Ragan, Sauter, Reutimann Score Career-Best Finishes At Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. — Hardly anyone noticed the third-place effort of rookie David Ragan on Saturday night at Richmond Int’l Raceway, but the 21-year-old from Unadilla, Ga., sounds like he's beginning to get this whole Nextel Cup thing.
The Roush Fenway racer was in the middle of a fierce battle between Chase contenders on the way to his best finish since a fifth in the Daytona 500.
“Considering that you are in The Chase and fighting for that championship, you’ve got to race ’em with a little bit of extra caution,” Ragan said. “You don’t want to do anything stupid to jeopardize their good run for the night. They gave me some good racing room, but when you have a good car, everything just works out pretty easy.”
Two other drivers posted the best finish of their career. Johnny Sauter was fifth and David Reutimann 13th.

• Friday afternoon, Jeff Burton’s No. 31 Chevrolet wasn’t dressed in plain orange and black, as Richard Childress Racing was given permission to apply the logos of sponsor AT&T back on the car.
There is one condition. The agreement with NASCAR and series title sponsor Sprint Nextel means the team’s cars, uniforms and equipment can carry the AT&T name and logos through the end of the 2008 season. AT&T must be long gone by 2009.

• Don’t think for a second Mark Martin doesn’t understand the significance of driving the No. 8 made famous by the departing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Next season, he’ll split duties in Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s U.S. Army-sponsored Chevrolet with Aric Almirola.
“It’s very important to this company and it’s part of keeping Dale Earnhardt’s legacy alive,” Martin said. “I’m sorry for the ones that don’t like it, but for the ones that do, I appreciate them. I talked to Richard Childress, and it was very important to me to have the blessing from RCR as well as the rest of the Earnhardt family because it was a very touchy subject.”
Regan Smith signed to drive a fourth car, with number and sponsor to be named later. Officials from JC Penney reportedly visited DEI headquarters on Friday. Martin Truex, Jr. and Paul Menard will both return to the team.

• Don’t worry, Junior Nation. Just because Earnhardt isn’t in The Chase doesn’t mean he won't be dominating headlines. Earnhardt’s new car owner, Rick Hendrick, expects Junior’s number and sponsor to be revealed in the next two weeks.
“It’s not going to be the No. 8. Nor the No. 25,” Hendrick said. “We hope that it’s going to be probably something with the No. 8 in it, but we really don’t have that locked in right now.”
Early last week, it was announced that Casey Mears in 2008 will drive the No. 5 vacated by Kyle Busch. The team’s No. 25? “I hate to see the number go,” Hendrick said.

• Speaking of Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet announced a multi-year extension with the six-time championship-winning team. The relationship goes back nearly three decades.
“All the years that we’ve been in racing,” Hendrick said, “Chevrolet has always given us the tools and the engineering to remain up front.”
Earnhardt was on hand, sitting behind Hendrick and the General Motors brass along with his three new teammates — Mears, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

• The reaction to what everyone already knew, that Joe Gibbs Racing was indeed leaving Chevrolet for Toyota, was minimal.
“That doesn’t mean much to me,” Hendrick said. “I’ve got to compete against them. They’re good friends and they’ve got good race teams. Joe actually, when he started, came down and I built cars for him and rented him engines. It’s good to see them have the success over the years that they’ve had.
“As far as we’re concerned, we just compete against everybody in the garage area. It’s not going to be any different to us.”
It was announced Sept. 5 that JGR, a winner of three championships, will field Toyota Camrys in the Sprint Cup and Busch series in 2008, ending a 16-year relationship with General Motors that began with the 1992 Daytona 500.

• Jimmie Johnson’s victory locked up the manufacturer’s championship for Chevrolet, its 31st title since 1952. “I can’t believe we’ve clinched this early,” said Johnson, who, along with eight other drivers, has contributed to Chevy’s 19 wins in 26 races.

• Ricky Rudd, with 900 starts spanning 32 years, missed his first race because of injury. He's not sure he can make it back, either, and announced earlier this year that this would be his last in Nextel Cup.
Rudd separated his left shoulder in a crash Sept. 2 at California Speedway. Kenny Wallace drove the No. 88 Ford at Richmond.
Could California have been Rudd’s final race?
“I don’t know,” Rudd said. “There’s 11 weeks of racing if you count this weekend, so I don't know. I hope it’s not my last race. I’m not planning on that, but we’ll just face it one week at time.”

• When Earnhardt defected for Hendrick Motorsports, crew chief Tony Eury, Jr. knew all along he’d follow.
“I kind of always had it in my mind if I ever had an opportunity to work for Rick that I would,” Eury said. “I’m leaving a lot of guys that I’ve been with for seven or eight years. That’s the downfall. But when you’re in this business and you can go forward, that’s what you’ve got to do.”

• Among the participants in the Car of Tomorrow test earlier this week at Talladega Superspeedway was Jacques Villeneuve. It’s another step for the former Formula One champion, who's scheduled to make his NASCAR debut when he drives a Bill Davis Racing truck Sept. 22 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

• J.J. Yeley isn’t leaving Joe Gibbs Racing without a fight. He finished 10th Saturday night — the fifth top-10 finish of his career. The 2003 USAC Triple Crown champion has 10 races remaining with JGR before moving to Hall of Fame Racing’s No. 96 Chevrolet in 2008.
“When you leave an organization like Joe Gibbs Racing, one of the top teams in NASCAR, you want to try to make the right step to be more successful,” Yeley said. “I’ve never had to make a decision this difficult in my life, but I’m confident Hall of Fame will be competitive week-in and week-out.”
Two executives with baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks recently purchased majority interest in the team owned by former NFL quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. Jeff Moorad, chief executive officer of the Diamondbacks, and Tom Garfinkel, the chief operating officer, are the controlling owners of Hall of Fame Racing.

• Joe Lax, crew chief for the No. 36 Toyota driven by Jeremy Mayfield, was fined $25,000, suspended until Sept. 19 and placed on probation until Dec. 31 for rules violations at California. Prior to qualifying, the car was found to have an “improperly attached weight; weight installed inside water container.”