NASCAR Daily News Headlines * August 24, 2008

Kyle Busch Wins Lap Leader Award

Busch scored a second-place finish in Saturday’s race, 1.969 seconds behind race winner Carl Edwards. He claimed his 15th top-five and 16th top-10 finish. For the second consecutive Sharpie 500, the driver leading the most laps has led more than 400. Kasey Kahne led 450 laps on his way to a second-place finish.

Busch is the leader in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings, 212 points ahead of second-place Carl Edwards. Busch leads Jimmie Johnson by four races (9-5) in the overall WIX Filters Lap Leader standings.

Yates Wants To Keep Two Cars

“Hopefully we can nail some things down where we can make some announcements,” Yates said. “It’s come a long ways. I think it’s looking a lot better. We’re trying to selling our teams with our drivers in place. That’s our primary objective. They have done a nice job for us this year and we are working on building some quality teams here.”

Yates indicated that the team has had conversations with Paul Menard, who could bring the family sponsorship from Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Menard said Friday that he has not made a decision on next year. Yates said Saturday that his organization’s focus right now is on Kvapil and Gilliland.(scenedaily.com)

Logano Confirmed For 20 Car

“Joey Logano … next year is going to be the [No.] 20 car,” said the Toyota official, who did not want to be named because a Monday announcement is expected by Joe Gibbs Racing.

Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Cup champion, announced earlier this season that he would leave Toyota after the 2008 campaign. Meanwhile, Logano, an 18-year-old native of Middletown, Conn., is viewed by many as NASCAR’S next big star. His talent has been praised by NASCAR’s top drivers, including Jeff Burton, winner of the NSCS Food City 500 in March at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“I’d put [Logano] in it in a heartbeat,” Burton said on Friday during a BMS press conference when asked if he would place Logano in an open driver’s seat if he owned a NASCAR Cup team. “It’s common now to take a kid you think has talent and put him in it. If I were the Gibbs group and that seat were available, that would be my candidate. I’d put him in there and I’d put my arm around him and say, ‘We’re with you.’ ”

Logano made his Nationwide Series debut on May 31 in the Helluva Good! 200 at Dover International Speedway in Delaware, finishing in sixth place. Logano then won his first Nationwide race two starts later on June 14, taking the checker in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway. The victory made Logano, who had just turned 18, the youngest-ever driver to win a Nationwide Series event.(tricities.com)

HoF Racing Using Various Drivers

“There’s just about everything you can imagine going on in this garage, people talking to people,” Garfinkel said in the Bristol Motor Speedway garage. “The funny thing is that the rumors that I hear we’re involved with we’re not and the ones I don’t hear about are the ones [we’re talking with]. We’re evaluating all our options for next year … to be able to build a great team and be competitive in the future.”

Garfinkel said the team would like to stay with Toyota but it might change depending on what happens. “As we look at other teams’ situations, some of them require different manufacturers and we’re having those conversations as well,” Garfinkel said.

As far as a driver, the team had Ken Schrader in the car at Bristol. It likely will put Joey Logano in the car later this year, but Garfinkel said he would not comment on those reports until after Joe Gibbs Racing’s announcement Monday, where it is expected that Logano will be named the full-time driver of the No. 20 Cup car next year.

The team used Brad Coleman at Michigan and plans to use him more. He will participate in a Goodyear tire test this week at Kansas Speedway. As far as 2009, it could depend on whether Hall of Fame increases to two or more cars with a merger or acquisition.

“We obviously still think a lot of Brad and [are] trying to get him ready,” said Garfinkel, whose team is outside the top 35 by 241 points. “At the same time … we want to put ourselves in the best position every weekend.”(scenedaily.com)

Family Race Night Accident Leaves Woman In Critical Condition

It was the close of Food City Family Race Night around 9 p.m. Thursday, and Daniels was among the vendors busily collapsing tents and packing away displays. She apparently failed to see the truck at her back as she knelt to wrestle with her own display tent.

Bristol, Va., police called it a freak accident with no one to blame. But Daniels’ father, Charlie J. Smith, of Kingsport, Tenn., argues that someone should be held accountable for her cracked ribs and punctured lung. It’s too early to tell whether Daniels, a writer for local magazine The Loafer, will make a full recovery. She is being treated at the Bristol Regional Medical Center.

“It took three people just to get her out!” Smith said by telephone on Friday. “I just couldn’t believe they didn’t charge this guy with anything or give him a drug test.”

Operating the rig was Gregory Anthony Hunchuck, a driver for Speedway Children’s Charities, headquartered at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. The charity, with a branch in Bristol, Tenn., collects donations through its racing connection and distributes the money to non-profit organizations.

Officials for Speedway Children’s Charities could not be reached at their headquarters on Friday. A secretary who answered the phone said they were all in Bristol for this weekend’s races.(tricities.com)