NASCAR Daily News Headlines * October 31, 2009

Cup Qualifying Rained Out

RPM Penalizes Allmendinger

“Obviously it was my fault,” said Allmendinger, who was cited by Mooresville (N.C.) Police on Thursday for having a blood alcohol content level of 0.08 percent, according to police reports. “It was a bad decision. I wish I could take it back. I’d do anything to be able to take it back, but that’s life, you can’t. So all I can do is go out there and learn from it and be a lot better person from it, which I will be, and hopefully educate other people that you don’t have to have a ton of drinks to [be] drunk.

By announcing that he was put on probation through next year, RPM indicated that Allmendinger will keep his job. The team also fined him $10,000, which will be donated to charity.

Allmendinger said he understood NASCAR asking him to take a breath test and didn’t question any of the penalties imposed.

Before speaking about the incident, Allmendinger changed out of his uniform and wore a Richard Petty Motorsports shirt. The team positioned him away from the team hauler and none of the sponsors showed in the background of his interview.

“We are disappointed with his actions,” the Richard Petty Motorsports statement read. “AJ has told us that he has accepted full responsibility for his actions and will do what is right. We have placed AJ on probation through the end of the 2010 racing season. In addition, he will be fined $10,000, which will be donated to charity.”

Busch Wins Talladega Truck Race

The last remark was tongue-in-cheek, given that Busch provides driving services to Ballew without compensation. Almirola was thrilled to get the 1-2 finish for Ballew, but he was disappointed not to be the "1" in the equation. -- "I'm just proud of Billy Ballew and all these guys on his race team, man," Almirola said. "His 300th start -- for him to win in that fashion, that was pretty cool. Everybody said in practice that when me and Kyle got hooked up, it didn't matter who was in front or behind. We were just really, really fast. -- "I'm just disappointed. I told Billy before the race started that I wanted it to be a 1-2 finish, but I wanted to be '1' some kind of bad." -- To Bodine, the difference was the help Almirola was able to give to Busch. -- "Kyle had a teammate right behind him, and that's what you have to have in (superspeedway) racing," said Bodine, who took the lead on Lap 97 with a push from Crafton only to fall to third at the end.

The race concluded with a green-white-checkered flag finish that took the event four laps beyond its scheduled distance of 94 laps. Busch led the field to a restart on Lap 97 after contact between, Bodine, Mike Skinner and Johnny Sauter ignited an 11-truck wreck on the backstretch on Lap 91. Heavily damaged in the melee was the No. 33 Chevrolet of series leader Ron Hornaday Jr., who lost two laps and finished 17th. Matt Crafton, second in the standings, came home 10th and trimmed Hornaday's lead to 202 points. -- Terry Cook finished fourth, followed by David Starr and Mario Gosselin. Stacy Compton, Dennis Setzer, Justin Hobgood and Crafton completed the top 10. Toyota swept the top five places and clinched the series manufacturers championship.
Final Race Results...     Mountain Dew 250 Results
Point Standings...     After Mountain Dew 250

Colin Braun On Truck Pole

Braun turned a fast lap of 179.608 mph during Friday’s qualifying session at Talladega, edging out Terry Cook, who had a run of 178.188 mph. Braun also won the pole for the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, giving him a sweep of NASCAR’s two restrictor-plate tracks. Erik Darnell did the same thing last year while driving in the Truck Series for Roush Fenway.

“Roush has pretty much had a lock on the poles at the superspeedway races for the last couple of years,” Braun said. “It’s certainly good to keep that going. My hat’s off to all the guys. They’ve done a fabulous job on this truck.

“We hadn’t been to the wind tunnel in a year, so that just goes to show the hard work that these guys have done back at the body shop and the fab shop. It certainly shows the great Roush-Yates power that we have. It’s just a pleasure to drive that truck, and I’m excited for tomorrow.”

Italian-born driver Max Papis qualified third with a qualifying run of 178.052 mph in only his second visit to Talladega Superspeedway. Afterward, he sounded as excited as if he had won the pole himself.

“That’s a big thing for me,” Papis said with a wide smile. “Just let me enjoy what it means to be in the top five. It’s just huge. I know it’s only qualifying, but I’d like to enjoy every second of it.”

Jason White qualified fourth with a speed of 177.959, followed by Aric Almirola in fifth (177.587). Todd Bodine, who has won the past two Truck Series races at Talladega Superspeedway and the past four races at restrictor-plate tracks, qualified sixth (177.554). Rounding out the top-10 were Matt Crafton (177.468) in seventh, Truck Series rookie Tayler Malsam eighth (177.468), Stacy Compton ninth (177.379) and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular Kyle Busch 10th (177.337)

Chrissy Wallace turned in a better qualifying effort that her father, Mike Wallace. Chrissy Wallace will start 27th while Mike Wallace qualified 33rd.

Truck Series points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. qualified 13th, Mobile native Rick Crawford was 16th and Birmingport native Mike Harmon was 37th. Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Steve Park qualified 31st in his first Truck Series race in three years.