great race !

I guess Guny dont like Ford no more...

Bayne and Gordon, Ford Orders? #21-Trevor Bayne had a wild race, one that was especially weird considering his fourth-place qualifying spot. Bayne was sort of a free agent in the tandem drafting pool. With Ford drivers working under directions that discouraged them from drafting with Chase contenders in other manufacturer camps, Bayne ran much of the day with #7-Robby Gordon. But Bayne wound up in the middle of the upfront drafting pack at the end of the race and was hooked up briefly with #24-Jeff Gordon. They had drafted successfully together at Daytona International Speedway in February as Bayne won the Daytona 500. Bayne broke away from Gordon in the closing miles and after the race tweeted on his Twitter account that he wasn't pleased with the way the race concluded. "I'm not happy about what this has become," Bayne wrote. "It's too premeditated. We should be able to go with whoever is around. I would have rather pulled over and finished last than tell [Gordon] I would work with him and then be strong armed into bailing." Gordon finished 27th.(Ford Racing)
AND Jamie Allison, who oversees Ford's motorsports program in North America, was on Sirius Satellite Radio's "Tradin Paint'' show on Monday afternoon and discussed the issue of if Ford ordered its teams not to work with any other manufacturers at Talladega this past weekend in light of Trevor Bayne leaving Jeff Gordon late in that race and Tony Stewart saying he could not work with David Gilliland because of orders.
Here's what Allison said to the question of if he or Ford ordered its teams not to work with anyone else: "We don't have orders per se. That's how we work with these teams. These are independent teams that choose an affiliate with us as a manufacturer. We have a lot of respect and mutual agreements. We discuss many strategies. We don't mandate. We don't issue orders. I can tell you at the start of the Chase, we reached out to all the Ford teams, I personally did, along with my team and basically said, "Hey, thank you for affiliating with Ford Motor Company. We're very proud of everybody. Hey, these are special times for us. If an opportunity presents itself where you can help a Ford teammate, just please be aware and try to help out. It was just an outreach, a consideration, just be aware that we're in the Chase and we're all part of the big Ford family. No orders. None of what you have been reading around this big plan or big orders. It's none of that. I can tell you guys, it's been a very, very tough and long and hard-fought season. It's been on merit. We've earned all the wins. I wish we could count the almost-wins. It's not just in Cup. You look at Nationwide. We have a strong, strong lead with Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.). We've got the manufacturer's championship that we're contending with there. It's a strong, strong year. It's all because of good preparation, good teamwork and a lot of great teams. We just are reaching out and helping the fellow teammates

Dale Jr is pounding on everyone today!

For about 5 minutes, he was driving like his old man.


Nice win for Smoke !

MWR targeting Martin for limited run in No. 00 car
Team seems to have full-time rides for Bowyer, Truex; Reutimann left out
By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
November 01, 2011 9:00 PM, EDT

Sources indicated Tuesday that the team is pursuing Martin to drive a limited schedule next year in the No. 00 Toyota currently piloted by David Reutimann, who is responsible for MWR's two victories on NASCAR's premier level. That arrangement would be primarily sponsorship-driven and leave the Waltrip organization with two full-time drivers next year, Martin Truex Jr. and Bowyer, the latter of whom is leaving Richard Childress Racing for MWR at the end of this season.

An MWR spokesman declined comment. The organization does have an announcement scheduled for Friday morning at Texas Motor Speedway, site of this weekend's Sprint Cup event, although the exact topic is unclear.

None of this bodes well for Reutimann, who appears to be the latest victim of the sponsorship squeeze reshaping the NASCAR garage area. The 41-year-old scored MWR's first victory in a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in 2009, and also won at Chicagoland the following season. This year he has fallen to 28th in points after a pair of campaigns in the top 20.

Martin thrived in a limited role at Ginn Racing in 2007 and Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2008. The 52-year-old will step out of Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 car after this year, when he will turn the vehicle over to Kasey Kahne. He has made no secret of his desire for a reduced schedule for next year, saying as recently as two weeks ago that the only full-time slate he would consider is that of the Camping World Truck circuit, which this year has 25 points races as opposed to 36 in Sprint Cup.

"Nationwide racing, Cup racing would be more of a limited schedule, like I did in 2007 and 2008. That is where my heart is at, and ... there is starting to be a little bit of movement going on," Martin said at Talladega. "I am confident that I will be racing .... I don't have anything and it has been extremely quiet throughout the year and it is very late in the season, but there is still going to be something happening and sponsorship things that are going to happen. They are just going to happen later in the year .... It is sponsorship-driven, where I land and what I do. No news yet."

Watch Martin's 2011 highlights:

•NASCAR to meet with Kyle Busch Saturday morning: UPDATES - Busch parked: Tempers flared early in Friday night's truck race at Texas Motor Speedway. As they ran three-wide early in Friday's race, Ron Hornaday moved up the track, causing Kyle Busch, running on the outside, to hit the wall. Hornaday also hit it. As they slowly went around the track, Busch ran up on the rear of Hornaday and caused Hornaday to smack the wall head-on in what was hard contact. Hornaday was uninjured. NASCAR called Busch to the hauler to meet with officials after the race. NASCAR met with Kyle Busch for less than five minutes on Friday night after the race. They will meet with Busch before Saturday morning's Cup practice (which is at 8:45am/et) to discuss the incident. Hornaday went to the NASCAR hauler (he wasn't called there by officials) after Kyle left and said: "If NASCAR doesn't (park Busch), I'm hanging around, and I'm going to buy Tommy Baldwin's ride and that guy will never finish another race. That's a promise. He's got to be parked. They did it to Harvick at Martinsville.'' Hornaday was reminded that the Harvick parking was in 2002, which Hornday said: "So, let's have at it? So I can go over and beat his ass and let's have at it? He lives too close to me. We'll see what NASCAR does. If they don't handle it right, I'll be over at his house Monday morning.''(Virginian-Pilot)(11-5-2011)
UPDATE: NASCAR announced Saturday morning that they have parked Kyle Busch for the remainder of the Texas race weekend. He will not be allowed to participate in the Nationwide or Cup races. He will be replaced in the Cup race by Michael McDowell and by Denny Hamlin in the Nationwide race. Further penalties against Busch could be announced early in the week.(11-5-2011)
UPDATE 2: Joe Gibbs didn't argue with the severity of the penalty. "I always trust NASCAR," Gibbs said. "I think they do a great job. They manage the series. It's grown because of them and the way they handle it. I have great faith in the decisions they make. We've been a part of this for a long time, and we love it. We love being a part of it, and we love this sport. This was a tough one for us, but as I mentioned, sometimes in life you go through tough things. You don't like it, but we're certainly going to try and work our way through this one and do the right thing and try and handle it the right way." Gibbs now must deal with the fallout from the incident, and that means talks with Cup sponsor Mars and Nationwide sponsor Z-Line Designs, as well as other JGR partners. "I met with Kyle in his motor home this morning," Gibbs said. "It's one of those personal conversations you have when a real tough situation like this comes up. I think, for all of our other partners involved with this-and there's a number of them-we haven't even had a chance to get with everybody yet. So we're still trying to go through that as best we can. We'll be here the whole weekend trying to meet with everybody, trying to work our way through this and trying to handle it the right way."(Sporting News)(11-5-2011)
AND: Ultimately, Busch may face sanctions more severe than those levied by NASCAR. Addressing the media this morning in Texas, team owner Joe Gibbs accepted blame for his driver's actions, saying, "It definitely rests with me. When you own something& you're responsible. I take full responsibility for it." Gibbs hinted that conversations have taken place with team sponsors about how to proceed, and sources in the NASCAR garage say serious consideration is being given to parking Busch for the remainder of the 2011 Sprint Cup and Nationwide campaign.(Sirius Speedway)(11-5-2011)
Statement from Toyota: "Toyota understands it is NASCAR's responsibility to enforce their rules for the well-being of the sport. We recognize this is a difficult situation for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch with respect to the incident that occurred at Texas Motor Speedway during Friday (Nov. 4) night's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. However, we are confident in the leadership of Joe and J.D. Gibbs, and are certain the team will handle this difficult situation in an appropriate manner. Toyota remains 100 percent committed to its support of Joe Gibbs Racing and its drivers."(Toyota)(11-5-2011)
Statement from Kyle Busch: I've had a lot of time today to sit and reflect, and try to put my thoughts into words as best I can. I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during Friday night's Truck Series race at Texas. I apologize to my fans, all my sponsors, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports. After talking with my team, it's great to have their support and encouragement to assure me that there are better days ahead. Even though this took place while driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, I am sorry for how difficult this has been for everyone associated with Joe Gibbs Racing's Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series teams. I'd also like to apologize to Ron Hornaday Jr., and everyone associated with the #33 team in the Truck Series. I understand why I was taken out of the car for the rest of the weekend. NASCAR officials had to act, and I accept their punishment and take full responsibility for my actions. As a racecar driver, the hardest thing to do is to sit on the sidelines listening to cars on the track when you know you should be out there competing. For this, I have no one to blame but myself. Through a lot of support from the people around me, I feel like I've made a lot of strides this year, but this was certainly a step backward. Moving forward, I will do everything I possibly can to represent everyone involved in a positive manner. However, I know my long-term actions will have more of a bearing than anything I say right now.(Kyle Busch Motorsports)(11-5-2011)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------