In The Tracks...

The N'wide Seris is off until Bristol. This weekend the Cup Series heads to Atlanta and is joined by the Truck Series. Kevin Harvick continues to lead the points with his Richard Childress teammate, Clint Bowyer in tow. Jimmie Johnson's second win in a row moves him closer to the point lead his quest for a fifth consecutive championship. Here's a schedule of events on TV for you to watch.

Jamie McMurray was so happy the race was finally over he couldn't hold back the tears. Or, was it because he won the biggest race of his career. McMurray won his first race with Ganassi years ago and this year he returned to Ganassi after leaving to drive for Roush-Fenway and in his first race back with the team he is back in victory lane once again.

The 2009 NASCAR Season is in the history books and what a historic year in NASCAR history 2009 was. Jimmie Johnson became the first in the history of the sport to capture four consecutive Sprint Cup championships. Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series championship with a huge lead over Carl Edwards. Then, there is Ron Hornaday Jr. who clinched the Camping World Truck Series championship at Phoenix with his truck owner, Kevin Harvick winning there and also the season finale at Homestead.

The first five inductees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame have been named for the May 23, 2010 ceremony. Those five are Bill France Sr, Bill France Jr., Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson. These five are a great foundation for building the Hall of Fame. Next year, another 25 will be nominated for the 2011 class of inductees.

Earlier this year, NASCAR announced the 25 Hall of Fame nominees and said that the first group would be five of these people. The time has now come to announce who those five people are to create the inaugural group of inductees. That time is Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 4 PM live on Speed TV.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke out in Michigan on Friday before the race and NASCAR responded by blowing off Junior's comments by saying that Junior is a struggling team out of reach of the Chase for the Championship that is frustrated by his lack of success. What Junior has to learn is this isn't his Father's NASCAR anymore. Mike Helton is running the show with Brian France sitting back out of the spotlight while his Grandfather's and Father's legacy is transformed into the new N-O-T (NASCAR of Tomorow).

Jeremy Mayfield was caught with a failed drug test performed by NASCAR, which ever since he's been fighting to no avail. The more he fights the indefinite suspension, which came as a result of the failed drug test, the more credibility he loses in the situation. It's time to walk away quietly and disappear for a long time.

After 6 races of double file restarts it seems to be working to provide some close finishes, but that is due to late race cautions, which seem to be happening to benefit the situation. During the middle of the race, there seems to be no real advantage as the field still sorts itself out and spreads out a bit following the cautions.

The 25 nominees for the first group of NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees were announced on Speed Thursday night. NASCAR will announce the five inductees when the Hall of Fame opens in downtown Charlotte in 2010.

NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France announced on Thursday night the official introduction of the double-file restarts to the Cup Series with the N'wide and Truck Series to follow at a later date. "We've heard the fans loud and clear, 'double-file restarts -- shootout style' are coming to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This addition to the race format is good for competition and good for the fans," said France during his announcement. Friday, NASCAR's Robin Pemberton held a press conference at Pocono Raceway to explain the new double-file restarts and answer some questions.

Will we have double file restarts at Pocono for the Cup Series? It seems like that is the plan as the cat was let out of the bag on Speed's "This Week In NASCAR" show. It sounded like they weren't supposed to say anything about it, but Michael Waltrip couldn't keep his mouth shut and let the cat out of the bag.

Let me first say that where it was an entertaining race as NASCAR races go, there were a couple points of the race that need some fine tuning. For instance, it was an All-Star race, what are rookies doing in the race that have never even won a Cup Series race. Specifically, I am talking about Sam Hornish Jr. and Joey Logano. However, there is the alleged rule changes that even the TV guys didn't know about. It is time we cleared up some things and protected the integrity of the term All-Star.

We all sit down and watch the NASCAR coverage on TV at Daytona and Talladega and they constantly talk about the safety features on the cars to keep the Bobby Allison and Richard Petty wrecks of the past a thing of the past. Then, we see Matt Kenseth in the Nationwide race at Talladega flip violently and catch fire. Why did he flip with all that safety equipment?

There are many changes for the 2009 season. So many that you'll need a score card this weekend for the first racing events at Daytona. We provide a condensed version in PDF format that you can print and have available as a quick reference to find out who is in what car during for the start of the season. You can also check out the table to view the details of how things will be for the start of the season.

On Monday, January 19, 2009, Richard Petty announced to the press that it was a deal breaker that George Gillett said he had no problem with and that was keeping the Petty legacy alive by naming the team Richard Petty Motorsports.

On Friday, January 16, 2009, Petty Holdings and Gillett Evernham Motorsports (GEM) announced an agreement in principle to merge for the 2009 NASCAR season. Both sides anticipate a final agreement by the end of January. The merger brings the 43 from Petty Holdings into the GEM fold to combine with the 9, 10 and 19 teams. The 10 car is currently prepared for an eight race season unless more sponsorship is found.

President Bush, set aside the proper role of government and handed the Big Three a $17.4 bailout. He said, "Under ordinary economic circumstances, I would say this is the price that failed companies must pay -- I would not favor intervening to prevent the automakers from going out of business. But these are not ordinary circumstances." So, where's the help for Mansfield Motorsports Park that had to shut it's doors "due to the economic times?"

Well, no matter on what the final version of the bill goes to President Bush now or President-Elect Obama in the future to sign, there will be some changes for NASCAR to deal with in 2010 or maybe sooner. Current thoughts by economists and politicians are that $34 billion in American taxpayer support won't be enough to help the situation without significant cuts by Ford, GM and Chrysler in both personnel and other expenses. It also calls for the research and development portions of the companies to focus on more efficient products. Even with those cuts and refocusing or more direct focusing on more efficient vehicles will most likely cut support dollars for NASCAR related development.

Where did the controversy come from at the finish of the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega? The blame goes to a couple different people. First, there is NASCAR, ABC/ESPN and in this instance to Regan Smith for breaking the rules, for which he was penalized. However, only Smith gets the penalty and he apparently didn't comprehend the rule NASCAR was using. The only penalty to NASCAR is the fan confusion.

This past weekend was a rough one for many families in the auto racing world. First, we lost Paul Newman on Friday, then Richard Bahre on Saturday followed by Perry Ricks Southall and Hal Hamrick on Sunday.

In the final round of qualifying at Englishtown, NJ for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Kalitta's car exploded as it went down the track and crashed at the end of the track. Kalitta was taken to Old Bridge Township Hospital where he was pronounced dead.