NASCAR Notebook: Effect of Childress-DEI link has not been apparent so far

Ever since car owner Richard Childress announced a joint engine-development operation with Dale Earnhardt Inc., rivals have been watching. Neither camp has had engines as strong as Rick Hendrick’s drivers have.

Martin Truex Jr. won at Dover with one of the new RCR-DEI engines, according to sources, but Childress isn’t confirming that. And it hasn’t been all that clear who has been running just what lately.

But Jeff Burton said that his team will be running one of the new RCR-DEI engines at Daytona. He realizes that it takes more than just good horsepower and a slick car to make it to victory lane here.

“Any time you go restrictor-plate racing, you have a chance for some big wrecks,” Jeff Burton said. “The cars don’t handle well at Daytona, and what happened in the 500 (leading to crashes) is we kept having late cautions and it kept bunching us back up.

“We were all trying to do stuff with the cars that the cars wouldn’t do. Those last 40 laps of the 500 were the most intense 40 laps I’ve ever been part of.”

Mark Martin escaped the mayhem and lost to Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton’s teammate, in a photo finish that became controversial when NASCAR officials declined to throw the yellow flag until the two crossed the line, even though there was a big crash behind them on the front stretch.

Clint Bowyer flipped, and his car crossed the finish line on its roof.

Drivers were quick to criticize NASCAR for that slow yellow. But then NASCAR’s use of the caution flag at Daytona and Talladega the past few years frequently has been controversial. In part that’s because NASCAR, at each yellow, “freezes” the field in the order the drivers crossed one of the dozen or so invisible electronic scoring wires embedded in the asphalt.

Some have asked NASCAR to paint those wires to make them visible, so fans - and teams - can be assured of the correct running order.

¦ NASCAR has penalized the Nextel Cup teams of Kyle Busch and Johnny Sauter for rule infractions found on their cars during the postrace inspection after Sunday’s race at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Both the No. 5 Chevrolet of Kyle Busch and the No. 70 Chevrolet of Sauter were found to have used unapproved parts and failed to meet the minimum front-car heights.

NASCAR said yesterday that Kyle Busch and Sauter were each penalized 25 points and their respective crew chiefs, Alan Gustafson and Robert SDLqBootie” Barker, were each fined $25,000 and placed on probation until Sept. 19.

¦ The France family's jump-start for the so-far-failed move into the heart of the New York City market - with a New York Speedway - might come this weekend. Rudy Giuliani, a former mayor of New York and now a Republican presidential candidate, will serve as an honorary race official.

After all, it wouldn’t be a Fourth of July week race without politicians, and for the France family, that typically means Republican politicians.

Two questions for the Frances. One, where might North Carolina’s John Edwards fit into the NASCAR scene? Two, have they forgotten the fallout from Bill France Jr.’s snub of Bill Clinton at Darlington during the election campaign in 1992?

¦ Saturday night's Pepsi 400 will be the first Cup race at Daytona since 1965 without a Petty at the wheel.

Only twice since Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959 has a race been run there without a Petty. In 1965, the Pettys’ Detroit sponsors boycotted the tour over engine disagreements with NASCAR. In 1961, Lee Petty and Richard Petty were injured.

This time, Kyle Petty will take another stint in the TV anchor booth and turn the wheel over to John Andretti.

¦ This weekend's race will be one of the Cup tour's few “impound” races, with no practice allowed after Friday’s qualifying at 4 p.m.

That means this afternoon's practice sessions, starting at 4:30, should give a pretty good indication of who has what for the race itself … except for the dozen or so teams that aren't already guaranteed spots in the field and will have to make the race on qualifying speed.

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