THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
Many of us overlooked the Stewart-Haas Racing alliance with Hendrick Motorsports. Powered by Hendrick engines and crews with Hendrick experience, Stewart led the points standings after the first 26 races. Newman also qualified for the Chase.
Now, with four Chase races remaining, Stewart is fourth in points and Newman is seventh. Newman was the fastest qualifier for Sunday's race at Martinsville and led 22 laps.
Recalling the start of the season, Newman said, "I really didn't have, per se, expectations. I know we had the potential and abilities . . .
"I feel we have done a very good job as a team and organization to get to where we are."
Looking ahead to 2010, Newman said, "We feel we should be able to expand upon this season and start building better and faster race cars."
After a year of racing together, he thinks he and crew chief Tony Gibson will have even better communication next year.
Newman finished third in a damaged race car in the spring race at Talladega. His No. 39 Chevrolet was clipped by Carl Edwards' airborne car. Newman has four top-five finishes at the Alabama superspeedway.
The 31-year-old Purdue graduate would like to collect a victory before the season ends. He hasn't won since last year's Daytona 500. Newman has 13 career Cup wins, but only two in the past 5 years.
When Jimmie Johnson took the lead early at Martinsville, I thought, "Oh, no, not again." Johnson, the Chase points leader, had won five of the last six races at the venerable Virginia oval.
Fortunately for fans who want to squeeze as much drama as possible out of the Johnson-dominated Chase, Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya had other ideas. Montoya led 37 laps before Hamlin seized control of the race.
When the Chase began, Montoya said he wasn't sure whether his No. 42 Chevrolet team was ready to win a championship.
Now, they know they will be a force in the Cup series next year. Competing in his first Chase, Montoya has been amazingly consistent in the 10-race high-speed tournament on wheels: three third places and two fourths. Only a 35th-place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway knocked him out of contention.
Hamlin, ninth in points, also must wait until next year. But, starting with Pocono in early August, he has won three of the season's last 12 races. That surge should give the No. 11 Toyota team momentum into 2010.
As noted last week, Mike and Chrissy Wallace will make history in the Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega on Saturday, when they become the first father-daughter to race against each other in a NASCAR national series event.
Chrissy, who has experience in truck and ARCA series races, was offered a softball scholarship at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C. She was a catcher.
"But, at the time, I was racing late-models, and that's when I started making my debut in NASCAR, so I had to make a choice," Chrissy said. "I made the choice of taking the NASCAR side."
Mike, whose racin' brothers are Rusty and Kenny, thinks his 21-year-old daughter has the Wallace genes.
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