Hey, guess who joins us today on The Chrome Horn? Two-time IRL champion Dario Franchitti! You remember, the guy who came over for a cup of coffee in NASCAR! Dude who's married to Ashley Judd! He's a good guy, and he put up with our nonsense, including our leadoff Farley-esque "You're awesome" question. He also spoke with us about the new sponsor for the IRL -- Izod! -- and about the differences between IRL and NASCAR. And yes, we did touch on the Danica question. But we made it quick and painless, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Don't worry, it's over in a hurry.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations on the podcast. Hit me up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. Click the link below to play the podcast or right-click it to download, and hit the iTunes site linked below to subscribe. Have at it!

The Chrome Horn, episode 27: Dario Franchitti

We're getting within sight of the end of the season, and so it's time to begin our look back. In a feature shamelessly ripped from Puck Daddy's Death Watch and Big League Stew's Walk Toward The Light, we'll be counting down each and every car that fell short of the Sprint Cup this year. And yes, I know there aren't taillights on Sprint cars. It's a metaphor. Roll with it.

Driver: Scott Speed

Record: 32 races (at this writing), one top-5 finish

Season summary: It's been a season to forget for the Red Bull'er, who hasn't quite panned out the way his teammate Brian Vickers has. Speed has hung around the No. 35 spot all season long, and is in jeopardy of falling out of the top 35 to start 2010.

Where it went right: At the Aaron's 499 at Talladega in April, Speed notched a fifth-place finish, largely because he followed the old "keep your head while everyone else is losing theirs" strategy. Sadly, that was pretty much the only high point of the year for Speed.

Where it went wrong: Pretty much everywhere else. Speed was involved in wrecks all over the schedule, and the sight of his devastated car getting hauled off the track soon became a familiar one. (Hope the hipsters keep drinking Red Bull and vodka; the Red Bull folks need the cash infusion.) Speed has had exactly one finish inside the top 20 -- a 15th-place finish at Bristol -- since May. Not exactly the roll that you want to get on in a Sprint Car. 

Prospects for 2010: Red Bull is committed to Speed, who would seem to be a marketer's dream -- but as good as his last name is, it ain't Earnhardt, so there's only so long that a team is going to stick with him, particularly with up-and-comers in the hunt. Speed's going to have to step it up, pronto, or risk losing his seat.

Next up: Robby Gordon. Strap in!

Related Speed posts from 2009:
Kyle Busch and Scott Speed, teammates? The horror! The horror!
C-a-c: No, Scott, I will not pull all four of your fingers
Wreck of the week: Kyle Busch, Scott Speed in track ballet

And, of course, the classic:
Scott Speed will make your ears bleed ("Cereal and milk!")

Welcome to The Pace Lap, your catchall preview post! Let's get you started on race weekend with a metric truckload of stats, facts, opinion and innuendo.

The race: The Dickies 500 @ Texas Motor Speedway

The specs: 334 laps around a 1.5-mile track

The broadcasts: ABC, plus the live chat right here on Yahoo! Sports

Defending champ: Carl Edwards, pictured there at right shootin' up a storm. Interestingly, a woman was hit by a bullet at Texas Motor Speedway during the time of this race last year. Perhaps ... nah.

The standings leaders: Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin (-184), Jeff Gordon (-192)

The history: Texas is one of a bunch of similar -- don't say cookie-cutter! -- 1.5-mile tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit. It has the dubious distinction of having closed down two different racetracks to take their dates -- North Wilkesboro and Rockingham. After Atlanta and the restrictor-plate tracks, it's one of the fastest tracks on the circuit.

Back in the springtime: Jeff Gordon notched his first win in over a year with a victory at Texas in the spring. At the time, everybody was thinking Gordon was going to be challenging for the Sprint Cup championship. And they were right ... until the Chase started.

The appropriate video: Not a race video, but a spooky scare-ya news report: what if a tornado were to hit the Texas Motor Speedway when a race was in session? Well, Jimmie Johnson would probably outrun it, but everybody else would be screwed:

Guy with the most to gain: Kyle Busch. This is his first race without crew chief Steve Addington, and it'll be interesting to see how well he and new crew chief Dave Rogers gel. A win would be nice, but we'd settle for them not bickering at each other over the radio like middle-school girls.

Guys with the most to lose: Mark Martin. He's had an exceptional -- some would say precious -- year, but he's obviously bummed about coming so far and falling short yet again. Still, he shouldn't be discouraged by what has been an exceptional season, and he should use these last three weeks as a way to roll into 2010.

Our pick to win: Denny Hamlin. He's had an up-and-down Chase, and since last week was a serious "down," this week has to be an "up," right? It's all deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic now anyway, but I'm thinking that Hamlin is going to be a serious Chase challenger when ... well, when Jimmie retires.

All right, you're up. Who's your pick for this weekend? Go!

Bringing you the best in NASCAR news and opinion. Get your day rolling right ... or left, whichever.

• An unconventional view: it's time to stop racing at Talladega. Well, that's one solution. [Baltimore Sun]

• The No. 1 problem in NASCAR today? Nobody respects anybody anymore. [Stock Car Spin]

• Who is NASCAR's No. 1 Twitterer? One word: tacos. Check out the list of top 20 drivers over at Scene Daily. (Hey, I'm still ahead of David Ragan and Aric Almirola!) [Scene Daily]

• The story behind how Texas got its second race and Rockingham lost one. [Racin' Today]

• Could Dodge be sticking around in NASCAR for the long haul? Let's hope so, for everyone's sake. [Detroit Free Press]

• Ricky Carmichael is leaving Kevin Harvick Inc. at the end of the season to run in the Camping World Truck Series for the new Turner Motorsports. All righty, then. [Catchfence]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

Hey everybody -- welcome back to Midnight Marbles, where you can chat about anything or nothing at all. Start with Sam Hornish Jr. there getting attacked by a vicious Eeyore; I'm surprised we didn't hear more about that. Seems like something that'd be newsworthy.

For those of you new to the program -- this is where you can talk about whatever crosses your mind, not just NASCAR. Step up, say howdy, meet some new strange folks here in Marbleland. Maybe you'll even make some new friends on the Internet, which is 75% less creepy than it used to be. We'll be back soon with more stuff; till then, keep on sending your NASCAR strangeness to me at jay.busbee@yahoo.com, and enjoy your time here!

Change is a-comin' to the Nationwide Series, and so far, everybody's pretty much happy with it. NASCAR is rolling out new Nationwide cars in the same way that the Car of Tomorrow became the de facto Sprint Cup car two years ago. Perhaps NASCAR learned a thing or two from watching the CoT in action, and perhaps not.

At Talladega on Monday, NASCAR introduced the new Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang, Chevy Impala and Toyota Camry. Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Kelly Bires and James Buescher of Phoenix Racing jumped in the rides to run them through their paces. The drivers, later joined by Colin Braun, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Allgaier and Trevor Bayne, ran the cars alone, in single file and in drafting bunches. No bump-drafting, of course, but then, did you expect that?

Allgaier said the new car "drives like a dream," and other drivers and engineers expressed similar satisfaction, which is nice. For more on the technical specs of the new car, click here. And, as NASCAR Insiders points out, NASCAR "now has a problem on its hands. They have visually attractive and realistic-looking Nationwide cars competing with the less-than-handsome Cup Series CoT." (Sensing a problem afoot, NASCAR has indicated it will make changes to the Sprint Cup car in 2011.)

The car will roll out at Daytona in the summer, and will later run at Michigan, Richmond and Charlotte. Come 2011, it'll be the standard for all Nationwide races.

New race car receives favorable marks at test [NASCAR.com]

Hey, Chase is over, so why not go fishing, right? That's Tony Stewart there on the right, fishing at the Office Depot Foundation Charity Fishing Tournament in Lake Okeechobee in Florida. I feel certain you can find humor in this photo. (Also in the pic:  Ed Cooper of Sanford/Newell Rubbermaid; Ken Karroll, professional guide; and Wade Eveleth, senior director of merchandising for Office Depot. But you already knew that.)

After the jump, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano man up.

Read More »

Bringing you the best in NASCAR news, updates and info. Get your day rolling right ... or left, whichever.

• Kyle Busch is looking to win his fourth straight Nationwide race at Texas Motor Speedway. This kid's good, and I bet he'll be making the Chase in the next few years. [Scene Daily]

• Want to attend NASCAR's year-end awards ceremony? There are all kinds of ways to do so ... but you gotta work for 'em. [The Fifth Turn]

• So people are seriously griping about the SPEED broadcasting team wearing Batman costumes on Halloween? Really? Come on. People really will bitch about anything they possibly can when it comes to NASCAR, won't they? [The NASCAR Insiders]

• Think Jimmie Johnson's boring? Yeah. Didn't hear a whole lot of note from the three top finishers of the Talladega race, did you? (They were Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano. But you knew that, right?) [Racin' Today]

• Bobby Labonte Racing is working its way from the ground up, and now has a two-driver team in Late Model Dirt Series racing. [Catchfence]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

Everybody's going ahead and giving Jimmie Johnson his fourth Sprint Cup championship, but hold on! We've still got races to run! What's that you say? You say there's no way anybody's catching Jimmie? Balderdash, we say!

Mathematically, it's still possible -- phenomenally unlikely, but still possible -- that someone could catch Jimmie. Using this breakdown of NASCAR's points system, let's take a look at the ways things could go south for the 48 car. His closest pursuers are Mark Martin (184 points back), Jeff Gordon (192 points back) and Juan Pablo Montoya (239 points back). Let's break down their chances, shall we?

If Jimmie averages a top-10 finish over the last three races, it's over. No way anyone can catch him. So let's go down the line:

If Jimmie averages an 11th-place finish:
-Mark Martin has to win all three races and lead the most laps.
-Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya have no chance.

If Jimmie averages a 15th-place finish:
-Mark Martin has to average a second-place finish.
-Jeff Gordon has to win all three races and lead the most laps.
-Juan Pablo Montoya has no chance.

If Jimmie averages a 20th-place finish:
-Mark Martin has to average a 3rd-place finish.
-Jeff Gordon has to average a 2nd-place finish.
-Juan Pablo Montoya has to win all three races, but doesn't have to lead the most laps.

See? Easy, right? There's still a mathematical chance! Come on, stick around! It'll be fun! Please? Please ... ?

Here's a nice little find from the 2007 Aaron's 499 driver's meeting. Pay close attention to what NASCAR prez Mike Helton said about bump-drafting back then:

So the lesson, then, is simple. NASCAR's attitude toward its rules is like London's weather -- if you don't like it, wait a half hour and it'll change.

(Thanks to reader Dan in NJ for the find.)