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Will Tony Stewart be able to take Home Depot along as a sponsor when he moves in 09? — Langdon McAlpin
Thanks for joining us, Langdon. No, Tony Stewart will not be able to take Home Depot with him as a sponsor when he moves to Stewart Haas Racing in 2009. But don’t worry, he’ll have plenty of sponsorship dollars flowing into the team. Among the rumored suitors to Stewart are UPS, Office Depot (no relation to Home Depot), Old Spice and Bass Pro Shops. He’ll bring the team all the cash that it needs. Home Depot has said it will remain at JGR for the final year of its contract in 2009 and announce its future plans at a later date.
Neither Infineon Raceway nor Watkins Glen International utilize the full race track. Back before they “ovalized” Infineon Raceway, the races were much better. At the Glen a quarter of the track is not used. With 43 cars the races become traffic quagmires. With the additional track the cars can spread out and race. Example, look at Le Mans, with a 8-mile track and 50 cars, traffic jams are the exception rather than the rule. I always contended more than 24 cars in a NASCAR feature race is a procession rather than a competition. Do you prefer longer road-race tracks? Bob Skeen, Huntington, WV
Bob: You raise an interesting question. Infineon’s layout was altered by the track’s owner, Speedway Motorsports Inc. Personally, I liked the old layout a lot better. I thought it was more exciting and challenging, too. Ultimately, though, road racing in NASCAR is little more than a novelty on the schedule and frankly, I’d personally like to see either more road races or none at all. Two just don’t seem like enough races.
Certainly Joe Gibbs Racing has a lot invested in the No. 20. However, if I have my facts straight, Tony Stewart made that number famous in NASCAR, and when a fan sees that number, they see Tony, not JGR. I honestly feel Dale Earnhardt Inc. was shameless in withholding the No. 8 from Dale Earnhardt Jr. I would be devastated if JGR did the same. I certainly entertain A.J. Foyt’s No. 14 as an honorable substitute, but Tony Stewart equals No. 20. — Guy Spaulding, Burlington, ND
Guy: Thanks for the comment. I understand what you’re saying. Just to be clear, NASCAR owns the numbers, though it almost always lets the controlling team decide what it wants to do with the number. Honestly, I’d be very surprised if JGR allows Stewart to take the No. 20 with it, as it’s a number the team uses in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. Dale Earnhardt Jr. seems to have survived just fine using the No. 88 this season.
Early in this NASCAR season, it was reported that Joe Gibbs Racing was not running the Toyota engine. This was because JGR wanted to do their own R&D on the engine this year and that JGR would switch to the Toyota power plant in 2009. Can you tell me what power plant they are using? — Dale Benth, Ft Huachuca, AZ
Excellent question, Dale. There are three suppliers of Toyota engines in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Toyota’s American racing
How many points are given to each of the first 10 to 15 drivers? Not only during the race, but the final tally at the end of the race. — Jack Baxter, Topock, AZ
That’s an easy one, Jack. The winner of a NASCAR Sprint Cup race gets 185 points. Any driver who leads a lap gets 5 bonus points and the driver who leads the most laps gets 5 more bonus points. By definition, the winner leads the last lap, so he has to get at least 190 points. Second place is 170 points, then it’s 165 for third, 160 for fourth, 155 for fifth and 150 for sixth. Seventh is 146, then it’s 142 for eight, 138 for ninth, 134 for 10th and 130 for 11th. Twelfth place pays 127 points, 13th is 124, 14th is 121 and 15th is 118 points. Each subsequent finisher earns three fewer points than the previous car.
Do you think the sale of Petty Enterprises will give the team the money it needs to be competitive again and do they have the total personal in place to make it a winner again. — Jack Phillips
Excellent question, Jack. Without a doubt, the infusion of money Petty Enterprises has gotten will help the team, but it will take time — three to five years is my best guess. Do they have the personnel in place to win now? Not consistently. They have a lot of great people, but they need more talented people and more cars if they’re going to compete with Hendrick, Roush and Gibbs.
I'm ashamed and quite sick of fans showing their disrespect every time Kyle Busch wins a race. Don't they realize that by doing so they are showing disrespect for themselves as well as NASCAR? If they are truly real race fans they may not like Kyle but they have to appreciate what he can do with a race car. — Concerned in Georgia
Concerned: There is no excuse — none — for any race fan to ever throw beer cans and other debris on the track. It doesn’t matter who wins, it doesn’t justify throwing stuff on the track. Boo all you want, but use your head, show some class and don’t throw stuff.
Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to
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