There is a giant sucking noise at Hendrick Motorsports. It is the sound of NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver being swallowed in the muck and mire of a dysfunctional relationship that once held so much hope.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in year three of his five year contract. In 2008 he managed a win and finished last place in the Chase.

The 2009 season was his worst ever finishing 25th in points, but with a few more poor finishes he can claim the 2010 season as being pretty dismal as well.

Going into the Martinsville race he is 19th in the point standings. In the last 13 races he has finished 15th or worse 11 times. As pretty much expected, his qualifying for the Tums Fast Relief 500 is 28th at Martinsville.

Rick Hendrick insists he will keep Lance McGrew in place as crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. in 2011.

Perhaps he learned from the Kasey Kahne/Mark Martin media debacle, that it is best to just state a fact until it changes.

Rumors are spreading within the garage area according to several media outlets that McGrew will be out in 2011 as crew chief for the No. 88.

Listening to the radio communications between McGrew and his driver during a race often shows the blatant dysfunction between the two.

In public, Junior and McGrew appear smiling and joking, claiming some type of friendship is actually in place.

It is evident even if McGrew is a nice guy, he is not capable of getting Junior to the Chase, let alone in contention for a championship. It seems challenging to even unload a car that can run in the top-10 or qualify near the front.

Rick Hendrick is known as a master manipulator for putting deals together. After signing Kasey Kahne in April, he eventually solved the “where will Kasey drive” issue to everyone’s satisfaction.

It appears Jimmie Johnson is well on his way to a fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup title no matter how many stop-sticks get thrown in his path.

Hendrick needs to exercise his people skills to put together a team for Dale Jr. and the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard team that can win.

The continuance of poor performance with that team needs to come to an end. Just because the cash cow is still healthy despite lack of wins, a third half-hearted season is just not an option.

Either Hendrick can pull the No. 88 team out of the quagmire or Earnhardt Jr. needs to move on to something else besides driving at Hendrick Motorsports.

Junior’s dream of wins and perhaps a championship when he signed with Hendrick have probably turned to wondering if he can even make the Chase again.

The ball is in Hendrick’s court. If Johnson can get his fifth consecutive title, how cool would it be to follow-up with Earnhardt Jr. having a winning season in 2011 before Kasey Kahne becomes the new golden boy in 2012 at HMS.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. left Dale Earnhardt Incorporated in 2007, a lot of people said that it was the end of the team. Tony Stewart went as far as saying that, “DEI is just a museum without Earnhardt.” However, DEI managed to keep things together as they merged with Ganassi Racing to form Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing and have won the two biggest races this year with Jamie McMurray.

With Kasey Kahne’s departure from Richard Petty Motorsports, it looks that they’ll be put in a position where their survival is also in question.

Thursday morning, a meeting took between principals of RPM and Roush-Fenway Racing, supplier of chassis, engines and technical support for RPM, to discuss the long-term financial future of the organization.

RPM was originally formed in January 2009 through the merger of Gillett-Evernham Motorsports and Petty Holdings.

Since then, Ray Evernham has been trying to get out of the fold with his lawyers as he wants to focus on other venues of interest and doesn’t believe in the situation there.

That would seem to equal no surprise as when more details about RPM are released, the more people become to realize the mess that equals RPM right now.

It was reported by FOX Sports that Roush-Fenway had repossessed cars that RPM was planning to use at Talladega Superspeedway at the end of the month due to lack of payment. FOX Sports added also that according to their source, employees were told that they may not have a job past Martinsville this weekend.

Since then, as according to NASCAR.com, this has been settled. The chassis were to be returned to RPM on Thursday morning with the engines being delivered Friday morning.

Despite the quick solve to the problem, it does make you wonder about team’s financial issues.

Along with losing Kahne at season’s end, RPM is also losing Elliott Sadler, who says he doesn’t want to no longer to be in this situation, and Paul Menard, who has signed a deal with Richard Childress Racing. More importantly with Menard, he is taking the Menards sponsorship with him to RCR and Budweiser is following suit as they’re pairing up with Kevin Harvick.

Joining the team in 2011 will be Marcos Ambrose, who will be a teammate to A.J. Allmendinger who just signed a multi-year contract extension.

Ambrose had requested to leave JTG Daugherty Racing early, however Tad Geschickter, current team owner, said the request was turned down due to current sponsor and promotional obligations.

“Our plan at this point is to finish out the year,” Geschickter told NASCAR.com.

Ambrose hasn’t had major success in NASCAR he currently sits 26 in points and has seven top fives and 13 top 10s in 78 career starts.

Allmendinger, the team’s principal driver, currently sits 20 in points and after four years of competition in Sprint Cup, has only two top fives and 15 top 10s in 111 career starts.

Though besides the drivers being an issue, there is also the issue of the relationships between John Henry, part owner of Roush-Fenway Racing, and George Gillett. New England Sports Ventures, which John Henry owns, acquired the English Premier League’s Liverpool soccer team in a forced sale through the Royal Bank of Scotland for $476 million from George Gillett and fellow owner Tom Hicks.

Both principals are heavily involved in sports’ ownership as Henry owns the Boston Red Sox while Gillett sold his controlling interesting in the Montreal Canadiens NHL team.

With each side having a say in what goes on with regards to the partnership, could this outside of NASCAR deal end up hurting RPM?

Secondly, Kahne left under not the best circumstances as he refused to return to his car following a wreck Saturday night after the car had been repaired. The reasons he said were due to sickness, however it has been learned since that there was some tension within the organization.

Sources have told Speed that the reason Kahne was released had to do with the fact that RPM owed him back salary, again citing financial issues.

With those activities, it is certain to leave bad taste in people’s mouths and have them questioning the validity of RPM before going forth with agreeing to possibly sponsor them.

This may not be the end of issues at RPM being discussed as Darrell Waltrip said on twitter last night that there is more to the RPM-Kahne story then many people know.

Either way, the survival of the team is in question and it’ll be interesting to see what the next couple of months hold.

Denny Hamlin captured the pole for Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway with a lap of 97.018 (19.518)secs.

“We haven’t had our car in race trim yet. I feel like we have a good baseline setup for here, obviously so we decided today that we were just going to focus on qualifying knowing that the corner pit stall is very, very critical here at Martinsville. I love it when a plan comes together.” Hamlin said.

Marcos Ambrose qualified second, Greg Biffle third, Ryan Newman fourth and Juan Montoya qualified fifth.  

“That was pretty good considering I almost wrecked. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I thought I was gonna hit the fence. I didn’t know it was gonna stop, but I did the best I could. I gave up a little bit on that second lap, but I learned something that will hopefully help me for Sunday.” Biffle said.  

“It was a lot better than what we had in practice and we made some changes trying to do that. So when you can make changes and they turn out to the good that is a good thing.” Newman said.  

“It was okay, not as good as practice. We decided to change what we did in the last part of practice and it bite us a little bit, but we are pretty good.” Montoya said.    

RACE LINEUP

Tums Fast Relief 500, Martinsville Speedway
October 24, 2010 – Race 32 of 36

Once upon a time, Silly Season started about this time of year. Most driver and team changes were announced near or after the final race of the season. Rumors were always present, but no one knew anything until the teams made an announcement. And that happened about this time of year. Not anymore.

It all started a few years ago. Dale Jarrett moved from Joe Gibbs Racing to Robert Yates racing early. Heck, Ernie Irvan moved to Yates early when the untimely death of Davey Allison caused a vacancy. A few years ago, Jack Roush fired Kurt Busch after an unfortunate run-in with the law in Arizona after he announced he was moving to Penske Racing. Then there was the Kyle Busch move to Gibbs when Rick Hendrick decided to hire Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler disgusted with performance before the season was over moved to Michael Waltrip Racing and Evernham Racing one year. Many moved on early, leaving sponsors in limbo and teams in disarray. It continues today.

The latest of these moves happened sudden after the Bank of America 500 last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kasey Kahne had already made his move. Kahne had come into Sprint Cup racing with Evernham Racing. Having been trained under the Ford brand, he rejected Ford Racing and headed to the Dodge team, which caused a lawsuit that was settled without a trial and probably left a mark on the young driver. Fast forward to two years ago when, in order to survive, Evernham took on partner George Gillette, Jr. and later merged with Petty Enterprises under the same Dodge banner. During these hard times, insiders tell us that Kahne and his team became separated from the four-team organization. When Kahne and teammate A. J. Allmendinger had problems on the track earlier this year, Allmendinger admitted that he rarely saw or talked to Kahne. It was no surprise that Kahne announced a multi-year deal with Hendrick Motorsports for 2012. That left Kahne in limbo for 2011, but Kahne and his crew chief, Kenny Francis, pledged to run the season and win races at RPM.

It all blew up last Saturday night. Kahne’s fast Ford, which had qualified well and run well in the early going, lost its brakes. Kahne was so disgusted that he refused to get back in the car after repairs. Complicated was the reported confrontation between a “Petty Motorsports employee” and Kahne in which is effort was challenged. Kahne refused to get back in the car and J.J. Yelley finished the race. Kahne claimed sickness for the refusal to finish the race, but it was notable that he ran a foot race the next day in Charlotte. RPM released him from his contract on Wednesday. It is expected that he will be in a Red Bull Toyota on Sunday.

So what gives with these early departures, regardless of sponsor or team obligations? Beats me. You can’t blame drivers for trying to improve themselves (Paul Menard, another RPM driver who has already announced he’s moving to Richard Childress Racing), but it seems to me that contracts are more important than “feelings.” Is it a product of the instability at RPM or is it more than that? Or is it just the way the Cup series is these days? I just feel sorry for all those people with Budweiser clothing. The Dale Junior bunch and Kasey Kahne bunch are going to have to buy a new wardrobe. Junior went from Bud red to AMP green and now Kahne’s fans have to go from Bud red to Red Bull blue. The concessionaires are smiling, but the pocketbooks are suffering. In a bad economy.

Rumors have circulated for months but the demise of Petty Motorsports could be upon us. Since last weekend in Charlotte where Kasey Kahne had an apparent uncharacteristic temper tantrum, RPM has released Kahne (after asking him to first step aside) late last night, replacing him with Aric Almirola.

Now, Fox Sports reports from the Charlotte area say that Roush Fenway Racing and Roush – Yates have stopped delivery of equipment and repossessed cars and engines at RPM’s shops. According to the report no more cars are available to RPM after this weekend’s race at Martinsville. There were also reports that they may not have jobs after Martinsville.

The financial issues that Petty has endured are well documented. He sold to Boston Ventures in 2008 and then merged with Gillett – Evernham later that same season (which is where Kahne originated) . Earlier this year there were rumors of a large default on debt.

Speedway Media will bring more as it develops.

Round six of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship will be taking a very interesting turn this Sunday when it presents another round of short track racing at the Martinsville Speedway. Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 could turn out to be a clash of the titans. The drivers first and second in the standings have personal stats from this race track that are nothing short of amazing. Adding to the weekend drama are the details of an unexpected, but not necessarily surprising, major driver change.

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THE STORY BREAKDOWN

During the course of Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 all Chase observers will be watching the performances of Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin. Johnson goes into the race with a 41 point advantage over Hamlin. Both drivers have outstanding performances at Martinsville in the past. Between them Johnson and Hamlin have won the last eight races there.

Johnson is a six time winner at Martinsville. He also has six other top five finishes. The last time Johnson finished outside of the top ten at Martinsville was during his rookie season back in 2002.

Hamlin is a three time winner at Martinsville. His hot streak at this race track includes winning the last two races there in a row and three of the last five events. If Hamlin is going to trim down Johnson’s points lead, or possibly reclaim the points lead, then Martinsville is best arena to get the job done although it may require some surprise situation such as Johnson having a bad race.

Kevin “Happy” Harvick is third in the Chase standings and 77 points away from the top. However Harvick may not be that happy about the Sprint Cup Series’ return to Martinsville this Sunday. His worst finish of the year, a 35th, came after the spring race there. Harvick has raced at Martinsville twice a year since the 2001 season without a top five finish. Harvick’s game plan for Sunday’s race is to score a top ten finish to keep Johnson and Hamlin within his sights. Harvick will be hedging his bet on next week’s restrictor plate race at Talladega an area that he excels at. Harvick probably also yearns for the old points system used prior to the creation of the Chase. Under the old school system he would be leading the standings with a 249 points lead over Johnson.

Jeff Gordon’s drive for five championship run is treading water and he needs to launch something spectacular and do it soon. He’s currently fourth in the Chase standings and 156 points out of first. The Martinsville Speedway could turn out to be a good launching pad for Gordon because he virtually owns the individual driver’s stats there. Gordon leads the active drivers list in Martinsville wins with seven. He also leads in top five finishes with 23, top ten finishes with 29, laps led at 2,888 and has won the pole position a series high seven times. The last time Gordon finished outside of the top five at Martinsville was back in 2004 when he finished ninth. He came very close to winning the race last March only to get beat by Hamlin during the final green-white-checker finish.

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The other big story you will hearing a lot about this weekend concerns Richard Petty Motorsports’, (RPM), Wednesday night decision to release Kasey Kahne as the driver of their #9 Ford. This decision stemmed from last Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when Kahne suffered a hard crash due to failed brakes. Noting that it was the team’s third brake failure of the season, a normally easy going Kahne went ballistic over the radio making it clear that he’s had enough and he can’t wait to leave the team at the end of the season when his contract runs out. The team made repairs but Kahne declined to get back into the car. He later said he wasn’t feeling well following the crash. Driver J J Yeley finished the race for RPM.

Earlier this year Kahne announced that he was leaving RPM at the end of this season and had signed a contract to drive for Hendrick Motor Sports, (HMS). However, his new ride, currently occupied by driver Mark Martin, wasn’t going to become available until the start of the 2012 season. Team owner Rick Hendrick engineered a deal to have Kahne drive a Red Bull Racing Toyota during the 2011 season.

It now turns out that Kahne will be getting a head start on his 2011 ride. He is listed as the driver of the #83 Red Bull car at Martinsville and is expected to be in the car for the remainder of the current racing season. Meanwhile RPM announced that driver Aric Almirola will take over the wheel of their #9 Ford at Martinsville. In a sheer note or irony, Almirola was the driver of record for the #83 Red Bull ride at Martinsville.

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THE VEGAS BREAKDOWN

To know real surprise the Las Vegas based World Sports Exchange, (WSE), has Denny Hamlin on top of their ratings list at 3 to 1 odds followed closely by Jimmie Johnson, 4 to 1, and Jeff Gordon at 6 to 1. Two time race winner Tony Stewart has been ranked at 10 to 1.

The middle tier of the WSE rankings shows Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch at 12 to 1 odds with Clint Bowyer at 18 to 1. At 20 to 1 is a quartet of drivers led by former race winners Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch along with Jamie McMurray and Joey Logano.

In the lower tier the WSE has Juan Pablo Montoya, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman ranked at 25 to 1, Greg Biffle at 30 to 1 while Martin Truex Jr and Matt Kenseth come in at 35 to 1. Completing this week’s ranking is a trio of drivers, at 40 to 1, featuring Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr and two time Martinsville winner Mark Martin.

Now for the disclaimer. NASCAR wants us to remind you that these numbers are for information and entertainment purposes. They neither encourage and condone the placing of wagers on their races. Instead you may want to consider spending your money getting a head start on Christmas shopping. Those NASCAR tree ornaments are highly recommended especially if you’re an unmarried man living alone.

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THE TRACK BREAKDOWN

The Martinsville Speedway was opened in 1947 by Clay Earles and remains as one of the oldest, continually operated, race tracks in the country.

The facility began as a dirt track. The first sanctioned NASCAR race was held there in September of 1949 and was won by the legendary Red Byron.

The track was paved in 1955. Concrete overlays were placed in the turns in 1976.

The Martinsville Speedway is a .526 mile oval that is shaped like a paper clip. The track is practically as flat as a paper clip. There is only 12 degrees of banking in the turns and zero degrees on the straights. Those straight-aways are only 800 feet long which presents a physical challenge for the drivers. The speedway currently has seating for 61,000 fans.

The speedway’s pit road is also a challenge for the drivers. The pit stalls measure 14 feet wide by 28 feet long. The pit road speed is a very slow 30 MPH.

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THE RACE BREAKDOWN

Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 is 500 laps/263 miles around the Martinsville Speedway’s .526 mile oval.

The race has 48 entries vying for the 43 starting berths.

11 of those entries are on the go or go home list meaning these teams are not guaranteed a start in the race because they are currently outside of the top 35 in owner’s points. These teams will have to rely on qualifying speed to make the race.

Weather should not be an impact on the race. The Sunday forecast for the Martinsville-Virginia area calls for some partly cloudy conditions with daytime highs at 76 degrees.

Racing fans planning on watching the Tums Fast Relief 500 on television need to be aware that you will start with the ESPN2 network, at 12 pm eastern time, for the “NASCAR Countdown” show. Then, at 1 pm et, you will need to switch to the ESPN network for the actual race. The rebroadcast of the race will be on Monday morning, 2 am et, on ESPN2 and again on Wednesday, 12 pm et, on SPEED.