Garage Notes

This week from the NASCAR Nationwide Series garage at Nashville :

by Racin' Roger

Reaction to Kyle Busch’s smashing of the Sam Bass/Gibson Guitar, the Nashville trophy, Saturday night ranged from outrage to biting of tongues. Carl Edward refused to comment on the situation, but he did say that wouldn’t do that to his Nashville trophies. Brad Keselowski said “ I don’t win enough of those things to smash any”. A lot of heads were shaking that night.

With word of Roger Penske agreeing to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors, many wondered if Penske Racing would complete the final three years of their contract with Dodge. Although Penske did state that he hoped to get Saturn involved in racing, he qualified it by saying he had no immediate plans to involve Saturn with NASCAR. There did not appear to be a lot of ‘believers’ in the garage.

Bobby Hamilton Jr is the fourth driver for 2009 in the Pat McDonald 81 car in the NNS.
After running both Dover and Nashville, there is no word yet how long he will drive the 81 car. DJ Kennington, who drove 26 races last year and 6 this year in the car, is back running the Canadian Tire Series.

After struggling early in the race at Nashville, Shelby Howard, in the No. 70 Foretravel Motorcoach Chevy, finished in 12th, the third top 15 in his five starts for ML Racing. Crew Chief Brian Ross and his crew worked both days to tweak the new car for Howard. Going from 35th to 12th, it seems the hard work paid off.

JGR is planning for both Kyle Busch and Joey Logano to double duty this weekend at Kentucky (NNS) and Michigan (NSCS). As a back up plan Brad Coleman and Jeremy Clements will be standing by for Busch and Logano at Kentucky.

Despite getting caught up in a wreck that ended the night early for rookie Trevor Bayne, the 99 crew of Michael Waltrip Racing remained upbeat as they look ahead to the 18 year old wheeling the No. 99 Toyota this week at Kentucky. Latest word is that a ninth race has been added to Bayne’s schedule in the 99 car.