NASCAR News From The Wal-NutzManiac

My Kudos For The Week

Bobby Labonte - - Bobby finished third in Sunday's Subway 500 Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway to record his fourth Top-10 finish in the last five races. Way to go Bobby !!!

Tony Stewart - - "Smoke" finished fourth in the Subway 500, no surprise there !!!

Casey Mears - - Casey finished sixth on Sunday !!! After some "bump-drafting" between him and Ryan Newman. I'm surprised at Ryan Newman, I thought he had more class than that on the race track. So much for "Professional" race car drivers.

Jeff Green - - Jeff finished eighth at Martinsville !!!

Kyle Petty - - Kyle finished 10th Sunday, putting both Petty Enterprises drivers in the Top-10 for the first time since the fall of 1999!!! Way to go, Guys !!!

In case you are wondering, I like to give my kudos the the non-chase drivers, who are out there on the race track busting it - - - week end and week out with little or no recognition for doing so. No television coverage, not even an "oh by the way", that's why I choose to acknowledge these guys !!! Someone else can provide you with the "Atta Boys" for the chasers.

NASCAR-themed Playground Built in Greensboro

The slides, swings and seesaws are for children. But on Thursday, when about a hundred volunteers - - including NASCAR driver J.J. Yeley - - built a playground in the Stonegate Crossing community in six hours, it was grown-ups who were playing. Sort of.

There was a "huge-pile-of-mulch" game that most of the volunteers took a turn at. Or Yeley's favorite, mixing and pouring cement.

The playground was built by volunteer from Home Depot stores, Joe Gibbs Racing, Greensboro's Habitat for Humanity, the Children's Home Society and KaBOOM!, a national non-profit group that builds playgrounds.

But the bad news was that the kids couldn't play on the NASCAR-themed equipment until Saturday, to give the cement time to harden.

I love to hear about something good happening, for a change !!!

Kenny Wallace Signed A NASCAR Nextel Cup Deal

Kenny signs a two year deal with Furniture Row Racing, commencing in 2007. Here are Wallace's comments regarding the deal" "It really makes me feel good to have a Nextel Cup team that is this dedicated, and has the funds to go the long haul. I really want th thank everyone at Furniture Row Racing, and the 300 Furniture Row stores throughout the U.S. for choosing me as the driver for the next two years. With a new era of Nextel Cup entering in 2007, where there will be no less than 50 cars every week trying to qualify, I am really excited to help build this new team. It will not be easy!!! But this is the biggest form of racing in the world, I don't expect it to be easy. I am ready to go."

Apparently his Crew Chief Joe Garone feels the same way, as he explains the strategy for continuing the Cup program with Wallace: "Kenny's experience will help build the team, and enhance our level of competition in the next couple of years. We're very excited and honored to have him involved with our program."

Nemechek Visits U.S. Troops

Joe Nemechek not only raced 500 miles at Lowe's Motor Speedway last Saturday, he followed that with a 2,100-mile, round-trip visit to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Sunday.

The MB2 Motorsports driver, sponsored by the U.S. Army, visited with troops at the military base there. Ashton Lewis, Jr., driver of the Team Marines car in the Busch Series, also made the trip.

The six-hour tour included authgraph and photo sessions at different points of the base, including one for non-military personnel in the downtown area.

"Every time I visit our troops it's a special feeling," Nemechek said. "These people are making a sacrifice to protect our freedom and the freedom for future generations. It's difficult not to get overwhelmed by what you see and what you hear. It was an honor to make the visit." Way to go Front Row Joe !!!

Nextel Cup Going To Unleaded Fuel In 2007

NASCAR will make the transition to unleaded fuel one year earlier than previously announced as it plans to have all three series run almost the entire 2007 season on unleaded fuel. The lone exception, involving the Nextel Cup Series, will be the season-opening Daytona 500.

Crew Chiefs said at Martinsville Speedway they were informed of the decision this week, and the NASCAR officials confirmed the move.

Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series teams have tested the unleaded fuel at several events this year. Teams have reported few problems with the Sunoco fuel.

"We run a lot of unleaded in a lot of our grass-roots programs," Toyota Racing Development Senior Vice President Lee White said. "We have a lot of experience with it. We have been running it in our truck engines for about half of the season off and on. To be honest with you, a lot of the durability work on the new Cup motor has been done with unleaded fuel already, so we're not really concerned with it."

As an avid fan of Michael Waltrip, this was certainly music to my ears !!! I am extremely excited about the beginning of the 2007 NASCAR Season - - - -and seeing the Toyota Camry on the race track ! ! ! Is it February 2007 yet ? ? ?

Racing Birthdays Of The Week (Oct. 22nd to Oct. 28th)

10/22 Ed Dybalski, Milan Garrett & Rick Benjamin

10/23 Humpy Wheeler

10/24 Dave Blaney, Patrick Lawler, Jim France, Brian Vickers, Tracy Leslie & Jeff Price

10/25 Ward Burton, Jon Wood, Taylor Lane Stricklin

10/26 Jim Pardue

10/27 Robin Miller, Dick Trickle, Tommy Baldwin, Jr. & Richard Brickhouse

10/28 Joe Ruttman & Debrah Renshaw

Happy Birthday to one and all ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

That's it for now. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the races @ Atlanta Motor Speedway. Don't forget to tighten them seat belts on your recliners one more time. We could be in for a WILD ride, as The Chase for the Nextel Cup continues !!!

The Wal-NutsManiac