A few years ago, Ryan Newman hopped into his pickup truck after practice at Martinsville Speedway and went looking for a place to fish. He didn`t have a boat; he didn`t even have a map.

There are a lot of teams in the Nextel Cup Series that have struggled on the high-banked speedways this season. Count Elliott Sadler`s No. 38 Ford as one of the best examples.

All NASCAR fans had a couple of days to think about how they would change the Chase for the Nextel Cup when Brian France made his non-announcement announcement Thursday that they would change the Chase for the Nextel Cup somehow for next season.

Bobby Labonte the pro performed every function he had to Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway -- every agonizing interview.

Jeff Gordon won at Sonoma and took three steps forward. He crashed at Daytona and took four steps back. Gordon crashed late in the Pepsi 400 and wound up 40th, dropping him to a disappointing 12th in the standings.

Ricky Rudd found out the hard way: What works at Bristol is frowned upon by NASCAR when it comes to Sonoma. NASCAR claimed Rudd spun Davey Allison on purpose to gain the lead one lap from the finish of the 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 at Sears Point Raceway.

Nextel Cup crew chief Greg Erwin is one of the key players in the current building process of Robby Gordon Motorsports, the multi-purpose racing conglomerate wielded by its namesake in a widely divergent number of disciplines.

While GM Goodwrench is known to NASCAR fans mostly as the longtime sponsor of Richard Childress' No. 29 -- and before that, that famed No. 3 driven by Dale Earnhardt -- it follows that Goodwrench is a thriving company in its own right. Part of the vast General Motors empire, General Motors Service Parts Organization (GMSPO) runs the Goodwrench brand, and during May in Charlotte, the company announced an initiative to recruit automotive technicians for its outlets all across the country. Dubbed the Goodwrench Expertise Challenge, the program is designed to increase awareness of being an automotive technician as a career. What spurred this recruiting drive?

Ensuring due diligence was done, David Hovis, the communications manager for Clay Andrews Racing, sent an e-mail to the NASCAR media corps Sunday evening "as a refresher course on David Gilliland." And to his credit it was necessary.

It is a common NASCAR axiom that a 28th-place car is much more physically difficult to drive than a fifth-place car. Joe Gibbs Racing is following that rule to the letter this weekend at Pocono Raceway. Its goal was to give the injured Tony Stewart a car featuring an emphasis on comfort. So far, the team has done exactly that. Stewart said the car was easy to drive in practice and qualifying, and he has no doubt that he will drive all 200 laps on Sunday.

Larry Richardson is everyday people, a non-union HVAC engineer in New York City. His hands have long been his lifeblood. And somewhere near the tips of those calloused fingers rests a lifelong dream -- NASCAR racing on Staten Island.

Only Jeremy came back to the track on Monday. Considering you got out of that place alive and got a little breathing room in the owner points, how was the flight home? Jeremy: It felt pretty good. That was probably the best flight I've had coming back from a racetrack in a long time.

Brian Vickers heads to Richmond with plenty of momentum. After a third-place run last weekend at Talladega, Vickers jumped five spots to 14th in the Nextel Cup Series standings, 416 points behind leader -- and teammate -- Jimmie Johnson.

Events: Crown Royal 400, Circuit City 200 Local papers contributing: Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Tennessean RIR at center of power play

Martin Truex Jr. picked the perfect race to make his first Busch Series start of the season. Truex, the two-time Busch champion who is now a Nextel Cup rookie, returned to his roots Saturday to win his third consecutive race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Elliott Sadler has qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway all figured out. Now, if he can just keep all four tires on the ground in the race.

Making a qualifying run around the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway would give nearly anybody a severe case of the butterflies.

For three solid minutes, Michael Waltrip kept his eyes drawn to the tachometer on his No. 55 Dodge. When he saw it move slightly to the right, he knew he would be racing on Sunday.

Reed Sorenson has grabbed a double handful of NASCAR racing gusto in 2006, as the young Georgia native is competing full-time in both the Nextel Cup and Busch series. Sorenson, 20, drives No. 41 Dodges in both series for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.