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I think this is the first time in quite a while that, heading into the final race of the Sprint Cup season at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, we have no idea who the 40-plus full-time drivers for the 2009 season will be. Granted, back in the days before Jayski, when “silly season” wasn’t as prevalent as it is now, a lot of contracts were signed in NASCAR’s offseason. Yep, we used to have an offseason. Who knew?

30-plus teams have already set their drivers and schedules for next season. Most of these teams, and a few others, have secured sponsorship. However, a lot of teams face uncertain futures, and as I detailed last week, a good amount of cars may not be around next year.

That being said, plenty of companies are still interested in sponsoring Sprint Cup teams. It’s just a matter of matching up the right driver, team, and sponsor with one another. There are plenty of quality drivers out there waiting for a call from teams, and there are plenty of teams fishing for enough sponsorship to be competitive next year.

Allow me to do all the work for you, drivers, teams, and prospective sponsors. This week’s Quick Hits are five teams that would certainly make sense to appear on track next year:

5. No. 41 A.J. Allmendinger - Target Chevrolet, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing

This one’s not too much of a stretch, which is why it ranks fifth. Allmendinger is the best driver available, and the No. 41 is the best car available. Chip Ganassi likes taking risks on open wheel drivers (because, obviously, that’s where he does his best), and Target would certainly appreciate a young driver who’s shown promise as of late.

Allmendinger’s done well in the No. 10 at Gillett Evernham Motorsports the past few weeks, with three top-20 finishes. He’s only failed to complete four laps out of a possible 1476, showing that he can keep the car on the track. EGR (sounds unnatural, doesn’t it?) may be in a take-whatever-we-can-get mindset, but adding Allmendinger to its stable could prove a savvy move by the end of the season if he breaks out.

4. No. 28 Travis Kvapil - US Air Force/Hitachi Power Tools/K&N Filters Ford, Yates Racing

There have been rumors as of late that the Air Force is going to head to Yates after a long association with the Wood Brothers. If so, there’s no doubt in my mind that the sponsorship would go to Kvapil. Not only has Kvapil outperformed David Gilliland this year, his sponsorship status is far less certain - Gilliland has relationships with FreeCreditReport.com and CitiFinancial that should carry him through at least part of next season, financial crisis notwithstanding.

Yates wants to expand to three cars next year, the other belonging to Paul Menard, who brings his Menards family sponsorship to the table. They basically have Menard’s and Gilliland’s rides covered. It wouldn’t be surprising if Hitachi stuck around for next year, or if some of the team’s other one-race sponsors made more of a commitment next year.

3. No. 00 David Reutimann - Aaron’s Rent/Champion Mortgage/Dow Chemical Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing

Reutimann’s earned his keep these past few weeks. He had a chance at winning his first race in Texas two weeks ago and qualified fourth last week at Phoenix. Aaron’s has already announced that they will be on the car for half the season, but that still leaves an 18-race hole to fill.

This year, Champion Mortgage sponsored the No. 00 for 12 races with Michael McDowell, two with Mike Skinner, one with Mike Bliss, and one with Allmendinger. Even if they don’t return, rumors have been floating that Dow Chemical will upgrade their associate sponsorship with the team. It’s unlikely that Champion would want to commit to 16 races again in this economic climate, but anything that they don’t pick up, Dow would probably fill. Reutimann’s going to be a star in Sprint Cup one day, and whoever can snap up space on his car would be smart to act now.

2. No. 21 Kyle Petty/Bill Elliott/Jon Wood/Patrick Carpentier - Wells Fargo/Motorcraft Ford, Wood Brothers Racing

So the Air Force might go to Yates. Big deal. If the team brings on Kyle Petty and his 12-race Wells Fargo sponsorship, that more than fills the commitment the Air Force made this season. The Woods claim that their sponsorship contracts are set for next season, with Ford and Motorcraft, but given the automaker’s plight, a backup plan would certainly help.

The question is more about who will drive the car than who will finance it, as has been for the past couple of years. Bill Elliott is open to running a few early-season races, but nothing more. Jon Wood’s been waiting in the wings for a while. However, the Woods are also high on Patrick Carpentier, who was unceremoniously dumped by GEM after an incident at Talladega with team director Mike Shiplett. A few decent performances with the Woods could be the necessary jump-start to make Carpentier’s NASCAR career as successful as his career in CART.

1. No. 22 Scott Riggs - State Water Heaters/Hunt Brothers Pizza/Bad Boy Mowers Toyota, Bill Davis Racing

Despite the past couple years, people need to remember that Riggs is a capable driver. He finished 20th in points in 2006 despite missing the Daytona 500. His poor 2007 was the result of completely wrong data at GEM, and the Haas CNC cars currently aren’t high-quality competitors. (Just you wait ‘till next year, though.)

Counting both starts and DNQ’s, the three aforementioned sponsors have combined for roughly 36 races this season over four cars - the Nos. 22 and 27 at BDR, and the Nos. 66 and 70 at Haas CNC. State and Hunt Bros. have both affirmed their desires to stay in the sport in 2009, after combining for just over 30 races in total this year. Both sponsors appear pleased with what Riggs has done this season, qualifying for almost every race. Bad Boy Mowers has adorned Davis Toyotas four times this season and could certainly fill out the schedule.

Finally, congratulations to Phoenix’s winners: Jimmie Johnson in Sprint Cup, Carl Edwards in Nationwide, and Kevin Harvick in the Truck Series.

Photo Credit: Icon Sports Media

This weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the third to last race in this year’s Chase for the Cup. By this point, all but the 12 Chase teams are in preparation mode for 2009, experimenting with new setups and personnel. Many drivers with limited Sprint Cup experience are attempting to make starts this weekend in preparation for next year, including Joey Logano, Bryan Clauson, and Brad Keselowski.

However, one of the most intriguing driver-team combinations attempting to make the race this weekend is Max Papis and Germain Racing. Papis, a former CART competitor who made two starts for Haas CNC Racing earlier this year, will drive a No. 13 GEICO Toyota for Germain in 18 Sprint Cup races next year, and possibly attempt up to 25 depending upon sponsorship. Papis will also attempt to qualify at Homestead, regardless of whether he makes the race this weekend or not.

This is the next natural step in Germain’s progression from a Truck Series-only team up to NASCAR’s top level. Formed in late 2004, the No. 30 truck has consistently been one of the series’ best, winning the championship in 2006 with Todd Bodine. The team added a second truck in 2005 and a Nationwide Series team in 2007, experiencing success with both.

Currently, Mike Wallace has that No. 7 Nationwide team 8th in series’ points. Bodine has the No. 30 in 3rd in the Truck Series, and Justin Marks has impressed in the No. 9 truck, winning a pole at Texas and finishing 8th at Daytona. Bodine also made one Nationwide start for the team in a second car this year, finishing 4th at Darlington. In other words, the brothers Germain - Bob, Stephen, and Richard - have managed to make all of their cars competitive, regardless of who’s in them or how often they compete.

With its expansion into Cup racing with Papis, Germain has picked the optimum time to move up the ladder. With many teams pressed for sponsorship in a difficult economic climate, the Sprint Cup field should be shrinking next year, making it much easier for a team that doesn’t plan on attempting all 36 races to make the most of its limited schedule.

Germain also has never expanded beyond its means to be competitive. While the 2005 season was a trying one for the second truck, much of that was based on Shige Hattori’s lack of stock-car experience. While Ted Musgrave only won one race in the No. 9 truck in 2006 and 2007, he also had 28 top-10s in 49 starts for the team and two top-10 finishes in points.

The team only moved up to the Nationwide Series after establishing a strong foundation with Bodine last year. In five races, the team had an average finish of 17.8 (negatively affected by a crash at Homestead that led to a 37th place finish) and led 15 laps at Gateway. They also waited to move up until finding the right driver (Wallace) and sponsor (GEICO), and the team has carved its niche in the series despite most of the wins and top finishes going to Cup “claim jumpers” running in both series.

Even with the recent trend of open-wheel flameouts, don’t expect Papis to disappear in the first year of his four-year contract with the team. Papis, unlike some of the other open-wheel drivers to give NASCAR a try recently, has been successful in many different forms of motorsport. He won a handful of CART races in the late 1990s with Team Rahal and has driven for Corvette Racing at Le Mans. He also won the 2002 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

Papis has also had his share of remarkable and memorable drives in other series. He nearly won the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona in a car that had been damaged by collisions. After unlapping himself in the final stint of the race, Papis pushed his car to the max, only losing by 64 seconds at a track in which fast laps can take nearly 2 minutes.

In other words, though we’ve all heard this before, Papis has the talent to succeed in a limited schedule with Germain. And unlike drivers like Villeneuve, Carpentier, Hornish, and Allmendinger, he has the team behind him to do it.

Before the green flag drops on this weekend’s festivites, here are this week’s Quick Hits:

5. A few interesting notes from Motorsports Authentics’ sell sheets for 2009 die-cast:

At Stewart-Haas Racing, Burger King is featured on the B-pillar of Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet. Also, DirecTV is featured on the B-pillar of Ryan Newman’s No. 39 Chevrolet. It is no longer on the No. 07 Chevrolet of Casey Mears.

At Gillett Evernham Motorsports, McDonald’s has vacated its post on the lower quarter panel of Elliott Sadler’s No. 19 Dodge. Allstate is also gone from the lower quarter panel of Kasey Kahne’s No. 9 Dodge.

Finally, Scott Speed will run a No. 82 Red Bull Toyota next year, as opposed to a No. 84. No word on why the change occurred.

4. A recent rumor suggests that Wood Brothers Racing is looking around the garage for a new partner after JTG Daugherty Racing’s defection to Toyota for 2009. That partnership could come in the form of a deal with Hall of Fame Racing, which currently fields Toyotas for former Wood driver Ken Schrader. Hall of Fame would also bring a top-flight sponsorship, in the form of Texas Instruments, and a bona-fide driving talent in Brad Coleman to the partnership. Hall of Fame’s current deal with Joe Gibbs Racing expires after Homestead.

3. An interesting note: No Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender has finished in the top 10 all season. Sam Hornish Jr.’s 13th at the Coca-Cola 600 is the best finish for any contender. Aric Almirola’s 8th at Bristol does not apply, as he is not registered for the award. Regan Smith’s win at Talladega, had it been upheld, would have been the only top-10.

2. While Kyle Petty has been unable to lay down any serious Sprint Cup plans for next year, he may have a full time Rolex Sports Car Series deal in place for 2009. Petty will run the No. 45 Orbit Racing BMW Prototype at next year’s 24 Hours of Daytona, and potentially beyond. No word yet on if the Wells Fargo sponsorship currently tied to Petty in Sprint Cup would transfer with him, remain in NASCAR, or both.

1. Kodak is leaving the sport after a successful sponsorship campaign that spanned over two decades and produced three Daytona 500 wins. Drivers like Ernie Irvan, Sterling Marlin, Bobby Hamilton, and most recently Ryan Newman piloted the gold cars for Morgan-McClure Motorsports and Penske Racing from the late 1980s to this year. Kodak will also abandon its sponsorship programs in all other forms of motorsports, including those in the Rolex Sports Car Series and Indy Racing League.

Finally, congratulations to Newman for winning last weekend’s Truck Series race at Atlanta, and Carl Edwards for winning the Nationwide race in Memphis and Atlanta’s Sprint Cup event.

The Sprint Cup Series enters the second half of the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup this week, making its second visit of the year to the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Virginia is the home of many current and former Sprint Cup drivers, and currently boasts two drivers in the Chase, the second most of any state. Those drivers, Jeff Burton and Denny Hamlin, currently sit 2nd and 12th in points, respectively.

Interestingly enough, until his win last week at Charlotte, nobody in the Sprint Cup garage considered Burton a title threat. Ever since the Chase started, it’s been considered a three horse race, and Burton only found his way into that triumvirate by his stellar drive last weekend.

Originally, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch composed the top three contenders. After Loudon, Busch was replaced by Greg Biffle as the third horse, in most pundits’ eyes. Now, after Edwards’ second consecutive bad race, Burton finds himself in the top three, 69 points behind Johnson.

The question is, why did it take so long for pundits to recognize Burton as a legitimate title threat? His worst finish in the Chase so far is 9th, the same as Johnson’s. Each driver has one win in the Chase. Neither driver has sunk below their original seed in the standings since the Chase started (Johnson’s been above 3rd since Loudon, Burton started in 7th and hasn’t been there since Loudon either).

Of course, this week, everybody’s all over Burton’s chances to win his first career title. NASCAR.com’s headlines today say that Burton and Johnson have the same momentum going into the second half of the Chase. For the record, please note that Burton started the Chase 11th in NASCAR.com‘s power rankings, and didn’t rank higher than 6th until the Charlotte edition.

It’s as if he hasn’t been under the radar the entire Chase - although, if you check out the archives, it’s pretty obvious he has been.

But wait a second. Maybe it’s not the fault of racing pundits for missing Burton. Maybe it’s just the system.

Every time a driver has won a race, except for Biffle’s win at Dover, he’s improved his position in the points greatly. Biffle went from 9th to 3rd after winning Loudon. Johnson went from 2nd to 1st after winning at Kansas. Tony Stewart went from 11th to 7th after winning Talladega. And now, Burton went from 4th to 2nd after winning last week at Charlotte.

If this pattern continues, then it’s only going to matter who wins at Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead. Even though the standings are far more spread out than they were before Loudon, the Chase standings always reward the guy who won most recently.

If that’s the case, why bother trying to win the first seven races? As long as a driver survives all seven of them, he can go into the last three and go for wins and pull off an “upset.” Hey, Clint Bowyer sounds like he could fit that category - he hasn’t won in the Chase yet, but his worst finish is 12th, and he’s 5th in points.

It could happen. And if it does, we’ll know that the pundits aren’t the problem.

Here are this week’s Quick Hits:

5. Burney Lamar and former sponsor Dollar General will reunite at Braun Racing for 2009. Lamar will drive the No. 32 Toyota in the Nationwide Series for 18 races next year. Brian Vickers will drive the car for the other 17 races. This will be Dollar General’s first full-time sponsorship deal in Nationwide since 2007 at Kevin Harvick Inc.

4. Ray Evernham is currently considering leaving Gillett Evernham Motorsports for a full-time gig with ESPN. Evernham has emphasized his role as a minority partner in the team, no longer acting as a decision-maker, according to Dustin Long at the Roanoke Times. Evernham also says that he was not involved in the decision to release Patrick Carpentier from the No. 10 Dodge.

3. Michael McDowell is now a free agent, after Michael Waltrip Racing failed to exercise its contract option on him for 2009. McDowell’s car has no sponsorship for next season, and the owners’ points from his car will likely go to Marcos Ambrose’s No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota next season.

2. Add J.J. Yeley’s name to the mix for the No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge next year. “Chip hasn’t said no,” Yeley told Tim Tuttle of Sports Illustrated. “My name is still on the list. It would be a great opportunity.” A.J. Allmendinger is the other rumored candidate for the ride, which will be vacated by Reed Sorenson after this season.

1. Just as I reported before the Kansas race, Unilever has left Gillett Evernham Motorsports to partner with Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Nationwide Series team. The car will feature Hellmann’s sponsorship for the Daytona race. Although I originally reported that Klondike would be the dominant brand, they will be featured on the car for later events. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, and Landon Cassill will share the car.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners at Charlotte: Kyle Busch in Nationwide, and Burton in Sprint Cup.

As the Sprint Cup Series heads to Talladega for the fourth race of this year’s Chase for the Cup, many teams have already shifted their focus from running well this year to preparing for 2009. Most teams have already set their driver lineups for the future and are already trying to add their new drivers to the mix this year. It seems that to everybody but the 12 Chase drivers, the 2008 season no longer really matters.

Already, Team Red Bull has pulled A.J. Allmendinger from the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota for this weekend. Allmendinger had the best finish of his career at Kansas last week, a 9th place run, but was removed from the car for Talladega and Charlotte in favor of Mike Skinner. Red Bull’s driver of the future, former Formula 1 driver Scott Speed, will take over the car at Martinsville and beyond, in preparation for a Raybestos Rookie of the Year run in 2009.

This leaves Allmendinger unemployed for the last month and a half of the season, meaning that his future employer has a shot at acquainting him with his 2009 team right now. Rumors point to Allmendinger moving to a Dodge team, either the No. 41 at Chip Ganassi Racing or the No. 45 at Petty Enterprises, next year.

As Reed Sorenson is leaving the No. 41, there’s the slight possibility that Allmendinger could replace Sorenson there by next week at Charlotte, or even the week after at Martinsville. Sorenson would then be free to join Gillett Evernham Motorsports, where he will replace Patrick Carpentier in the No. 10 Dodge next year.

In the past, drivers have finished out the season with their lame-duck teams before moving on. However, more and more owners have moved towards ousting lame-duck drivers towards the end of the schedule in recent years, and more and more departing drivers are asking for an early release.

Kurt Busch was forced out of the No. 97 Ford for the last two races of 2005 by owner Jack Roush after being detained for reckless driving before a race at Phoenix. As 2006 replacement Jamie McMurray was unavailable, as he was still under contract to Ganassi, Kenny Wallace drove the car that weekend, finishing 16th. Wallace’s solid performance, despite his lack of practice time in the car, contributed to Furniture Row Racing’s decision to enter him in a full Cup schedule in 2006.

Elliott Sadler was granted an early release by Robert Yates Racing in August 2006. Sadler moved to Evernham Motorsports, which had just booted Jeremy Mayfield from its No. 19 Dodge. Granted, Mayfield had made some acrimonious statements about owner Ray Evernham, but the team wasn’t planning on retaining him anyway after a major dropoff in performance.

While it’s not positive to think that drivers and owners are now more inclined to abandon contracts towards the end of the season, it’s starting to become a trend in Sprint Cup. When next season becomes the focus, teams will do whatever they can to build momentum that they can carry into Daytona.

If cutting a lame-duck driver is the solution, owners won’t hesitate as much anymore. If asking for an early release is the solution, the driver will go ahead and do it. The driver doesn’t have as much to lose because he’s already guaranteed employment for the future, but with a recent emphasis on driver development (and a lot of other talented drivers, such as Mayfield, currently unemployed), owners don’t need to scramble for solutions as much anymore.

Prepare for more driver musical chairs – here are this week’s five Quick Hits, all dealing with other rumors around the garage area:

5. Despite a 12-race sponsorship commitment from Wells Fargo, Kyle Petty is no longer wanted at Petty Enterprises in the No. 45 car, according to wife Pattie. She says that the team’s new management told Petty before the race at Watkins Glen that they didn’t want him in the car anymore.

She hopes that Chip Ganassi will consider taking Petty on for a part-time schedule next season, perhaps in the No. 40 Dodge that currently sits dormant. Petty drove for the former incarnation of the Ganassi team, Sabco, from 1989 to 1996, posting six wins and a pair of 5th place finishes in points.

4. Michael Waltrip Racing is entering a partnership with JTG Daugherty Racing for 2009, which will switch to Toyota power from Ford. Marcos Ambrose will drive the No. 47 Little Debbie/Clorox Toyota for JTG, which will be run out of Waltrip’s sprawling RaceWorld garage.

Waltrip is also looking to sign Dow Chemicals to co-sponsor David Reutimann’s No. 00 Toyota with Aaron’s Rent for next season. Granted that both deals go through, and that Waltrip puts together a sponsorship program for Michael McDowell, four cars in-house at MWR for 2009 is a realistic possibility.

3. If Allmendinger doesn’t join Ganassi, Mayfield is a candidate for the No. 41 ride. Mayfield tested the No. 41 at Lowe’s last week and ran one race for Ganassi this year as a substitute for the injured Dario Franchitti. The car’s Target sponsorship is secure, as the company has been a Ganassi partner for over a decade.

2. Paul Menard will abandon the sinking ship that is Dale Earnhardt Inc. after this season, bringing his Menards family sponsorship over to Yates Racing. Menard will likely drive a third car as a teammate to Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland. Currently, Menard ranks 28th in points, with Kvapil 24th and Gilliland 26th. The car will likely carry No. 32, No. 90, or No. 98: the first relates to Yates’ current numbers, 28 and 38, and the second and third are other numbers Yates has used in Cup before.

1. Here’s a wild one: 1989 Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace is reportedly considering joining DEI to replace Menard, according to his brother Kenny. After watching Mark Martin announce a comeback to full-time Sprint Cup racing with Hendrick Motorsports next season, Kenny Wallace said to the Speed Channel that it’s “really tugged on Rusty’s heartstrings.” Rusty has denied the rumor, citing a long-term contract with ABC and ESPN, but the possibility is still there.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners at Kansas: Denny Hamlin in Nationwide, and Jimmie Johnson in Sprint Cup.

Can you perform in the clutch?  That’s one of sport’s great cliche questions, isn’t it?  

The two-out, walk-off  homerun.  The buzzer-beater jumper to win the championship game.  Being your best when a special win is on the line.  Michael and Reggie and Tiger.  You know who they are by their first names only, because they did it on the big stage.  A-Rod and Phil, not so much.

NASCAR’s big stage is the Chase to the Sprint Cup.  It is the ten races that every team spends the rest of the year trying to qualify for.  But those who do the best during the qualifying races, often fail to perform in the actual Chase.  That’s the subject of the Bench Racing blog’s Tight in Turn Two this week.

Is Kyle Busch choking?

Charlie:  The signs are all there.  Starting with two very poor finishes in the first Chase races. Do you blame that on a broken bolt and a bad motor?  Maybe.  But that doesn’t explain the way Rowdy handled the bad start.  He pouted and ran away.  Contrast that with Matt Kenseth, who has a better resume than Busch - though not a better season so far - and stood up and took the tough questions like the champion he is.  Kyle acted like a punk.  The real telling thing will be, if after a couple more poor races, and he Kyle totally eliminates his Chase chances, he starts winning again.  See, winning during the regular season is like winning regular PGA golf tournaments. You have to be really good to win one of those too.  But it takes a special player to win a Major Championship, like the Masters.  The Chase Races are like NASCAR’s Majors - along with the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard.  Kyle may not be ready after all.

Bruce:  I had completely expected him to implode in the chase. Earlier in the season when he didn’t have so many wins under his belt, he tended to get more antsy near the end of a race. I was expecting that from him now. The mechanical failures pretty much took the driver out of contention to prove my suspicions. Like you Charlie, I see his behavior as less than stellar and after a bad race, I just want to call him a wah mbulance.

I agree with you again, when he knows he’s out of it, he’ll relax and does what he does best. I’m a professional bowler, and I can’t tell you how many times someone is mathematically eliminated from winning a match, and they just relax and bowl the rest of the game really well.  We’ll see.

That’s what we think.  What do you think?  Let us know your opinion in the comment section of this post. 

And head over to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits to let us know what you think of Bruce’s  topic too.

Do you think AJ Allmendinger (Dinger to his buddies) will replace Sorenson at Ganassi or does Ganassi have anyone else in mind?

 Phot credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Don’t blame me for the headline.  It’s Mindy’s fault.  Or NASCAR’s if you side with Ms Monday on this week’s Monday Morning Crew Chief. 

Mindy passes out advice to Rowdy Busch, the M & M’s team and  A J Allmendinger.

Tune in for the continuing saga if Biff-Man and Rowdy.  Click here for the latest Monday Morning Crew Chief.

Scott Speed is good.  But his stay in the ARCA RE/MAX Series has taken on a different tint from the glowing comments of early this season.  Speed leads the series points but has been vocal about how relatively unimportant the ARCA RE/Max Series championship is to him. He has told national media how the ARCA equipment is crude, compared to even the Truck Series and how  he “would rate himself an “A” and his team a “C” even though his Eddie Sharp Racing Camry was clearly one of the two best cars in the series, at the half-way point.  He has become known among some as “Speedo the Clown”.  And others think less of him than that, due to the above attitude and, lately, actions on the track.

I don’t know what any of  this means for a Cup career.  Maybe nothing.  And Scott will have a Cup career regardless.  There is speculation that  Speedo will replace A J Allmendiger at Team Red Bull  for the 2009 Sprint Cup season.  Allmendinger  has taken some well publicized shots to his ego, and for the good of the Red Bull No. 84 team (and admittedly, his own survival in the team) swallowed his pride and toed the company line.  Not sure Speed would do that.  And at the very peak of Cup competition - on the teams that contend for wins and championships - team chemistry is often the final piece of the puzzle.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Should Red Bull Racing make the (stupid) decision to fire A.J. Allmendinger, Ganassi will score a coup. Allmendinger has returned from the brink in fine fashion this season after getting Mike Skinner in the car to confirm what he was feeling. A.J. has gone on to score no fewer than 9 finishes in the top half of the field, with 5 top 15 finishes – a marked improvement from his 2007 and early 2008 results. What’s more, Allmendinger won the Sprint Open in May and has run in the top 5 during races, specifically his race at California a few weeks ago. Yet he will likely face termination, possibly as soon as this week or next, to make room for Scott Speed. Sure, Speed has talent coming out of his painted toenails, but there is no reason to rush him to Cup – especially not to replace Allmendinger, who has shown more improvement than any driver except for David Ragan in 2008.

Should it happen, Ganassi will likely swoop in and sign Allmendinger to drive the #41 in 2009 – or sooner, should Reed Sorenson cause enough trouble to get released early to his new ride at GEM. It wouldn’t be the first time for Allmendinger and Ganassi to work together, last season Ganassi put A.J. in the #42 Busch car 7 races. It’s believed that this seat time helped A.J. immensely. Not to mention, as others have, Ganassi has multiple teams in open-wheel and sports cars to scratch whatever itch his drivers may have. That could include moving to the IRL and compete for the championship, or an Indy 500 win.

Simply put, I don’t want Allmendinger gone from Red Bull. He has done too much and shown too much promise to be shown the door. If it happens, I look at Ganassi being his best option. Juan Pablo Montoya’s been running a bit better lately, perhaps showing that the disbandment of the #40 team has helped. I know this: A.J. Allmendinger belongs in the Sprint Cup Series – whether it’s with Red Bull or Ganassi. He’ll prove to whoever doubts him that the talent and desire are there. He just needs the team and the equipment.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media

This weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Dover, Delaware, for the second race of ten in the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup. The series comes off of a weekend at New Hampshire that saw Kyle Busch falter, Greg Biffle assert himself as a championship contender, and Joey Logano make his Sprint Cup debut, finishing 32nd in a Hall of Fame Racing Toyota.

Logano, at 18 years, 3 months, and 20 days old, was the youngest driver to make his Sprint Cup debut since 1982, when a 17-year-old by the name of Bobby Hillin Jr. drove a No. 8 Buick to a 21st place finish at the old North Wilkesboro Speedway. In other words, Hillin was a “young gun” before it became cool to develop teenage drivers.

Unlike some of the other “young guns” that NASCAR has seen recently (try Casey Atwood, Shane Hmiel, Joel Kauffman, Jason Schuler, and Chase Montgomery on for size), Hillin was arguably a decent driver, with the potential to compete for wins and decent points finishes. When he had a consistent ride, especially in the late 1980s, he was capable of finishing in the top 20 in points; in 1986, he cracked the top 10 in points for the only time of his career, finishing 9th after winning a race at Talladega and scoring 14 top 10 finishes in 29 races for the Stavola Brothers.

Hillin was, at times, a poor qualifier, missing more and more races per season as he moved to what is now the Nationwide Series in 1998. He never won a pole, had a pedestrian average start of 24.2 in the Cup series, and averaged 5.6 DNQs per season from 1996 to 2000, when his career ultimately ended. That didn’t take away from the fact, however, that at his best, Hillin could keep the car on the track for the duration of the race; he finished 27 out of 29 races in 1988, tied for second best in the series, and completed the third-most laps of any driver that year.

Compare this to many current “young guns,” drivers who are often fast in qualifying but cannot keep the car on the track. Consider the aforementioned Hmiel, who won four poles in his abbreviated Nationwide Series career, but failed to finish in 30 out of 119 career starts in NASCAR’s top three series. Hillin, in the prime years of his career (1985-1990, discounting a bad 1987 in which car parts failed ten times), started 143 races, and only failed to finish 27 of them. Compare rebuilding a car once every 5.3 races to once every four. Even the late Dale Earnhardt broke something on a car, on average, once every six races.

Yet, while “young guns” nowadays receive all kinds of aid from all around the garage area, Hillin was often looked down upon by his contemporaries in the garage area. “Nobody wanted to help me,” Hillin said in a 2007 interview with NASCAR.com. “I still needed a whole lot of help (even after winning at Talladega).” Such help likely would not have been wasted on the young driver, as it has been on plenty of recent young guns.

Truth be told, Logano is nothing like most recent development drivers; he’s already got a Nationwide Series win in only a handful of career starts, and he’s going to inherit Tony Stewart’s car next season, one of the top cars in the garage year in and year out. Logano’s got all kinds of help around him, and for that reason, his situation and Hillin’s are nothing alike. At the same time, had drivers like Hillin not blazed a trail in the 1980s, the youth movement currently present in NASCAR might never have happened, and one of the best raw talents in NASCAR would still be waiting for a shot in the big league.

Before the Chase resumes at the Monster Mile, here are this week’s five Quick Hits:

5. A.J. Allmendinger will know his future at Team Red Bull very soon, as the organization decides whether to promote Scott Speed full-time next season in the No. 84 or add a third car, the No. 82. Recently re-signed general manager Jay Frye (who turned down the same position at Stewart-Haas Racing) should have the final decision from the energy drink’s headquarters in Austria by the end of this week.

4. Bobby Hamilton Jr. has stated that he’s about “40 percent” talking to a Sprint Cup team about next season. Currently a Ford driver, there is the possibility that either the Wood Brothers or Yates Racing are the team in question.

3. Italian road course specialist Max Papis will run 18 races next season in a Germain Racing Toyota sponsored by Geico. Papis has run assorted road course races this season and attempted to qualify for this year’s Indianapolis 500.

2. Gillett Evernham Motorsports‘ right of first refusal on Patrick Carpentier expired Tuesday, when the team was unable to find sponsorship to run the Canadian in a fourth car for 2009. Teams that have publicly shown interest in Carpentier include the Wood Brothers.

1. Steve Hallam, McLaren F1’s head of race operations, will bring his wealth of technical knowledge to the Sprint Cup Series next season. Hallam has previously worked with such world-famous race drivers as Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen, and the late Ayrton Senna.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners at New Hampshire: Ron Hornaday in the Truck series, and Biffle in Sprint Cup.

Starting this week at Michigan International Speedway, I’ve decided to focus most of my writing energy on a weekly column for Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie, entitled “Quick Hits.” Think of this as an introduction to the column, and in a way, to me, Chris Leone, as a writer. (For those of you viewing this column on Bleacher Report, we still haven’t figured out how to fix the RSS feed, so everything displays under Charlie’s page.)

After examining some of my past work, I felt that I would greatly improve as a writer by moving to a set weekly format, instead of the normal sporadic posts I’ve contributed to this blog. With greater regularity in posts, you, the reader, will be able to find greater continuity in what I write on, as opposed to my past irregular posts on topics from Martin Truex Jr. to why NASCAR needs a stock car series exclusive to road courses. Ever since shifting my focus from Bleacher Report to this site, partially due to time constraints, I’ve been more and more irregular with my writing. The column format is designed to fix that.

The tentative plan for this column is to start with whatever’s on my mind related to either racing or racing journalism itself, followed by five “Quick Hits”: the top five stories of the week, briefly recapped, with a bit of analysis thrown in for good measure.

I’ve always been a fan of weekly columns, since the first time I picked up an issue of Sports Illustrated and read Rick Reilly’s “Life of Reilly.” I can’t remember what exactly was the first topic Rick mused on, but I remember immediately being drawn to it, like a moth to a floodlight in the nighttime. I read that column for years, from whenever I upgraded from my SI Kids subscription to when he left the magazine to join ESPN the Magazine. I still read his stuff there, and I like to think that ESPN’s massive pages give him a little more room to work his magic.

I think I’ve always been fascinated by back pages as well. I’ve always found the body doubles, hyperlinks, and funny road-related photos in Autoweek’s “But Wait, There’s More” section amusing. Occasionally there are even some great quotes from NASCAR’s finest.

To be sure, by posting this on a Wednesday or Thursday every week, the column might be like Fox’s “King of the Hill”: quality, but often on too early for most people to appreciate it, or maybe even cut off by other pieces that take priority over it. I kind of like that concept though. I don’t feel as much pressure to write excellently as I did when I first joined this site; I feel confident in my abilities.

Without further ado, this week’s five Quick Hits:

5. Congratulations to Brad Coleman, who will make his Sprint Cup debut for Hall of Fame Racing this weekend. The struggling No. 96 team sits 39th in points behind the underwhelming performance of J.J. Yeley, whose third place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the team’s only top-10 of the season.

4. Congratulations are also in order for A.J. Allmendinger, who put his No. 84 Team Red Bull Toyota in the top 35 in owners’ points for the first time, guaranteeing him a spot in this week’s race. After missing 19 races last season due to DNQ’s, and the first eight races this year after being temporarily replaced, Allmendinger scored his first top-10 of his career in the tire fiasco at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

3. After causing a horrible nine-car wreck last week at Watkins Glen International that sent Bobby Labonte to a hospital, Michael McDowell will sit out the next three races, being replaced in the No. 00 at Michael Waltrip Racing by Mike Skinner. Fellow Toyota operation Team Red Bull did something similar with Allmendinger earlier this season, putting Skinner in the car for five races, and his performance improved markedly. Let’s hope McDowell, who has said he may be in the market for a new team next season, lands on his feet.

2. Nationwide Series phenom Joey Logano makes his Sprint Cup debut at Richmond International Raceway in a few weeks, driving a Joe Gibbs Racing car rumored to be sponsored by Gatorade. Logano will also run an ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway to satisfy NASCAR requirements to compete in next year’s Daytona 500. Of note: Gatorade is a Pepsi product, and JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart are sponsored by Coca-Cola. NOS Energy, which sponsors Kyle Busch, is now also a Coca-Cola product.

1. The Ryan Newman sweepstakes is over, with the 2008 Daytona 500 winner set to join Stewart-Haas Racing next season as driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet. Sponsorship still has not been secured.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners: Johnny Benson at Nashville Superspeedway, and Marcos Ambrose and Kyle Busch at The Glen.

Photo Credit: Icon Sports Media