Richmond pit stalls

Jayski has posted the pit stall selections, and as expected Mighty Mark Martin has taken the best spot after winning the pole for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400.

Our View Martin Truex Jr and Kasey Kahne have the only other two spots with an opening in front of them, but Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski chose stalls with openings behind them.

This could be especially positive for Keselowski, who is bound to be cheap in cap games and under-utilized in allocation games.

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N'Wide: Crippled Carl wins Richmond

Carl Edwards won the Richmond Nationwide race with one foot tied behind his back. Broken right foot and all, he outpaced the field after taking the lead late in the Virginia 529 College Savings 250.

Our View Edwards had to come from the back of the pack after a poor qualification effort. This gives him confidence entering the Saturday night Cup race, but his record is still not good enough to recommend starting him in the big show.

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Ku Busch loses crew chief

If the stress of the Chase were not enough, SPEED TV reported on Friday that Kurt Busch would lose his crew chief Pat Tryson at the end of the 2009 season.

Our View This situation could deteriorate in a hurry if the No. 2 team starts to struggle, so keep a close eye on Busch. If you are in conflict about starting him at all, err on the side of caution.

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Yahoo! Qualification Story – Richmond

Nearly all of the bubble boys will be clustered together on the start grid, adding to the drama of the final regular season race. The most popular Yahoo! players are together as well, so check out this week's qualification story .pdf story.

And in case you missed it, click here for this week's preview.

Martin wins Richmond Happy Hour

Mark Martin posted the quickest average speed in Happy Hour practice at Richmond, with a speed of 122.013 mph during 11 laps.

Our View That was a relatively short run, but he was also third-best in the morning session. His fastest lap in Happy Hour was third on the grid, so he should be considered a favorite to win both the pole and the race.

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Montoya fastest in Happy Hour

Juan Montoya had a seesaw Happy Hour session, but when the red and black flags were waved to signal its end, he was at the top of the charts with a lap of 124.412 mph.

Our View Montoya has been strong on the short tracks this year, but he has yet to score a top-five. If you are content with a top-10 at his level, however, he's still a good value.

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Truex wins Richmond practice 1

Martin Truex Jr. posted the quickest average speed in the first Richmond practice session among drivers working primarily on race trim. His average speed was 119.718 mph during 25 laps.

Our View After dominating early last week at Atlanta and falling off the pace late in the Pep Boys Auto 500, Truex needs redemption, but it's unlikely to come here. He has only one top-five in seven starts with an average of 23.9.

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Nemechek fastest in Richmond practice 1

Joe Nemechek posted the fastest single lap of practice in the morning session, with a lap of 122.867 mph.

Our View As one of the "go-or-go-home" drivers, he only turned 12 laps, but as a start and parker, this is pretty much the only thing on his agenda.

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F1: Sutil paces Italy GP practice 2

Adrian Sutil posted the fastest lap in the second practice for the Italian Grand Prix with less than five minutes remaining in the session.

Our View As impressive as that was, it was more notable that the driver he kicked off the top spot was Romain Grosjean, the rookie driver in the second Renault entry.

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RPM – Yates to merge

Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates Racing announced an intention to merge their companies in 2010. Kasey Kahne, A.J. Allmendinger, Elliott Sadler and Paul Menard will be the drivers and the entity will race Fords.

Our View That leaves Bobby Labonte and Reed Sorenson out of rides next year.

This has to be one of the most convoluted entities of all time since RPM is made up of a merger between Petty and Gillett-Evernham Motorsports and Yates, who absorbed Hall of Fame Racing at the start of this year. The economy makes strange bedfellows, and it is not improving competition.

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