Oct 7, 2004

Kyle Busch has added two more Cup races to his schedule for this year. He'll be driving the #84 Carquest Chevy at Charlotte next weekend, and Atlanta at the end of the month.

Joe Gibbs Racing along with FedEx are planning what they call "A Major Announcement regarding the 2005 Nextel Cup season on October 13th. We already know they plan on racing next year, so we'll probably find out who the driver will be.

DRIVER MILESTONE
Michael Waltrip will make his 600th career Cup start this weekend at Kansas Speedway. His first was 19 years ago at the Coke 600, and has 35 top 5's, and 115 top 10 finishes.

ON TV
BUSCH SERIES QUALIFYING @ 2:30 p.m. Friday Speed

NEXTEL CUP QUALIFYING @ 4 p.m. Friday Speed

NEXTEL CUP HAPPY HOUR @ Noon Saturday Speed

BUSCH SERIES RACING @ 2 p.m. Saturday TNT

NEXTEL CUP RACING FROM KANSAS @ 2 p.m. Sunday NBC

All times are eastern

Oct 6, 2004

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s excitement in victory lane on Sunday cost him $10,000, 25 Championship points, plus gives up the points lead to Kurt Busch. Dale used profanity on national TV during the post race interview. Kurt Busch now leads by 12 points.

John Andretti has been inked as the driver of a new Cup team from PPC racing. John will drive the #14 Victory Brand / APlus Ford in most of the remaining 2004 races, and full time in 2005. PPC racing fields the Busch car for Jason Keller, and the Truck for Terry Cook.

Mark Martin will be doing triple duty in Atlanta in several weeks. He'll be driving in the ASA 150, Aarons 312 Busch race, and of course the Cup race in his #6 Ford.

POINT STANDINGS | BUSCH SERIES
5 David Green
4 Greg Biffle
3 Jason Leffler
2 Kyle Busch
1 Martin Truex Jr. is up by 152

POINT STANDINGS | TRUCK SERIES
5 Matt Crafton
4 Ted Musgrave
3 Carl Edwards
2 Dennis Setzer
1 Bobby Hamilton leads by 56

Oct 5, 2004

Dale Earnhardt Jr's points lead might be soon taken away, as he cursed on national television during his post race interview. NASCAR has penalized drivers in the past for this, usually money and championship points.

The Dodge Charger will be on the race track and showrooms in 2005. The Intrepid used by teams since coming back to racing in 2001 is being replaced by the new model with historical value. The Charger was in NASCAR from 1966-77 and had 124 total wins.

Terry Labonte will be making an announcement on October 12 as to what his future plans will be. There have been hints that he'll race a couple more years, but on a limited schedule.

POINT STANDINGS | CUP SERIES

1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. +13
2 Kurt Busch
3 Jeff Gordon
4 Mark Martin
5 Matt Kenseth
6 Tony Stewart
7 Ryan Newman
8 Elliott Sadler
9 Jimmie Johnson
10 Jeremy Mayfield -280

Still hanging on to 11th is Jamie McMurray

Oct 4, 2004

RACE RECAP | TALLADEGA

10 Ward Burton
9 Robby Gordon
8 Joe Nemechek
7 Casey Mears - battled back from speeding on pit road
6 Tony Stewart
5 Kurt Busch
4 Brendan Gaughan - best career finish
3 Dale Jarrett
2 Kevin Harvick

Victory Lane
1 - Coming from 10 on the last restart for the win Dale Earnhardt Jr. has done it again grabbing his 5th Talladega win in his last 7 starts. It's also his 5th win in 2004, and he takes over the points lead.

OTHER STORIES ON THE DAY

-Elliott Sadler had battery problems all day, and ended the race flipping across the start finish line in 22nd

-Jimmie Johnson clipped a car on pit road damaging his #48 Chevrolet, which led to overheating problems and a 37th place finish

-A multi-car wreck took out Chase driver Jeremy Mayfield whose season might be done now at 280 points back

-With 11 laps to go, cars entering pit road for a green flag stop caused a wreck between Bobby Labonte and Sterling Marlin

-On the final lap Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle wrecked, as the rest of the field made a mad dash to the finish

-Pit road seemed to be a problem for several teams, including the 41, 42, 77, 48, 9

TRUCK SERIES | CALIFORNIA
Todd Bodine took second place last week, and picked up the win this week at California Speedway