Lepage, there are a half-dozen sponsors interested in signing on with the team for the season, and the team is hopeful that several partial sponsorships will help foot the bill for the year.

He thinks he can start the season with a win in the Camping World 300.

"It's a Roush car with Yates motors, and I really think realistically we can get this thing done," said Lepage, one of 23 Nationwide Series drivers who must make the show on time in Friday's qualifying session. "If not, we'll just try to run all day long and finish in the top-10. ... I know what I have to do in the race car to finish one of these things. You've got to run all day long and get as many points as you can, and if you're there for the win you go for it.

"If not, you take what you can get and move on to next week."

Kind of like Lepage has been doing for a few years now.

Reverse gear: 2007's Top 10

No. 9

DEI signs with Andy Santerre Motorsports

It was only a matter of weeks before the 2007 Busch East Series began that Andy Santerre Motorsports took the step it had long wanted to take.

During September of 2006, Santerre himself talked openly about his goals as an owner in the Busch East Series -- he wanted to work with Nextel Cup Series teams as an organization where developmental drivers could learn under his tutelage. At the time, the only driver Santerre had was Sean Caisse -- an unaffiliated young driver that Santerre had put in the seat of the No. 44 Chevrolets he had vacated.

But last winter, Santerre got the call he wanted. Dale Earnhardt Inc. put teenager Jeffrey Earnhardt at ASM, and Santerre began preparing the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats cars for the youngster with only short-track Late Model experience on his resume.

The work that ASM did with Earnhardt -- Earnhardt finished 5th in the final series point standings, winning 1 pole and posting 4 top-5 finishes in 13 starts.

Going forward, the grandson of Richard Childress, Austin Dillon, will join ASM for 2008. It's a sign that Santerre's work with DEI (which has moved all of its development operations in-house) opened eyes around the Cup Series world that it's a place where young drivers can find success.

It's also proof that Santerre might get exactly what he wants out of an ownership career in NASCAR's minor-league ranks.

*****

10. Ben Rowe's 4th PASS North Series title

A few final laps...

Spend hours on end in a blind somewhere in the woods, waiting for Bambi's uncle (the brother of the one who died in the fire) to come walking by, and you'll get to thinking. Thinking reminded me of a couple of things I needed to do...

* NASCAR has no one to blame but itself for the fact that most of the world thinks this year's Chase has been a bore. Typically, 2 race teams separated by only a few points would qualify as real drama. Problem is, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are really one in the same — and NASCAR's ridiculously soft stance on the creation of superteams hasn't helped.

If Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte are working out of the same shop and same notebooks (which they are), is either really winning the Nextel Cup championship over the other? Of course not. It's a Hendrick Motorsports title, no matter who gets to stuff the trophy in the suitcase.

* The 2008 schedules are out for both Wiscasset Raceway and Oxford Plains Speedway are out, and, as promised, Wiscasset is making its stand as Maine's Pro Stock capital. The slate will included the DNK 250, the Coastal 200, a couple of Twin 125's and the final race of the PASS North Series slate.

The '250,' of course, is a direct response to the Oxford version of the 250 (you may have heard, there have been 34 of them to date) being handed over to the Late Model crowd. The Original 250 comes on July 20; the knock-off comes about a month later, on Aug. 17.

* In case you missed some of this stuff over the last few weeks:
- Jerry Gappens has been named by Speedway Motorsports Inc. as general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway
- Austin Dillon will drive for Andy Santerre Motorsports next year in the We Don't Have A Title Sponsor Yet East Series. Still no word on what the No. 44 and Sean Caisse's plans are
- It's Mason-Dixon Meltdown weekend in Concord, N.C. Cassius Clark is the defending champion of the event, which was held last year in South Boston, Va.

Big business holds New Hampshire's fate

It is the first question on everyone's mind.

What now?

Now that New Hampshire International Speedway has been sold off to corporate America, deftly renamed the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and put in the hands of people who count success by the millions, what's to become of the track's two annual NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races?

Do they stay or do they go?

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal.

Racers chime in on New Hampshire sale

Here's a sampling of some of the thoughts circulating in the racing world regarding Speedway Motorsports Inc.'s purchase of New Hampshire International Speedway from Bob Bahre on Friday:

ANDY SANTERRE, 3-time Busch East Series winner at the track:

"There were a lot of race fans in New England before, but they could never go and see NASCAR racing up close (without traveling). Honestly, that’s where anybody from New England went. Guys like myself — or Ricky Craven wouldn’t have made it to Cup — if New Hampshire wasn’t there. We got noticed because it brought the big boys to New England. Without that, I don’t think a lot of us would have had the opportunity.

“The Bahres did a great job with the place, and to have two (Cup) dates, they were very fortunate. A lot of that was what they’ve done for NASCAR in past. But if (Bruton Smith) spent that kind of money, he might want to move a race to one of his tracks that only has one race.”

KURT BUSCH, who swept the two NHIS Cup races in 2004:

"New Hampshire has a great fan base. They sell out that race track every year we go up there. The Northeast loves their NASCAR. I would hope that racetrack keeps at least one date. I would like to see us go to a lot of race tracks just once a year and maybe trim the schedule down, but that’ll never happen.

"But (moving one of the dates), it’ll make every race that’s at their race track more important and drivers will feel more excited about winning each race — to do it when there is only one win that you can get at a track each year. But, Vegas would start off in the Chase. It would be a little warm out there the first of September. I don’t know. All of it is speculation."

BRIAN FRANCE, NASCAR CEO:

"The success of NHIS, and the desire of the Bahre family to sell, made the track very attractive to SMI and several other interested buyers. SMI has a highly regarded record for hosting some of the most successful and enjoyable race events in all of NASCAR, and there's no doubt that will continue.

"While we don't have any details about SMI's plans for NHIS, all sanctions for 2008 have been signed and finalized. As a result, there will be no location changes to the 2008 schedule that was released last month. This is important to the fans, competitors, broadcast partners and sponsors who have already made plans for the 2008 races.

"Looking beyond 2008, NASCAR will continue to consider requests by any track operator, including SMI, to relocate race dates. Under NASCAR's "realignment" plan, we have worked with track owners to relocate race dates to meet the needs of our growing national fan base. Ultimately, any change must meet NASCAR�s objectives and serve our fans.

"The industry owes Bob and Gary Bahre a debt of gratitude for their leadership and commitment to NASCAR. All of NASCAR wishes the Bahre family well during this time of transition. They will always be considered pioneers in NASCAR."

Labbe to lead No. 36 Toyotas

There's a Maine twist to all this silly season action.

Biddeford native Slugger Labbe, best known for his Daytona 500-winning work with Michael Waltrip at DEI, will take over as the crew chief for the No. 36 Bill Davis Racing Toyotas. Mike Skinner will try and qualify the car for the next 2 events (Atlanta, Texas) and Johnny Benson will try and steer the cars into the final 2 (Phoenix, Homestead). The seat became open when Jeremy Mayfield announced his decision to sign with Haas-CNC racing for the remainder of 2007 and through 2008.

Labbe, 39, had been working with Jacques Villeneuve at BDR. He's also served in crew chief capacities at Gillette-Evernham Motorsports, Robert Yates Racing and the now-defunct Ginn Racing.

Labbe's start in NASCAR racing came as a crew member for Kelly Moore's Busch North Series operation.

It's a combination of moose and machine

I've got a pretty unique role at the newspaper, one I'm not sure anybody else out there has anywhere in the country.

On one hand, I'm the outdoors writer. It's not so much a newspaper "beat" as it is a feature writing position, and I'm pretty well free to write about whatever adventures I'm up for. One week it's rock climbing, the next it's off to cruising along at 35 mph on an ATV trail somewhere in the back woods. In between, there's plenty of time for hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, canoeing and whatever else strikes my fancy.

There's also my dual role as auto racing writer -- covering races and events, breaking news, writing columns and keeping up with news and notes. It's a traditonal beat in the newspaper sense: "You're our guy on this, you're responsible for not getting beat to stories."

This was one of those weekends where I really felt pulled in all directions.

Saturday afternoon, while at L.L. Bean's annual hunting expo full of seminars and sales, I felt like a racing wife. I wanted to call Cassius Clark to find out how Hickory was going, and I wanted to call over to Thunder Road to see how qualifying was going for the Milk Bowl. There was a Modified show at Stafford, some supercross stuff at Unity and a little thing -- maybe you've heard of it? -- called the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

On Sunday, I was up a full 3 hours before sunrise -- 3:30 a.m., if you're scoring at home -- and was off into the Maine woods and mountains in search of moose. We logged more than 10 miles of mountain hiking while breaking our own trails for virtually all of it, called in a few bulls and lived off stale donuts, cheddar cheese and fresh apples.

I loved every minute of it. But a voice in my head kept reminding me about the Over the Hill 150 and the Milk Bowl, and I couldn't stop thinking about racing. It only got worse when, being with a guide from the town of Strong, the conversation turned to the careers of Martin Truex Jr. and Tracy Gordon. Gordon's from Strong, and master Maine guide Roger Lambert once worked on Gordon's team.

It's a small world...

It's a small racing world. And, as the best moose guide I've ever known said to me, "Once you get that racing bug... Oh, boy. And I had it twice in my life. That's why I had to stop."

Fall foliage, short-track style

As the racing season ends and I start worrying just what I'm going to blog about every day so Tracie Cushman can get her on-line fix in the off-season, I realize there's still plenty going on right now.

Here are some highlights -- pace laps, if you will:

* Don't know how I never found the time to blog about this, but Kelly Moore hasn't made any friends over the last couple of weeks. First, he takes Matt Kobyluck out at New Hampshire during a Busch East Series race, then he takes out Johnny Clark, D.J. Shaw and a bunch of others in the PASS North Series race at Beech Ridge last Sunday.

There's a great element that part-time competitors bring to a race. They aren't concerned with points racing, they're there just to win and, with a resume like Moore's, they certainly bring some cache. But those guys have to respect who they're racing with, too. There are guys out there with, as Denny Hamlin is so fond of saying, "bigger fish to fry."

Moore got off the gas while leading the field to a restart on lap 197 Sunday, giving Benjamin reason to duck to the inside and make it 3-wide across the start-finish line. As the field went into turn 1, they bottled up and the result was a heap of cars atop turn 1. Clark was mad enough that he got out of his car, ran across the track to Moore's pit stall and stuck his head in Moore's car to have a word. Minutes later, Clark could still be seen with his arms in the air in the infield.

Moore's accomplishments speak for themselves -- he's done a lot over a fine career. He's in danger of tarnishing his reputation, however.

* Drag racing enjoys a cult following unlike any other sport. Maybe it's because if you can breathe nitro exhaust and live to tell about it, you're winning. Winning what, I have no idea. But John Force's injuries on Sunday are big news -- particularly for a man who lost a teammate to testing crash earlier this year, is larger than life in the auto racing scene and has built his own safety research facility.

Godspeed, John. Godspeed.

And if you haven't seen this about Force already, you should check it out.

* Kyle Petty had no right to do what he did, slapping Hamlin in the helmet during Sunday's 400-miler at Dover. But Hamlin had no right speaking of Petty the way he did, either.
Not that anyone cares, but here's my 2 cents: Drivers are responsible for driving their cars -- and that includes being responsible for avoiding slower cars. For Hamlin to say that the disparity between the frontrunners and the backmarkers makes it impossible to stay out of their way is hogwash.

I'm guessing when Hamlin was winning everything there was to win in a Late Model across Virginia a few years ago, there was an even greater disparity in the fields. He had no problems then keeping his car clean and winning races.

* This isn't a good sign for Unity Raceway. The track's annual season-ending Long John Open on Oct. 13 is going head-to-head with the PASS Sportsman championship weekend at White Mountain Motorsports Park. The highlight of the Long John is a $1,500-to-win Super Street event.

Most Super Street/Sportsman drivers that have been willing to travel for big shows this year have done so with PASS. It would be nice to see Unity go out with a big show in a year where the track has made gains toward getting back on Maine's short-track map, but that won't be so easy in this case.

* Who's got a camper? Anyone? Anyone? There's a Milk Bowl this weekend, or so I hear... Man, have I got the blogging bug bad. When kissing a cow seems like a good idea, something's seriously wrong.

Hey, it's our 300th birthday!

Hard as it is to believe, but the ol' "Green-White-Checker" has turned 300.

300 posts, and still cranking out stuff that sometimes I honestly can't believe people want to read.

We've done the Oxford 250's move to Late Models ad nasuem. We've had our run-ins (or lack of them, I suppose) with Ward Burton. There was the Kyle Busch PASS fiasco, a memorable trip to Thunder Road and, of course, J.J. Yeley's induction into the Hall of Fame.

So this is the 300th post I've made in this little blog, this blog that had exactly 2 readers when it started -- my mother and Shawn Courchesne. Mom gave up months ago, Shawn still reads it regularly -- so he can e-mail me and tell me how many more hits The Backstretch gets every day.

I keep telling him I'm about quality over quantity, but even I'm not so sure anymore.

How much has happened in 4 little months of blogging? Dale Jr. left DEI. Then he joined Hendrick. Then he left Budweiser. Then he got AMPed up.

Then Cassius Clark went from splitting with owner Ed Chapman in the PASS North Series to reuniting, running a retro paint scheme, winning the NAPA 100 at Wiscasset and then failing tech.

And who could forget the hospitality tent at Speedway 95?

All that and I caught a seal, cruised around on an ATV and climbed 4 peaks in the Bigelow preserve in less than 24 hours.

It's just the life of an auto racing reporter who has no life, I suppose...

At long last, I've made it home

It was easily the worst weekend of racing I've seen in all my years covering it at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Mercifully, some of the races were cut short.

Aside from the championship "drama" unfolding as Matt Kobyluck tried to pull off a miracle to unseat rookie Joey Logano atop the standings, the Busch East Series race was uninspiring. Just OK, certainly by that series' standards at NHIS.

The Modified Tour ran 31 of the first 37 laps of its New Hampshire 100 under caution after more than a few wrecks. Good finish, but I never thought the guys behind Todd Szegedy had enough to seriously get by him in the late going. Once Bobby Santos III pulled out of line to make his bid in the closing laps, it became more evident.

Nobody actually saw the Silver Crown race -- even for a lack of trying. The entire 30-lap distance was run in virtual darkness. It was made even worse for us media types: the press box windows are tinted to help with afternoon glare. The only way to 'see' anything (and I use the term loosely) was to step outside, where the wind was howling and it felt like I was standing atop Mt. Washington in December.

The Truck and Cup races looked identical. Read: Pole sitter thoroughly dominates and the only significant passes happen on pit road.

The highlight of the weekend was listening to Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart banter playfully with the media in the post-race press conference. These guys are the faces of NASCAR today, or at least they should be, for their polar opposition and for their career accomplishments. With all respect to the driver of the No. 88 AMP/Mountain Dew Chevys for Hendrick Motorsports next year, he's not even close.

Quick hits:

* NASCAR has finally done it. They've finally killed off stock car 'racing' with the Car of Tomorrow. The Sylvania 300 looked like a Formula 1 race -- qualify up front, stay up front, pass with pit strategy.

How long before fans write Nextel Cup off like they've done with F1?

* Where on earth have Elliott Sadler and Greg Biffle gone, anyway?

* Kurt Busch says in the same breath that the team can't afford bad days like the one they had Sunday (lost a cylinder, finished 25th) then says they didn't take a hit. So, like, which is it?

* I don't care what pants Dale Jr. is going to where in the future, any more than I care what he drinks for beer.

* With AMP, Red Bull and Monster as sponsors now, something tells me there are a few teams that will excel at night racing. Maybe the beer-sponsored teams will have to push for more noontime starts...

* Still can't figure out what the Silver Crown cars were doing at NHIS. Nothing against that series, mind you, but in the summer the track couldn't fit 4 divisions in, cutting the Mods short that day, too. How were we going to add another one with less daylight to work with?

Worst case scenario played out with the weather this time around, too. Doubt we'll see that again -- but you never really know, do you?

* J.J. Yeley finished in the top-10 on Sunday.

Truck qualifying canceled at Loudon

Sean Caisse wasn't joking around when he said he has nothing but bad luck at his hometown track.

Officials just announced that qualifying for the New Hampshire 200 has been washed out. That means Caisse, who was to make his CTS debut for Germain Racing, will be the only driver sent home.

I guess if there's a silver lining, it's that home is only a few miles away. All this after what was well the dominant car in Friday's Busch East Series race here lost out on a win with a bad pit stop in the early going that crushed his track position.

On Thursday, Caisse said he was looking forward to the Truck race. He also said that he's never had any luck. Despite 7 BES wins in his career, the Pelham, N.H., native has never won at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Moore's antics cost Kobyluck

Matt Kobyluck is absolutely right. Kelly Moore should know better.

The winningest driver in Busch East Series history cost Kobyluck a shot at the series championship next week. With 11 laps left in Friday's Aubuchon Hardware 125, and with Kobyluck having rallied back from a flat tire early in the race, he and Moore got together in New Hampshire International Speedway's turn 3.

Both went spinning up the track and made contact with the wall. The bigger story? Kobyluck finished 33rd and saw Joey Logano sew up the series title.

"Kelly Moore is Kelly Moore. He only cares about himself," Kobyluck said. "He didn't need to wreck me there. It was really unnecessary. He just drove into the side of me. He drove in down on the apron. I gave him plenty of race track to get his car turned down in there, and he still drove into the side of me and wrecked me. That's unfortunate, but I can't control what other people do."

Moore claimed that Kobyluck had jumped a restart on lap 114, and he moved over to give Kobyluck the spot in turn 1. As they raced side-by-side down the backstretch, Moore felt he wasn't afforded the same luxury.

"I thought (Kobyluck) jumped the restart and started running 3-wide there, but I guess that's not my call to make," Moore said. "We went down into one, and I gave him the spot. Then, coming off two, it was a drag race down the back. Then we get down in there, and he didn't give me the room. By then, I just locked up the brakes and got into him."

The more Moore thought about it, though, the closer he got to shouldering blame he rightly should have.

"Looking back, I probably should have backed off a little earlier, you know," Moore said. "It was just one of them deals."

Television replays indicated Moore had more than enough room on the bottom of the race track to avoid Kobyluck.

"You'd think with number of years that Kelly's been racing, he'd use more common sense than that and have a little more respect for a guy that's running for the championship when he only runs 2 races a year," Kobyluck said. "That's pretty pathetic, and it's a pretty pathetic way to end our championship chase.

"It's really upsetting, because Kelly, he should just know better than that. He's raced forever, and that just shows me how little respect he has for anybody and does what he wants out there. He doesn't pay attention to anybody who's running for the championship or give somebody an inch. He just flat drove into me, just flat wrecked me, and there was no need of it."

No need at all, and Kobyluck lost out on his best shot at a BES title in his career.

Logano wins race, aims for title

Joey Logano won the race, completed a season sweep at New Hampshire International Speedway and clinched the NASCAR Busch East Series championship in his rookie season. All in one day.

Logano led the final 12 laps of the Aubuchon Hardware 125 en route to his fifth win of the season and second at NHIS on Friday. The Middletown, Conn., native, who now drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, took the lead for the final time on the same lap that championship hopeful Matt Kobyluck's day ended with a trip into the turn three wall.

Kobyluck finished 33rd after tangling with Scarborough's Kelly Moore and fell to third in the standings behind Sean Caisse, who finished second and is 171 points behind Logano with one race left at Dover, Del., next week.

With only 30 cars starting at Dover, Logano, 17, is guaranteed at least 73 points there. He needs only to start the final race to officially win the championship and become the youngest champion in Busch East history and the first rookie of the year to win the title.

Caisse looks good in Truck debut

Sean Caisse looked strong in his practice sessions, as he prepared for his Craftsman Truck Series debut tomorrow at New Hampshire International Speedway.

In a Germain Racing Toyota, Caisse was 16th fastest overall and then 4th fastest in rookie practice a little later on Friday morning. The Andy Santerre Motorsports driver in the Busch East Series was looking forward to the New Hampshire 200.

"Everybody at Germain has gone out of their way to be nice to me and make me feel really comfortable," Caisse said. "They're just a great group of guys, and they make me feel good about what's going to happen this weekend."

The team tested earlier this week, and Caisse said it went a long way toward acclimating him with the Truck. He'll be a teammate to Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave, 2 accomplished Truck Series drivers.

Caisse didn't have a good experience with Kevin Harvick Inc., whom he drove for in a Busch Series race at Dover, Del., last season. That team didn't test with Caisse, and he felt he was thrown under the bus a little.

"I didn't get to do any testing, so going to Dover's a pretty tough place to be able to learn to run a radial tire," Caisse said. "I don't really feel like that whole situation was very comfortable for me."

Caisse has the chance to pull the double on his hometown track. He's never won in a Busch East car, but feels luck could finally be on his side later today.

"I've had more bad luck here than any other race track I can count," Caisse said of Loudon. "I seem to find something new here every time I come, but I don't know. I'd rather be lucky than good. I had a lot of bad luck at Thompson (Conn.) before, and I won there this year. Maybe I'll win here."

The Aubuchon Hardware 125 is slated for 5:10 p.m. today.

It's an organized madness... if I can just find my notes here somewhere

During practice this morning, somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 a.m., I heard a racing newbie walking into the infield ask, "Are they qualifying?"

This gives you an idea of the madness we're dealing with down here. Seriously, folks.

*****

The NASCAR behemoth continues to cater to the 6 or 7 drivers that fit the mold while ignoring all others. For the 2nd time in as many trips to New Hampshire International Speedway this year, I saw Juan Pablo Montoya walk through a crowd of autograph seekers in the Nextel Cup garage without so much as a single person recognizing him.

Truly amazing. Though he can be brash and agressive, he still remains one of the world's best driving talents. Not the "nation's" but the "world's." And NASCAR fans still don't take notice.

*****

Speaking of drivers nobody recognizes.

Super Late Model racer Mike Rowe is the best racer at NHIS this weekend that no one here has ever heard of. Rowe has won more races than most of us can count, more than he can likely remember, and every Cup weekend I see him sauntering through the garage area on Friday to take it all in.

No one stops him. No one bothers him. No one does anything at all.

I'm guessing Rowe could drive the pants off of a Casey Mears or a Joe Nemecheck if he could ever get into a Cup car for a weekend. But he'll never get that chance -- further proof that the sport continues to become more and more separate from its roots.

*****

Speaking of Nemecheck, I almost got run over by his golf cart. Yeah, there's a lot of them here -- as has been posted elsewhere. But where's the cut-off? If Nemecheck can have a golf car, who's next? Tim Sauter? All the Busch East drivers? Me?

Moore continues drive for a ride

For the first time since May, Ryan Moore of Scarborough got the opportunity to climb into a race car, one that he will actually race.

Moore will make his first start in the NASCAR Busch East Series this season when he rolls off the starting grid 18th for today's Aubuchon Hardware 125 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal.

The soap opera continues...

Some days you're left wondering how PASS can look itself in the mirror.

On the heels of the Kyle Busch fiasco at All-Star Speedway back in late June, comes word that PASS marketing director Steve Perry will once again double as a car owner for the PASS North Series 300 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Sept. 24. Perry will field an entry for multi-time Busch East Series champion Brad Leighton in that race.

Perry is the former co-owner of SP2 Motorsports, which provided Super Late Models for Mike Rowe. That ownership group disbanded late in the 2006 season, and Perry took a job with PASS in the off-season. This year, though, Perry has dabbled in car ownership on a few occasions.

It's another blow to the disintegrating credibility of the PASS North Series.

No matter how fair PASS's officials might be, in theory or in action, it's entirely unfair to the other competitors next weekend to have to race against a car owned by a fellow official. If Leighton wrecks and another car is black-flagged for the incident, people can cry foul. If another car is wrecked by contact with Leighton without a black flag, people can cry foul. If anything happens that may or may not appear to be favoritism -- an incorrect lineup on a restart, a Lucky Dog award when he's not next in line, being scored ahead of the leader when the caution flag flies -- and people can cry foul.

It's not about this year. It's about next year and beyond. It's about a series that has trouble attracting 20 cars to its "non-marquee" events, and about teams that won't show up in the future if they feel like they're not getting a fair shake. Get into an incident with one of Perry's cars -- purely accidental or not -- and getting sent to the back for "rough riding" or "being part of the caution," and that team may never be heard from again.

That's another car and another team gone for good from Super Late Model racing. Given the current acrimonious climate between Super Late Models and Late Models, can that in any way be construed as a good thing if you're a PASS backer?

If Perry wants to field cars, go for it. Go for it all you want. Just give up your position in PASS, and no one will think twice. If Perry's not willing to do that, then he shouldn't be willing to disable the tour's credibility by fielding cars in races. Either way, you're supporting racing -- it's just that, as the old saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

It's really that simple.

The craziest things happen at NHIS #1

They call him Cousin Carl for a reason. He's just one of us.

One night before qualifying for the 1st race of the Chase for the Nextel Cup, I nearly ran over Carl Edwards. How would that have played nationally? Some little Mainer kills Cup driver before Chase qualifying. Yeah, that would go over well.

Leaving the media parking lot on Thursday night after Rogelio Lopez became the 1st Mexican driver ever to become a Busch East Series pole winner, we were redirected away from the main entrance at New Hampshire International Speedway. Seems that the Cup haulers were pouring into the infield, and they wanted us to head up the hill, through a parking lot and to an auxilliary entrance for the track.

Turning the corner to the parking lot, I saw a souped-up golf cart come zipping toward me. The driver was wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans, a winter hat pulled down over his ears and a pair of safety glasses with clear lenses. It was Carl Edwards -- disguised just enough so that by the time people recognized him he was long past them.

So there was Cousin Carl, tooling around with some buddies on a golf cart. Just like he was getting ready for some big Late Model show the next day somewhere in the midwest.

It's precisely the reason people should be so excited about a guy like Edwards becoming a Cup star. He's still the same guy he always was.

Just with a little more money.

*****

Saturday's schedule at NHIS is cramped so full, I wonder if any of the races will have enough time to go the schedule distance. A Craftsman Truck Series race, a Whelen Modified Tour 100 and a new addition -- the 75-lap USAC Silver Crown event.

And, there's a forecast calling for 80 percent chance of rain.

Why would NHIS want to add a non-NASCAR-sanctioned event to the busiest day of the weekend? I'm not sure what they get for an 18-car field. Yeah, I said 18 cars. That's how many are on the entry list, with Cup driver J.J. Yeley amon that group.

If it's a great race, who cares? It's a bunch of guys in a series that's got nowhere near the cache it had when the Stewarts, Gordons and Newmans were tearing it up. If it's not, then nobody expected much anyway. Maybe I should reserve judgement until I actually see it, but I'm having a hard time doing that.

*****

First we find out that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports have announced a press conference next Wednesday in Dallas to announce Earnhardt's sponsor for next season. Then we receive late word Thursday night that there's been a late change to the driver availability schedule at NHIS on Friday, and Earnhardt will be in the media center to speak with reporters at 9:45 a.m.

Pepsi-Cola Company? Frito-Lay? Central Maine Newspapers?

We'll keep you posted. This much is certain: Junior's not going to pull a Kyle Busch (see: Gibbs to Toyota) and spill the beans prematurely.

*****

Rogelio Lopez continues to become the shining star of Mexico in the Busch East Series.

Lopez added to his history-making NASCAR Busch East Series season Thursday. The 27-year-old, who became the first Mexican to win a NASCAR regional touring race in July at Nashville became the 1st regional touring driver to win a pole.

"I’ve been learning a lot from these guys, Matt (Kobyluck), Joey (Logano) and Sean (Caisse)," Lopez said. "I’ve been watching how they race, how they practice and how they do time trails. I’ve been learning a lot from them and I appreciate that."

Lopez qualified fifth fastest for June’s event at NHIS, but he was the first to retire from the event with a small oil fire after only 15 laps.

NASCAR could take a PR hit with these lawsuits

The lawsuits filed on behalf of Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemecheck against Ginn Racing isn't good for NASCAR.

A report listed on Jayski not only lists what the lawsuit is for, but it completely outlines the structure of the respective contracts for the drivers. It lists annual salary (roughly $1 million for each), race winning percentages they were allowed to keep (45 percent), merchandise percentages (33 percent) and bonus schedules (including individual races and final points positions).

It's not a secret that Nextel Cup Series drivers are well-paid. But unlike other professional sports contracts, NASCAR contracts are kept hush-hush. For a sport aimed at blue-collar workers and middle-America families, flaunting multi-million dollar salaries around a courtroom is a lose-lose proposition in the court of public opinion.

If Marlin and Nemecheck are making more than $1 million annually, what does that say for top-flight drivers. Suddenly, multi-million dollar athletes are right here and NASCAR. Can anyone envision a scenario in which Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart or Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- arguably the 3 most marketable drivers out there -- aren't making $5, $10 or even $15 million each season?

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Busch East Series driver Max Dumarey may be taking his lumps in his 1st season with the series (he's 19th in points) after coming over from Belgium, but he enjoyed the recent stretch of time off.

Driving a Porsche 997 with Max Goosens, Maxime Soulet and brother Guillaume Dumarey, Max was part of the team that won the 24 hours of Zolda in his home country last weekend.

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J.J. Yeley is pulling triple-duty at NHIS this weekend.

Not only is he in his usual No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series, but he's also in a Whelen Modified Tour entry (he qualified 5th for the New Hampshire 100) and he's entered in the USAC Silver Crown 75-lap event here on Saturday.

Yeley joins JGR teammate Tony Stewart as the only drivers in history to win all 3 USAC titles in the same season -- Silver Crown, Sprint and Midget.

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Todd Szegedy won the pole for the New Hampshire 100 with a time of 29.725 seconds around the 1.058-mile oval. It was the 1st career pole at NHIS for the former series champion.

"I think driver error is why I wasn't here sooner," Szegedy said. "It was driver error, either getting into the corners too hard or getting out of the groove somewhere."

Ron Yuhas, Donnie Lia (who has 5 wins this season), Tony Hirschman and Yeley rounded out the top-5 qualifiers.

Well, we're back at the Magic Mile

Here's a pet peeve of mine.

You know how when you're on a major 2-lane highway and every once in a while there'll be one of those hills, and on said hill, they'll put in one of those "slower cars keep right" lanes? Yeah, those.

Why is it that the 18-wheelers won't just let the passenger cars by? I mean, that's the whole reason they have those lanes in the first place. Of my 2 hour, 45 minute trip over to Loudon, I must have spent 2 hours of it behind either the largest Budget Rental truck on the planet or a grandmother in a caravan going 30 mph in a 50 mph zone.

Oh, well. I made it.

*****

Some interesting Busch East Series notes to pass along.

Ryan Moore, who is the car chief for Erin Crocker at Gillette Evernham Motorsports, is entered in a family-owned car. He's one of 41 cars entered in tomorrow's Aubuchon Hardware 125 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Brad Leighton, the winningest BES driver in history at NHIS, is also here. Though he has 8 wins on the Magic Mile, it's hard to believe he hasn't won here since this event in 2003. Only Ted Christopher has more NHIS wins, with 5 in a Busch car and 4 in a Modified.

Joey Logano leads Matt Kobyluck by 82 points atop the BES standings with 2 events remaining. Logano, a BES rookie driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, can clinch the series title tomorrow. If he wins and leads the most laps, Kobyluck must finish inside the top-5 to remain alive.

Essentially, Logano need only leave here with a 118-point cushion. Only 30 cars will start the season finale at Dover, Del., next week.

*****

This will come as no surprise to regular readers of the blog: J.J. Yeley was not the fastest driver in Thursday's Whelen Modified Tour practice.

Yeley, though, is entered in Saturday's New Hampshire 100 for the tour. He's in the No. 7ny car (a replica of the late Tom Baldwin's ride) prepared by Martin Truex Jr.'s DEI crew chief, Kevin "Bono" Manion. Yeley did turn a lap inside the top-12 in practice.

40 cars are entered in the New Hampshire 100.