Due to a rules infraction at the Coke Zero 400 in Daytona, Martin Truex Jr.'s crew chief Kevin 'Bono' Manion has been suspended for the next six races along with car chief Gary Putnam. Captain Thunder Racing.com has learned that Mike Greci, Director of DEI's Camping World Series program, will replace Manion during the suspension.

Truex Jr.'s roof did not fit the NASCAR template for the COT before qualifying and the team was hit with a penalty of 150 driver and owner points, and a $100,000 fine.

Greci is 54 years old and is from Connecticut. He has been a close family friend of the Truex family for many years. This will be Greci's first time as a Sprint Cup crew chief. - John 'Captain Thunder' Nevins for www.captainthunderracing.com 

Last race: Harvick enjoyed the weekend off after his third-place finish at Chicagoland.

Etc.: Harvick believes he has plenty of work to do before he can consider this a successful season. "I think performance-wise it's been very good; we've just had a lot of things go wrong," he said. "I think it shows the maturity and the experience of the team to keep ourselves in contention to be where we need to be and still have as many things go wrong as we've had go wrong. So performance-wise, I think it's been a pretty good year so far." - usa today

Last race: Kenseth enjoyed some short-track racing in the Midwest during the weekend off.

Etc.: Kenseth will drive RK-625, a new car built specifically for this race. Crew chief Chip Bolin said, "If we can get it to turn like Matt wants it to turn, then I feel like we can be competitive on Sunday." - usa today

Etc.: Because of the new car and its dreaded aero push, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. thinks Sunday's race could be the dullest of the year. "That track is very aero-sensitive to the cars," he said. "You're going to see what you did at Pocono. You're going to see a lot of two-tire stops. You're going to see a lot of things happening just to keep your track position. It's not a favorable place to pass, and track position will be everything. I think the race will be won off pit road." But Eury does realize what it would mean to win at the Speedway. "It would be a very huge thing to win at Indy," Eury said. "There is so much history there. Drivers like A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti have won races at the track, so it kind of puts you in the middle of the Motorsports Hall of Fame. It's real unique to go over there and walk around that museum and go down in the basement and see how far technology has come on the Indy side of it — not just the stock car side of it. Just to see the way racing has come over the years from what they used to race is pretty amazing." - usa today

Last race: Busch got an extra week to enjoy his Chicagoland victory — he took last weekend off from competing in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series.

Etc.: The winner at the Brickyard often goes on to win the Cup title that same season, and Busch would like to become part of that trend. "In some ways it's just a number and doesn't mean anything at all," Busch said. "The Brickyard is a very important race, but it also pays the same amount of points as any other race. So it could be just a coincidence. But really, if you look at it, the Brickyard is a tough place. A lot goes in to winning there, just like winning a championship. It's takes a lot to prepare for. So I guess that's why you've seen some of the best drivers in the sport win at Indy and then go on to win the championship. It'd be pretty cool to do the same thing."  - usa today

NASCAR's decision Wednesday to reign in Toyota's horsepower advantage in the Nationwide Series - which the automaker's top racing official said was without technical justification - is likely to fuel the perception the manufacturer would spend its way to competitive dominance.

Toyota has been successful this season in all of NASCAR's top three series - Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Trucks - but nowhere has the dominance been more evident than in the Nationwide Series, where Camrys have won 14 of 21 races.

Joe Gibbs Racing, particularly, has enjoyed the most success with 13 wins coming from four different drivers, including nine with its No. 20 team.

As early as March, owners in the series, including Jack Roush and Kevin Harvick, were raising the warning flag of a distinct horsepower advantage by Toyota engines in all three series.

After another round of chassis dynometer tests, which measure rear-wheel horsepower, at Chicagoland Speedway two weeks ago, NASCAR had seen enough.

The sanctioning body issued a technical bulletin Tuesday night requiring all engines with a cylinder bore spacing more than 4.470 inches to use tapered spacers with smaller holes. The change is expected to sap the engine of about 15 horsepower.

Although the bulletin did not name Toyota specifically, Toyota's engine is the only one that fit the criteria. The change is effective beginning with Saturday's race at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind.

Toyota responded late Wednesday.

"We're extremely disappointed in NASCAR's decision. In our opinion, there is no technical justification to penalize the Toyota engine utilized in the Nationwide Series," said Lee White, president and general manger of Toyota Racing Development USA.

"The success of the Toyota Camry this year in the Nationwide Series is the result of hard work and achievement by all of our race teams."

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, said the sanctioning body has on numerous occasions taken steps to help "level the playing field among our competitors."

"Toyota started from the get-go with a new style engine, while the other manufacturers are still in the process of producing theirs," he said. "I guess you can say they have excelled more than we anticipated."

Asked if Toyota had done anything wrong, Pemberton was adamant: "Toyota has done nothing wrong whatsoever. They absolutely were working out of the box we set for all teams."

Pemberton admitted that it may appear Toyota is being singled out for the success of its teams, but maintained it was NASCAR's responsibility to ensure no manufacturer had a competitive advantage.

White warned of larger consequences to NASCAR's decision.

"Unfortunately, the decision by NASCAR could be more far-reaching than simply mandating Toyota to adjust its Nationwide engine," he said.

"The real impact will be felt by the Toyota teams as they adjust to the change, work to remain competitive for the remainder of this season and attempt to line up their sponsorships for next year."

Although NASCAR has directed rule changes in the past toward individual manufacturers, it has become an infrequent occurrence.

The most recent in-season rule change directed at a single manfuacturer was NASCAR's decision in April, 2007, to disallow the use of one of Toyota's four intake manifolds for the Truck and Nationwide series. In recent years, most - if not all - rule changes have been made during the offseason.  - thatsracin.com

Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle took an unusual turn on the track this week, visiting Miller Motorsports Park in Utah to serve as a guest driving coach.

Biffle had the opportunity to drive all the track's racing vehicles, from go-karts to the Ford Mustang FR500S, and to help people get an insider's view of what a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver faces.

"We’re doing a little lead-and-follow, cat-and-mouse on the race track with students in the cars, and the students get to drive the cars, too," Biffle said. "It’s just been a fun deal. I think the main thing is that the general public gets to come out here and take this Ford Performance school at Miller Motorsports Park and get a chance to get on the race track and drive these cars.”

He says that when fans get the chance to get behind the wheel of a racing machine, even one with limited horsepower, it offers them a different view of what drivers endure during a race.

"You know, everybody you give a ride to, even in the Mustang, which makes 330 horsepower, and our stock car makes 900 horsepower, even in that car, with a street-type tire on it, you give the guys a ride around the track after they’ve driven for three hours themselves and have gotten instruction, you take them for one lap in the car, the same car they’re driving, their eyes are wide open," he said. "It’s just incredible. The difference the students feel between them driving it themselves and being in a car driven by someone who does it for a living. And, it’s the same with the instructors. The instructors out here, I can’t get away from those guys. They’re obviously on the track every day, but I’m able to stick right on their bumper and vice-versa. These guys who teach these classes out here are great drivers as well and know how teach somebody how to drive.”

Now, Biffle turns his attention to his own racing and this weekend's Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Roush Fenway Racing has never one on this track, but Biffle thinks the organization is getting close to that.

“I think it’ll be a matter of time," he said. "Roush Fenway, as a company, we’re not as good at the flat tracks as some of the other teams are. That’s obvious – Loudon, Martinsville, even though they’re smaller than Indy, they still have the same characteristics of that flat track. And, predominantly, we have not been the best at those race tracks – and quite honestly, it’s frustrating for us. We’re getting an aggressive test plan together to try and combat and get better at those places. But we go there and we give our best, and normally that’s in the top five, certainly top 10. We want to win at those places, and the Brickyard, especially, is a place we want to win at. We feel like we’re going to be competitive. We’re always learning and we’re always getting better every week.”

Biffle is also keeping his eye on the big picture this weekend, though. He's seventh in the series standings with seven races to go before the field for the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup is set. While that's not the most ideal position - drivers seventh through 13th are separated by 62 points - Biffle remains confident he'll be one of the 12 drivers contending for a title this season.

"Certainly, like you said, we haven’t had the season we want to," Biffle said. "We’ve had some great runs, and have had some stupid things happen to us – got caught speeding at Pocono, got the air hose caught at Michigan, went off the track at Infineon, all those race tracks we had top-fives or possible wins at and had bad finishes or 11th and 15th and 21st. So those certainly don’t reflect how we’ve been running – the fourth-place run at Chicago certainly reflects how we’ve run – but we just don’t have those finishes that we need to have to make us solid in the Chase. If we would’ve had those finishes, we’d be basically locked in now. Instead, we’re fighting to stay in that top 12.” - scenedaily.com

Michael Waltrip says his organization is bringing its latest-generation new car to the track this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

As teams continue to work with the new car, MWR is constantly trying to pick up the pace and stay with the improving trend in the garage. To achieve that, it has modified this version of the car a little.

"This is probably generation three of our [car of tomorrow] program," Waltrip said. "It is lighter. It has a lower center of gravity. To me, those two things are key elements to what this new car needs. Drivers talk about how this car is heavier than the old cars. That means the center of gravity is very critical. A way that I can explain this is if Jeff Gordon and I are racing, and if he has a lower center of gravity in comparison to mine, then he will have the ability to make it through the corners faster. We have to make sure that our cars are the best. That’s our challenge and charge here at MWR.

"We have been able to lower our center of gravity by 5/8th of an inch. That may not sound like much, but it is a big deal. It is like lowering the engine by 4 inches. That’s how important we think our most recent gain is."

Waltrip said the team has tested at Kentucky Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile in preparation for this weekend's race and that his is the first car like this for the organization. He adds that 12 are in development with the team.

"Everything has gone real well in testing so we are really optimistic about the Indy race," he said. "I am really looking forward to the second half of the season. I believe we are putting together some really special cars. We are really organizing and coming together as a group. I feel better about MWR today than I ever have because of the things we are doing and accomplishing. I also love the job that David Reutimann and [his crew chief] Ryan Pemberton are doing on the track. [My crew chief] Bobby Kennedy and I have almost won two races this year. You just can’t argue that.

"We were coming to the white flag at Talladega with the lead. If the motor would have run one more mile, I would have won that race. At Loudon, we were right there with a chance to win."

He sees those as key signs of improvement with his group. Last year, Waltrip was outside the top 35 in owners points and trying to just make races. This year he's more securely in that group, sitting 31st in owners points, with one top-five finish (second at New Hampshire Motor Speedway).

"Last year, we didn’t have that to hang our hats on," Waltrip said. "We missed races and had two top-10 finishes. We weren’t able to contend for races. Now we are. Reutimann is poised to break into the top 20 in points. Last year, he was 45th. We have got ourselves rooted solidly in the points. Now we’ve added another veteran crew chief with Peter Sospenzo. Starting in Indy, he will be guiding rookie Michael McDowell. He’s all in. He’s here to take McDowell to another level. It’s really fun here at MWR. I can get excited when I talk about this right now because I can really see it happening. There have been so many days when I have wanted to see the needle moving. I wanted to know what we were doing in order to get to that next point. I knew it was all going on, but it wasn’t coming together like I wanted it to. Now, I see it coming together and that is a great thing.” - scenedaily.com

Jason Leffler was struggling. He was with Joe Gibbs Racing only three years ago, driving the team’s No. 11 Chevrolet as a teammate to Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte.
 
His career wasn’t quite at a crossroads yet, but he could see it from where he was. This was Leffler’s second chance in the NASCAR Cup series, second chance at JGR. And it was slipping away.
 
Leffler wouldn’t finish higher than 12th for JGR, and he closed the first half of the season by finishing 40th, 20th, 18th and 20th. He needed a pick-me-up, and soon he would need a team to pick him up.
 
Todd Braun, an owner in the series that is now called the Nationwide Series, talked with Leffler about driving his No. 32 entry. Shane Hmiel was suspended by NASCAR and Braun’s sponsor was about to disappear, too.
 
“I just wanted more track time,” Leffler said. “[Braun] said, ‘Come drive my car. I can’t pay you. Not this year. I don’t have a sponsor. We’re just going to go racing.’”
 
Say what? Can’t pay me?
 
But Leffler didn’t flinch.
 
“That was fine with me, it really was,” Leffler said. “I just wanted the extra track time. I knew the car ran good. I knew a lot about [crew chief] Todd Lohse; never worked with him before, so it was pretty cool. I just fell right into the situation.”
 
Leffler’s first start with Braun was at Daytona, and he finished ninth. A month later, Gibbs let him go. Suddenly, a non-paying job was the best job he had.
 
“I wasn’t hurting by any means,” Leffler said. “It worked out good because I had a place to keep racing and keep going and it’s built into what we have now.”
 
His wife, Allison, didn’t mind too much because a Cup salary can be stretched a long way.
 
But Leffler’s agent minded, of course.
 
“They didn’t like that at all,” Leffler said. “But I don’t think it would’ve worked any other way. Todd had no sponsor. They had to lay off a lot of people there. We ran good, but financially we all struggled. He dipped into his pocket. His dad helped out, his mom helped out.”
 
Leffler posted seven top-10 finishes for Braun over the final 15 races of 2005, and he returned for the next year. Sponsorship was still up in the air for 2006, but a merger with Akins Motorsports solved that, as Great Clips joined Leffler, who would also move to the No. 38.
 
And Leffler, the No. 38 and Great Clips have been a constant since. The 2007 season was a solid one for Leffler and included a third-place championship finish and a victory at O’Reilly Raceway Park – Leffler’s second home.
 
Leffler was born in Long Beach, Calif., but as any up-and-coming open-wheel driver knows, Indiana is the place to be. So Leffler moved there, living with Tony Stewart for a spell before ending up in Brownsburg, Ind.
 
Leffler raced many times on the short track in Clermont, Ind., learning every nuance. That knowledge paid off with last year’s win, Toyota’s first in the series.
 
And when Leffler is asked about it, his eyes light up and his smile widens.
 
“I love Indianapolis,” Leffler said. “I go up there and go to Sprint Car races. I have a lot of friends up there. I love downtown. To win in that area where I’ve got a lot of friends, where I think I’ve got a lot of fans, was really awesome.”
 
Leffler’s career took some strange turns after he left open-wheel racing to join Gibbs’ team in 1999. JGR was grooming the young driver, but he spent barely a year in the No. 2 series before Chip Ganassi Racing snatched him for a Cup ride.
 
An ill-advised Cup ride, as it turned out.
 
“That was definitely a wrong choice,” Leffler said. “I wasn’t ready for Cup at the time. From there, it’s just kind of snow-balled.”
 
Leffler ran 30 races in 2001 for Ganassi before being replaced. He bounced around a year or two before going to Haas CNC Racing, earning his first Busch Series victory in 2004.
 
But Gibbs wanted him back for a new, third team for 2005.
 
“I always kicked myself for leaving Gibbs in the first place, and that didn’t work out,” Leffler said. “The bright spot of all that was landing here at Braun.”
 
Leffler’s career has stability at Braun Racing –  and though he still has his eyes on Cup – he’ll try to qualify Haas CNC’s Cup car at the Brickyard this weekend – he still likes where he is.
 
“I want to win a Nationwide championship,” Leffler said. “But I would like to get another shot at Cup in a competitive situation and try that week in and week out and try to win some races there. I feel like I can run really competitive with a lot of guys here, so there’s no reason why I can’t do it over there. With Haas, I’m kind of getting that shot again.
 
“Yeah, I’ve made some mistakes. I had some good opportunities, I’ve split on some people, I’ve been fired probably. I’ve seen it all. But I’m still here.
 
“You see these kids, and they get fired from their development deal, and you never hear from them any more. I always try to stay racing, no matter what it is. That’s what I do for a living. I’m a race-car driver, whether I’m racing a Midget or a Nationwide car.
 
“I’m pretty proud where I’m at. I’m happy to be in the Nationwide Series, happy to be here at Braun and have a great sponsor like Great Clips. It’s a pretty good deal.” - scenedaily.com