Race Car Drivers

After nearly winning the pole for today's NASCAR Sprint Cup race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave reporters a perfunctory recap of his qualifying lap and race car. Then NASCAR's most popular driver was asked about Mark Martin. Earnhardt took a deep breath, looked down at the microphone and let his affection flow for the 50-year-old veteran. "I'm real happy for him," Earnhardt said. "He was a bridesmaid for so many years, and so here's one guy that's pulling for him to win a championship this year because he's deserved it."

Can Kurt Busch finally steal some of his younger brother's thunder? For nearly two years, Kurt has toiled rather unsuccessfully in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series while Kyle has racked up wins, stirred controversy and bulldozed his way into the series' top echelon of drivers. But even as Kyle made more headlines with a historic Saturday in Fontana, winning NASCAR's Nationwide and truck series races on the same day, Kurt on Sunday quietly showed the form that earned him the Cup title five years ago.

John Force stood next to his redesigned funny car alongside crew chief Austin Coil at a test session in Phoenix two weeks ago, and the reality of the previous 10 months took hold of him. As he looked at the reinforced three-rail chassis, the carbon fiber tub, the alterations inside the cockpit to accommodate his battered body, he spoke words he never thought he could say. "If for any reason I should be killed," the 14-time champion recalled telling Coil, "I think you need to pack it in.

LAS VEGAS -- After Kasey Kahne stunned NASCAR's top series in 2006 with a series-high six wins in only his third full season, the sport could only wonder how strong he would be in 2007. Kahne, a soft-spoken native of Enumclaw, Wash., whose wide-eyed boyish looks have made him a NASCAR heartthrob, had the same high expectations. But in the third race of 2007, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kahne -- who started on the pole -- crashed into the wall when his No. 9 Dodge blew a tire. He finished 35th.

Another cheating scandal rocked stock-car racing Wednesday as NASCAR levied one of its toughest penalties yet against driver Carl Edwards and his team for using a doctored car when he won Sunday's race in Las Vegas. Edwards was allowed to keep the victory in the UAW-Dodge 400 -- his second consecutive win in NASCAR's top-tier Sprint Cup Series -- but he was stripped of 100 championship points.

Driver Matt Kenseth had a tough night at Phoenix International Raceway last Saturday, finishing 38th out of 43 cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race. That earned him $111,466 in prize money. But David Gilliland finished 15th in the race and got a paycheck of only $91,658. How can that be? Welcome to NASCAR's complex and, some say, archaic pay structure that taps into several sources of prize money beyond the basic purse for each race. Here's how it works: The total NASCAR prize money -- $5.

For the Junior Nation, this is the race at just the right time. Dale Earnhardt Jr., still seeking his first NASCAR Cup win in nearly two years, returns Sunday to what is arguably his best track, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The most popular NASCAR Sprint Cup driver has five victories (out of 17 career Cup wins) at Talladega, where Earnhardt loyalty always runs deep among the race's 160,000 spectators.

The irony was unmistakable. Just as Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed poised to notch his first NASCAR Cup win in two years Saturday night, the Chevrolet of NASCAR's most popular driver was hit by Kyle Busch's Toyota, sending Earnhardt into the wall and out of contention. The irony was that Busch's aggressive driving was reminiscent of -- you guessed it -- Earnhardt's father, the late Dale Earnhardt, who won seven Cup titles and the moniker "The Intimidator" for a similar hard-charging style.

Before Ashley Force made drag-racing history last month by becoming the first woman to win a funny car race in the NHRA's top-tier Powerade Series, Melanie Troxel was one of the sport's established female stars. Troxel, 35, won four times driving top-fuel dragsters in 2006-07, then switched to funny cars this season -- where her husband, Tommy Johnson Jr., also competes. Not to be outdone by Force, Troxel on Sunday won the funny car race at the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick is the first lady of auto racing, and the title is more than a nickname. It has been her calling card since 2005, when she led the fabled Indianapolis 500 for 19 laps before finishing fourth. Patrick was a fresh-faced 23-year-old and the performance transformed her into a cover girl, a star, the poster child for open-wheel racing in this country. But her ride since then hasn't been the smoothest.