The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race is always about the big names.

From Dale Earnhardt to Jeff Gordon to Jimmie Johnson, many of the winners in this event's history are Sprint Cup champions several times over.

Other household names have also gone on to win the event, such as Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

But while the big storylines tonight may be if guys like Edwards and Gordon can break out of early-season slumps and if Pole-sitter Kyle Busch can earn his first All-Star win after dominating in years past, a few lesser-known drivers wait in the wings for a chance to stun the field and win a million dollars.

Most of these drivers are already locked into the All-Star Race, while others will have to find a way in through either the Sprint Showdown or the fan vote.

Here are the five drivers with the best chance to pull off the upset tonight!

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With the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Race Saturday night, fans from all over the world have their attention focused on the beautiful Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Years of history culminate in one of the wildest races of the season, and we have all the coverage you’ll need.

Keep it here for updates, reactions, and results as the races begin and throughout the entire wild night of action!

Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

When: Saturday, May 19 at 9 p.m. EDT

Watch: SPEED

Live Stream: TrackPass

Listen: Motor Racing Network

Race Lineup

Marcos Ambrose

Trevor Bayne

Greg Biffle

Clint Bowyer

Kurt Busch

Kyle Busch

Carl Edwards

Jeff Gordon

Denny Hamlin

Kevin Harvick

Jimmie Johnson

Kasey Kahne

Matt Kenseth

Brad Keselowski

Mark Martin

Paul Menard

Ryan Newman

David Ragan

Regan Smith

Tony Stewart

Sprint Showdown winner

Sprint Showdown second place

Sprint fan vote winner

Drivers to Watch

Brad Keselowski

With a heated Truck Series race Friday night, Brad Keselowski will be looking to get his car into victory lane to satisfy his need for redemption. Keselowski is one of the youngest drivers in the series and he will look at this race like a mini-championship that will put him in the top five at least, when all is said and done.

Kurt Busch

While I don’t think he will be a factor in the win, his recent off-track meltdowns and blowups have fans wanting to see what’s next. The hope is that Busch ruins someone’s night with his reckless behavior which causes a pit road battle. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.

Jimmie Johnson

After getting back into the winner’s circle at the Southern 500, Jimmie Johnson heads to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a track that he has dominated on over his career. If Johnson can bring that all-out mentality to Saturday’s race, he will factor in the outcome.

Prediction: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

There is no doubt that NASCAR’s most popular driver will win his way into the All-Star race Saturday night with the fan’s vote. If Junior does get into the field, there is no doubt that he will adopt the checkers-or-wreckers mentality and win the whole thing.

Check back for more on NASCAR as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s NASCAR Page to get your fill of all things motorsports.

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NASCAR's main attraction on Saturday night may be the Sprint All-Star Race, but some exciting action will take place before it as well. 22 drivers will do battle in the Sprint Showdown in an effort to earn one of three coveted spots in the All-Star race later in the night.

The Showdown is essentially a 40-lap sprint, with the top two finishers qualifying for the All-Star contest. The third and final spot will be filled by the winner of the fan vote. Obviously, the Sprint Showdown field isn't as star-studded as the All-Star race itself, but there are plenty of talented drivers, and a few of them will be left out in the cold.

Here is all the information you need for Saturday night's Sprint Showdown. Check back after the race's completion for a full listing of results and analysis.

Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.

When: Saturday, May 19, 7 p.m. ET

Watch: SPEED

Live Stream: TrackPass

Listen: Motor Racing Network

Starting Order

1. A.J. Allmendinger

2. Martin Truex, Jr.

3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

4. Jeff Burton

5. Aric Almirola

6. Landon Cassill

7. Juan Pablo Montoya

8. Bobby Labonte

9. Travis Kvapil

10. David Stremme

11. Casey Mears

12. David Reutimann

13. Joey Logano

14. Stephen Leicht

15. Scott Speed

16. David Gilliland

17. Mike Bliss

18. J.J. Yeley

19. Jamie McMurray

20. Joe Nemechek

21. Josh Wise

22. Tony Raines

Projected Top 2

Martin Truex, Jr.

The 2012 Sprint Cup season has been filled with plenty of surprises thus far, but perhaps the most pleasant of them has been the progress of Martin Truex, Jr. Truex is in the midst of the best season of his career. He currently sits sixth in points, and he has accrued four top-five finishes and seven top-10 performances as well.

Truex qualified second for the Showdown and has an excellent chance to finish in the top two. I consider him the favorite to win the 40-lap race and to get involved in the All-Star race. Many fans are probably hoping that Truex is able to race his way in because, with the way he has performed this season, he may be a real factor to win later in the night as well.

Jeff Burton

Jeff Burton is coming off a very difficult 2011 season, and 2012 hasn't been a whole lot better either. He is just 17th in the points, with three top-10 finishes. Burton is a very savvy driver who can excel in a sprint race such as this one, though, so I like his chances to finish in the top two.

Burton has also had a ton of success at Charlotte over the course of his career. He has won there three times, with the most recent coming in 2008. Burton had a fast car in qualifying—he will start fourth—and there is every reason to believe that he will be near the front for the entirety of the race.

Projected Fan Vote Winner

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

If the likes of Martin Truex, Jr., Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, Joey Logano or Jamie McMurray are unable to finish in the top two in the Sprint Showdown, then they had better hope that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. does. If Junior is unable to qualify for the All-Star race based on his on-track performance, there is absolutely no doubt that he will win the fan vote.

Earnhardt has been voted NASCAR's most popular driver every year since 2003, and he is by far the biggest star in the Showdown. Earnhardt has run very consistently this season, so he could conceivably finish in the top two. But if he doesn't, he'll make the All-Star race regardless.

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The 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 is just about a week away and things will get kicked off on Saturday when the best drivers the IRL has to offer will vie for the Indy 500's pole position.

The action starts at 11 a.m. ET and once every car has attempted to qualify, the top nine cars will compete for spots in the first three rows.

Whichever car has the fastest average time in the second segment will have earned the pole. Although a pole certainly doesn't guarantee anything, since things often get jumbled as soon as the race starts, it is most definitely a prestigious honor that every driver would love to achieve.

Here is everything you need to know about Saturday's qualifying session. Check back later for full updates and analysis on the qualifying results for the Indianapolis 500.

Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Ind.

When: Saturday, May 19 at 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. ET

Watch: NBC Sports Network 

Qualifying Order

1. #11 Tony Kanaan

2. #78 Simona de Silvestro

3. #14T Mike Conway

4. #38T Graham Rahal

5. #6 Katherine Legge

6. #9T Scott Dixon

7. #99 Townsend Bell

8. #9 Scott Dixon

9. #50T Dario Franchitti

10. #30T Michel Jourdain

11. #12 Will Power

12. #83 Charlie Kimball

13. #7 Sebastien Bourdais

14. #3 Helio Castroneves

15. #22T Oriol Servia

16. #41 Wade Cunningham

17. #11T Tony Kanaan

18. #20T Ed Carpenter

19. #17 Sebastian Saavedra

20. #26T Marco Andretti

21. #18 Justin Wilson

22. #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay

23. #19 James Jakes

24. #39 Bryan Clauson

25. #50 Dario Franchitti

26. #28T Ryan Hunter-Reay

27. #38 Graham Rahal

28. #67 Josef Newgarden

29. #18T Justin Wilson

30. #19T James Jakes

31. #2 Ryan Briscoe

32. #25 Ana Beatriz

33. #15T Takuma Sato

34. #64 Jean Alesi

35. #20 Ed Carpenter

36. #30 Michel Jourdain

37. #8 Rubens Barrichello

38. #4T JR Hildebrand

39. #15 Takuma Sato

40. #22 Oriol Servia

41. #99T Townsend Bell

42. #7T Sebastien Bourdais

43. #2T Ryan Briscoe

44. #5 EJ Viso

45. #12T Will Power

46. #4 JR Hildebrand

47. #98T Alex Tagliani

48. #83T Charlie Kimball

49. #41T Wade Cunningham

50. #8T Rubens Barrichello

51. #77 Simon Pagenaud

52. #27 James Hinchcliffe

53. #3T Helio Castroneves

54. #5T EJ Viso

55. #26 Marco Andretti

56. #27T James Hinchcliffe

57. #98 Alex Tagliani

58. #14 Mike Conway

59. #77T Simon Pagenaud

60. #67T Josef Newgarden

61. #21 TBA (Ed Carpenter Racing second car)

Drivers to Watch

Alex Tagliani

He surprised many by claiming the pole last year, but Alex Tagliani has to be considered one of the favorites to nab it again this time around. The Canadian driver will represent Bryan Herta Autosport in the No. 98 machine and figures to be one of the fastest cars on the track.

A crash with around 50 laps remaining last year robbed Tagliani of a good finish as he ended up 28th. Tagliani did manage to lead 20 laps though and was able to make his presence felt. Tagliani will hope to have a much better showing in 2012, however, and that starts with his qualifying run.

Dario Franchitti

There is no doubt that Dario Franchitti is one of the all-time greats in the IndyCar series as he has won four points totals and has twice won the Indianapolis 500. All of that experience and success makes Franchitti a good bet to claim the pole or to come pretty close at the very least.

The 38-year-old star may not be quite as dominant as he once was, but he is still a premier name in Indy racing and is most definitely someone worth keeping an eye on. There is a lot to be said for familiarity and Franchitti has plenty of that when it comes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Helio Castroneves

Few drivers have ever had as much success in the Indy 500 as Helio Castroneves. The Brazilian star has won the race three times, which is something that only eight other drivers can lay claim to. He has also been dominant when it comes to qualifying for the race with four poles to his credit.

Castroneves had some struggles last season, but he has been much better in 2012 as he is second in the points standings. Castroneves has been very consistent thus far and has a hot hand, so it wouldn't be a surprise in the least to see him take the pole.

Pole Prediction

There are probably at least 15 to 20 drivers with a legitimate shot at earning the pole, so predicting one may be an exercise in futility. My pick, however, is Ryan Hunter-Reay. While he has never fared particularly well in the Indy 500 itself, he is off to the best start of his career thus far. His qualifying has been quite good as well, so he should be a factor. 

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Many of you may recall that prior to the first IndyCar race of the season, in St. Petersburg, Fla., I did a profile on rookie Josef Newgarden. Well, I thought it might be fun to catch up with him this week as he and his team from Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing get the No. 67 Dollar General Honda ready to qualify for his first Indy 500.

By the way, the car will be yellow for the race and not his usual blue and white.  

On Wednesday via phone I spoke to Newgarden about how he was getting ready for both qualifying and the race.

JW: Talk me through your thoughts about this weekend and qualifying for the 500.

Newgarden: Qualifying for the Indy 500 brings its own unique set of challenges. My car is set up by my outstanding Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing crew to go as fast as possible. We have tested the engine, the aerodynamics, the handling; how the tires grip every possible scenario has been covered. So Saturday everything will be dialed in for qualifying.  

Once you get on the track and are ready to go, it is just you and the car vs. the track. It is all about getting every last mile per hour out the engine. Unlike a race where there are other cars on the track, speed is a concern, but there are other factors to consider, such is not the case in qualifying. Your sole focus is to figure out the best line to follow on the track to end up with the fastest time.

JW: Is there a lot of talking between you and your crew chief during qualifying?

Newgarden: No, you might think that there would be conversation about split times and how the car is running. However, the focus I talked about earlier is paramount and silence is important because it is all about putting up the best time you can and any distraction from that goal could be very costly.

JW: What result do expect once the weekend is over?

Newgarden: We have been testing and really working hard to get every ounce of horsepower out of this engine. So like every other car here, we want the pole and that is attainable—for us we are looking at a top-five spot—or at the very least starting in the top 10.      

JW: How about your chances in the 500?

Newgarden: I know that we have not gotten off to the start we had hoped for thus far this season, but we have had four races. We are really getting a feel for our car and the entire team thinks that we can make an impact at Indy that will set the tone for the rest of season.

*All quotes used in this story were obtained first-hand during a phone interview conducted May 16th by James Williams with Josef Newgarden. 

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Starting Saturday, the all-important qualifying stage for the Indianapolis 500 begins, and this weekend will determine if all the hard work the drivers have done this month has paid off. One thing is for certain, and that is you can’t win the Indy 500 if you don’t qualify for the race.

Talking to everyone from rookie Josef Newgarden to points leader Will Power ,every driver I have spoken to is both excited and more than a little tense about this weekend.    

You are out there on the famed track all by yourself running against the clock and hoping that you don’t make a mistake or that something does not break on the car. In other words, running as fast as you can without wrecking is always the key.

Drivers face a completely different set of rules when qualifying for the Indy 500:

• Order—A blind draw is conducted prior to each qualification day.

• Warm-up laps—Each car is permitted two warm-up laps prior to the timed qualification laps. IndyCar Series officials may permit three warm-up laps if they deem it necessary.

• Green-flag laps—A qualification attempt consists of four timed laps. The aggregate time is recorded as the official qualifying time for the car.

• Pole Day—Qualifying is broken down into two segments, progressively narrowing the field to determine the pole winner.

• Segment One—Held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., to determine positions 1-24 in the field based on the fastest four-lap averages. Once all 24 positions have been filled, bumping will occur until 4 p.m. Each car has up to three qualifying attempts. The top nine qualifiers advance to Segment 2.

• Segment Two—Held from 4:30 to 6 p.m., the top nine cars will run in reverse order based on Segment 1 speeds. All cars are required to make at least one attempt in Segment 2. Cars making additional attempts will receive an additional set of tires. At the end of the session, the cars are ranked 1-9 based on their four-lap average during the segment.

• Bump Day—Positions 25-33 will be determined based on the day’s fastest four-lap average. Once starting field is set, any qualifying attempt that is faster than a qualified entrant in the starting field will bump the slowest qualifier, regardless of the day of qualification. The “bumping” entrant is placed at the rear of the field while the “bumped” entrant is removed from the field, but has the opportunity to bump his way back into the starting field as time allows. Each car is allowed three attempts.

*Qualifying was provided to Bleacher Report by the IndyCar public relations department.

Television of pole day coverage will air on NBC Sports Network on Saturday May 19^th starting at 11 a.m.—2:30 p.m. ET, and then again 4:30 p.m.—6:30 p.m. Sunday. Bump Day they will have coverage starting noon—6:30 p.m. ET.

Radio is on IMS

Broadband is: IndyCar.com 

OK who are the five men most likely to get the pole?      

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Since the departure of Oldsmobile and Toyota following the 2005 IndyCar season, the Izod IndyCar Series (IICS) had been dependent on Honda as its sole engine provider. However, beginning with this season, the IICS welcomed the return of Chevrolet and Lotus as additional providers.

Although Chevrolet has been on par with Honda throughout the season, Lotus has been far from it. It remained to be seen just how far behind Lotus' engine program was, but Indianapolis has shown that they are lightyears behind.

Coming into the month of May, Lotus provided engines to Dragon Racing, Dreyer and Reinbold, Fan Force United, HVM Racing, and Team Barracuda-Bryan Herta Autosport. However, Team Barracuda-BHA and Dreyer and Reinbold both terminated their agreements with Lotus prior to the opening of IMS.

Dragon Racing, mired in a lawsuit with Lotus, secured two Chevrolet engines for its drivers just yesterday. This leaves just two teams, Fan Force United with driver Jean Alesi, and HVM Racing with driver Simona de Silvestro using Lotus power.

In practice this week, Lotus driver Jean Alesi said, "I feel very unsafe, being quite slow in the middle of the track."

With his top speed of 205.389 was significantly slower than any non-Lotus car in the field.

Simona de Silvestro was slightly faster in Thursday's practice, with a top speed of 205.690. However, this does not make the required 105 percent-mark needed for race day speeds.

Although this brings up debate regarding driver safety, it also raises questions as to whether the Lotus cars should be allowed to attempt to qualify.

Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star has reported that A.J. Foyt himself has stated that the Lotus cars are too slow for starting spots, and has also raised the possibility of drivers fielding three cars to bump the Lotus drivers out of the field.

Foyt hinted that his team has prepped a third car in case of a crash by Wade Cunningham or Mike Conway, but that it could be used on Bump Day for an additional driver.

Other teams with the potential for additional drivers include Dale Coyne Racing, Schmidt Hamilton Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, and, only if needed, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. 

It is difficult to believe that a team owner would stretch his resources to the limits solely to bump Lotus from the field, but this may be a situation that proves to be true.

Additional drivers are available, with Vitor Miera, Davey Hamilton, and Pippa Mann all being spotted in Gasoline Alley, and Simona de Silvestro would be an asset for any of these teams if HVM decided to pull their Lotus entry. 

No matter what happens, it seems that Bump Day may have some excitement after all.

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One of NASCAR’s most popular races does not count for points, but it certainly scores speed, thrills and bragging rights.

The Sprint Showdown and Sprint All-Star Race on the 1.5-mile quad-oval Charlotte Motor Speedway with 24 degree banking will commence on May 19 at 7 p.m. for those in the grandstands and others on SPEED TV.

Charlotte Motor Speedway describes the popular race in one quick paragraph:

Simply put, it is 90 laps for $1 million. The best of the best in NASCAR go all out in the annual NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. With the unique format, short distance, no points on the line and a large sum of money to the winner, the All-Star Race regularly produces some of NASCAR’s most exciting moments.

The night race consists of the Sprint Showdown, with two segments of 20 laps. Two winners advance to the All-Star race that hosts five segments of four 20-lap runs, followed by a mandatory final pit stop and the 10-lap shootout.

Winners of the All-Star segments get preferred top-four pit positions going into the final shootout.

This year, 20 top drivers have earned a spot in the field. Two drivers will join the elite group with a win in the Showdown.

Those drivers include: Trevor Bayne, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Regan Smith, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, David Ragan, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard, Marcos Ambrose, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, and Mark Martin.

Select comments from 10 top All-Stars tell much about the fan-favorite event in the way of fun, spirited competition and home-field atmosphere.

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Chevrolet)

It doesn't matter if points are on the line or not. I don't approach the All-Star race any different than I do any other race. However, it is a win-or-nothing kind of situation. If we don't win, then we don't lose any points—so you can kind of leave with a smile on your face.

The All-Star Race is always pretty wild and crazy.

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford)

We’re just going for the win in each segment and hopefully get to Victory Lane like we did last year. That was a blast and one of the neatest nights of my career, so I’m excited to just go out there and have some fun.

Kyle Busch (No. 18 Toyota)

Being an all-star and being in the All-Star Race is one of the most fun things we get to do each year. You’re definitely up on top of the wheel, and your guys do the best they can to give you a good car and to make it as lightweight as possible.

I think qualifying well can always lend itself to racing the All-Star Race well because you’re running however many laps that segment is.

Two great champions, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson, defined the aspects that make the All-Star race special.

Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Ford)

It seems that teams are always willing to take more risks and try new things when it comes to the All-Star Race simply because there aren’t any points associated with this race. The All-Star Race is just a lot of fun—having to qualify with a pit stop. Everyone is chasing the big check at the end of the race.

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Chevrolet)

There is no doubt the Shootout and the All-Star Race are more relaxed. Sure, we want to win. It’s just who and what we all are. Without having the points and the structure of a normal weekend, it does make it a lot more fun.

It is a great testing weekend with practice and qualifying and all of that stuff. It’s a good time to try stuff, and all teams do.

Ryan Newman is an automotive engineer, but he emphasized his racing background to define this race.

Ryan Newman (No. 39 Chevrolet)

This race is about the glory and the big prize. There are no points on the line, so, the way I see it, you want to either win it or bring back just the steering wheel in your hands, knowing you did everything you could to be the best of the best that night.

I think one of the coolest things about the All-Star Race for us is that it’s a short race. It’s kind of like the races we all grew up racing. It’s a 'make your move and make it now' kind of thing. It’s a unique layout, and to me that’s what makes it fun.

Tony Stewart is known for an occasional media rant, but more often Stewart brings humor and excellent analysis of races and tracks.

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Chevrolet)

It’s an event for the fans, and that’s something that’s very important to us, but there’s a lot of bragging rights, too. Charlotte is an area where 95 percent of the Cup teams are based, so when you go there, you want to run well.

You’re able to have guys come from the shop that don’t get a chance to travel. They don’t get a chance to come to the racetrack very often and see the fruits of their labor, so for them to come to the All-Star Race and see their cars run, especially when you have a good night, it really pumps up your organization.

You do it for your fans, but at the same time, you do it for your organization and your team. That’s why the All-Star Race is important.

Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle shared their insight.

Kasey Kahne (No. 5 Chevrolet)

You can’t run the All-Star like any other race. With the format changes, your strategy is never the same as last year. Winning a segment is going to mean a lot this year. No one is looking for just a good finish. We all want the win.

Greg Biffle (No. 16 Ford)

“I’m super excited for the All-Star race Saturday night,” Biffle said. “No points, I don’t have to worry about anything. It’s kind of like having a week off and getting to drive the car how I want to.”

Kevin Harvick covered the most significant elements of the night race.

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

Our All-Star race is a lot different than other sports. With the All-Star race, they put a million dollars in front of you. Anytime they put that much money in front of anybody, it's going to cause things to rise to another level.

Take the points away from that and you really have some unique scenarios that come up. It's always fun when you know there is really nothing on the line but to win.

If you do, then usually there is a big check waiting for you at the end, so that gives you some bragging rights and a lot of money.

Looks like green flags are going to be numerous and thrilling.

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com. Unless otherwise noted, information and all quotes were obtained from personal interviews or official release materials provided by NASCAR and team representatives.

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Stop me if you've heard this one before: A major player in the IndyCar ranks is considering a jump to NASCAR's top level...Oh, you thought that sad experiment ceased for the most part in 2008 when Dario Franchitti, Patrick Carpentier, Jacques Villeneuve, et al. tried and failed at it?

If you put any stock into the latest story from the rumor mill, it looks like it's about to happen again—except this time with an owner.

Multiple sources have told Fox Sports' Lee Spencer that Michael Andretti of Andretti Autosport is now a candidate to field Dodge's flagship Sprint Cup team in 2013.

This isn't the first time that we in the NASCAR sphere have heard this rumor, and it may very well be far from the last. But more than ever, this rumor is one of the most nonsensical to come out of Dodge's search for a new leader next season.

It's got nothing to do with Andretti's engine situation in IndyCar, though. Andretti runs one of the top Chevrolet teams, behind only Penske Racing in prestige for the American marque. But keep in mind that Roger Penske has relationships with just about every car brand under the sun. In fact, he'll be running Fords in NASCAR to go with Chevrolets in IndyCar in 2013. Chip Ganassi runs Chevrolets in NASCAR and Honda in IndyCar.

Brand conflicts can be dealt with.

But the risk of further dilution of the already massive Andretti brand, especially in a discipline completely foreign to this team, should be reason enough to laugh at this rumor. Besides their three entries in the IZOD IndyCar Series (expanded to five for the upcoming Indianapolis 500), Andretti Autosport runs two-car teams at all three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy.

That's nine full-time teams running out of the Andretti shop already.

Don't forget the company's expansion into race promotion this season. After splitting from Kim Green and Kevin Savoree before the 2010 season, Andretti took over the former Andretti Green Racing's race teams, while Green and Savoree maintained its race promotion business. But Andretti is back in the game as a promoter, having added the Milwaukee event to the schedule early this year and taking over the Baltimore race in September.

For the record, nine teams and two races give Andretti a larger motorsports involvement than both Penske and Ganassi.

But even if the Andretti organization were to find the cash somewhere to complete its rumored NASCAR expansion, finding a competitive driver to take over the car would be a serious chore. Most top drivers are locked up, while potential free agents like Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman are unlikely to go anywhere.

That leaves a seriously decimated crop of drivers. Is dealing with the hot-headed Kurt Busch worth it for what would be a fledgling operation? Would a completely new environment help Joey Logano or Jamie McMurray climb into the top 20 or help send them to a permanent home in lower series? And wouldn't it have made far more sense to jump into NASCAR while Danica Patrick was still an Andretti driver?

When judging NASCAR rumors, there are generally two options: entertain them seriously or be seriously entertained by them. The umpteenth Andretti-to-NASCAR rumor is likely an example of the latter.

Then again, if it's that easy to dismiss this rumor as ridiculous, there are probably going to be two Andretti-backed Dodges on the grid for next year's Daytona 500. Just remember, we all thought that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would never leave his father's team.

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I was fortunate to get the opportunity to talk to NASCAR driver Regan Smith and his mother Lee Smith before Darlington. Here are some of the questions I asked them.

B/R: How would you describe your 2012 season so far?

Regan Smith: Oh yeah. Certainly we’d like to have had a better start than what we’ve had so far this year, but we’re working hard to figure out what’s been going on, you know. 

We started out the first four or five races and felt like we were going to be in good shape and at some point kind of hit a little wall, and a little bit of a lull, and things took a different turn, a different direction for us and we’ve been working hard to get out of this little rut that we’ve been in and thought Talladega was going to be the weekend to do that.

Unfortunately, you can’t help it when you have a motor blow  and things like that happen.

B/R: Lee, What was your reaction to Regan getting his first career win last season at Darlington?

Lee Smith: I was actually on a rescue with animals in Tuscaloosa, Alabama after the tornado. And I couldn’t believe that I wasn’t there. I just couldn’t believe it. And I knew he was going to do it when it was six laps to go, I knew he was going to do it, somehow.

B/R: Just that mother’s intuition, right?

LS: That’s correct. And I hadn’t seen any of the race. We didn’t have power where I was at. I got to see the last 10 laps basically.

B/R: Now when you watch Regan race, do you ever get nervous about his safety, especially after Eric McClure’s crash in the Nationwide Series with his injuries?

LS:  I used to when he was younger; it really bothered me. But now it doesn’t, because he is in the cars that are so safe. Everything is safe, outside, inside in the car. So he is good. I worry about him (more) off the track than on.

B/R: Off the track? Oh boy, what is going on off the track?

RS: Lots of things going on off track. That’s actually, as we’re talking here, one of the things that we’re promoting and helping bring awareness to is CSX “Play it Safe" campaign. It’s part of what we have on the car this weekend. 

I think 1,965 accidents in 2011 occurred or incidents on train tracks occurred. We’re trying to bring awareness to that. We want to bring that number down. Make sure that people realize that a train can come from any direction and cause somebody to have a bad day.

B/R: How did you react after getting out of the car at Talladega after the motor blew?

RS: Yeah, I think from a team standpoint, Furniture Row Racing, we always expect to go to the speedways and be up front. And have a shot at the win and certainly a good finish.

Yeah I was dejected when I got out of the car. I threw my helmet, I kicked the tires, I punched a wall... Nah, I didn’t do any of that stuff.

B/R: You did punch any glass like Amar'e Stoudemire, right?

RS: Yeah, absolutely. I was looking for cameras so I could go get mad at the camera guys. No, I wasn’t. You know, it's racing. You’re gonna have parts malfunction from time to time. We are fortunately, we get great engines from ECR, and those guys have done a really good job for us.

I think in two years that was the second engine malfunction we’ve had. We don’t know what happened. It wasn’t heat related, which was an issues for everybody there. But this particular circumstance wasn’t heat related.

We’ll get It back. It takes a little bit longer because ours cars have to go back to Colorado before the engines can come back to North Carolina.  But we’ll get the engine back to them. I’m sure they’ll figure it out, and we’ll keep it from happening again. 

Follow me on Twitter: @hugoolguin57

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Rick Hendrick has to been feeling great, as Jimmie Johnson was able to get win No. 200 for Hendrick Motorsports at Darlington. After Hendrick's teams got close to winning multiple times this season, the pressure seems to be off after his teams were winless for the first 10 races.

Hendrick is smart enough to know that this season is long from being over or a success. During a teleconference, Hendrick talked about many topics, including the unusual start for his teams this season.

Between Kasey and Jeff Gordon, probably the rottenest luck I've had in racing in my career. I mean, I can't even remember as many flat tires or wrecks, or Kasey is running third on the last lap and gets shoved into the wall. 

We have had some freak things break on the car, but I'm not going to take away from the competition level that's out there. But I still believe that I think the momentum is going to be on our side when we get to the Chase. I think Jeff is going to win races. We have got to get to 20th in the points, but I think he's going to win races, and Kasey is going to win races

What has to be comforting for Hendrick is that his cars are typically some of the strongest cars on the track. But what is astounding is how much bad luck his teams have had.

Kasey Kahne started off the season with finishes of 29th or worse in four of the first six races. Now, Kahne has five straight top-10 finishes, and he has moved from 31st to 16th in points.  

On the other hand, Jeff Gordon has had no luck at all this season. He has only two top-10 finishes and sits 24th in points. Gordon has had just about everything bad happen to him this season—from blown motors, to crashes, to flat tires, to bad pit stops. Those reasons have cost Gordon good finishes and a win or two.

Gordon's crash at Martinsville still bothers Hendrick, even after getting win No. 200:

When you're running one, two, three and you've got three laps to go, or two laps to go, and you've got a straight way on everybody and you just kind of are cruising and then somebody stops on the track and then you've got to restart and you have a big wreck that takes out everybody—I think that one crushed me more than any one ever has, because I wanted to win at Martinsville, and that would have been a great place for the 200th win, where the accident happened. I have a lot of family there and had relatives on the plane. That one crushed me, and I don't think I'll ever get over that one.

Now, Hendrick has to look ahead to the All-Star Race this weekend to have his teams race hard for money and prepare for the Coca-Cola 600.

Well, when you're in that All-Star Race, the track does some crazy things when the sun goes down. I've seen it get loose; I've seen it get tight. It does give the guys a good reference for running the 600. I think this year, with the 600 moved back a little later in the day, it's even going to be more important to see how your car reacts on two tires and all of the other things, the adjustments you make during the race.

You know, we are going to take this one race at a time. We want to win the All-Star Race because it's a lot of bragging rights. But we'll get a lot of information over there that will prepare us for the 600.

It is still a long way from the Chase starting, and with how strong the Hendrick cars can run, there is no way to count out the fact that all four of Rick Hendrick's teams can still make the Chase.

Hugo Olguin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

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There are no points at stake, but prestige and a big paycheck make for a game-on atmosphere, where drivers will do whatever it takes to win. 

A good part of the field is made up of drivers who have won races in 2011 and 2012. The remainder of the field is a driver voted in by fans and the winner and runner-up of the preliminary Showdown race.

The pace is fast on the 1.5-mile Charlotte track. It won't just be the fastest car that will be in Victory Lane, but the driver who has the fastest, most efficient pit stops as well.

Drivers in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race are the cream of the crop in NASCAR's premier series. They may race together weekly and enjoy camaraderie, but all that is out the window in this race.

For the All-Star Race, it is every man for himself and friendships or teammates mean nothing when racing for the one-million dollar check.

This slideshow will power rank the top-15 drivers ending with the highest ranked driver who is likely to win it all.

Begin Slideshow

The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race is a non-points, high-stakes show with the sport's best drivers. Action can be dramatic as drivers go for it all, purely for the pride of winning and that one million dollar reward.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is never a track to hold back on showmanship. The pre-race festivities recognize drivers and teams in a manner not seen at the races for points.

It is a loud, colorful and fun event for the fans and teams. The cars often sport spectacular special paint schemes that are dazzling under the lights at CMS.

The All-Star Race race honors the teams, and how they perform may make the difference between the fastest driver being a winner or contender.

This slideshow will highlight the reasons the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race is a special race, and why it is an event that is not to be missed, even for those who may not be regular fans of NASCAR.

Begin Slideshow

With NASCAR’s All-Star weekend almost here, it’s time to look at one of the most underrated races on the entire 2012 schedule—the annual Sprint Showdown.

This 40-lap race happens before the All-Star race Saturday night, and decides the final two drivers in the main event.

The last driver chosen will be voted in by the fans.

Each driver sees this as their chance to make a name for themselves, so you can expect some of the hardest driving from the youngest and most promising stars the sport has to offer.

Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Charlotte, NC

When: Saturday, May 19, 7:00 p.m. ET

Watch: SPEED

Live Stream: TrackPass

Listen: Motor Racing Network

Starting Order: Sprint Showdown qualifying determined Friday, May 18 at 5 p.m. ET

Don’t miss the Full NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race 2012 preview here!

Full TV Schedule

May, 18, 10:20 a.m.—N.C. Education Lottery 200 final practice (TV at 10:30) SPEED

May, 18, Noon—Sprint Showdown final practice, SPEED

May, 18, 1:35 p.m.—Sprint All-Star Race final practice, SPEED

May, 18, 4 p.m.—N.C. Education Lottery 200 qualifying, SPEED

May, 18, 5 p.m.—Sprint Showdown qualifying, SPEED

May, 18, 6 p.m.—Sprint All-Star Race qualifying, SPEED

May, 18, 7:30 p.m.—N.C. Education Lottery 200, SPEED

May, 19, 7 p.m.—Sprint Showdown, SPEED

May, 19, 9 p.m.—Sprint All-Star Race, SPEED

May, 20, 2 p.m.—Pioneer Hi-Bred 250, ESPN

Entry List

Jamie McMurray

David Reutimann

Casey Mears

Joey Logano

A.J. Allmendinger

Josh Wise

David Stremme

Jeff Burton

Stephen Leicht

Tony Raines

David Gilliland

Juan Montoya

Aric Almirola

Bobby Labonte

Martin Truex Jr.

Landon Cassill

Joe Nemechek

Travis Kvapil

Mike Bliss

Scott Speed

J.J. Yeley

Predicted Winners

Jamie McMurray

With two previous wins at this track and a strong car in 2012, Jamie McMurray literally has the inside lane on most of the completion in this race. If the No. 1 car can qualify well, they have the car and the driver to stay at the front of the pack for 40 laps.

If Jamie doesn’t finish first, he will be the second-place car.

Martin Truex Jr.

While Martin Truex hasn’t had the most success over his career at Charlotte, he hasn’t been driving a car as good as the one he has with Michael Waltrip Racing.

Truex is having a strong 2012 and will look to continue to build on that with 40 laps of pure domination.

Fan Vote Winner

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

As if there was ever a doubt who would win a fan vote at any point in NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will get a chance to dance in the All-Star race because that’s what the fans want.

Junior is arguably the most popular driver in NASCAR history and will win every time there is a fan vote.

Check back for more on NASCAR as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s NASCAR Page to get your fill of all things motorsports.

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It may not have any bearing on the points standings, but one of the races over the course of the season that drivers want to win most is the Sprint All-Star Race.

Only money and pride are on the line in this high-stakes race, so finishing anywhere other than first isn't a desirable option for any of the drivers involved.

The race, which will take place on Saturday night, has a slightly revised format that promises to make for an exciting sprint to the finish. With drivers having to make predetermined pit stops within the race, it will truly take a team effort to come out on top in the end.

There aren't many races on the entire schedule where a second-place finish is considered to be particularly bad, but that will be the case this weekend, so there is no doubt that we will see some exciting competition until the bitter end.

Here is everything you need to know about when and where to catch the Sprint All-Star race from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

When: Saturday, May 19 at 9 p.m. ET

Watch: SPEED

Race Lineup

Marcos Ambrose

Trevor Bayne

Greg Biffle

Clint Bowyer

Kurt Busch

Kyle Busch

Carl Edwards

Jeff Gordon

Denny Hamlin

Kevin Harvick

Jimmie Johnson

Kasey Kahne

Matt Kenseth

Brad Keselowski

Mark Martin

Paul Menard

Ryan Newman

David Ragan

Regan Smith

Tony Stewart

Sprint Showdown winner

Sprint Showdown second place

Sprint fan vote winner

Drivers to Watch

Carl Edwards

One of 10 past All-Star race winners already in the field, there is no doubt that Carl Edwards will be very much in the mix on Saturday night. Edwards came out on top in an exciting race last year and will look to become the first ever back-to-back winner in the race's 27-year history.

Edwards is a guy who isn't afraid to take some chances, so this is obviously a race that is tailored to his talents. He certainly hasn't run up to his potential this season, as he is just 10th in the standings and without a victory, but perhaps the All-Star race can help propel him to some better finishes in the near future.

Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson is also a past winner of the All-Star race, and since he hasn't gone to victory lane at this event since 2003, there is no doubt that he'll be itching to win that sizable paycheck. Johnson is coming off a big win last week at Darlington, where he scored the 200th career victory for car owner Rick Hendrick.

Johnson is normally a points racer who likes to pick his spots, so the All-Star race isn't necessarily his cup of tea, but he has no trouble making bold moves if he's within striking distance of the lead. Johnson really seems to be rounding into form as of late, and will be a top contender for the points title once again this season. A win in the All-Star race would just be icing on the cake.

Kyle Busch

Perhaps the most controversial driver in the sport, Kyle Busch is precisely the type of competitor who makes the All-Star race so intriguing. Even when points are at a premium, Busch isn't afraid to risk it all in the name of a victory. That will be even truer on Saturday night as he will do everything in his power to get out in front.

This will be Busch's seventh All-Star race, and when you take into account his all-or-nothing style and his winning track record, it's hard to believe that he has yet to win this event. I have to believe that it's only a matter of time before Busch breaks through, and since he came in second last year, 2012 could certainly be his time.

Prediction

The great part about the All-Star race is that it features the very best that NASCAR has to offer, so anyone can realistically win. More often than not a superstar comes out on top, but you never know what might happen with so many good cars racing hard to the finish.

With that said, I look for Kyle Busch to add another big victory to his resume with his first All-Star race win. Busch already has the mentality it takes to be successful in this type of setting, so as long as he stays clean and his pit crew is efficient, he'll be in position to make a move for the win late.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter

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I'm thinking of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver.

This particular driver is known for his aggressive racing style and has a history of in-car radio meltdowns and post-race altercations.

He drives a Chevrolet in NASCAR's top level, won multiple races a year ago and made the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Can you guess who it is?

If you guessed Kurt Busch, you are correct, as the 2004 Sprint Cup champ was one of the right answers.

Among the slew of other possible answers were fan favorites Kevin Harvick and defending Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart.

It's no secret following the 2012 season's 11th race that Busch is not popular among race fans, or really anybody, for that matter.

Known for his fiery personality, which has gotten him in trouble both on-track and off on several occasions, Busch had another run-in with a fellow Sprint Cupper Saturday night at Darlington.

Busch had an altercation with Stewart's driver, Ryan Newman, after the two tangled late in Saturday night's Southern 500.

This was the latest of an ongoing saga that dates back to last year, when Busch's in-car anger issues became evident.

Following a late wreck, a frustrated Busch, who'd just had another terrific run go for naught after a second-consecutive late-race crash, did a burnout leaving his pit stall and ran through Newman's in the process while Newman's crew was still cleaning up after a stop.

After the race, Busch ran into Newman's car on pit road in what Busch claimed to be an unintentional incident he caused while taking his helmet off.

Since that incident, as well as the ensuing shouting match between Busch and members of Newman's pit crew, fans, drivers and media alike have wasted no time taking shots at NASCAR's new favorite punching bag.

After all, it's not like any other driver in the sport has anger issues, or even any history of anger issues. Right?

Not so fast.

In this day and age of vanilla drivers, NASCAR fans have looked up and down the pit lane for somebody, anybody, who may just give the sport a little flavor. Among these favorites are drivers like Harvick and Stewart.

Both of whom have dealt with anger issues in the past, and even do somewhat to this day.

Perhaps you will remember that in the early 2000s, Stewart, who's always had a very large, dedicated fan base, was the center of media attention after he punched a photographer following a race at Loudon, and was always making headlines with soundbites of him dissing reporters.

You may remember him spinning then-rookie Kasey Kahne for the lead at Chicagoland in 2004, or running Matt Kenseth clear off the track at Daytona in 2006.

You may even remember hearing about him beating up an Australian short-track owner in the offseason prior to the 2011 Sprint Cup season.

As for Harvick, how can we forget the time he ambushed Greg Biffle after a Busch Series race at Bristol in 2002, or the time he stomped on Ricky Rudd's car after a race at Richmond in 2003?

Perhaps you can recall him confronting Kahne following the race at Phoenix in 2004, or spinning Joey Logano out of a sure Top 5 at Pocono in 2010.

Maybe you even remember him turning Trevor Bayne head-on into the wall in the Nationwide Series race at Richmond last September.

When you look at life recently for these fan favorites, you'll notice not a lot has changed. Sure, they've toned it down just a bit, but that same care-free attitude the fans so love is still there.

Just last week, Stewart made a few sarcastic comments to reporters following the race at Talladega, essentially calling out the fans for wanting to see pack racing instead of two-car tandems.

As for Harvick, he still goes after drivers like he did a few years ago. Just ask Kyle Busch after Darlington last May.

There's nothing wrong with fans taking such a liking to the Harvicks and Stewarts of the sport. In this day and age of cookie-cutter tracks and cookie-cutter drivers, a little something different is nice to see.

But if Harvick is revered for his aggressive driving, and Stewart is admired for his less-than-gentle approach toward media members, why is it that a guy like Kurt Busch is not treated with the same adoration from all parties involved in the sport?

After all, when you compare the drivers, there are few differences to be found. 

Sure, at the present time Busch may be the most fiery and unpredictable driver in the garage area. And perhaps that's something fans find a little intimidating.

But if it's burning competitiveness and an unmatched drive to perform that draws fans to guys like Harvick and Stewart, perhaps it's time for some to take a closer look at Busch.

For all three drivers, those traits come with a side of anger. And while Busch's may be hot off the grill, Harvick's and Stewart's are still simmering.

It is for that reason these three drivers have more in common than you may think.

Even if that reality may be hard to swallow.

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Everything is on the line for a million-dollar payoff, where points don't matter, as some of the best drivers in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series race with the old adage "checkers or wreckers."

The field is made up of drivers who have won races in 2011 and 2012, a driver voted in by the fans and the winner and runner-up from the preliminary Showdown Race.

The race consists of four 20-lap segments and a final 10-lap race for the big check. The winners of each 20-lap race line up in positions one through four coming down pit road for the final mandatory pit stop.

NASCAR is a team sport and the All-Star Race not only emphasizes winning, but the error-free performance of the pit crews. How they leave pit road is how they line up.

The pit stop prior to the final 10-lap run is critical for the driver who will eventually be celebrating in Victory Lane. The fastest driver with the best car may sacrifice the win with a less-than-perfect pit stop.

The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race is a dress rehearsal for the Coca-Cola 600 on May 27.

Carl Edwards is the defending winner of the race, but there are many other storylines surrounding the event. Could this be the turning point for Jeff Gordon, who has won this race three times?

Once again it will be up to the fans to vote Dale Earnhardt Jr. in, so we wait to see if Junior Nation gets the job done for the driver of the No. 88. If they don't, he will need to win or place in the Showdown.

There are some wild-card drivers, including Trevor Bayne, Paul Menard and Marcos Ambrose, who will make their first All-Star Race appearance.

Kurt Busch will be in contention with his No. 51 out of Phoenix Racing. He is the last driver to win the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600, in 2010.

Martin Truex, Jr. should make a strong showing in the preliminary race; he is the favorite to grab the win in the Showdown or at least finish second and make the All-Star show.

The top five drivers based on average finishes are as follows:

Matt Kenseth has one win, four top-five and eight top-10 finishes, two poles and an average of 6.5.

Tony Stewart  has one win, eight top-five and nine top-10 finishes with an average of 7.1.

Ryan Newman has one win, three top-five and six top-10 finishes, one pole and an average of 9.2

Jeff Gordon has three wins, six top-five and nine top-10 finishes with an average of 9.3.

Carl Edwards has one win, three top-five and four top-10 finishes with an average finish of 9.3.

The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race is always an event full of unexpected twists, when drivers have nothing to lose and everything to gain in the non-points race.

The pre-race festivities are colorful and loud with the introduction of the drivers and teams being presented on a stage.

The entire evening is a spectacle under the lights and presented with typical Charlotte Motor Speedway showmanship.

Date: Saturday, May 19

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

TV: SPEED 7:00 p.m. ET

Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90

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Just how good is Fernando Alonso?

Currently, he is sharing the championship lead in the 2012 Formula One season and no one can adequately explain why.

Or can they?

Okay, a guy with two world championships under his belt is obviously not a complete dud, but I suspect we can all name drivers who secured a world championship more by virtue of the car they were in, rather than their ability to drive it.

Even Felipe Massa almost achieved it in 2008!

On the flip side, we can all name drivers who should have won a championship, but never did—Stirling Moss being the obvious example.

So world championships are not a perfect measure of driver ability although, to be fair, the best drivers do get the opportunity to drive the best cars.

A better measure is perhaps how they perform in a substandard car.

Ayrton Senna made his name wrestling his Toleman to points and podium finishes in his inaugural 1984 season thus securing his seat in a Lotus.

Michael Schumacher secured third place in the 1992 championship with a conventional Benetton-Ford against Williams cars with the superlative Renault engine, semi-automatic gearboxes and active suspension.

This year Alonso is doing the same with a car that arguably isn’t worthy of the prancing horse badge on its nose.

This season, he has finished every race in the points, a feat only equaled by Lewis Hamilton, and has managed to win the rain affected Malaysian Grand Prix and pulled a brilliantly driven second place in Spain.

The car that he is driving is far inferior to the McLaren and Red Bull cars and has been outperformed by Mercedes, Renault, Sauber and Williams. Ferrari made a big step forward in Spain, but still Alonso is not competing on a level playing field.

While his talent is on show for all to see, he is not without some rough edges.

He can be something of a prima donna, and it’s not uncommon to see him gesticulating wildly at anyone who gets in his way—as Charles Pic found out at the Spanish GP.

And who can forget him driving around Abu Dhabi behind Vitaly Petrov in 2010? His frustration was on public display as his championship chances simply evaporated as the then Renault driver held him at bay and he finished four points behind Sebastian Vettel.

He brake-tested a Red Bull test driver Robert Doornbos in free practice at the 2006, but recently had the gall to complain that F1 drivers don't show each other enough on-track respect.

Alonso has managed to get himself caught up in some of the sports’ biggest controversies over the past few years. From “crashgate” in Singapore, to “spygate” (why do we insist on putting “-gate” on the end of anything with a hint of conspiracy about it?) between McLaren and Ferrari, Fernando has been front and centre, but no mud has managed to stick.

Perhaps having Flavio Briattore as a manager doesn’t give him the best role model to aspire to.

He also has a reputation for not playing well with others. His 2007 season at McLaren was overshadowed by his rivalry with a glamorous rookie by the name of Lewis Hamilton. Alonso maintained that Hamilton was receiving preferential treatment from the team.

His personality seems to demand that he be the undisputed No. 1 driver in whatever team he blesses with his presence. He had that at Renault and has it now at Ferrari.

Perhaps that’s the reason that there is a huge disparity between himself and the other driver in the team. For the past two seasons, Alonso has finished over 100 points ahead of teammate Felipe Massa.

Okay, Massa’s performance doesn’t set a particularly high benchmark, but this year he is 59 points ahead after only five races!

And that, after all, is the point.

He may have almost no chance of maintaining his lead too far into this season, but he won’t stop trying and no-one on the grid will underestimate him.

Despite being lumbered with what is unquestionably an inferior car, he manages to get the very best possible performance out of it every race.

That’s what teams need, that’s what makes a champion and that’s what makes Fernando Alonso one of the most formidable drivers ever to sit in an F1 car’s cockpit.

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In the end, this is just starting to look foolish.

Just one week removed from running the popular Ricky Bobby "Me" paint scheme from 2006's Talladega Nights, Kurt Busch was back to his old self in the Sprint Cup race at Darlington. After rocketing by half a dozen cars in the first few laps, he faded, eventually spinning with six laps to go in the Southern 500 and collecting Ryan Newman.

After doing a burnout on pit road that startled the crowd—and Newman's crew, whose stall Busch passed through while they were still in it—and bumping Newman on pit road at the end of the race, the two teams had an altercation. That ended with a NASCAR official falling onto Busch's hood and a busy NASCAR hauler after the race.

In a lot of ways, Busch resembles the fictional Bobby, from the loss of a top ride to the divorce of his first wife to a less-than-stellar handle on his temper. The difference, of course, is that by the end of the movie, Bobby figured it out and put together a happy ending. Busch, on the other hand, is turning the end of his movie into a farce.

The 2012 season was supposed to be a time for refocusing by the temperamental Las Vegas native. After a series of incidents last year, including a well-publicized dust-up with ESPN's Dr. Jerry Punch in the season finale at Homestead, Busch was dumped from a Chase-contending ride at Penske Racing.

He opted to rebuild his Cup career with Phoenix Racing, a small but popular outfit, on a one-year contract, while also splitting the Nationwide Series schedule with brother Kyle at Kyle Busch Motorsports and running superspeedway races for Phoenix.

Results have been mixed so far. Busch has been typically solid in the Nationwide equipment, scoring a solid win at Richmond with KBM and four top-10s in five starts overall. But Busch has been as far down the Sprint Cup standings as he's ever been in his career; he currently ranks 25th with a single top-10, which puts him on pace for his first season outside the top 20 in points since his rookie year in 2001.

That middling performance has led Busch's hot temper to boil over. Busch and Finch have a verbal agreement not to break their contract with one another, but Finch is a strict owner who demands performance as justification for any hiring. Kyle upholds those same expectations.

Kurt's reaction to that hasn't been great: After the Richmond event, USA Today reports that he he joked to reporters, "(Kyle) told me what to do driving at like lap 40. And I was like, 'Here we go. Here's the owner telling the driver how to drive."

On a more serious note, sponsorship concerns have arisen, with Finch hinting that it may be difficult for the team to run the full season unless somebody signs on to back the team. Kurt had been doing a solid job of promoting both Tag Heuer and Monster Energy at the start of the year, but the Darlington incident could undo anything positive to come out of the season thus far.

Newman, for one, lacks confidence in the 2004 series champion.

"It's easy to see and it's easy to say that Kurt blew a fuse again," Newman told Dustin Long after the race. "I'm not sure why he did it and tried to run over our guys and NASCAR officials. And nobody is. I think the chemical imbalance speaks for itself."

"(I think he) was so frustrated that he doesn't know how to deal with his anger."

Former teammate Matt Kenseth, on the other hand, isn't worried about Kurt, even if he knows that team owner Jack Roush will never bring him back. "Everybody changes, everybody goes through different phases of their career, different phases of their life,” he told reporters after the race. “There’s always a second chance out there.”

The question is where that chance will come from. Furniture Row Racing has talked to Kurt about establishing a second car and becoming Dodge's flagship team for 2013, but Darlington may have thrown a wrench in those plans.

Not many other quality seats are open for next year, as Penske won't bring Kurt back, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. will probably see contract renewals and Richard Petty has enough trouble attracting sponsorship for the famous No. 43 as it is.

Kenseth remains confident in his friend's ability to secure a drive with another top team—“I would be surprised if he wasn’t able to keep a ride or stay in a competitive car”—but after his latest incident, many in the NASCAR garages remain unsold on Kurt Busch.

He hasn't shown any progress in dealing with the anger issues that damage sponsorship relationships and bring home torn race cars, and Finch's patience may be running out if he continues to tear up equipment. 

And while Kurt might have seen himself as the real-life Ricky Bobby, he may be closer to a different movie character altogether: Russ Wheeler, the bad guy of Days of Thunder. And in this day and age of big sponsorship deals, being the bad guy might be enough to leave you on the sidelines.

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I was drawn to an article written late last week by Marty Smith, ESPN’s lead NASCAR reporter, who took time in his column to chronicle the emotional and financial struggles of former NASCAR greats like Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip. Smith’s piece included supplementary perspectives from retired professionals like driver Ricky Craven, NBA center Brad Daugherty and others.

But the crux of his work examined the idea that “athletes die twice.” Smith credits the aphorism to comments made by longtime sportswriter John Feinstein on a Charlotte radio show in reference to the recent suicide of retired NFL player Junior Seau. From ESPN.com: 

Feinstein expounded on the comment by noting that, upon retirement, the world as a professional athlete has always known it no longer exists, and that he or she must completely relearn how to function in society. He then cited the difficulty many former athletes experience in the taxing attempt to acclimate themselves to what most of us consider normal. 

The stringent nature and structured routing required to achieve professional sporting excellence is no longer necessary. And even more dynamic than that, the doting adulation and attention from fans, media, family and most everyone else in their midst vanishes. Just like that.

In his column, Smith noted that Wallace and Craven suddenly found themselves unable to pay for all the things they once could. Jarrett said the depression-like emotions he battled in early retirement contributed to his divorce. Waltrip struggled mightily with the idea that his late-career performance didn’t mirror the success of the 80+ wins he’d accumulated between 1975 and 1992. 

As triumphant and driven as they’d been on the track, the inability to sustain that prosperity and sense of purpose made their racing “after-lives” painfully unfamiliar. 

By comparison, former NFL defensive lineman Trevor Pryce seems to be handling the early stages of retirement with a little more skill. At 36, he’s not even 18 months removed from a three-tackle performance in the New York Jets’ loss to Pittsburgh in the 2011 AFC championship game.

But while Pryce, a father of three, can relate to feeling similarly rudderless in the open water beyond his football career, he doesn’t seem quite as troubled as some. From NYTimes.com: 

Having retired way before my time, I have started to lose focus and drive. At times, I feel ostracized. 

…Starting from scratch can be unsettling. If you’re not prepared for it, retirement can become a form of self-imposed exile from the fulfillment and the exhilaration of knowing you did a good job…

During the six-month off-seasons [during my career], I pretty much educated myself, dabbling in music, Hollywood, journalism, real-estate and everything in between, with varying degrees of success. I was able to do a lot in so little time. Now that I have all the time in the world, it’s amazing how little accomplish every day…

Don’t cry for me, though. I’m getting used to it slowly and will be content with my new life. That is, until [Jets coach] Rex [Ryan] calls.

One point made elsewhere in the Pryce and Smith pieces was the importance of age and tenure in the retirement process.

“[For] Most of us competitors... you’ve [competed] for a very long period of time, and that will and desire to compete doesn’t just go away,” Jarrett tells Smith.

But there is a spectrum to that “very long period.” A man like Waltrip, who drove amateur races as a teenager, finds himself beyond the half-century mark with the daunting knowledge that the one thing he’s been trained to do for the better part of 40 years is now no longer his profession.

He’s almost twice as old as ball-sport retirees like Daugherty and doubly tethered to his primary skill set. The older they get, the harder it is to teach dogs new tricks. 

In talking to Jarrett (age 55, retired at 51), Wallace (55/48), Waltrip (65/52) and the others, Smith made it clear that none of them really understood the impact of that lifestyle change, how it would more or less wrench the fabric of their existence right out from under their feet.

All of the men spoke to similar psychological problems that handicapped their efforts in post-retirement life: lack of focused competition, departure from community/peer group, financial losses, decreased attention from fans and, overall, a paralyzing feeling of inadequacy and not knowing how or where to ask for help.  

If there was an obvious solution to helping retirees in their second careers, the answer would seem to be education, an objective the NFL has already identified.

I’ve definitely wondered whether or not the existence of so many NFL players’ charitable initiatives is a requirement of league by-laws. But depending on how involved the player is, I suppose it could also serve to expose the athlete to a business-like infrastructure that he doesn’t see in weekly practices or one-on-one contract negotiations with the front office. I’ll have to do more digging into that to see if players’ foundations are somehow mandated by the country’s only professional non-profit sports league.  

I don’t know nearly enough about NASCAR to even begin to think of ways that its veterans might benefit from some sort of post-racing training—shoot, for all I know, such a program already exists, and the struggles of these lifers simply surpass the knowledge delivered therein.  Nonetheless, it’s distressing to read a column like Smith’s, where there is no apparent answer for dealing with a lifetime of success that seems to have suddenly fallen out of one’s pocket.

To be fair, these drivers have had their share of nights with bright lights and days with bulging wallets, far more than the average Joe who works a 40-hour week for 40 years and gets to retirement a whole lot later. 

But considering the early end met by Seau and others who battled post-career demons, the most responsible move would be putting even more emphasis on making drivers and other athletes aware of the fiscal and mental challenges that face them once their primary careers are finished. 

“The idea of doing nothing—that’s the American Dream, right? That’s called retirement?” Craven told Smith. “It’s a lonely place.” 

Nobody should feel lonely at the end.

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

The boys of NASCAR were in South Carolina this weekend for the annual Southern 500 at the famed Darlington Raceway.

Jimmie Johnson took home the victory Saturday night, claiming the 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory for team owner, Rick Hendrick. Johnson was not the only winner Saturday night, however, as the top drivers in the standings all managed to put together solid runs.

But not all was well in upstate S.C. The Lady in Black took no prisoners on Mother's Day eve, claiming several victims, including a pair of struggling drivers and sparking another intense Sprint Cup rivalry.

Who was good and who was bad at Darlington? We've got you covered!

Begin Slideshow

The rise and fall in point standings during NASCAR's 36-race Sprint Cup season and 26-race Chase for the Sprint Cup qualifying stint sometimes eludes week-to-week notice. One good or bad race result won’t define a season, but consistency is premium to securing a contending spot.

The next NASCAR Sprint Cup race event that counts, race No. 12, will be in Charlotte on May 27th after the All-Star race on May 19.

The Chase eligibility system qualifies the top-10 drivers in accumulated points and two more drivers from the top 20 with the most wins.

At this point of the season, it’s proper to evaluate consistency or inconsistency among the top-12 Chase movers and then 12 spots below the cutoff number. All final Chase contenders are likely to be among the top 24 positions over the next 14 races prior to start of the playoff races.

Some drivers and teams are moving up, and some are sliding. While that’s normal in motorsports, it’s worthy of a focus race-to-race.

This “rock and drop” list selected for review from the top 24 this week includes:

1. Greg Biffle
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5. Jimmie Johnson (+3)
8. Kevin Harvick (-3)
10 .Carl Edwards (+1)
16. Kasey Kahne (+3)
18. Marcos Ambrose (+3)
19. Juan Montoya (-2)
20. Jamie McMurray (-4)
22. A.J. Allmendinger (-2)
24. Jeff Gordon (-1)

Biffle and Kenseth are Nos. 1 and 2 in the points but are equal, with one win and six top five finishes each. That’s incredibly steady performance.

With his Darlington checkers, Hendrick Motorsports 200th win, Jimmie Johnson rocked and moved three positions into the top five. Not bad for a team that left Daytona at the bottom of the points pile.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the only driver among the top five without a win. Breaking his Victory Lane drought may not be requisite to making the Chase, but it would surely be welcome at Hendrick Motorsports—and Junior Nation as well. Earnhardt and team have had eight top-10 finishes already in 2012, and he has been in the top three in points most of the season.

Kevin Harvick has no wins, but he has managed five top-10 finishes. He remains in the top 10, but is sliding with a drop of three positions.

Carl Edwards is winless in 2012, but he slipped into the top 10 this week. Despite some equipment failures, Edwards has performed well, although has been slightly under the radar, with seven top 10 finishes.

Kasey Kahne has had a mix of bad luck and equipment problems in 2012, but he advanced three spots this week. Marcos Ambrose also moved up three spots.

Two drivers, A.J. Allmendinger and Juan Montoya, dropped two spots. Jamie McMurray dropped four positions. With their inconsistency, McMurray and teammate Montoya could slip out of the top 24.

A.J. Allmendinger has one top-10 finish, and Jeff Gordon has two. Forgetting a poor start for 2012 is likely at the top of their agendas.

Jeff Gordon matched his car number with his point position. That would be great if he were in the No. 1 car, but as always, he is in the No. 24 car.

This week’s select top rockers are Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne. The top droppers are Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray.

The next points-paying Sprint Cup race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, is Sunday, May 27. Those without tickets can view the action at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

Below are some post-race comments from Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick.

Jimmie Johnson spoke about the Darlington win and the 200th win for Hendrick Motorsports:

We had a great race car. We led a lot and we ran away once we had the clean air. But once we lost it, man, it was tough to make anything happen deep in the pack. And luckily we had a good enough car that I could work my way through there and still got it done. My focus really has been on making sure the 48 does the best job that it can.

Kevin Harvick wasn’t deterred by his 16th place showing at Darlington: "All of the pieces were there, we just need to put them in the right places,” Harvick said.

More rock-and-drop analysis will follow after the lengthy Coca-Cola 600 race.

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of motorsports topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained from personal interviews or official release materials provided by sanctions, teams or track representatives.

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

Jeff Gordon is one of four current drivers for Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Dupont. The party has been together a long time, beginning on November 15, 1992, when Gordon's first start in NASCAR came on the last day of the season. He finished 31st that day, completing only 164 of 328 laps in the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

Since then, no one has won more races than Gordon, who is currently third all time with 85 Cup Series wins. He also has four Cup Series championships, ranking him fourth in NASCAR history behind Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, who each have seven, and Jimmie Johnson's five.  

The problem in NASCAR, like life, is it's all about "what have you done for me lately." 

The success he experienced early in his career has waned considerably with time. Two thirds of his wins came in the first nine of his 19 seasons with HMS.

The decline has been steady, with only four wins since 2008. As his 20th season progresses, only three times has he been shut out from victory lane—1993 (his first full season in NASCAR), 2008 and 2010.

In a weird sense of foreshadowing, Gordon's last championship came in 2001, the same year that Johnson made his NASCAR debut with Hendrick and Lowe's in car number 48, owned by Gordon.

Since joining Hendrick Motorsports, Johnson has 56 wins over 374 races—no one has won more races than Johnson, currently placing him eighth all time. His five consecutive championships between 2006 and 2010 is unmatched in the history of NASCAR.

For Gordon, it might be the added pressure of being a car owner, or the stresses of fatherhood that have slowed him down. Whatever it is, the results are slipping on the track.

Before Johnson joined the Hendrick stable of drivers, Gordon won 58 times in 296 races for a remarkable 19.6 winning percentage—better than Johnson's 14.9 percent. Gordon's average starting position before Johnson was 8.9, with his average finish at 11.6.

However, after Johnson, Gordon has only 27 wins in the last 372 races since 2002, and his average starting position has declined to 11.4, with his average finish dropping to 13.3.

Something has changed in Gordon.

Long gone are the battles he had with Dale Earnhardt that seemed to polarize fans to either love him or hate him. When he won his 77th race at the Aaron's 499 at Talladega in 2007, fans littered the track with debris to protest his surpassing of Earnhardt in career wins.

Since 2007, his victories have declined, just as his average starting and finishing positions have fallen. In 2007, Gordon won six races with an average finish of 7.3. After 11 races this season, he is currently 24th in points, with an average finish of 22.8—the worst in his career.

Since Hendrick went to four full-time drivers in the Cup series in 2002, the car with lowest finish in the final standings always seems to be on the verge of a driver change—and it has always been either the No. 5 or the No. 25 car. 

The No. 5 car has had five different drivers since 2002 while the No. 25, currently being driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as No. 88, has had four.

With Earnhardt Jr currently third in points followed by Johnson fifth and Kasey Kahne 16th in his first year driving the No. 5 car, Gordon finds himself in the unenviable position of being the lowest ranked Hendrick driver. 

If he cannot turn things around then he might want to consider hanging up the fire suit and turning the No. 24 car over to another driver. Even though he has a lifetime contract with HMS, he should consider doing the right thing and stepping down. It might just save him the embarrassment of being replaced by Rick Hendrick. 

It would be a shame to see Gordon hang on as his driving ability continues to deteriorate. Before too long, he could end up like other former HMS drivers just trying to make the field.

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

Racin’ with Russ—Jimmie Johnson managed to save enough fuel during the closing stages of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on Saturday night to win his 56th career trophy and the 200th Cup victory for Hendrick Motorsports.

The Darlington Speedway event began with Greg Biffle on the pole, yet a number of drivers took turns out front. Biffle led the opening 43 laps before Johnson took over for the first of several stints in the lead. The first caution flag didn’t fly for nearly the entire first half of the race, and that was for debris.

Kyle Busch led for a while as did Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Over the final hour of competition, pit strategies for tires and/or gas became paramount. Drivers out front such as Johnson were shutting the car on and off during cautions to save precious sips of gas.

After the final restart, Johnson was out front and ran to the checkers worried about a hard-charging Hamlin and Tony Stewart. Hamlin came up oh-so short and Stewart ran out of gas on the final lap, still able to notch third place right behind Hamlin. Kyle Busch and Truex Jr. capped the top five.

Not many Darlington races end without some type of controversy, and this year’s edition was no different. After working hard all night to stay among the top 10, Kurt Busch spun out after getting one of several Darlington stripes. Ryan Newman also spun at the same time to avoid hitting Busch, the result of a tap from Aric Almirola.

The two drivers were able to pit for repairs, but when Busch went to leave his pit, he blasted through Newman’s pit, narrowly missing several crew members. At the end of the race, some of Newman’s crew approached Busch with anger in their hearts and fists in the air. NASCAR officials broke up the near melee, people were summoned to the NASCAR hauler and I’d expect to hear fines and penalties all around on Tuesday.

The latest results find Biffle still on top of the charts, but only by two points over Matt Kenseth and 14 over Dale Earnhardt Jr. After starting 38th, Danica Patrick finished six laps down in 31st. She was never really a factor, but did finish the race with all four fenders on the car and no one upset with her.

Nationwide

Joey Logano won his third Nationwide race of the year on Friday night after mistakenly taking out title competitor Elliot Sadler during a late-race restart. He also had to hold off the likes of Denny Hamlin, who led most of the race with ease. Rounding off the top-five finishers included Brad Keselowski, Sam Hornish Jr. and rookie Austin Dillon. Patrick finished 12th, her second similar finish of the season. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. maintains his position on top of the charts, now with a 23-point lead over Sadler.

Across the Pond

Pastor Maldonado edged Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso in the Spanish Grand Prix to claim his first ever Formula One win. Returnee Kimi Raikkonen earned another great finish in capturing third. Alonso and Sebastian Vettel are tied on top of the points.

From Rumorville

NASCAR officials are about to take away some of the down force on their Cup cars by braising the height of the side skirts as much as two inches, allowing more air under the car, thereby slowing the cars down.

NASCAR officials also felt that Danica Patrick’s deliberate wrecking move against Sam Hornish Jr. in last week’s Nationwide race will go away with just a warning, which I and many others think is nonsense. I guess it’s now open season on retaliation for whatever reason. More preferential treatment for Princess Manica. First it was the ability to pretty much buy the ability to qualify for every race and now she can wreck whoever she wants.

Sad Note

Automotive enthusiasts around the globe were saddened last week by the news of Carroll Shelby’s demise. The 89-year-old legend brought Ford to the forefront of racing by modifying and creating various race cars strong enough to beat the likes of Ferrari on some of the toughest racetracks on the planet.

Add to Shelby’s impressive résumé the creation of the two-seater Cobra sports car and various impressive Mustang high-performance models and you realize how much this visionary will be missed. God speed, Carroll.

That’s it for this week. Next week, RWR will review the NASCAR action from the non-points All-Star event in Charlotte along with more racing news from around the globe.

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series leaves Darlington with history made and tempers boiling.

Jimmie Johnson finally broke through with a win to give Rick Hendrick his 200th career Sprint Cup Series victory.  We saw what appears to be a Kurt Busch meltdown involving Ryan Newman and his crew.

The Bojangles' Southern 500 did not have a caution until Lap 173, which was a record for Darlington. Once the caution flew once, it kept flying for the rest of the event and created exciting restarts to end the race. 

Let's take a look at this week's power rankings to see how much it shook up after leaving "The Lady in Black."

Begin Slideshow

Darlington Raceway is nicknamed the "Lady in Black" because she will reach out and slam a car into the wall, leave her mark and wish the driver well.

 A car that survives without the Darlington stripe probably wasn't racing hard enough.

The track that opened in 1950 is chock full of history. Few have truly been able to tame the egg-shaped track.

Darlington looks wide, but the racing groove is against the wall. Drivers don't race each other, they race the treacherous track.

Even the best drivers in the series can suddenly find themselves sucked against the wall coming out of the banked turns.

There is nothing easy about racing at this South Carolina track. To win at the historic track is an accomplishment that ranks right up there with Daytona and Indianapolis. It is a big deal.

Tensions even run high with the pit crews, as we saw with the wild retaliatory move by Ryan Newman's crew because of Kurt Busch's actions at the end of the race.

This slideshow will highlight some lessons we learned in the Bojangles' Southern 500 at the track that is "Too Tough to Tame."

Begin Slideshow

Five different winners from five different teams take out the first five races of the season. What the hell is going on?

It’s almost as if everyone has forgotten the Formula One script—the one where one team dominates, a couple of others keep them honest and the rest are there to make the track look busy.

Not this year.

We have six, possibly seven teams capable of winning a race with Williams, Sauber, Mercedes and Lotus are joining McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari at the pointy end of the field.

While surprising, the improvement in competitiveness is nowhere near as difficult to explain as the inconsistency of the top teams. No team is seemingly capable of stringing two consecutive races together.

McLaren stormed to victory in the first race and then stumbled in China only to recover in Malaysia and then disappear again in Bahrain.

Ferrari—Fernando Alonso really—have had a victory and second place finish, but have fallen well down the order in other races.

Mercedes, Red Bull, Lotus, Sauber, and Williams have all had the same issues. It just doesn’t make sense.

None of which will be playing on the mind of Pastor Maldonado as he secures his—and his Venezuelan homeland’s—maiden F1 victory and the first for Williams since 2004.

With Lewis Hamilton out of the picture, thanks to a somewhat over-zealous application of a penalty, Maldonado inherited pole position. However, his elevation also brought the supreme racer Fernando Alonso onto the front row.

Alonso leaped off the line and claimed an early lead, but Maldonado showed maturity well beyond his experience and drove his own almost flawless race to secure the win, holding off a late challenge from Alonso and staying clear of a charging Kimi Raikkonen.

Alonso went on to secure second place and in doing so, returned to share the top of the points table in a car that has no right to be there.

As a spectacle, F1 is everything it should be—exciting and unpredictable.

The slightly mad tyre that Pirelli are producing makes deciding on a race strategy extremely difficult. They change characteristics dramatically depending on track temperature and seem to be extremely easy to damage.

Add to that the fact that they “fall off a cliff” in terms of performance after they exceed their maximum wear.

Whether the influence of tyres in making racing more competitive—along with DRS—is a good thing or not is open for debate. While everyone loves the great racing, purists would prefer to see the cars at the heart of that rather than gimmickry.

Preferences are nice, but frankly, we’re willing to look beyond anything to enjoy the racing we currently have.

Who knows what’ll happen next. Isn’t it great?!

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

Whilst I certainly wouldn’t call the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix a classic, it has given us a first win for Williams F1 since 2004, a first win for Pastor Maldonado, and I think most importantly of all, the fifth round of the 2012 Formula One season has been won by a fifth different driver for a fifth different team!

Qualifying was a bit of a disappointment in many ways.  

The first round (Q1) showed a clear improvement for Ferrari, and the fact that Williams and Sauber had come along way in the break; but of course the usual slow cars dropped out.

There was however a shock exit in Q1 as whilst his team mate topped the time sheets, Bruno Senna struggled to set decent times.  The Williams man was pushing extremely hard and just clipped the corner of turn 10 with seconds until the end of this session.  This mistake was technically minor, but it’s effects were huge for Senna who was sent spinning off into the gravel and out of qualifying.

Q2 also provided some shock exits.  It seems strange to write, but it has become more expected than shocking to see Ferrari’s number two fall by the wayside in the second session.  

More shocking were the exits of McLaren’s Jenson Button and last years pole man, Mark Webber.
Button had been struggling with his car throughout qualifying as was disappointed with his performance, but perhaps not too surprised.  Webber on the other hand found himself eliminated through team error.

Red Bull believed Webber’s time to be good enough for survival and so didn’t bother sending him out in the closing stages of Q2.  This was a risk and it didn’t pay off.

Unfortunately for the fans the final session was a bit of a farce.  The first two rounds of qualifying had informed the teams that tyres would be crucial at the Spanish Grand Prix and so no one was in any rush to go out and burn brand new sets.

Sebastian Vettel was one of three drivers who choose not to set a competitive lap.  Lotus gave it a good shot, but the fight for pole went down between Alonso, Hamilton and Maldonado.

First Alonso took P1 to the fantastic roar of his loyal followers.  The fans were quickly quietened by Maldonado’s pole position soon after.  You’d think that when Hamilton passed the line in P1 the fans would have left but they again had something to cheer about when Hamilton’s McLaren stopped out on track before making it back to the pits.

I think it must be strongly noted that although Alonso’s fans clearly felt animosity towards their man’s 2007 arch rival, Alonso specifically waited for Hamilton to return to the pits to give him a warm welcome and congratulatory high five.  Hamilton reciprocated and I think we can safely say that bygones have truly become bygones.

McLaren weren’t happy for too long though when it became known that they had stopped through fear of not being able to provide the F.I.A. with a one-litre sample of fuel.  The F1 rules state that you must finish your final lap and be able to provide one litres' worth of fuel for testing.  McLaren couldn’t do both and so choose to stop.  This caused a penalty and demoted Hamilton to last place.

So qualifying had set the stage for a tantalising start.  Fan favourite Alonso would be on the front row with a first time pole sitter, and Hamilton would have to battle his way back into the points.

The start didn’t disappoint!

As the lights went out Maldonado moved straight across to cover Alonso, but the Ferrari man held an and the two drivers went into turn one side by side.  Alonso had better track position going into the first turn and so by the second corner was in the lead!

Further back Felipe Massa had made up some good positions and Sergio Perez had been forced to the back with a puncture after contact with Lotus’s Roman Grosjean.

The top 10 drivers at this stage were:
Alonso, Maldonado, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Schumacher, Vettel, Button, Kobayashi, Vergne, Massa.

The race was close for the next few laps and there were some good little battles but the top 10 remained unchanged, and frankly the action was beginning to cool. 

The Red Bull drivers both pitted very early and it was unclear at this stage if they merely opting for a different strategy, or if they had a problem with tyre wear. 

Alonso was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 10.  The Ferrari team were able yet again to show how well they have refined their stop strategy when they were able to rejoin their man in P3 and clear air after an astonishingly quick stop.  

This caused a ripple effect as the other teams began to take to the pits.  The stops led to some chopping and changing but nothing significant happened until lap 13 when Michael Schumacher smashed into the back of Senna’s Williams going into turn one.

Senna had suffered a minor bit of contact with Grosjean at turn one the lap before and was taking the corner more cautiously the second time around.  Schumacher later stated that he was looking at his lap data and thought that Senna had stopped way too early for that particular corner.  I must say the replays seem to show a very out of sorts Mercedes simply cruising into the back of Senna’s Williams.

After this there were some minor changes to note.  McLaren suffered yet another pit stop blunder when Hamilton hit one of the spare tyres coming out of his pit box and Webber was forced to pit for a new nose after loosing front grip.

Other than this not a lot else changed.

The next game changing moment occurred on lap 25 when Maldonado took to the pits after significantly closing the gap on Alonso.  Ferrari pitted their man two laps later but Maldonado’s hard work up to that point proved crucial as Alonso exited the pits behind his Williams rival.

Over the next few laps we saw drive through penalties for Vettel and Massa for failing to slow enough under yellow flags and some daring overtaking moves from Sauber’s Kobayashi.  (Neither Vettel nor Massa lost out particularly badly from their penalties). 

A lot was expected of Sauber at the Spanish Grand Prix and although Kobayashi was driving in his usual eccentrically brilliant way, neither car looked particularly fast.  Unfortunately, Perez’s race was cut short on lap 38 when his right rear tyre was fitted incorrectly.

The next action occurred on lap 40 when Maldonado pitted slightly earlier than expected and found himself held up by a slow stop.  Alonso pitted three laps later and the scene was set for a fantastic finale. 

The question was could Maldonado hold Alonso off in the final stages with tyres that were three laps older.  This question was made more exciting by the fact that Raikkonen’s third place Renault had come alive in the dying stages and was on newer tyres than both men in P1 and P2!

The racing was close and at times nail biting, but the top three positions remained unchanged.  We did get some final overtakes from Vettel as he battled past drivers on older tyres, but other than that the race finished as it started really, slightly deflated with moments of excitement.

Don’t get me wrong the Spanish Grand Prix was not a dud, it just wasn’t quite as close as some expected.  I’d also like to add that although I’m in a minority with Michael Schumacher, I don’t think the tyres loosing grip so quickly leads to better racing, it simply leads to deeper strategy.  It’s very hard to get excited about number crunching!

The problem is, although it was exciting to see the top three so close, Alonso was eventually powerless to overtake Maldonado because his tyres had fallen away so much and if Raikkonen had been closer, Alonso would have been powerless against the Lotus’s fresh tyres.  I just think it takes the edge off of wheel to wheel action.

Anyway, the race provided a great result and it was truly lovely to see Alonso and Raikkonen lift Maldonado up onto their shoulders on the podium.

Maldonado’s victory provided Williams with their first win since Juan Pueblo Montoya’s 2004 Brazilian victory.  However, more importantly, the victory marks the fifth different winner, for the fifth different team at the fifth race of the season!!

I have never seen anything like this!  Role on Monaco and a win for our sixth different team/driver …. Lotus?

Drivers’ Championship Top Three

Vettel 61

Alonso 61

Hamilton 53

Constructors’ Championship Top Three

Red Bull 109

McLaren 98

Lotus 84

Final Result

1) Pastor Maldonado - Williams

2) Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

3) Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus

4) Romain Grosjean - Lotus

5) Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber

6) Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull

7) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

8) Lewis Hamilton - McLaren

9) Jenson Button - McLaren

10) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India

11) Mark Webber - Red Bull

12) Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso

13) Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso

14) Paul di Resta - Force India

15) Felipe Massa - Ferrari

16) Heikki Kovalainen - Caterham

17) Vitaly Petrov - Caterham

18) Timo Glock – Marussia

19) Pedro de la Rosa - HRT

DNF Sergio Perez – Sauber

DNF Charles Pic – Marussia

DNF Narain Karthikeyan - HRT

DNF Bruno Senna - Williams

DNF Michael Schumacher - Mercedes

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

If you didn’t know better, you would get the impression that McLaren don’t like Lewis Hamilton and are doing their best to sabotage his 2012 challenge for the Formula 1 championship.

In the latest in a long line of botched efforts, McLaren have conspired to see Hamilton stripped of an outstanding pole position drive and relegated to start at the rear of the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton was forced to stop on track after the final qualifying session to ensure that he had the minimum one litre of fuel available for testing.

The problem is that the cars are required to return to the pits under their own power. McLaren realised that he was going to have to choose which rule he was going to fall foul of.

The team’s sporting director, Sam Michael, argued “force majeure”—that it was an unavoidable accident—as the reason behind the lack of fuel, that a team member accidentally put insufficient fuel in the car.

That he supplied the excuse with a straight face is either a tremendous tribute to his sense of humour or complete misunderstanding of the fact that the FIA stewards are absolutely devoid of an ability to laugh at anything.

In a sport where precision is everything, it beggars belief that a car could go out with insufficient fuel. The fuel systems are insanely accurate, it's not like they pop down to the nearest gas station to fill up from the same pumps as you and I.

Taken by itself, the incident can be excused as an isolated mistake—we all make them—but when added to the team’s performance in recent weeks, conspiracy theorists start chattering.

In Bahrain, Hamilton was delayed in the pits twice by a screw-up with his left rear wheel change. This follows a similarly inept effort in China.

McLaren used to be the gold standard when it came to team professionalism. Always impeccably turned out, their pit work is traditionally slick, fast and with a minimum of fuss.

This year they are bordering on sloppy—by F1 standards, at least.

Is it a coincidence that the team performance has slipped since the addition of Sam Michael to the team? Michael was the technical director at Williams until he was pushed out in 2011 and signed with McLaren.

The irony is that Williams have leaped ahead since his departure while McLaren are now making mistakes galore.

Could Michael still be on Sir Frank’s payroll?

Lewis Hamilton is—outwardly at least—absorbing all of these challenges with good grace and great patience, but behind the scenes he must be seething.

In the past, Hamilton has been his own worst enemy. His on-track decision-making has often left a lot to be desired, but now it seems that he has competition.

He could be in for a very long season.

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12 years ago today, NASCAR lost one of its brightest young stars on a bright afternoon that belied the somber mood in the garage. During practice for the Busch 200—a Nationwide (then Busch) Series event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway—the throttle on 19-year-old Adam Petty's No. 45 Sprint Chevrolet stuck, sending him head-on into the Turn 3 wall. Petty, the first known fourth-generation athlete in his family's chosen sport, died of a basilar skull fracture, the same injury that had killed 1996 Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Scott Brayton and longtime NASCAR driver Neil Bonnett.

Of course, we know now that Petty's passing was just the start of an annus horribilis. His was the first of four deaths, capped off with the stunning casualty of Dale Earnhardt from the same injury in the Daytona 500 the following February. It was also one of many accidents involving a stuck throttle during that season—a mechanical gremlin that permeated all three of NASCAR's national touring series.

12 years removed, I'm not sure which is worse: the fact that a young life was cut short in its prime, or that we failed to honor his sacrifice by improving safety for other drivers until we lost three more lives.

By now, we know that the then-New Hampshire International Speedway, despite its long, fast straightaways and tight, unbanked turns, wasn't the problem. Kenny Irwin lost his life just under two months later in a similar accident, and Dennis Setzer limped away from the same thing in that weekend's Truck Series race; the oval at Loudon, rather than the stuck throttles themselves, became the scapegoat.

In September of 2000, Ed Hinton, then of the Chicago Tribune, noted an informal poll where 82 percent of fan respondents would have been okay with their favorite driver skipping Loudon altogether.

When NASCAR visited the track again in September, officials mandated the use of modified-style restrictor plates to attempt to alleviate the throttle-sticking problems and slow the cars down. The result was a widely panned race in which Jeff Burton led all 300 laps.

While the restrictor plates seemed like a decent stop-gap solution, they were more in response to the fear of the track's layout than they were about addressing the true cause of the wrecks. Bobby Labonte, winner of that year's Winston Cup, had a stuck throttle occur in Friday practice for that year's Southern 500. Hinton noted Labonte's implication that he might not have been alive to win that Sunday's race had the incident happened in New Hampshire.

Worse, NASCAR did little to address driver safety itself. In fact, from reading the columns of that year, NASCAR's characterization is of a sport hopelessly stuck in its "Wild West" days, still far removed from Earnhardt's death, the eventual catalyst to its biggest safety innovations.

It wasn't until August that the sanctioning body approved kill switches—a move that Jay Fox of Lehigh Valley (PA)'s Morning Call "abhor(red) in its tardiness." The HANS device was still over a year away from mandatory status, as many drivers believed that its restrictive nature would cause more injuries than it prevented. Even quick-release shackles, which Scott Pruett used during his lone NASCAR season in 2000, weren't enough to sell the majority of drivers on the device.

Perhaps most telling, especially in the age of the SAFER barrier, is Hinton's use of quotes around the term "soft walls," as if they were a crazy and totally unproven experiment.

Remember, this was in late summer. Tony Roper hadn't yet had his Truck Series accident at Texas in October, while Earnhardt was still in the midst of his best Cup season in half a decade. Only one of NASCAR's three most important safety advances of the past decade was even in the early stages of development, and the sport was still reluctant to embrace the other two.

Fox implored NASCAR to act fast on safety issues, but two more drivers, one a seven-time champion, still lost their lives. Why did it take us so long to learn?

Adam Petty's legacy as a human being, however short his life was, has been rightfully revered in the years since his passing. Within the year, the Petty family had announced plans to establish the Victory Junction Gang Camp for terminally and chronically ill children as a way to honor Adam, who was well-liked for his friendly demeanor and warm personality. The camp opened in 2004 and remains one of NASCAR's most popular official charities.

Father Kyle has honored his son's legacy both on and off the track as well. Besides his work with Victory Junction, he left the Winston Cup circuit to take over Adam's Busch Series ride. He brought Adam's No. 45 to the Cup Series in 2001 and continued to race it for the rest of his career. Petty's signature hat to this day is a black baseball cap, featuring Adam's stylized 45 with a black bar through it.

Regardless, we went a full nine months between Petty's passing and Earnhardt's. There was no groundbreaking NASCAR investigation for Petty's accident; there were no major safety recommendations made in its immediate aftermath; there was no widespread change in the mindset of drivers about their safety in the car. We mourned, but we didn't make changes.

Hindsight is 20/20, of course. We had no way of knowing just how bad the next year or so would be. And off the track, Adam Petty's legacy has been well-honored by a sport that looked forward to his career and sorely missed his budding star power. Still, he was a racer first. The fact that the sport that he loved so much didn't learn from his fate before the loss of three other drivers seems like a sad way to pay tribute to the young man who was poised to become its next star.

A death at a young age is sad enough. A death that could have helped save the lives of others, but was unable to, is sadder still.

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