Everett, Wash.
Published: Friday, May 2, 2008

NASCAR notes: Truex not yet decided on 2009 and beyond with DEI

Also items on Junior not running IRL and Tony Stewart helping Morgan Shepherd

Associated Press

 RICHMOND, Va. -- With Carl Edwards off the free-agent market and Greg Biffle adamant he'll stay at Roush Fenway Racing, the attention turns to Martin Truex Jr. and his status at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

DEI has an option for 2009 on Truex, but the language of the contract is complex and it makes the option somewhat mutual. He said Friday that discussions with the team just began this past week.

"I'm not really 100 percent sure what the deal is right now," Truex said Friday after qualifying third at Richmond International Raceway. "There's a lot to think about. Our cars have been running real good. I've been real happy with all that. We're trying to get our season back on track.

"We've had a lot of tough luck, and (the contract) is the last thing I need to think about right now."

Truex, who raced to his first career victory last season and made the Chase for the championship, is 17th in the standings with a pair of top-10 finishes. He said he's happy at DEI, but not rushing into talks about next season or a long-term extension.

"Going forward and it's probably just going to take a little bit of time," he said. "It's a little murky, but you know right now, I am pretty happy with the way things are going and I really enjoy working with this race team.

"I enjoy the people at DEI a lot and we're really working hard. But like I said, I am not in any big hurry to get anything done."

HELPING A FRIEND: So thrilled with Morgan Shepherd's 13-place run last week in Talladega, Tony Stewart offered to pay for all Shepherd's tires this weekend at Richmond.

"Everybody loves Morgan to death," Stewart said. "There are a lot of people in the stands that don't realize who Morgan Shepherd is. They think he's just some guy who drives a green race car that says 'Racing with Jesus' every week. They don't understand that years ago he used to be one of the top guys in the Cup series.

"They don't realize that he lost everything and is rebuilding everything now. It just shows that there are a lot of people that care about him as a person and respect him — not only as a race car driver, but as a human being. You can do something like that to help out it's worthwhile, it's somebody that deserves the help."

The 66-year-old Shepherd raced 27 years in the Cup Series, scoring four victories and 168 top 10s in 513 career starts. He currently runs in the Nationwide Series, and his finish last week was his best since an 11th at Talladega in 2003.

It's not unusual for Stewart to help another driver, but the two-time series champion has a soft spot for older racers. He often quietly dips into his pocket to help them continue their fledgling careers.

"I've always felt like I was more old-school racer. I've always felt like I was born 20 years too late," he said. "I respect guys like Morgan that still work out of their own garage and do the work themselves and still come out here and race against Childress, Gibbs and Roush every week and still go out there with the attitude that 'We're going to do the best we can.'

"He knows he's not going to beat these guys, but he's not going to quit doing what he's doing and it would be easy to just say, 'I can't do this and I can't do this at the level that these guys are doing and I'm washing my hands of it.' I think what I respect is that he still has that desire and passion to come and do this and pour his heart and soul into this every week like guys used to do 20 and 30 years ago before all these rich kids started getting all this stuff handed to them — having the best of equipment all the time and not having to work on their own cars. They don't even know how to work on their own cars. Makes you appreciate a guy like Morgan that much more."

JUNIOR SAYS NO GO: Thanks, but no thanks.

That was the message Dale Earnhardt Jr. had for Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, who in his typical over-the-top promoting offered Earnhardt $100,000 Friday to run the Indy Racing League event at his track next month.

Gossage's offer was spurred by IRL star Danica Patrick, who appeared on Earnhardt's satellite radio show this week and told Earnhardt that if he ever wanted to swap rides and run an IRL event, the open-wheel series' visit to Texas would be the ideal spot for it.

Gossage agreed, and offered the wildly popular Sprint Cup Series star money to take Patrick up on it and run the June 7 event at Texas. He said he would either give Earnhardt the cash, or donate it to the driver's favorite charity.

"He thinks I'm a cheap date, I guess," said Earnhardt, who will be at Pocono Raceway the day of the Texas race. "I wouldn't be able to do it. My conscience wouldn't let me. If they offered me more money, my conscience wouldn't let me feel comfortable with doing it."

Earnhardt is curious about what it would be like to drive an open-wheel car.

"If I was there testing my car and somebody had their car there, I'd like to jump in it and run a couple of laps, but that would be the extent of the adventure," he said.

CHASING THE CHASE: Nine races into the 26-event prelude to the Chase for the championship, second-year driver Juan Pablo Montoya sits 12th in points and in Chase contention for the first time since moving to NASCAR.

There's a long way to go, but his standing already represents a huge step forward for the former Formula One star, who was 20th in the final standings after his rookie season.

Just don't expect him to be gushing about it just yet.

"We've been really consistent. I think that's really key for our team," Montoya said Friday. "Apart from the first race, pretty much every race we've had a top 20 finish."

Montoya was 32nd in the season-opening and had finished between 13th and 20th in every race since before his career-best second-place run last week at Talladega Superspeedway. But Montoya said he's still got a broad learning curve in stock car racing, from figuring out how and when to adjust the car to make it better and communicating his needs to his team.

Those gains have to come before he'll become a consistent contender for wins, but 46 races into his NASCAR career, the former Indianapolis 500 winner is eyeing a stock car title.

"Do you think I came here for holidays?" he said.

PAIN AT THE PUMP: The Sprint Cup race at Richmond wasn't sold out 24 hours before the green flag for the first time in many years, and many drivers said Friday that they are well aware that the times are tough economically, and that they are feeling it themselves, too.

"I see it when I roll up to any kind of fuel pump, gas or jet fuel or whatever," Mark Martin said. "You name it, it's putting a hurt on a lot of people."
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA