Jeff Hammond: Sources Say Dale Jr. Will Sign With Gibbs Racing
Jeff Hammond, FOX television racing analyst, says some inside sources are telling him that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will sign to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, starting next year. Hammond also says that an un-named shoe company and Visa will share sponsorship on the car. The only sticking point in the whole deal is Earnhardt Jr. says he wants to remain with a team that runs Chevrolets and speculation has it that Gibbs Racing has been in talks with Toyota.

"As I have said, I want to continue driving Chevrolets. That spells it out pretty good for a lot of people," said Earnhardt Jr. "Chevrolet has been good to me. They have complimented my Busch Series program. They have supported me and complimented me in my career. And just for a couple of extra bucks, I wouldn't want to go drive for another manufacturer. I don't have those relationships with those other manufacturers although I am sure there are great people working there."

Kevin Hamlin Fired By Bill Davis Racing
It was unexpected to hear that Kevin Hamlin, crew chief for the No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, Bill Daving Racing driver Dave Blaney, had been released of his duties from the team. Blaney had missed making the field this past Friday in qualifying. Blaney was the only Toyota driver to make all the races this season until the past two events. Blaney was 36th in Nextel Cup points and was forced to make the field on time, which he failed to do.

"With the competition as strong as it is, we just didn't feel like we were moving forward," said Tommy Baldwin, BDR's competition director. "We had to do something, had to find that spark that would get the No. 22 moving in the right direction. We need to get both cars up to speed and we'll keep digging until we get there."

Hamlin was once the crew chief for the late Dale Earnhardt, winning the first of five races at Talladega Superspeedway in 1999. Hamlin left Richard Childress Racing several years ago when Childress brought in an alcohol sponsorship to the company. Jack Daniels backs the No. 07 car driven by Clint Bowyer and Hamlin was opposed to alcohol sponsorship.

Chip Williams Sentenced To 26 Years
One time Public Relations representative for Petty Enterprises and former NASCAR PR Manager of Communications, Richard Norman "Chip" Williams, was sentenced in Federal Court for sexual abuse of a minor. U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen Sr. sentenced Williams to 26 years and stated "This, by far, involves more torture and forms of activity than the court has ever seen in a case of this nature,"

Williams, 49, started his relationship with a girl on the internet when she was only eleven years old, was arrested in January 2006 in a sting operated by the Guilford County Sheriff's Office. He was charged in federal court with using a computer to entice a child into sexual activity and coercing a minor into sexual activity for the purpose of making pornography. In December, Williams plead guilty to charges of sexual abuse of a minor, enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and sexual exploitation of a child. He still faces additional charges from the state of North Carolina.

Williams read a prepared statement, apologizing for the pain he has caused the victim and the damage to his own family. "I am sorry," Williams said. "I am so sorry for what I've done and the humiliation I've brought into the lives of so many people." He also apologized to his wife and two sons, ages 11 and 15. It was widely reported that Williams may have had sexual contact with as many as 50 underage girls and boys.

Edwards Wins Busch Race At Dover
Carl Edwards looked to be unbeatable last Saturday afternoon at Dover International Speedway. Edwards put a stranglehold on the Busch Series points championship by winning the Dover 200. Only 14 races into a 35 race season, Edwards now leads by 472 points over Kevin Harvick and 666 over third place Dave Blaney. It was the third win this season for Edwards, all on concrete tracks, Bristol, Nashville and Dover. Edwards mentioned to his crew late in the race that he "had a good car and wasn't afraid to use it. There were times in the race it was so good, I thought all we could do is screw this up," said Edwards. And then we had that final pit stop and I thought there we did – we screwed it up. Just a small slip up and that’s how competitive it is in the Busch series, we just had a real small slip up on pit road and we went back there, then it got really nerve racking. PK (crew chief Pierre Kuettel) and I were both in the same boat thinking you can’t lose a race with a car that good; it would really make Jack Roush mad. It worked out. It was great." -- Edwards led the most laps -- 120 of 200.

The race was slowed by one red flag and eleven caution periods, the last one coming on the final lap as cars were strewn all over the track. It took NASCAR timing and scoring a while to get the mess sorted out. Pole sitter Denny Hamlin finished second after some spirited battles with Matt Kenseth and Scott Wimmer. "We knew we were running for second after about Lap 100," said Hamlin. "They just outclassed us today." Wimmer held on to third spot and Casey Mears, winner of last week's Coca-Cola 600, was fourth. Australian Marcos Ambrose finished fifth followed by Kevin Harvick, Tony Raines, Mike Bliss and Bobby Hamilton Jr. to round out the top ten. The Busch Series moves to Nashville Superspeedway next Saturday, June 9th, for the Federated Auto Parts 300 -- The race is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Eastern time and will be carried on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

Yates Stays With Ford
Nextel Cup team owner Robert Yates and Ford, it seems, have been linked for years. And it will remain that way. Yates has signed a five-year extension with the manufacturer, he told ESPN.com on Friday morning. "What it says to me is that Ford intends to win on Sundays and Mondays, and they're committed," Yates said. "We're happy they're happy with us. It's nice we have signed the thing."

This ends any speculation that Robert Yates Racing was looking elsewhere. What the five-year deal offers Yates is some stability and credibility as he continues talks with potential business partners. "The fact is, it's organizational racing now and not individual racing," Yates said. "We have been talking to different people and they ask, 'What manufacturer are you with? How strong is that? How long term is it?' [This contract] puts a lot to bed. We have a good relationship with Ford, and we continue to."

Clearly, Yates is upbeat about the future. He said his team is financially healthy with "zero debt and quite a lot of money in the bank," he said. "I'm OK, but what I want to do is race and win," Yates said.(ESPN)

Why Dale Jr. Dropped The Penalty Appeal
The following is from Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s PR -- Pyramid Public Relations -- explaining why he dropped the appeal on the penalty from NASCAR. The crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. was fined $100,000 for illegal wing brackets at Darlington and the team was penalized 100 points in the NASCAR Nextel Cup point standings. Eury Jr. also was suspended for six weeks.

Said Earnhardt on his XM Satellite radio show, “Dale Jr. – Unrestricted”: "Well sometimes you can go get your appeal and actually get a worse penalty and there was a possibility, there were some discussions about forcing the eight car to have to qualify into every event...Taking away our top 35 exempt deal where we were automatically locked in the field, so we were worried that if we went to appeal and it didn't go, you know somebody said a cross word and upset somebody or something didn't go right it could become a worse penalty and decided to drop it and just take our lickings."

NASCAR May Loosen Testing Policy
NASCAR is considering opening up its restrictive testing policy, which several teams already have skirted this season. Currently, rules limit teams to seven tests on Nextel Cup-sanctioned tracks, and crew chiefs help NASCAR decide the venues and dates. NASCAR adopted that policy two years ago to help underfunded teams keep up with big-budget organizations, who could afford to test anytime. But as the Car of Tomorrow was rolled into competition, the top teams found ways to test it outside of the rules.

“It appears that we’ve got teams that want to test more and teams that want to test less, and teams that test on tires that are not made by our tire supplier,” Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. So we’re going to start looking at a lot of different things, from eventually lifting the test ban completely, or get as restrictive as we cannot let teams test anywhere at any time, or land somewhere in between.”

NASCAR most likely will relax the restrictions, because it’s having a hard time policing teams. More than 20 teams tested Tuesday and Wednesday at Virginia International Raceway, a road course where they could simulate the June 24 race in Sonoma, Calif. Because VIR is not a sanctioned track, any team can go there and still be within NASCAR’s guidelines. But teams can’t use current Goodyear tires because of a leasing agreement intended to prevent extracurricular testing. To circumvent the lack of available tires, teams have started using other manufacturers for test sessions. They also snapped up much of Goodyear’s inventory from 2005 and earlier.(msnbc.msn.com)

Coca-Cola 600 Ratings Off 11.8%
Fox's broadcast of Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Nextel Cup race from Lowe's Motor Speedway earned a final Nielsen Media Research rating of 4.5 and a 10 market share, Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Daily reports.

The rating is 11.8 percent lower than the 5.1/11 the race earned last year. The NASCAR race, however, again outdrew ABC's coverage of Sunday's Indianpolis 500, which earned a 4.3. ABC's ratings for the IndyCar event were down 15.7 percent from a 5.1 last year, the Daily reported. The open-wheel Indy race had earned a 4.6 overnight rating, edging the 4.5 the Cup race drew overnight in the nation's largest markets.(scenedaily.com)

Evernham Close To Sale
Ray Evernham expects to finalize the sale of an unspecified portion of his Nextel Cup Series operation to Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett Jr. within 60 to 90 days, the team owner told ESPN.com on Tuesday.

"It's not done, but we're working on it pretty hard," Evernham said. "Honestly, I'm flying to Chicago and we're hammering through some things. Things are looking really positive, but it's not done. Quite honestly, it's not going to be done for another 60 to 90 days. It takes a long, long time, but it looks good. We've agreed to go forward, but there's so much legal stuff that's got to be done. It takes months. I feel positive it'll get done. I really do."

Evernham chose not to divulge the exact percentage of his company Gillett would acquire, but did say both gentlemen would have a "substantial stake in the business side of things." Evernham also said he would still run EMS' day-to-day operations. Evernham said there are multiple contracts to wade through and further due diligence to complete. Once done, Evernham says the deal would instantly elevate EMS toward the Nextel Cup elite.

"Right now we're getting further and further behind, resource-wise, for two reasons: people like Rick [Hendrick] and Bobby Ginn and [Joe] Gibbs have got a lot more money to spend, and now [Gillett] will fix a lot of that problem for me, for stability," Evernham said. But he's going to allow me to get back more on the car side, which is where I really want us to get back and work with the guys. It's a home run for me to get this thing done."

Evernham cited Gillett's many business interests, including ownership of the Canadiens' National Hockey League franchise and Liverpool Football Club soccer team, as key elements to the potential business-to-business -- and therefore sponsorship -- opportunities this deal would create.(espn.go.com)