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Coca Cola sent us this video promoting the Coke Zero 400 Challenge. It’s short and pretty funny. Check it out.

Weather set the starting grid for the Fathers Day Lifelock 400 at Michigan International Speedway but it won’t have much to do with the finishing order.

Sunday is looking like a perfect Michigan summer day.  Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there.  If you are reading this, chances are you plan to take in today’s Sprint Cup race from the Irish Hills.  Whether you’re watching on the tube, listening to the radio as you get the honey-do’s done or are at the track, enjoy the race.

Jamie McMurray’s  #26 will sport a special Fathers Day paint scheme - pictured here -  thanks to sponsor Crown Royal.  Here’s what Jamie had to say about what Fathers Day means to him.

“My dad has always played a huge part in my life and racing career, so to be able to say thanks to him on Father’s Day with Crown Royal is really special,” said McMurray. “Now if we can get the No. 26 to Victory Lane this weekend, I will be able to give both my dad and Crown Royal the perfect Father’s Day present.”

My own dad has been gone a long time but I think about him all the time.  I never know what will trigger those thoughts, but that #26 car will today, for sure.

I have more fun than should be allowed. Steve and I get to talk to some big-time guests ON PIT ROW every week. Most of the time we get thoughtful, insightful answers to our questions. Every once in a while, we get one that blows us away.

We asked Speed TV’s Robin Miller what he thought of the field for this year’s version of the Indy 500. Though Miller respects many of the drivers, his comment about “milk’n donuts and a bunch of jack-offs” was priceless. If you missed it, you can listen to the whole thing here.

Seems that Robin thinks some of those guys are over-rated. That was the inspiration for my “Loose in Turn 3″ question this week. After you comment on mine, make sue you check out Do You NASCAR and NASCAR Bits and Pieces for more Looseness.

Who is the most under-rated driver in NASCAR and how is he over-looked relative to his talent/value?

Charlie:  Jimmy Johnson is appreciated less than any other multi-time Champion and perennial championship contender.  It is a phenomenon that Steve and I have discussed many times before ON PIT ROW.  In any other team sport, Johnson and the #48 team would be talked of as a dynasty.  In NASCAR, he is often an after-thought.  I think this comes from an impression that JJ’s success is the product of great equipment more than driving talent.  That is just wrong.

Bruce: Jeff Burton: In my mind he’s ignored while he’s turning in consistent finishes to put himself 2nd in the standings. The media HAS to mention him when they count down the top 12 drivers but there’s not much time to cover him when the media has to report everything Kyle Busch or how many races since his Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last win. Heck for that matter, did you know that David Ragan is 8 points out of 12th? Sorry, I’ve diverged onto a rant… but I think regardless of who we pick, they’re victims of the media focus, or lens as you will.

TZ:  I like both of your answers to the question, but I’ve got to go with Jamie McMurray.  Folks think that just because he made the move to a Roush car that he should be winning all of these races.  The red flags went up when he didn’t even come close to the Chase last year and then when he fell outside of the top-35 after Bristol earlier this year.  To me, it’s just one of those deals that something hasn’t clicked between Jamie and Roush.  But, he’s already climbed himself back up to 22nd in points, and he’s actually still a 2008 Chase hopeful.  Plus, I figure if he can finish in the top-15 in points with Ganassi, then the guy’s obviously got a boat-load of talent.

That’s what we think.  What do you think.  Leave your feedback in the comment section then visit the other guys for their topics.  TZ’s question is…

Joe Gibbs Racing has won four times in the Sprint Cup Series this season, but in two years, they are the only Toyota team to win a race in Cup racing. Will a non-JGR driver reach Victory Lane in 2008? 

Bruce wants to know what you think about…

Hamlin passed a few cars that had avoided slamming into the melee at a rapid rate before hitting Sadler. So my question is more a statement, but I think Denny Hamlin could have avoided hitting as hard as he did because he probably could have slowed down a heck of a lot more… What’s your guys take? 

 Naval engineer Dan Lowry is the title sponsor, Grand Marshall and virtual king for the Sprint Cup race this weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

Dan was the winner - out of 10,000 plus  entrants -  of the Crown Royal “Your Name Here 400″ contest.  So the official name of this week’s race is ” Crown Royal Presents The Dan Lowry 400″.  How cool would that be?

Thanks to a heads up from Darren Fauth of One Bad Wheel and the Champs, Chumps and Sleepers game, I had a chance to talk to lucky Dan this afternoon as he was getting to the track.

Mike Maruska of Trouble in Turn2 wanted to know if, as an official title sponsor of the event, was Dan able to veto any rival sponsors.  Dan said no, but he was pretty sure that the Crown Royal folks would have approved of that had he been allowed. 

Jamie McMurray has been very involved in the promotion and Dan told me that he has been a McMurray fan for as long as Jamie has raced in Cup.  Jamie was with Dan in a helicopter high above the Las Vegas desert when a tarp was pulled from a 10,000 square foot mosaic on the desert floor that showed Dan’s name as part of the official Richmond race logo.

The contest winning Crown Royal experience that Dan submitted involved him being in Venezuela on business.  Going out at a local restraunt he spotted the familiar purple Crown Royal logo among the mostly unfamiliar setting and it reminded him of home.

So now Dan Lowry’s name will be emblazoned on race tickets, race logo merchandise and the trophy that the winning driver will take home Saturday night.  He will enjoy pace-car laps and watching the race from the top of the #26 pit box.  He is also getting a feel for the sponsor commitments that drivers like McMurray are subject to every week.

The best part?  Dan gets to make the call of the most famous words in racing - “Gentlemen start your engines”.

We’ll get a chance to ask Mr. Lowry how the whole week went when we interview him ON PIT ROW next Tuesday, May 6th at about 6:15 pm EDT.  If you have any questions for the luckiest guy in NASCAR this week, send them to thepitcrew@onpitrow.com and we’ll ask Dan for you.

Jimmy Johnson says that Talladega Super Speedway is the perfect race track for NASCAR’s new car. JJ claims that the new pavement and the wide open spaces of Talladega will make for exciting four-wide racing, with more drivers taking chances in the relatively early championship season. The fall race - the first CoT restrictor plate experiment - was notably boring. Jimmy blamed that on a tight, late season, Chase for the Cup which forced drivers to be protective of their point standings and eschew risking involvement in Talladega’s famous “big one” wreck.

Johnson went on to say that the #48 team’s win at Phoenix International Raceway in the Cup Series’ most recent race was a confidence booster but maybe as important was the team’s second place finish the week before at Texas Motor Speedway. Success on the intermediate Super Speedways has lagged behind Hendrick Motorsports’ prowess on short tracks, road courses and plate tracks.

All of that adds up to a confident defending Cup Series Champion. But Johnson doesn’t have the best NASCAR Loop stats at Talladega. He is in fact tied for sixth best Driver Rating with Denny Hamlin. Neither driver leads any of the significant Loop stat categories. Johnson has led only 38 laps in the last six races at the Alabama track while Hamlin had 90 in only four races. Johnson’s results are more impressive with one win, four top fives and five top tens. Hamlin has one top five finish.

The Once and Future King of Talladega

The current king of Talladega is Johnson’s teammate Jeff Gordon. His top Driver rating of 98.5 is supported by Loop leading Ave. Mid Race Position of 8.3 and significantly, 300 laps led - 26.3% of all Loop laps - by far the most of any driver. Add in six career wins, 13 top fives and 16 top tens. Gordon would be the easy pick this week.

Kurt Busch has the second best Driver Rating at 95.0 and has the best Ave Finish and Position - 5.8 and 11.3. His 890 laps in the top 15 - 78.1% - and 1794 Quality Passes are series best as well. Busch has six top fives and 11 top tens at Talladega but has never won a restrictor plate race. The Blue Deuce has had a poor 2008 so far. There hasn’t been much evidence to make me think this will be the turn-a-round week.

Tony Stewart is third in Driver Rating at 93.1. Smoke has eight top fives, 11 top tens and zero ‘Dega wins. It’s hard to believe he can be kept out of victory lane much longer - this season or at this track.

The other drivers in the Talladega top five are Jamie McMurray and Brian Vickers. There’s nothing fluky about it either as they both have solid stats. First, they’ve both won restrictor plate races - McMurray at Daytona last July and Vickers at Talladega in 2006. Their Loop Driver Ratings are 92.6 and 91.5. Jamie has three top fives and four top tens while Vickers owns two top fives and three top tens at TSS.

Dale Earnhardt Jr is always a tempting choice at a plate race. He is a five time winner with seven top fives and nine top tens to temper his 11th best Driver Rating of 81.2. Junior was the top finishing Hendrick Motorsport driver at Daytona and he has been running up front all 2008 long. It would be hard to pick a more likely place for Jr to break his winless streak than at Talladega.

Who else? Points leader Jeff Burton is right behind Earnhardt with the 12th best DR of 79.3. Two top fives and ten top tens are pretty stout, but five DNF’s indicate plenty of involvement in Dega’s big ones.

Kevin Harvick has been a rock so far in 2008. His Driver Rating is 13th at 76.3 for Talladega and he has three top fives and seven top tens. Harvick is winless at Talladega - as are all of the other top twelve in Cup Series points besides Johnson and Jr. But Harvick won at Daytona and knows how to stay out of trouble with no DNF’s in 14 Talladega races.

This one looks like a Hendrick Motorsports win to me. I’m thinking Junior gets his win. Dark horse pick - McMurray.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Caption:  OK, which one of us is going to tell Jack we lost the sway bar?

Photo credit:  BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

It was a swift turn around of fortunes for the #49 team over the Easter break.

From not making races in Gillett Evernham Motorsports engined Dodges to qualifying on the fourth row at Martinsville in a Bill Davis Racing engined Toyota, Ken Schrader must believe his Sprint Cup fortunes may have made a turn for the better. Schrader must be considered the oddity in the top ten at the paper clip known as Martinsville. He joins pole sitter Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray and Kasey Kahne in the top seven. Gordon is no kid at 36, but not really considered a gray beard either.

Dismissing Gordon; at 52 years of age Schrader is over twice as old as the rest of the top 8, who’s average ages are just over 25. Kyle Busch rounds out the top eight qualifiers and must make Schrader feel like a chaperone on a third grade field trip to the zoo.

“The car was good all day and we were good here last year too. I’m just excited about the Toyota deal and working with Bill Davis some. I’ve always been a big fan of Bill Davis and Dave Blaney. New name on the car with Microsoft Small Business and a new manufacturer — we’re still one of those hooligans who doesn’t have their truck in here (infield), but we’ll pull it in tonight.”

Bill Davis Racing has to be happy to have a second car in the field as well. It’s well documented that the car they counted on to be thatr second car; to be driven by Jacques Villenuve, never materialized. This working agreement (don’t call it a merger–yet) with BAM could be just what the doctor ordered for two struggling teams. Rarely does the coming together of two down and out entities make for a full and rapid recovery to dominance. Just look to the corporate world and the merger of Kmart Corp and Sears. Putting those two together has not really set the world afire. The other good news is that there is finally sponsorship dollars to go into the Toyotas. BAM has signed Microsoft Small Business to foot the bill for the remainder of 2008.

In this instance though, at least for one week, BAM and Kenny Schrader can hold their heads high as they have cracked the kiddy corp and will start the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 up front with the fast guys. Where he will finish is another story. Many times these feel good stories have very short chapters. They’re easy to read, but end quickly.

I hope not. Kenny is one of the greatest guys in the sport.

photo credit: from Microsoft SMB Community Blog

Jamie McMurray started the day only four points short of the thirty fifth spot in Sprint Cup owners’ points. So close that climbing back into the warm and fuzzy side of NASCAR’s goofy qualifying bed was in easy reach, if only he could make this race on his own speed.  He did.

If he had not, the best case result for him would have been going into qualifying next week, 37 points out of 35th place.  It could have been a bunch worse.

Four drivers failed to make the field for the 2008 Goody’s Cool Orange 500.  John Andretti, Joe Nemechek, Tony Raines and Kyle Petty are out.  Petty, the highest placed of the go-homers, will be at least 93 points out of the top thirty five when he gets to Texas.

Kyle the Good wasn’t whining - Scene Daily story:

“We missed this race at Daytona when we had fuel-pressure problems. We missed this race at California when we had brake issues. We missed this race at Atlanta and Las Vegas when we don’t understand bump stops and they kicked our butts six ways to Sunday and we had two of them fail.

“And that was our fault. You don’t just show up at a race and miss it. You put yourself in a position months ahead of time to be in this
position and this is where you’re at.”

There has been speculation that Petty Enterprises would swap the points of Bobby Labonte’s #43 with Kyle in a move that would put the #45 solidly back in the top 35.  But today NASCAR denied a request by Michael Waltrip Racing  to swap the owner’s points of it’s #44 and #00 teams - a move that would have eased the pressure on the UPS sponsorship by taking that team from 34th to 30th.  NASCAR has ruled that point swaps may only happen during the off season and must be due to fundamental changes in a team.

So Kyle and the #45 will face a year of fighting to make races and then struggling to make up a big points deficit to the top thirty fivers.  Too bad.

When you watch Sunday’s race ask yourself why four or five more cars on that track would be a bad thing.

Picture credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

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