Notebook: Teammates clash at Dover

DOVER, Del. -- This NASCAR season has seen more than one instance in which teammates have clashed on the racetrack, and it happened again Sunday in the opening laps of the MBNA 400 "A Salute To Heroes" at Dover International Speedway.

Casey Mears said he was racing to the front when his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray pinched him coming off Turn 4. In avoiding McMurray, Mears spun to the inside of the frontstretch and slammed into the pit wall, then staggered to the garage.

Mears, who Saturday had predicted he had a top-five car for Sunday, couldn't contain his frustration.

	Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears. Credit: Autostock

"Jamie was hung out high and I was just following the inside line to go, and he just started coming down," Mears said. "I thought because he was my teammate he would stay up high and not chop me off (but) when he came down I got on the brakes and tried not to wreck him.

"Instead, I wrecked myself (and) it's just disappointing (because) we were going forward."

Mears stressed that he wanted to see a replay of the incident before he criticized his teammate too much, but his pain was evident.

"I don't want to look dumb right now and say it was his fault (because) it might have been a little bit mine, but it's pretty upsetting this early in the race," Mears said. "Obviously it's early in the race and you don't want to take too much, but I thought I was being very conservative."

McMurray didn't disagree when he acknowledged his teammate's dismay.

"Casey is upset because he got tore up, and I can't blame him," McMurray said. "He ended up getting the raw end of the deal there (but) he's my teammate, and I would never do anything like that intentionally."

For his part, McMurray was none too pleased with his own 15th-place finish. The teammates met in one of the Ganassi team's transporters after the race and McMurray emerged relieved.

"He's mad, but he'll get over it," McMurray said. "If it was me, I'd be mad at him, too. We're teammates, and we'll go on."

Mears soldiered into a 28th place finish.

Roush says 99 soon to sign sponsor

	Jeff Burton Credit: Autostock

Jack Roush said Sunday he has a sponsor lined up for Jeff Burton's No. 99 Ford, which has scrambled to find deals all season and raced in plain white at Dover.

"The fact is that we have a sponsor that's ready to sign today," Roush said. "As soon as NASCAR decides that they've got room for the category in the sponsor arena for Nextel Cup, then we'll be good.

"I'm waiting for that ruling, and I expect to hear in the next week or two."

Dale Jr., Martin exchange kudos

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had high praise for winner Mark Martin after Sunday's race.

"He's one of the pure racers out there," Junior said. "He doesn't care about fame or money -- nothing but racing and running good (and) there's relatively not too many in the sport behind the wheel like him.

"It's awesome (and) it's great to see him win. I don't know what it is about drivers (but) they kind of lose their edge.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. Credit: Autostock

"He hasn't lost his. It's good to see and promising for everybody else. I'll be in my 30s shortly (and) you start to think about how many years you have left (but) he's in great shape, too."

Martin was humble.

"I appreciate Junior saying that," Martin said in his winner's media briefing. "He knew me when I was young and he was knee-high. I went to Dale Sr.'s house in January of 1982 and you can do the math -- he (Junior) was little.

"I've known him, not closely, but I've known him since. I saw him there, so I think Junior knows (me). He's kind of watched me, watched me race against his dad, and then got a chance to race against me.

"I think he knows me and kind of knows who I am, what I'm made of and he probably knows that as far as that goes, his dad and I shared something in common.

"It's all about the racing, for me."

Chase for the Championship equals 10

It took 13 races for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship to develop into a 10-man race. Following the MBNA 400, 10th-place Ryan Newman is 367 points behind leader Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Eleventh-place Jamie McMurray is 431 points behind in the point race that will allow the top 10 in the standings and anyone within 400 points of the leader to contest the championship over the season's final 10 races.

Riggs revisits his beginnings

How wild was the scene Sunday at Dover? Rookie Scott Riggs, who scored the first top-five finish of his career in the No. 10 Chevrolet had an apt comparison.

	Scott Riggs Credit: Autostock

"I've seen massive crashing like that, but most of the time it was the short track back home where everybody is driving over the top of their head and wrecking each other," Riggs said, chuckling. "That's what it felt like out there, just sort of tip-toe around and drive hard when you got clean racetrack in front of you.

"You tip-toe when everybody is two-wide, beating and banging."

Fellow rookie Kasey Kahne was baffled by the day's events as well, and said in this case youthful exuberance was worth more than guile and cunning.

"I'm not real sure -- there was some crazy stuff going on," Kahne said after he crashed in an unseen oil slick. "When a bunch of good cars got in that wreck before that there was people missing shifts and running into each other going down the backstretch causing wrecks so there was something going on -- but we made it through that one -- didn't make it through the next one.

"They said, 'how did you get through that wreck?' I said, 'I don't know how I got through there' (laughing) -- I just floored it (because) I didn't know what to do (or) what to think. There's cars everywhere and somehow my car made it through and nobody else really did."

NASCAR visits veterans

MBNA 400 Mark Martin celebrates his first win in two years Play video With oil on the track, Kahne spins from the lead Play video Nineteen cars suffer damage in a wreck on Lap 347 Play video Confusion reigns after Ryan Newman spins on pit road Play video Gordon and Nemechek hit the wall in different incidents Play video Ganassi teammates tangle in the early laps Play video  •  Results  •  Standings

NASCAR president Mike Helton and Nextel Cup drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Rusty Wallace took time in their journey to Dover last Thursday to stop at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The group visited with injured veterans of the current campaign in Iraq.

President Reagan remembered

Ronald Reagan, the 40th United States President who died Saturday at age 93, was remembered Sunday at Dover. A moment of silence in Reagan's honor was observed during pre-race ceremonies.

Reagan is well known for giving the command to start engines for the 1984 Pepsi Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway while flying to Florida on Air Force One. He later called part of Richard Petty's 200th victory on the MRN Radio broadcast and met with Petty post-race.

"President Reagan really helped take NASCAR to the forefront," Petty Enterprises CEO Kyle Petty said. "President Carter got us started (but) President Reagan brought the White House to us.

"His vice president (George Bush) came to the Cup banquet (in 1983) and then he (Reagan) came to the Firecracker 400 the next year. People who had never paid attention to NASCAR before, started paying attention to us, and it started something.

"We're getting attention now that all started with President Reagan. Regardless of how you feel about his policies or decisions, he was great to NASCAR and he was great for stock car racing."

Nemechek's woes continue

On a day that honored Armed Forces veterans, Joe Nemechek suffered a bitter defeat when Terry Labonte nerfed Nemechek's No. 01 Chevrolet into a spin on the frontstretch.

Nemechek's car backed hard into the pit wall and the driver who had suffered from an ill-handling car all day was relegated to 38th in the rundown -- the fifth time in his last six races that Nemechek has finished worse than 27th.

"It's just one of those racing deals," Nemechek said. "My car was a little tight and I was trying to keep to the bottom, (then) the car pushed up off of Turn 4 really bad and I had to get out of the gas.

"When I did that, Terry got into the back of me. Terry and I are good friends and it was just an unfortunate deal (but) this is Dover and stuff happens here."

Nemechek said his car was getting better as the race went on and was looking forward to making a comeback like he did at last week's Coca-Cola 600.

"We were getting better and we just needed to hang on," Nemechek said. "Today's race proved if you finished with the fenders on the car you would have notched a decent finish. We'll go to Pocono next week and do it all over again (and) hopefully the breaks will go our way."