The Final Score

The first race of NASCAR's Chase for the Cup takes place in the wonderful state of New Hampshire, home to one of my favorite towns anywhere: Portsmouth. But I digress.

In the latest NASCAR video from the Newsday multimedia team of Katie Strang and Bobby Cassidy, various drivers talk about this weekend's race in New Hampshire.

Another video courtesy of the Strang/Cassidy team.

To help promote their 10-race playoff point system, called the Chase for the Cup, NASCAR brought the 12 drivers competing for the title to NYC yesterday.

Newsday's Bobby Cassidy and Katie Strang caught up with many of the drivers, and they've agreed to unveil their videos on The Final Score each week.

Here's the first:

About to head into the city to meet with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is in New York this week along with the 11 other drivers involved in the Chase for the Sprint Cup - NASCAR's 10-race playoff system to determine this year's champion.

The NASCAR people offered us here at TFS an opportunity to interview Dale Jr., and of course we said yes. Thus, now I must leave you guys to prepare by reading his Wikipedia page.

Lewis Hamilton was stripped of his victory in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Rather than trying to translate British into English or figure out what a chicane is, here's what the UK's Telegraph said:

The McLaren driver won the race on the track, but was later given a 25-second penalty. He was judged to have gained an unfair advantage by cutting a chicane while disputing the lead with Kimi Raikkonen. That dropped Hamilton to third place and gifted victory to his closest title rival, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.

Stewart, a three-times F1 world champion and former grand prix team owner, believes the race stewards made a mistake. “I was more than surprised by what happened,” he said, “and I really don’t think Hamilton did anything wrong.

More here.

Random drug testing is likely to be expanded for the 2009 season, chairman Brian France said.

I guess that was bound to happen once former truckie Aaron Fike (pictured) admitted that he was using heroin during races.

Here's a Charlotte Observer story via thatsracin.com.

How's this? Here I am at the U.S. Open in the media center (waiting for the night session to begin), blogging about NASCAR and I have the Yankees game on my tv.

Anyway...

Here's the deal with NASCAR - the league placed Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards on probation for the next six weeks in the wake of their post-race altercation Saturday night at Bristol.

You remember the incident. I blogged about it here.

Here's the two-time champ's answers to YOUR questions.

Your time is running out to ask NASCAR's two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson a question. I'll be talking to him tomorrow. So make sure to leave a question.

Make sure to submit your questions for Jimmie Johnson.

We have nine questions posted here, another nine here and one here.

We're talking to Jimmie tomorrow morning, so time is running out.

Get those questions in!

Carl Edwards won last night at Bristol, his second straight victory, third in four weeks and sixth this season. But this one came with some controversy.

I didn't see it because I was watching another Carl, but from reading the stories here's what I gathered. Edwards couldn't pass Kyle Busch, who led for 415 straight laps. So Edwards nudged his bumper on lap 470, and that opened enough room to get by him.

So is that move acceptable? What do you say? Here's Edwards' explanation: "I couldn't get by him, and I just had to ask myself, `Would he do that to me?' And he has before, so that's the way it goes."

Apparently Busch disapproved and let Edwards know about it by bumping his car during his cool-down lap. Edwards responded by "driving the nose of his car into the right side of Busch's," according to The Associated Press story.

Pretty cool stuff, I must say.

This is from Jimmie Johnson's Web site:

Lowe's driver Jimmie Johnson is so determined to finally win at Bristol, he's making his Truck Series debut this week to get extra seat time at the track. "Every lap that I make on a track, the more I learn and the rhythm comes to me," he said. "That's really a big part of Bristol."

Left unsaid, of course, is that he would really like a win going into his big Q&A with The Final Score on Tuesday. Remember, I'll be asking Jimmie YOUR questions (except for my question about why he spells his name Jimmie instead of Jimmy, or just Jim).

So far we have nine questions here and another nine here. Keep asking!

Hey, loyal TFS readers, to honor the end of NASCAR month here on the blog, we have the two-time champ lined up for next Tuesday. Jimmie Johnson will answer your questions.

So let's see some questions! We have five already in the bank here. Keep 'em coming!

(I have a question of my own, and that's why does he spell his name Jimmie. Being that I come from the same first name family as he does, I'm interested to hear why he and his family chose Jimmie over Jimmy. But that's me.)

Until then read our previous NASCAR Q&As:
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Jeff Burton
- Brian Vickers

Martin Truex Jr.'s answers to YOUR questions are after the jump. Enjoy!!!

Bigtime penalties handed down against Joe Gibbs' racing team. Here they are, courtesy of the AP:

- Suspended Jason Ratcliff, crew chief of the No. 18 car, and Dave Rogers, crew chief of the No. 20, indefinitely and fined them $50,000 each.

- Suspended No. 18 car chief Dorian Thorsen, engine tuner Michael Johnson and crew member Toby Bigelow and No. 20 car chief Richard Bray and engine tuner Dan Bajek indefinitely.

- Docked 150 Nationwide driver points from Tony Stewart and Joey Logano.

- Docked 150 Nationwide owner points from Joe Gibbs for both cars.

- Placed the entire teams, including both drivers, on probation through Dec. 31.

Joe Gibbs' statement comes after the jump...

Although Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson remain the favorites to win the chase, is there any chance that Matt Kenseth could sneak up and win the whole thing?

It's a longshot, but though Kenseth hasn't won a race this season, he has finished in the top five in five races and was in the top 10 a total of 13 times.

Your thoughts?

Next Tuesday two-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson will be giving me a call, and I will ask him YOUR questions. So post your questions here.

And check back tonight or tomorrow to read the Q&A I just did with Martin Truex Jr.

But because I'm at Shea Stadium getting ready to go downstairs to the clubhouse, I don't have time to transcribe it. Maybe later tonight. Or tomorrow. But eventually it will go online. Sorry for the delay. And don't forget next week's Q&A is Jimmie Johnson!

NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr., who is 16th in the point standings, will answer your questions tomorrow. Post your questions for Martin in the comments section.

In the meantime, read our past Q&As with Jeff Burton and Brian Vickers.

It certainly seems that way according to this story about the Joe Gibbs racing team.

We may have to rethink the rest of NASCAR month on The Final Score.

Can you NASCAR enthusiasts who have been putting up questions for drivers explain to me what all this means?

Give it to me in baseball terms: Is this getting caught with a corked bat (not that big a deal), using steroids (huge deal) or betting on your own team (biggest deal of all)?