Long Day's Journey into Night

Event Day Games Preview: The Coca-Cola 600 is a long day's journey into night.

By a quirk of the schedule, NASCAR runs two of their toughest races back-to-back. Two weeks ago, points were on the line at the "Track Too Tough to Tame." This week, NASCAR adds 100 miles to a typical race and runs the longest event of the year—the Coca-Cola 600. Those extra trips around the track are no small factor as engines are already stretched to their breaking point during a 500-miler.

Two weeks ago at Darlington, some surprising faces graced the top 10 and that could happen again at Lowe's. Rookies are not supposed to fare well on that tough old track, but Brad Keselowski backed up his victory at Talladega with another top-10. Joey Logano likewise posted his second top-10 of the season on that unforgiving course, and this is a race that could fit his driving style to a "T." So far in 2009, he's shown a tendency to improve as the race progresses and 100 extra miles give him and crew chief Greg Zipadelli plenty of opportunities to adjust.

The usual suspects will dominate the front of the grid, however. Lowe's is the house that Jimmie Johnson built and he once earned five victories and eight top-three finishes in eight consecutive races. "Rowdy" Kyle Busch swept the top-five in his last three starts, but his record in Nationwide is what truly recommends him this week. In the second series, he swept victory lane last year and finished second in fall 2007.

One way or another, the 600 will be one of the most competitive races of the year for fantasy owners, because those extra miles equal 100 Jokers in an already stacked deck.
Join us at http://www.eventdaygames.com/ this week to play along with our unique fantasy game.

Long suspended for 12 weeks

NASCAR handed down one of their toughest penalties ever to a driver few have heard of. Carl Long has been docked 200 points, fined $200,000 and placed suspended for 12 weeks for a rule's violation at Charlotte during the All-Star weekend, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View: The infraction was for an oversized engine and NASCAR seems to be sending a very clear message. Luckily for them (not so much for Long), this did not happen to one of the marquee drivers.

For the record, this gives car owner Danielle Long -153 points.

Week 22 Unified Power Rankings

With all the major series taking last week off from points' paying races, this week's Unified Power Rankings were reorganized by two factors. First, the Camping World Truck Series raced under the lights at Lowe's, which allowed their top contenders to make up a little ground in the standings, and the All-Star race was run the following night.

Secondly, since the Unified Power Rankings looks at only the last three months, the Daytona Speedweek races are aging off this list. Drivers who peaked in the first race of the season are falling by the wayside.

Tony Stewart earned his first victory as an owner/driver and that allowed him to make up some ground on the Formula 1 giants at the top of the standings. However, their advantage is too great, so Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello continue to dominate the first two spots. Each of these drivers should be anchoring your fantasy roster in their respective games.

Kurt Busch's solid third-place—combined with Jeff Gordon's accident in the All-Star race—caused those two drivers to swap positions four and five. Since Busch is a lesser value in most fantasy games, however, his worth on fantasy owners' rosters takes an even greater leap.

Truck driver James Buescher earned his fifth consecutive top-15 in that series to make him a solid mid-range pick while he climbs onto this list for the first time in 2009. Meanwhile, Cup regular Martin Truex Jr. failed to advance from the Sprint Showdown and now hovers on the cusp of falling outside the top 50.

Unified Power Rankings

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	107.80	1	0
2	Rubens Barrichello	96.00	2	0
3	Tony Stewart	91.50	3	0
4	Kurt Busch	88.73	5	1
5	Jeff Gordon	87.82	4	-1
6	Jason Leffler	87.44	7	1
7	Denny Hamlin	84.50	6	-1
8	Jimmie Johnson	83.36	8	0
9	Ryan Newman	82.93	10	1
10	Ron Hornaday Jr	82.60	11	1
11	Timo Glock	81.60	9	-2
12	Kyle Busch	80.04	13	1
13	Jeff Burton	78.82	12	-1
14	Mark Webber	78.40	14	0
15	Carl Edwards	77.55	15	0
16	Sebastian Vettel	77.20	17	1
17	Brad Keselowski	76.79	23	6
18	Greg Biffle	74.86	16	-2
19	Matt Kenseth	74.75	18	-1
20	Matt Crafton	74.00	27	7
21	Fernando Alonso	73.80	21	0
22	Mark Martin	73.75	20	-2
23	Joey Logano	72.79	31	8
24	Dale Earnhardt Jr	71.71	26	2
25	Kasey Kahne	71.00	29	4
26	Juan Montoya	69.73	19	-7
27	Scott Lagasse Jr	69.22	42	15
28	Steve Wallace	68.89	43	15
29	Kevin Harvick	68.83	25	-4
30	Mike Skinner	68.80	32	2
31	Brian Vickers	68.67	24	-7
32	Clint Bowyer	68.38	22	-10
33	Jason Keller	68.00	30	-3
34	David Reutimann	67.86	28	-6
35	Johnny Benson Jr	67.60	34	-1
36	Justin Allgaier	67.33	45	9
37	Lewis Hamilton	65.20	36	-1
38	Nico Rosberg	65.20	37	-1
39	Jamie McMurray	65.09	46	7
40	Jarno Trulli	64.00	39	-1
41	Chad McCumbee	62.60	47	6
42	Rick Crawford	62.60	56	14
43	David Ragan	62.56	33	-10
44	Marcos Ambrose	62.45	35	-9
45	James Buescher	61.80	62	17
46	Stacy Compton	61.60	53	7
47	Nick Heidfeld	60.80	50	3
48	Martin Truex Jr	60.55	38	-10
49	David Stremme	59.82	54	5
50	Brendan Gaughan	59.78	48	-2

The Unified Power Rankings are based on "percentage points." Starting with a 100 score for the winner of a Nationwide race, each subsequent position is decremented by a percentage that relates to the number of drivers in the field. In a 50-car field of potential qualifiers, the second-place driver receives 98 points, third-place gets 96 points, the 43rd-place driver gets 16 points (because he beat eight other driver to even get into the field) and so on until the last non-qualifier in 50th-place gets two points.

Only races run in the last three months count in this formula.

The Cup, IRL and Formula 1 series start at 110 points for a victory (since its so difficult to win one of these races) and then decrements 1/50th of 110 points for each subsequent position. It’s an unscientific way to determine who is the best in their series, while simultaneously trying to compare apples to oranges.

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 21
Week 20

Stewart aims for Lowe's sweep

"I like sweeps – it’s happened here a lot," Tony Stewart said following his All-Star win last Saturday night. "That’s a good sign hopefully. We’ll have a good car – we have a great engine and chassis package from Hendrick. I think we learned a lot tonight and we really didn’t get much practice. We got about 40 minutes – we had problems the first half of the practice session and then the next 40 minutes and then the rest of the 40 minutes we were basically undoing what we did after the first run when we found the mistakes. It was kind of like a shot in the dark tonight – we threw a lot of things at it and learned a lot too.”

Our View: Kasey Kahne pulled off the sweep last year and then went on to finish second in the fall, but Kevin Harvick was not as lucky in 2007. That year, he finished 21st in the 600 after winning the All-Star race and was 33rd that fall, so fantasy owners still want to watch Stewart closely in practice.

F1: Last five Monaco races

The Monaco Grand Prix could very well be the biggest test of the new found strength of Jenson Button and the Brawn Racing team, because he's been miserable at Monaco during the last three years, posting consecutive 11th-place results. Rubens Barrichello also needs to bring his "A" game to earn his first top-five since 2006. And these two drivers highlight how unpredictable the start of this season has been.

Conversely, we will see if Lewis Hamilton can reverse his fortunes after winning in 2008 and finishing second in his first attempt in 2007.

Monaco Grand Prix, last five years

Driver	Avg Finish	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004
Lewis Hamilton	1.50	1	2
Robert Kubica	3.50	2	5
Juan Montoya	3.67			2	5	4
Sebastian Vettel	5.00	5
Fernando Alonso	5.60	10	1	1	4	12
Felipe Massa	5.80	3	3	9	9	5
Cristiano da Matta	6.00					6
Rubens Barrichello	6.20	6	10	4	8	3
Alexander Wurz	7.00		7
Kazuki Nakajima	7.00	7
Nick Heidfeld	7.20	14	6	7	2	7
Michael Schumacher	7.67			5	7	11
Mark Webber	7.67	4			3	16
Olivier Panis	8.00					8
Jenson Button	8.75	11	11	11		2
Zsolt Baumgartner	9.00					9
Ralf Schumacher	10.00		16	8	6	10
Kimi Raikkonen	10.20	9	8	20	1	13
Heikki Kovalainen	10.50	8	13
Scott Speed	11.00		9	13
Jarno Trulli	11.20	13	15	17	10	1
Giancarlo Fisichella	11.80	18	4	6	12	19
Timo Glock	12.00	12
Jacques Villeneuve	12.50			14	11
Jacques Villeneuve Jr	12.50			14	11
Tiago Monteiro	14.00			15	13
Gianmaria Bruni	14.00					14
David Coulthard	14.20	19	14	3	17	18
Christijan Albers	15.00		19	12	14
Giorgio Pantano	15.00					15
Vitantonio Liuzzi	15.67		22	10	15
Nico Rosberg	15.67	16	12	19
Franck Montagny	16.00			16
Patrick Friesacher	16.00				16
Nelson Piquet Jr	17.00	17
Adrian Sutil	17.50	15	20
Narain Karthikeyan	18.00				18
Anthony Davidson	18.00		18
Takuma Sato	18.67		17	22		17
Christian Klien	19.00			18		20
Sebastian Bourdais	20.00	20
Mark Weber	21.00		21	21

Gordon undergoes back surgery

Jeff Gordon has undergone minor back surgery, which should alleviate most of his pain, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View: If he has been strong enough eight top-10s so far this year, any improvement in his performance at all will make him a place-and-hold driver.

Yahoo! Lowe's Preview

From the toughest race on the circuit to the longest; it's time to stock up on the snacks and settle in for 600 miles at Lowe's. Read this week's Yahoo! Preview (.pdf) for a list of who's hot.

N'Wide: Last five Lowe's races

Brian Vickers doesn't make every Nationwide race, but he made the most of his efforts last year by sweeping the top five. Those are his only two starts in the last five races, which gives him an average finish of 4.0.

On the surface, that seems impressive, until you look one position further down the grid and notice that Kyle Busch won both events last year. He also finished second in fall 2007, eighth in spring of that year and 12th in fall 2006—giving him a slightly worse average result of 4.8 in his last five starts, but after finishing second in the Camping World Truck Series race last Friday night, fantasy owners know that "Shrub" cannot be discounted in any series on any track.

Especially at this level, Lowe's is all about consistency and Clint Bowyer is another driver who not only swept the top-10 last year, but has also finished that well in each of his last five starts. His five-race average finish is a more than respectable 5.6.

The next active driver on the grid appears to be much further back with an average finish of 10.0 during his last five races, but that number is skewed by a 35th in fall 2006. Burton's last four attempts have all been in the top 10 and he was perfect one year later by winning the fall 2007 event.

Average Finish
Last five races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008.2	2008.1	2007.2	2007.1	2006.2
Michael Waltrip	2.00					2
Stacy Compton	3.00					3
Dale Earnhardt Jr	3.50		4	3
Brian Vickers	4.00	3	5
Kyle Busch	4.80	1	1	2	8	12
Clint Bowyer	5.60	4	6	8	3	7
Jeff Burton	10.00	2	8	1	4	35
Mike Skinner	10.00					10
Aric Almirola	11.00			4	14	15
Ashton Lewis	11.00					11
Kevin Harvick	11.20	6	19	10	12	9
Denny Hamlin	12.25		2	5	34	8
Scott Lagasse Jr	13.00	13
Paul Menard	13.00					13
Joey Logano	14.00	14
Casey Mears	14.00				2	26
Stephen Leicht	14.00			18	10	14
Matt Kenseth	14.00			31	7	4
Scott Wimmer	14.33			13	9	21
Tony Stewart	16.00					16
Dave Blaney	16.25	17		36	11	1
Kelly Bires	16.33	7	33	9
Todd Kluever	16.50				15	18
Kasey Kahne	17.60	11	16	17	1	43
David Ragan	17.60	12	9	6	25	36
Jon Wood	18.00				13	23
Brad Keselowski	18.60	8	3	11	37	34
Carl Edwards	19.00	5	13	33	17	27
Ward Burton	19.00				19
Kenny Wallace	19.33	16	23			19
Bobby Labonte	19.33			14	22	22
Casey Atwood	19.50			22		17
Robby Gordon	19.50			7	32
David Stremme	19.67	31	12		16
Mike Wallace	19.80	10	22	15	23	29
Andrew Ranger	20.00	20
Brandon Whitt	21.00	21
Brad Coleman	21.00		21
Regan Smith	21.00				5	37
David Reutimann	22.00	24	11	12	43	20
Marcos Ambrose	22.25	15	14	40	20
Danny O'Quinn Jr	22.50	40				5
Jeremy Clements	23.00			23
Jamie McMurray	24.00	9		38	18	31
Ted Musgrave Sr	24.00					24
Jimmie Johnson	24.60	33	10	32	6	42
Greg Biffle	24.75		7	30	21	41
John Andretti	25.00					25
Mike Bliss	25.50	19	15	29	39
Jason Leffler	25.60	18	32	19	31	28
Tony Raines	26.00	26
Bobby Hamilton Jr	26.00	37	18	16	33
A J Allmendinger	26.00			26
Jason Keller	26.67	29	17	34
John Wes Townley	27.00	27
Bryan Clauson	27.00	30	31	20
Richard Johns	27.00			27
David Gilliland	27.00				27
Steve Wallace	27.33	32	20		30
Brad Teague	28.00		28
David Green	28.00				28
Brad Baker	28.33		27	28		30
Stanton Barrett	29.00	28	35	24	29
Kyle Krisiloff	29.50			21	38
Cale Gale	30.00		30
Johnny Sauter	30.33	49			36	6
Shane Huffman	31.50				24	39
J J Yeley	31.67			37	26	32
J J Yeley	31.67			37	26	32
Danny Efland	33.00	23	43
Auggie Vidovich	33.00					33
Justin Allgaier	34.00	34
D J Kennington	35.00	25		45
Jeff Green	35.00	35
Brent Sherman	35.00				35
Reed Sorenson	35.00			25	42	38
Blake Bjorkland	35.00			35
Chase Miller	36.00	36	36
Kevin Lepage	36.67	39	26		45
Josh Wise	37.00	50	24
Eric McClure	37.20	22	29	44	44	47
Sam Hornish Jr	39.00		39
Bobby Santos III	39.00			39
Kertus Davis	39.25	45	25	42		45
Jay Sauter	40.00					40
Juan Montoya	40.00				40
Burney Lamar	41.00	38	44
Kurt Busch	41.00				41
Carl Long	41.50		42	41
Derrike Cope	41.67	43	34			48
Terry Cook	42.00	42
Morgan Shepherd	42.67	48	37	43
Johnny Chapman	43.50	41	46
Kenny Hendrick	43.50	46	41
Andy Ponstein	43.50	47	40
Mark Green	44.00	44
Tim Sauter	44.00					44
Robert Richardson	45.33	52	38			46
Brett Rowe	46.00		46
Bill Elliott	46.00				46
Travis Kittleson	46.00			46
Blake Feese	47.00				47
Larry Gunselman	50.00	50
Justin Marks	52.00	52

N'Wide: Lowe's entry list

The entry list for the Carquest Auto Parts 300 has been posted and it features a large field of 52 cars for 43 spots.

Our View: In addition to making it more difficult for the start and park operations, fantasy owners will hopefully get a chance to see Patrick Carpentier, Marc Davis and Peyton Sellers race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will run his own No. 5 and get the chance to extend his top-five streak at this track to three. For a complete list of drivers' finishes, check back on Tuesday.

Lowe's Cup entry list

The entry list for the Coca-Cola 600 has been posted and it features 46 cars for 43 slots.

Our View: In addition to the regulars, Bill Elliott will drive the No. 21, J.J. Yeley will drive the No. 41 Shana Mayfield entry, Mike Bliss will drive the No. 09 and David Starr will be in Trevor Boys' No. 06.

IRL: Tag team

"Tag," you're it. Alex Tagliani will replace Bruno Junquiera in the No. 36 Conquest Racing car, according to AutoRacingDaily.com. Tagliani was the final driver bumped from the field on Sunday by Ryan-Hunter Reay and he did not have an opportunity to attempt to re-qualify.

Our View: "It’s a shame that Alex got bumped out of the field at the end,” Junquiera said. “I knew coming into this that Alex is Conquest’s primary driver and that if something happened to the first car that I would likely give him my place and I completely understand it.”

That's a lot of understanding.

IRL: First female over the wall

Milka Duno won't be the only woman on her side of the wall when she comes in to pit. Jackman (make that jackwoman) Anna Chatten will be lifting the No. 23 Dreyer Reinbold entry for service, according to AutoRacingDaily.com.

Our View: It is believed she will be the first female, "over-the-wall" crew member. More power to her.

Stewart's better piece for the 600

Will Tony Stewart bring back his All-Star winning car for this week's Coke 600? According to crew chief Darian Grubb, there's a better car back at the shop.

Our View: "I think we have a better piece back at the shop," Grubb said after the conclusion of the All-Star race. "It's in the paint booth right now. They're finishing up the decals. We might bring this as a back up. But I think what we've got back at the shop is even better.

Lowe's results, last five races

Success predicts success. That's true in business and it's even more accurate in auto racing, so this week's top choices for your fantasy roster need to come from those drivers and teams who finish with the leaders on a consistent basis.

The biggest issue with that is, however, that the new body style has elevated parity to an extreme level and has made it difficult for drivers to string together long runs of top-10s together. It's true that last year, five drivers swept the top 10 in both Lowe's races—including the spring winner Kasey Kahne and fall's Jeff Burton—but no one has managed to run four or more solid results.

Four drivers have managed to earn three consecutive solid finishes, however, and they should become your starting spot for the Coca-Cola 600.

Kyle Busch leads the league with three straight top-fives. Add in a pair of victories and a second-place finish in the Nationwide Series during that same span, and he is certainly the hottest driver at Lowe's for the moment.

Kasey Kahne backed up last year's Coke 600 victory with a second last fall and he preceded it with an eighth in fall 2007. That gives him nearly as much momentum as Busch. In fact, when one factors in his victory in fall 2006, he has the best average finish during the last five Lowe's races.

Jeff Burton (with a worst finish of sixth in the last three races) and Jeff Gordon (with a worst of eighth) round out this list and gives you a variety of marquee and mid-cap drivers from which to choose.

Last Five Races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008.2	2008.1	2007.2	2007.1	2006.2
Kasey Kahne	7.00	2	1	8	23	1
Jeff Burton	7.60	1	6	4	24	3
Kyle Busch	9.20	4	3	3	30	6
Tony Stewart	11.00	11	18	7	6	13
Bobby Labonte	11.60	17	11	12	13	5
David Stremme	13.67			9	17	15
Carl Edwards	14.00	33	9	5	15	8
Jimmie Johnson	14.20	6	39	14	10	2
Dale Earnhardt Jr	14.40	36	5	19	8	4
Jeff Gordon	15.60	8	4	1	41	24
Mark Martin	16.20	9	15	16	11	30
Clint Bowyer	18.20	12	25	2	29	23
Casey Mears	18.40	29	29	21	1	12
Dave Blaney	18.80	27	17	6	18	26
Todd Bodine	19.00					19
Denny Hamlin	19.40	16	24	20	9	28
Kevin Harvick	19.80	13	14	33	21	18
Jamie McMurray	21.00	5	23	24	19	34
Regan Smith	21.00	23	19
Reed Sorenson	21.40	15	22	30	4	36
Matt Kenseth	21.60	41	7	34	12	14
Kurt Busch	21.80	3	16	26	32	32
Martin Truex Jr	22.40	14	34	17	16	31
Greg Biffle	23.20	7	2	27	43	37
Scott Riggs	24.00	19	28	36	20	17
Brian Vickers	24.20	18	42	46	5	10
David Ragan	24.75	10	12	40	37
Sterling Marlin	25.00		31		33	11
Ryan Newman	27.20	21	21	28	39	27
A J Allmendinger	27.25	43	20	15	31
Sam Hornish Jr	27.33	22	13	47
Elliott Sadler	28.00	20	8	41	36	35
Tony Raines	28.00	40	48	31	14	7
Michael Waltrip	28.80	24	27	10	45	38
David Reutimann	30.00	32	10	29	49
David Gilliland	31.60	25	40	25	35	33
Robby Gordon	31.60	30	43	38	22	25
Jeremy Mayfield	32.00			39	25
Juan Montoya	32.25	34	30	37	28
Joe Nemechek	32.80	37	47	45	26	9
Paul Menard	33.25	26	41	22	44

Last Five Years
Avg. Fin

Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
Jimmie Johnson	7.70	6.50	10
Jeff Burton	11.10	21.50	10
Bobby Labonte	12.50	16.30	10
Kasey Kahne	12.80	10.90	10
Carl Edwards	13.67	18.78	9
Denny Hamlin	16.29	16.29	7
Tony Stewart	16.50	17.80	10
Mark Martin	16.70	12.10	10
Dale Earnhardt Jr	16.70	17.00	10
Jamie McMurray	17.70	21.60	10
Casey Mears	18.20	15.20	10
Clint Bowyer	18.33	22.17	6
Greg Biffle	18.60	19.30	10
Jeremy Mayfield	18.86	23.57	7
Matt Kenseth	19.00	14.40	10
Reed Sorenson	19.50	23.17	6
Martin Truex Jr	20.00	26.86	7
Kurt Busch	20.90	19.40	10
Regan Smith	21.00	33.00	2
Kyle Busch	21.40	17.20	10
Jeff Gordon	21.40	15.40	10
David Stremme	21.60	21.80	5
Dave Blaney	22.20	23.78	10
Elliott Sadler	22.20	10.00	10
Joe Nemechek	22.30	24.38	10
Ryan Newman	23.20	9.50	10
Kevin Harvick	23.40	19.10	10
David Ragan	24.75	15.50	4
Scott Riggs	24.80	15.20	10
Brian Vickers	25.60	16.56	10
Robby Gordon	27.10	27.90	10
A J Allmendinger	27.25	30.75	4
Sam Hornish Jr	27.33	28.00	3
David Reutimann	28.40	25.00	5
Sterling Marlin	29.13	27.88	8
Paul Menard	29.40	26.25	5
Michael Waltrip	29.73	24.22	11
David Gilliland	31.60	27.00	5
Todd Bodine	32.00	14.00	2
Juan Montoya	32.25	30.50	4
Tony Raines	34.13	38.33	8

Busch wins Camping World race

Third times the charm for Busch

For the third consecutive year, a NASCAR regular has made the overnight trip from the All-Star race in Charlotte to compete in a combination Camping World East/West race at Iowa Speedway. Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne failed to beat the lower division regulars, but Kyle Busch finally proved their master in the 2009 edition of the Long John Silver 200.

Our View: If anyone was going to do it, fantasy owners won't be surprised that Busch was the first. The Nationwide Series will head to Iowa for an inaugural race this year and Busch now has some seat time on that track. Brian Ickler and David Mayhew finished second and third.

2009 Indy 500 Lineup

Four grueling days of qualification are in the books and the field is set for the most prestigious race of the year.

We've known for a while that Helio Castroneves has the pole and over the course of his career, he's done a great job of finishing what he starts on this track.

John Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay provide the drama on bump day by becoming the last two drivers to make the field.

Notable others include all three female drivers. Danica Patrick qualified in 10th on the first day of time trials; Sarah Fisher made the show on day two in 21st and Milka Duno had to wait until the final day to know she was in the show in 31st.

Indy 500 Lineup

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Helio Castroneves	6.75	5.63	8
2	Ryan Briscoe	12.67	11.33	3
3	Dario Franchitti	9.40	11.40	5
4	Graham Rahal	33.00	13.00	1
5	Scott Dixon	9.67	6.50	6
6	Tony Kanaan	12.43	3.71	7
7	Mario Moraes	18.00	28.00	1
8	Marco Andretti	9.67	14.00	3
9	Will Power	13.00	23.00	1
10	Danica Patrick	10.50	6.75	4
11	Alex Lloyd	25.00	19.00	1
12	Raphael Matos
13	Paul Tracy	2.00	29.00	1
14	Vitor Meira	7.00	12.17	6
15	Justin Wilson	27.00	16.00	1
16	Hideki Mutoh	7.00	9.00	1
17	Ed Carpenter	15.00	15.60	5
18	Dan Wheldon	10.17	5.67	6
19	Anthony Foyt IV	17.50	24.50	2
20	Scott Sharp	16.27	9.09	11
21	Sarah Fisher	26.57	18.29	7
22	Davey Hamilton	12.38	16.13	8
23	Robert Doornbos
24	Townsend Bell	16.00	13.50	2
25	Oriol Servia	11.00	25.00	1
26	Tomas Scheckter	18.00	10.71	7
27	Mike Conway
28	John Andretti	23.00	22.50	2
29	E J Viso	26.00	26.00	1
30	Bruno Junqueira	18.20	10.40	5
31	Milka Duno	25.00	28.00	2
32	Nelson Phillippe
33	Ryan Hunter-Reay	6.00	20.00	1
DNQ	Alex Tagliani
DNQ	Buddy Lazier	11.23	17.77	13
DNQ	Stanton Barrett

IRL: Three fail to qualify for 500

Alex Tagliani, Buddy Lazier and Stanton Barrett failed to qualify for the Indy 500.

Our View: None of these drivers were likely to make it onto your roster, but that doesn't reduce the sting to their fans.

IRL: Indy 500 field is set

In a dramatic Bump Day, John Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay became the last two drivers to qualify for the Indy 500. RacingOne.com has the complete grid posted.

Our View: Andretti may have had the biggest up and down day after getting bumped on numerous occasions. He finally settled into 28th on the grid in the final minutes.

Ku Busch's post All-Star race comments

“It was really a good effort all the way around for this Miller Lite Dodge team." Busch said. "I felt that the way that our car took off on green flag runs, the car just took too long to get going. That’s a big mystery to us for sure and it’s not anything you want in a 10-lap shootout. Overall, I thought that we had the best car on a 20-lap run, but that doesn’t pay the big bucks tonight. We finished third, but that doesn’t mean anything. If anything, we learned some things for next weekend’s (Coca-Cola) 600 that hopefully we can apply and make our Miller Lite Dodge better."

Our View: Busch had a top-five car for most of the evening and his fantasy owners should be happy that he ended the day in third. Pushing the issue only leads to misery—just ask his brother Kyle, Ryan Newman or Jeff Gordon. Kurt's patient attitude should make him a good value in the 600.

Truck: Gilliland Lowe's report

The Racer's Group has entered a car or truck in every race at Lowe's during the All-Star/Coke 600 weekends. David Gilliland has already posted one top-10 finish with a sixth in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Camping World Truck Series race and his comments can be found at Motorsport.com.

Our View: Gilliland started the season with such promise and has fallen on hard times lately. This could be what it takes to restore some confidence to the team, but he is still a long way from being recommended in the Coke 600.

France defends NASCAR

A transcript from Brian France's press conference at Lowe's, in which he defends NASCAR's drug policy, can be found at Motorsport.com.

Our View: It's the usual defense of the policy—and the usual "missing of the point." No one is saying NASCAR doesn't have the right and need to test drivers, but there is no reason on earth for them not to tell drivers what they are testing for.

IRL: More notes from day 9

Motorsport.com has published their own set of day nine notes from the third day of qualification.

Our View: Among other things, you will find out that Tomas Scheckter's car has been painted a "luscious sea-blue livery for his new sponsor Mona-Vie." Now there's some need to know information.

IRL: Duno betters time

Milka Duno has bettered her qualification time at Indy with a speed of 221.106, which places her 32nd on the grid. If she had posted that time on Saturday, she would have landed 25th.

Our View: This certainly improves her odds of starting the Indy 500, and that will mean that three female drivers make the show. Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher are comfortably in the show.

F1: Mosley vows "no compromise"

"We've had an interesting meeting, an exchange of views, but nothing has come out of it," Max Mosley said following a meeting with the Formula One Teams Association in London, according to Motorsport.com.

Our View: The arrogance of a "no compromise" statement is countered somewhat by the confusion over why owners think the need to spend more than $60 million. It's hard to take a side in this dogfight.

Stewart on his All-Star win

Tony Stewart met with reporters after the All-Star race and described his last couple of laps.

I've said this 50 times since I got in the car: I can't believe he gave me the bottom. We got a run on him two laps before and got a run off of 2 at the bottom, got beside him. I overdrove it in 3 and just got down there and got loose trying to clear him, and he was able to get back by us. And then he went to the bottom in 1 and 2 the next lap.

I don't think he was great down there, but he was good enough, I think, to hold us off. But the next lap we go back through there and we got a run off of 4 on him.

I was prepared to go at least to the middle or to the top and run somewhere different because I knew I wasn't going to be able to follow him through there again.

And on the entry he ran up high, and I was like: Wow, I can't believe he's giving me the bottom again. I got down there, got in the gas real quick and got by. And it was the best the car was all night. Darian made a handful of adjustments on that last caution and, man, did it wake that car up.

It just was stuck those last 10 laps. We were as good as the guys in front of us. We were just in traffic with them. And I'm confident even if Jeff didn't have a problem or Jimmie didn't have a problem around us, that we had a shot at running with those guys.

I don't know if we would have got by those two, but Ryan Newman was probably the guy that should have been in Victory Lane tonight. He got a tire cut and had to come get it fixed.
But, man, it was just awesome to finally get into Victory Lane here with a group of guys that have been looking at this for a long time.

Dover renovation completed

It was the last NASCAR track to modernize its pits to 43 slots, but the renovation on Dover International Speedway is now complete, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: Not only does Dover have 43 stalls, each of them are longer than last year and pit lane is wider. This will have a significant impact on fantasy owners since qualification in the back will not be quite as bad as before. Since Dover is a rhythm track, however, qualification cannot be completely discounted.

Gale goes Canadian

Kevin Harvick, Inc. driver Cale Gale will compete in most of the NASCAR Canada races this year, campaigning for Farewell Racing, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: Harvick summed it up best, "Cale is a very talented young driver who needs seat time," Harvick said in a news release. "When FRI approached us with the opportunity for Cale to drive for them, we saw it as a win-win."

F1: Lola announces 2010 intentions

While Ferrari, Renault and other race teams are threatening to exit Formula 1 in response to a proposed salary cap, British car maker Lola announced its intention to return to the sport in 2010, according to Formula1.com.

Our View: The salary cap brouhaha sounds like a tempest in a teapot and even if the major makers carry through on their threat to pull out, the head to head competition is liable to improve.

IRL: Tracy may run more races in 2009

Paul Tracy may run additional races in 2009 for KV Racing, according to IndyCar.com. He will start the Indy 500 in 13th, which has generated interest in the fiery Canadian.

Our View: For the moment, the focus is on the Canadian road races and that fits Tracy's skill set best. If he makes the starts, he could be a great value.