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Heading to Loudon, Carl Edwards trails by 127 points behind Kyle Busch and hopes to close the gap in the NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings. Carl finished in the top five at this race last year and hopes to take home the win Saturday when the race starts at 3PM on the ABC network.

Recently performance issues on the part of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano were at the top of the chart for the media and the race fans that follow the NASCAR Cup races.

A long time race watcher and former pit crewman for a top Cup team gave us his take on why Junior is having problems. “He’s consistently using up the car too early. He should just stay with the leaders and make his move at the end of the race.”

However, this past weekend’s Cup race at Dega did see Jr. around at the end of the race. But he was unable to capitalize on making the breaks go his way and had to settle for second. Either way it was a big improvement and maybe his luck is changing for the better.

FastCar Newsdesk for Talladega Superspeedway, week of 04/23/09

Let the games begin. As rumors about the status of drivers like Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. made minor waves a couple of weeks ago, talk of crew chiefs’ jobs became more than that this week. Wednesday, Richard Childress Racing announced that the entire crews of the No. 29 and driver Kevin Harvick and No. 07 and driver Casey Mears will switch, with the changes taking effect next week at Richmond International Raceway.

Brad Keselowski Had a good showing at Nashville Superspeedway last weekend, posting a third place finish after starting 19th in the field, but quickly headed to the front of the line with a fast car and great pit stops during the entire day.

“Joey Logano and Kyle Busch were pretty much the class of the field,” Keselowski said. “I just couldn’t get to them on those last couple restarts. I’m really pleased with this third-place run though for sure. I’m even more proud of my guys and the work they did on pit road. Getting me those five spots early in the race was key to our success and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work week in and week out.”

Our staff photographer, Steve Langley, had the privilege of spending last weekend at the Nationwide Series race at Nashville, Tennessee (article 1, article 2), which Joey Logano won, and took some additional photos.

Joey Logano might want to invest in lessons for the new Gibson, hand painted by artist Sam Bass, Les Paul edition guitar he won at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday. He took the lead for good with nine laps to go in the race to finish ahead of Kyle Busch. The pair of Joe Gibbs racing team members swapped the lead back and forth for a total of 172 of the 225 laps in the race.

Carl Edwards started on the pole but the strong Gibbs team was no match for Number 60 Save-A-Lot Foods Ford.

During Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Nashville SuperSpeedway, Joe Nemechek took a wild tumble through the frontstrech grass, turning over and landing back on the track, ending his day in a brand new car with only seven laps remaining in the race. The #87 car, driven by Nemechek, was listed as owner Andrea Nemechek with Crew Chief Phillippe Lopez, and Nationwide Insurance ‘Dash For Cash’ as sponsor.

Kyle Busch won the pole Thursday night for Saturday’s Nationwide Series O’Reilly 300. Busch won both of the Nationwide Series races at Texas Motor Speedway last year and has positioned himself for making it three consecutive.

Matt Kenseth will start second and Paul Menard qualified third. Fourth will show David Ragan with Jeff Burton rounding out the top five. Carl Edwards, Terry Cook, Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., and Joey Logano finish out the top ten.

Those that did not qualify were #40 Scott Wimmer, #43 Josh Wise, #26 Brian Keselowski, #49 Kertus Davis; and #31 Kerry Earnhardt.

Photo by MotorSportsNews.Net(work) photographer Steve Langley

NASCAR announced the broadcast schedule for the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Series race schedule on SPEED. It features coverage of NASCAR’s top developmental series on the leading cable network dedicated to motorsports. The 22-race calendar kicked off with the NASCAR Camping World Series West opener from Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas. The March 14 race will air on SPEED Thursday, April 2.

Kyle Busch takes the checkered flag coming out of turn four, winning the Food City 500 in Bristol Tennessee, with a commanding victory. He led 378 of the 503 laps ran due to the green-white-checkered flag.

A late race yellow flag brought out by #20 Joe Gibbs driver Joey Logano n lap 394 for a blown engine didn’t stop the charge by Denny Hamlin to try for a win, but Busch was determined to stay in front and take his second victory of the 2009 season.

Here we go, it’s Vegas time and with two races down and three to go, some teams may need to step it up to stay in the top 35.

One driver that may be in trouble is the Joe Gibbs #20 car of Joey Logano. He had a rough Daytona race that ended with him finishing 43rd after being involved in an accident. California was a little better when he started the race 34th and finished in the 26th position.

But the fact remains, Logano is currently sitting in the 37th place in points and once again heading to another track that he has no experience in a Sprint Cup car; Las Vegas.

(above photo by MotorSportsNews[dot]Net(work) photographer Steve Langley)

After an outstanding week of racing, the 500 has many favorites to win.

The clear-cut favorites are just about anyone from Hendrick, Roush, Joe Gibbs or RCR. But even within those camps, I think some drivers will fare better than others. Jimmie Johnson still has an excellent chance to win, but Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon are the two drivers that seem to have something to prove on Sunday. Both were exceptionally stout on Thursday and Martin’s last lap move over on Denny Hamlin made me sit up and take notice.

(photo courtesy of Icon Sports Media)

Dale Jr. is a fan favorite, but I still don’t see him winning his second 500 this year.

FastCar Newsdesk for Daytona 500, week of 2/12/09

Almirola and Kahne fastest in Wed. practices; Newman and McMurray find trouble

Practices three and four for the Daytona 500 took place Wednesday morning and afternoon. Each driver that has led a 500 practice session has been slightly surprising. Bill Elliott led both Saturday practices, backing that feat up by timing himself into Sunday’s race during time trials the following day. Kasey Kahne, driving a Dodge that has been slow for most of Speed Weeks and rookie Aric Almirola led Wednesday’s sessions.

Well after much owner point trading and buying over the last few days (there's a story in there for sure - maybe later) the final starting field for the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona is finally set.
Here is your starting line up:

One way or another, this will be an interesting season, and perhaps a year like we haven’t seen before. Economics may paint an up and down season for NASCAR across the board. While the Cup series may take the least beating, the Camping World and Nationwide series are far from safe this year. Both will probably struggle to fill the track with full fields throughout the year and there is a better than outside shot that may even happen in the Cup series.

But no matter who shows up at the track, fans will be watching. More may be watching from home this year as the economy furloughs more and more of us, but real fans have followed the sport through thick and thin. We just are in another thin period right now.