Rain At Michigan ~ 4 Updates ~ Will Race Tuesday
According to RaceWeather.net, the website is forecasting a 60% chance of rain in the Jackson, Michigan area (Michigan International Speedway) for Sunday and at this point, the outlook for Monday is calling for 60% chance of rain also. NASCAR has not called the race as of 10 a.m. Eastern time and will do everything possible to get it in on Sunday. The ramifications? If the race cannot be run on Sunday or Monday, then NASCAR would try for Tuesday, but that would be the last attempt. Some of the NASCAR crewmen and officials have to be in Bristol, Tennessee for a Craftsman Truck Series race on Wednesday. NASCAR spokesman, Ramsey Poston, said more than likely if the race is called, NASCAR would probably run the race at the end of the season, if at all. NASCAR did this a few years ago when a rainout occurred at New Hampshire International Speedway, before the "Chase" was implemented. How this would impact the Chase for the Championship would be the question at this point. NASCAR will explore all options before making a decision, including coming back to Michigan to race on the next Monday (August 27th). Stay tuned for further updates on the status of the 3M Performance 400 Nextel Cup Series race.  ...Daily Headlines
Update No. 1
NASCAR said they were not considering coming back on the 27th of August to run the race. At 1:30 p.m. NASCAR will take another look at the local radar decide then what the direction of the race will be. It has stopped raining at the track and eight jet dryers are on the track. Also pre-race activities are taking place and the driver introductions are expected to go as scheduled, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Update No. 2
NASCAR has postponed the 3M Performance 400 until 12:00 p.m., Eastern time on Monday, August 20th. The race will be carried live by ESPN2. The forecast is still not looking that great for Monday but NASCAR is commited to try and get this race in. All parking lots will open at 6:00 a.m. and grandstand gates will open at 8:00 a.m.. All Sunday tickets will be honored on Monday and MIS-operated campgrounds will allow campers to stay an extra day at no extra charge. Fans that are not camping but wish to stay in the area are welcomed to stay in their parked cars.
Update No. 3
At 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, rain is still falling at Michigan International Speedway. About 30 minutes ago NASCAR officials nearly had the track dry and ready to race when the rains returned, so the process began all over again. There looks to be a several hour window with clearing to the west of the track and as they did yesterday, NASCAR will do everything in it's power to get the race in. ESPN2 is saying that they will stay with the race until a decision is made to either run it or cancel it.
Update No. 4
Once again rain continued at Michigan International Speedway and NASCAR was forced to call off the race on Monday. Originally scheduled for noon today, track drying efforts continued for over four hours before NASCAR called it off. Weather permitting, the race is scheduled for 10 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. The race will be televised live on ESPN2.

Rudd To Leave No. 88 Team
After a season fraught with more struggles than successes, Ricky Rudd will step out of the No. 88 Snickers Ford at the end of the year.

Rudd, who turns 51 next month, will make his 898th start on Sunday. Only the King, Richard Petty has more career starts (1,185). But Rudd told team owner Robert Yates last week on the trip home from Watkins Glen he was not committed to running the full season in 2008. "Out of fairness to him, I wanted to make sure that they understood that I wasn't bailing out on the team. They're headed in the right direction. The organization is showing improvement.

"The main thing is I'm not leaving this job to go look for another job. I know enough to know that I'm done with full-time Cup racing. And I'm not really looking for a part-time Cup job right now. If something came along that made sense, I'd probably look at it but right now I'm not looking for a full-time job."

Rudd has posted 23 wins, 29 poles, 194 top fives and 374 top 10s in 897 career starts. His best finish in 2007 was seventh place at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May.

Rudd says he'd be interested in testing for teams. With his experience on a variety of racetracks it would be easy for Rudd to provide a baseline for teams to build upon.

"I look around the garage and think, 'What job slot would I like out there?'" Rudd said. "People who do this job, there's not a job out there in this sport that doesn't have a major time commitment. There's a lot of away-from-home time.

"This sport has been very good to me. But the sport is changing and I've seen a lot of those changes over the years. I've learned you got to roll with those changes. One of the commitments is that you're not at home hardly at all — and I don't want to miss out on any more of that. I'm looking forward to the next chapter and I really don't know exactly what that is but I think I have a much clearer direction of where I'm going."...MORE AT...(FOX Sports)

Brendan Gaughan Marries
Brendan Gaughan, the driver of the No. 77 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet comes to Bristol a newlywed, having just married fellow Las Vegas-native Tatum Hayes. Gaughan, 32, and Hayes, 31, were married on Saturday, Aug. 18th in a small ceremony in Vail, CO.

“I’ve been very fortunate in my life to have a group of very good friends, and I have added another best friend to that group and that’s my new wife, Tatum,” Gaughan said. “The funny part to me is the word marriage and the action of a wedding has always been very frightening experience to me. We definitely know that I was never the guy who was meant for marriage. I mean, everybody asked where my bachelor party was and I said ‘No thanks, my life has been a bachelor party for the last 32 years.’ I didn’t really think I needed one.

“I’m happy. We had a beautiful wedding and reception in Vail, near my family’s house. It was an absolutely gorgeous day – couldn’t have asked for anything better. I’m happy to have her and excited to put my name on the list of married drivers now. I guess I’m no longer a ‘Young Gun’ officially.”

Gaughan’s new status as a married man has been the source of a lot of jokes around the race shop and at the track, but he just takes everything in stride.

“My crew chief bought me and my lovely bride Marriage for Dummies and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Marriage,” Gaughan said. “Tatum and I had a big fight over which one should get which book. We couldn’t choose who was the idiot and who was the dummy, so we share them. We each get a chapter and then we switch books.”