Lally to run the Glen

Andy Lally will attempt to make his debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series at Watkins Glen International in a second TRG car, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View Lally has two previous starts in the Nationwide Series, finishing 29th at Montreal and 10th at the Glen in a Wood Bros Ford. While his stock car experience is limited, he did make 12 starts in the Camping World Truck Series and should be familiar with the heavier machinery.

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Sorenson out at RPM?

Reed Sorenson is part of the latest rumor mill. According to Autoracingsport.com, Richard Petty Motorsports is considering shuttering the No. 44 team, moving A.J. Allmendinger over to the No. 43 and releasing Sorenson.

Our View All four RPM teams have been improving this year, but the weakest link seems to be Elliott Sadler. After abortively trying to release him at the start of the season, however, it would be hard to ring that bell again. Sorenson could become a victim of circumstances.

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F1: Schumacher to sub for Massa

Michael Schumacher will come out of retirement and substitute for the injured Felipe Massa at Valencia, Spain, according to Autosport.com.

Our View Only 24 hours before the announcement, his manager Willi Webber had this to say: "Whoever sits in the car at the next race in Valencia, it will not be Michael Schumacher. I am not 100 per cent sure; I am 200 per cent sure."

Guess you can't trust PR people in any sport.

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Mayfield's stepmom files suit

The latest twist in the Jeremy Mayfield methamphetamine case has his stepmother filing suited, claiming Mayfield slandered her in an interview with ESPN, according to Autoracingsport.com.

In that interview, he said she tried to extort money from him, probably took money from NASCAR for false testimony, shot and killed his father and was basically a … let's say, "woman of ill-repute."

Our View Who needs soap operas when you have NASCAR? One wonders just how many more worms will crawl out of this can before the conclusion of the trial.

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Ky Busch wins at Anderson

Kyle Busch won the CRA Super Series Redbud 300 at Anderson Speedway after dominating the race Monday afternoon.

Our View How can you fail to love Busch when he is the consummate racer?

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F1: Hamilton finally wins

After suffering through an abysmal first part of the season, Lewis Hamilton finally earned his first victory of the season in the Hungarian Grand Prix. It was also only his second podium finish of 2009.

Our View This was a bizarre weekend that witnessed serious injury to Felipe Massa in qualification and a broken wheel for pole sitter Fernando Alonso during the race. Incidents like these make the race harder to handicap, but more interesting for fantasy owners.

Massa is listed in stable condition for now; keep sending up prayers for him and his family.

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Earnhardt feeling fine

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is feeling fine, according to @DustinLong, and should be able to go the distance in the Brickyard 400.

Our View Qualifying third was probably the best medicine. This could be the week he breaks out of his funk, but he is still a riosk.

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Logano to the back

Joey Logano has changed and engine and will have to drop to the back for the start, according to @DustinLong.

Our View Logano will be forced to give up his 18th starting position, but he was good in practice on long runs. He should be able to keep his top-20 streak alive, but it's unlikely he will earn a surprise top-10.

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Yahoo! Qualification Story – Indianapolis

Mother Nature was ornery, but NASCAR still got qualification in the books. Check out this week's Yahoo! qualification story (.pdf).

N'Wide: Edwards wins over Busch, Kenseth

Carl Edwards. Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth all had to go to the back of the pack to start when other drivers qualified their cars. It didn't matter; they finished first, second and third.

Our View So much for track position meaning everything on this track.

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IRL: Power on Edmonton pole

Will Power has won the pole for the Edmonton Indy road course race with a speed of 116.414, according to @RacingOne.

Our View Power was also fast in practice and track position means a lot on road courses. Look for him to be strong in the race.

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F1: Massa injured in freak accident

Felipe Massa has undergone surgery for injuries sustained in the qualification session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, according to Autosport.com. A spring from Rubens Barrichello's car struck him in the head giving him a concussion and he is currently under observation in intensive care.

Our View Two stories here: Massa is unlikely to compete in the race and Barrichello's owner Ross Brawn is perplexed as to why a component came off his car, which could signal troubles for both teams.

Update: Massa will certainly not race; he is currently listed in serious condition with life-threatening injuries. Our prayers go out to him and his family.

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Revised Indy schedule

Nationwide Series cars are currently practicing at O'Reilly Raceway Park and track drying activity is underway at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NASCAR expects to get Cup qualification started a little after 2 pm eastern and Happy Hour is scheduled for 5:30, according to a @DustinLong.

Our View Rainy days are long days, but so long as NASCAR gets qualification in for the Cup race, it's worth it. Fantasy owners get one more piece of the puzzle with time trials.

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Rain delays Indy activity

Rain has delayed all on track activity at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and O'Reilly Raceway Park on Saturday, according to a tweet from @RacingOne.

Our View Stay tuned for details. NASCAR has all day to try and get qualification in, but they have shown to be quick to cancel this session during the last two years.

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F1: Alonso on Hungarian pole

Fernando Alonso won the pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix—his first pole of the season.

Our View The field is closing in on Brawn Racing, so the second half of the season may just be competitive and fantasy owners will have options from here on.

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Trucks: Hornaday wins record 4th in a row

For the first time in Camping World Truck Series history a driver has won four consecutive races by holding off a determined Mike Skinner.

Our View O'Reilly Raceway Park can be difficult with very little passing, but Hornaday and Skinner ran side by side for the final seven laps. He also extended his series winning record to 44.

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Trucks: Braun on pole at ORP

Colin Braun backed up his fast speed in practice by winning the pole for Friday night's AAA Insurance 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park. His pole speed was 109.965 mph.

Our View The top five hold no surprises with Mike Skinner, Stacy Compton, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Matt Crafton rounding out the list. It is incredibly hard to pass on this track, so these are your favorites.

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Ganassi has eyes for Danica

At Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week, Chip Ganassi admitted that like many car owners, he has had discussions with Danica Patrick about joining his organization, according to FullThrottle.com.

Our View Ganassi offers Patrick a unique opportunity to cherry pick IRL and NASCAR races. While this would be a marketers dream, it would certainly slow any potential development she has as a stock car driver.

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Martin tops Indy practice 2

Mark Martin posted the fastest single lap of the second Friday practice session, posting a speed of 180.643.

Our View He took only five laps, so like Greg Biffle from the first practice session, he was almost certainly working on race trim.

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Trucks: Caitlin Shaw to race at ORP

Caitlin Shaw will become the latest female driver to run in a major NASCAR race at O'Reilly Raceway Park. She practiced 25th best in the No. 1 Toyota Tundra with a speed of 103.804—approximately five miles per hour slower than Colin Braun at 108.966.

Our View Here is look at her tire test earlier this year at Richmond:

IRL: Power tops first Edmonton practice

Will Power posted the fastest single lap of practice for the Rexall Edmonton Indy race in Canada, according to a tweet from @IndyCarPR.

Our View The remainder of the top five were Raphael Matos, Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves and the Canadian favorite Paul Tracy.

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Biffle fastest in Brickyard 400 practice 1

Greg Biffle posted the fasest single lap of practice in the first session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 with a speed of 177.075 mph.

Our View With four practices this week, drivers worked on a combination of qualification and race trim. Biffle posted only seven laps, which suggest he mostly worked on qualification.

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Brickyard 400 Yahoo! preview

The Brickyard 400 may well be the second biggest race of the season. Who is favored to win? Check out this week's Yahoo! preview (.pdf).

Jr under the weather

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is fighting flulike symptoms this week, according to a tweet from @NASCARSays.

Our View This has been a terrible season for Earnhardt and even little things can combine for a terrible race. If you have been on the fence about him; this might encourage you to leave him parked.

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Ky Busch passes 10-lap mark

Eighteen minutes into the first practice session, Kyle Busch has recorded 12 laps.

Our View Why is that important? At this stage of last year's race, tires were popping in as few as 10 laps. Let's hope that means the issue is firmly put to be.

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Brickyard 400 Practice underway

It's been two weeks since cars were on the track, but practice is now underway at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Our View: Keep an eye out for practice times on Friday; qualification is not until Saturday.

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EGR to merge with Gibbs?

The latest rumor has Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing potentially merging with Joe Gibbs Racing, according to Jimmy Spencer.

Our View Among the EGR teams, only Juan Montoya has been productive this year, so the impact would be minimal on fantasy owners. However, it is unclear if this entity would be a new organization in NASCAR's eyes—and if not, that means only Montoya would survive. The economy continues to seriously impact the competitiveness of stock car's highest level.

Kenseth loses Dewalt

DeWalt Tools has announced that it will no longer be the primary sponsor for Matt Kenseth after this season, according to multiple sources.

Our View This is certainly bad news for Kenseth's "brand recognition," but with the organization required to reduce by one team next year and the various primary associates such as USG and Carhartt, it could be worse.

Truex docked for being too low

Martin Truex Jr. has been docked 25 owner and driver points for being too low following the LifeLock.com 400, according to autoracingsport.com.

Our View: The advantage didn't help much. Truex still finished only 16th last week at Chicagoland.

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Patrick also rumored to Stewart-Haas

It seems that everyone wants to jump on the Stewart-Haas bandwagon. In the same rumor that has Kevin Harvick asking to leave Richard Childress Racing (RCR), it was disclosed that Danica Patrick toured the No. 14 and 39 shops.

Our View: Now there would be one highly emotional team.While everyone is pleasantly surprised at the immediate gains made at Stewart-Haas, it's still hard to imagine they could expand to four teams and still perform this well. Of course, we were among those who expected Tony Stewart to struggle this year, so it's hard to make a firm, negative prediction.

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Harvick wants out of RCR

Kevin Harvick would like to leave Richard Childress Racing (RCR) one year earlier than his contract specifies, according to SportsIllustrated.com.

Our View: With the current struggles at RCR, this would seem a little like kicking a man while he's down, but Harvick has been the odd man out at the organization since Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer came on board. Harvick is eying a move to Stewart-Haas, where his controversial personality might be a better match.

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Martin goes from outhouse to penthouse at Chicagoland

Mark Martin entered the night outside the top 12 in points, but after dominating the LifeLock.com 400, he would currently be seeded first if the playoffs should start next week. Now that is a turnaround.

Our View: Of course, the Chase does not start next week. Martin needs to keep his consistency and strength for another few weeks if he wants to have a shot at the championship.

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IRL: Honda Toronto Indy lineup, with avg. finish

In an odd qualification session, the top six drivers all raced for different teams and the heavy hitters Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske placed only one of their drivers at the front of the grid. Of course, Dario Franchitti made the most of that by going out to set an early lap to beat. No one could and he will lead the field to green. This is the IRL's first race at Toronto's Exhibition Place street course, but Franchitti has six previous starts there in the CART series and he's always started up front.

Results, with average finish

Start	Driver	CART Avg. Fin	CART Avg. Start	CART Attempts
1	Dario Franchitti	18.17	3.50	6
2	Will Power	4.00	9.50	2
3	Graham Rahal	11.00	15.00	1
4	Justin Wilson	5.00	2.75	4
5	Alex Tagliani	6.88	8.63	8
6	Mike Conway
7	Robert Doornbos	6.00	12.00	1
8	Scott Dixon	5.00	9.50	2
9	Raphael Matos
10	Helio Castroneves	18.00	9.50	4
11	Ryan Briscoe
12	Ryan Hunter-Reay	8.33	12.67	3
13	Mario Moraes
14	Tomas Scheckter
15	Paul Tracy	7.20	6.73	15
16	E J Viso
17	Marco Andretti
18	Danica Patrick
19	Ed Carpenter
20	Tony Kanaan	16.50	7.00	4
21	Dan Wheldon
22	Hideki Mutoh
23	Richard Antinucci

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F1: German GP lineup, with avg. finish

Mark Webber earned his first Formula 1 pole and will sit at the head of the field to start the German Grand Prix.

The dominant racers of the year aren't far behind, however. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button start second and third.

One other qualification of note was Lewis Hamilton. After a couple of weeks of poor time trials, he finally advanced into the final session of knockout qualification and will start fifth. This week, he said the team was fixing their problems. It appears he may just have been right.

Results, with average finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Mark Webber	11.83	12.17	6
2	Rubens Barrichello	5.38	7.77	13
3	Jenson Button	10.50	11.50	8
4	Sebastian Vettel
5	Lewis Hamilton	9.00	10.00	1
6	Heikki Kovalainen	8.00	7.00	1
7	Adrian Sutil	19.00	21.00	1
8	Felipe Massa	6.80	8.80	5
9	Kimi Raikkonen	11.43	4.00	7
10	Nelson Piquet Jr
11	Nick Heidfeld	10.25	10.38	8
12	Fernando Alonso	4.50	7.33	6
13	Kazuki Nakajima
14	Jarno Trulli	12.30	7.20	10
15	Nico Rosberg	13.50	16.50	2
16	Robert Kubica	7.00	5.00	1
17	Sebastian Buemi
18	Giancarlo Fisichella	11.00	11.42	12
19	Timo Glock
20	Sebastian Bourdais

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IRL: Franchitti takes Toronto pole

Dario Franchitti will lead the field to green on Sunday on the street course in Toronto.

Our View: That will be his third pole in the last five races this season and in both previous events, he finished in the top five with a best of second at Richmond.

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N'Wide: Dollar General 300 results, with avg. finish

You get the feeling that Joey Logano was playing with the field. In the first half of the race, he ran away from the field until NASCAR threw one of their legendary "debris" cautions—even though we never saw the debris. Kyle Busch beat him out of the pits and for a while it appeared the teenager would have some competition, but as the race started to wind down, the No. 20 charged to the front once more. Even on old tires in a 10-lap shootout versus nine other drivers on the lead lap with either two or four new tires, Logano not only held his advantage, he stretched it.

Busch held on for second, which was the fourth time this season that Joe Gibbs Racing finished 1-2. Logano has won three of these at Nashville, Kentucky and now Chicagoland, with Busch winning last week at New Hampshire. For the record, Roush Racing has also finished 1-2 on one occasion at Vegas, with Greg Biffle beating Carl Edwards to the line. In that race, Todd Braun finished third and fourth with Brian Vickers and Jason Leffler taking those spots respectively. Notably, those two drivers finished in the same position Friday night at Chicagoland.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Avg Fin
1	3	Joey Logano	200	96	Running	1.00
2	6	Kyle Busch	200		Running	16.33
3	2	Brian Vickers	200	2	Running	10.25
4	12	Jason Leffler	200		Running	18.83
5	10	Kevin Harvick	200		Running	13.86
6	1	Carl Edwards	200	17	Running	9.60
7	17	Greg Biffle	200	1	Running	19.63
8	13	David Reutimann	200		Running	15.50
9	15	Mike Bliss	200	1	Running	15.75
10	9	Justin Allgaier	200		Running	10.00
11	16	Jeff Burton	200		Running	4.86
12	8	Trevor Bayne	199		Running	12.00
13	25	Brendan Gaughan	199		Running	13.00
14	11	Paul Menard	198		Running	21.00
15	26	Scott Wimmer	198		Running	14.00
16	21	Steve Wallace	198		Running	24.00
17	18	Michael Annett	198		Running	17.00
18	14	Brad Keselowski	197		Running	11.67
19	35	Jason Keller	197		Running	14.13
20	30	Scott Lagasse Jr	197		Running	20.00
21	22	John Wes Townley	197		Running	21.00
22	4	Ryan Newman	197	5	Running	23.50
23	34	Tony Raines	196		Running	16.50
24	24	Joe Nemechek	196		Running	19.83
25	39	Michael McDowell	196		Running	25.00
26	29	Shelby Howard	196		Running	26.00
27	37	Kenny Wallace	196		Running	27.29
28	41	Robert Richardson	195		Running	28.00
29	23	Danny O'Quinn Jr	194		Running	30.00
30	27	Dennis Setzer	194		Running	30.00
31	38	Eric McClure	194		Running	34.67
32	40	Matt Carter	189		Running	32.00
33	42	Mike Harmon	185		Running	29.33
34	5	David Ragan	107		Running	22.00
35	43	Jeremy Clements	92		Steering	35.00
36	36	Derrike Cope	24		Start and Park	36.33
37	31	Casey Atwood	19		Start and Park	23.00
38	33	Mike Wallace	19		Start and Park	22.00
39	32	Kevin Lepage	15		Start and Park	27.17
40	7	Kelly Bires	8		Start and Park	25.33
41	19	Terry Cook	6		Start and Park	41.00
42	20	Kertus Davis	2		Start and Park	39.33
43	28	Mark Green	1		Start and Park	32.00
44		Johnny Chapman	0		Did Not Qualify	37.00
45		J C Stout	0		Did Not Qualify
46		Stanton Barrett	0		Did Not Qualify	29.20
47		Kevin Hamlin	0		Did Not Qualify
48		Morgan Shepherd	0		Did Not Qualify	42.00
49		Brian Keselowski	0		Did Not Qualify

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N'Wide: Logano spanks field on old tires

#NASCAR tried to make it interesting with two debris cautions while Joey Logano was pulling away from the field, but even on old tires versus the field's new rubber, Logano was able to run away from everyone.

Our View: Oddly enough, we never got to see any of the "debris," but the fastest driver won.

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Martin wins Happy Hour

Mark Martin posted both the quickest single lap and the fastest average speed in Happy Hour with a 171.742 mph average during 26 laps.

Our View: We didn't value him for a top five at the start of the week, but with solid practices in both Friday sessions, we do now.

Martin wins Chicagoland practice 2

Mark Martin posted the quickest average speed during the first practice session on Friday. His 171.755 mph average during 31 laps topped teammate Jimmie Johnson and Juan Montoya.

Our View: Martin is good on this style of track. He could be a great differentiator for your lineup—with a potential for winning.

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Johnson posts single fast lap in Chicagoland practice 2

Rain held off long enough to allow NASCAR to get a 35 minute practice session in the books and Jimmie Johnson posted the fastest single lap of 177.200.

Our View: His average speed wasn't bad either. With a 171.700 during 23 circuits, he was second on this grid.

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Yahoo! Qualification Story – Chicagoland

For the first time in nearly a month, Mother Nature allowed NASCAR to get qualification in the books, and Red Bull Racing couldn't be happier. Check out this week's Yahoo! story (.pdf) of who's going to be hot at in the LifeLock.com 400.

All Red Bull front row

It will be an all Red Bull front row to start Saturday's race. Brian Vickers earned his fifth pole of the season with a lap of 184.162. His teammate Scott Speed is on the outside pole with a lap of 182.958.

Our View: Toyota has always done well on these similarly-configured, 1.5- and two-mile tracks. Vickers is a dark horse—and Speed just might be also.

F1: Hamilton close to figuring out problems

Even though this has been an abysmal season and Lewis Hamilton's hopes for a championship are gone, the team is close to determining what their problems have been all year, according to Autosport.com.

Our View: Statements like this from drivers are easy to make, but watch this team closely. If they can improve in the final races of the season, fantasy owners will not car if Hamilton can win the championship so long as he earns points in each individual race.

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Speed notably fast

Scott Speed was the fastest "go-or-go-home" driver in Chicagoland's first practice session by a wide margin. His lap of 180.060 was third best overall, which reinforces his teammate Brian Vickers's fastest lap of 180.234.

Our View: Toyota has been strong on this style of track, so while Speed lacks the experience and history to make him even a dark horse, fantasy owners should watch him closely all weekend and take notes. He could have a strong run.

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Bean, Raines, Wallace slowest "go-or-go-homers"

Dexter Bean (172.678), Tony Raines (174.109) and Mike Wallace (175.154) were the three slowest "go-or-go-home" drivers and are the most likely to miss the show.

Our View: Wallace and Raines are running "start and park" car, so it's hard to muster much sympathy for them, but it would be nice to see Bean pick up the pace and make the show.

Of course, that is practically impossible since he needs to pick up more than three miles per hour.

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