Paul Menard will likely drive the No. 15 in the Cup Series next year. Credit: Autostock

Last Lap: Three's company or a crowd?

We'll kick-start Last Lap this week with a trio of news items recently heard in and around the Nextel Cup garage.

	MARTY SMITH •   E-mail Marty •   Opinion Archive

1. Hours before winning the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway two weeks back, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was addressing fans at a sponsorship gala and revealed a pair of intriguing tidbits to the gallery:

Earnhardt said it is his understanding that Paul Menard will run a full Nextel Cup schedule in the No. 15 Chevrolet in 2007. Makes sense. Menard is quite underrated, and rarely comes up in conversation when the 'next big thing' is broached. He started 22nd and finished seventh in his lone Cup start this season.

2. Earnhardt said that Shane Huffman, driver of JR Motorsports' Hooters Pro Cup entry, will make five NASCAR Busch Series starts this season.

3. One of the hotter topics that popped up in the Darlington garage last weekend is whether or not Michael Waltrip Racing has aspirations of a three-team Nextel Cup Series operation, rather than the presumed two-car stable.

According to MWR spokeswoman Brooke Hondros, the team does not presently plan to field three Nextel Cup Series teams in 2007. Hondros said MWR is preparing two Nextel Cup teams and two Busch Series teams, all of which will run Toyota Camrys.

Paul Menard's car will be the brightest in history. That's what you get when your sponsor is a paint company. Credit: Autostock

Waltrip announced at Talladega that David Reutimann would drive one of his Busch entries. The other driver has yet to be named.

Mail time.

Hope all is well with you and your family. I was wondering how Jamie McMurray, now a Ford driver, can drive for RWI, which uses Dodges? It would seem to me that Ford wouldn't be cool with this, so maybe you can touch on this subject.

I would assume that Ford would want McMurray to drive only Ford products. Is this a conflict of interest?

Spike

Now that's a fine question, Spike. I called McMurray for the scoop:

"The reason I can drive a Dodge is because, at the time, I didn't even know I was going to be with Roush Racing this year, and got that OK'd before the season ever started," McMurray said.

"I told [Ford] I wanted to re-sign with Rusty so I could run some Busch Series races, and Ford OK'd that because we didn't know what the situation was going to be. So that's why, because we didn't know what the whole situation would be this year."

McMurray did say, however, that he would move to a Roush Racing Busch Series car in 2007. He was unaware which car he would drive.

With the oil companies telling me to change my truck's oil every 3,000 miles -- or more often when doing a lot of towing -- my question is how often do race teams change the oil in the car on a race weekend?

Jamie McMurray has the OK to drive Fords and Dodges. Credit: Autostock

Or do they? Do they run a regular oil? Additives? Synthetic? I'm very curious.

Thanks,

Cliff

Great question, Cliff, one better left to an expert. For the lowdown, I sought the expertise of Danny Emerick, the engine guru for Jimmie Johnson's team.

Emerick tells me his team changes the oil once during the weekend, on race day morning, and uses synthetic Quaker State -- just like that you purchase at the gas station or Wal-Mart.

One significant difference, however, is the volume of oil a racecar requires compared to that of your passenger car. A Nextel Cup racecar requires some 6 gallons of oil, while a street car needs only 1.5 gallons.

Emerick went on to explain that the two main contributors to shortening oil life are contaminants and heat cycles, both of which break down the oil.

For example, 3,000 one-mile trips are far more stressful on the oil than three 1,000-mile trips. If not forced to make short trips constantly, oil will maintain is lubrication longer, and that 3,000 miles can be upped to 5,000-mile interval changes. Just stay off the dirt roads.

He is considerably more intelligent than I.

Pace laps at Talladega take way too long. Credit: Autostock

Does the pace car drive the same speed as pit road speed when under caution? I know the pre-race warm up laps are done at pit road speed so the drivers can set their tachometers to pit road speed, but I thought that during the race, if a caution comes out, the pace car drives at a faster speed than the pit road speed. Just looking for some clarification.

Thanks,

Andrew

According to NASCAR's pace car driver -- former Cup Series driver Brett Bodine -- pace car speed when pacing the field under caution is 5 mph faster than the set pit road speed. So if pit road speed is 45 mph, the pace car will pace the field at 50.

Quick question regarding the fastest-lap awards. I have noticed a few occasions this year where the Tissot Fastest Lap driver is not the same as the Goodyear Gatorback Fastest Lap award recipient.

Case in point is Darlington. Clint Bowyer is posted as the Tissot Fast Lap, whereas Kasey Kahne is the Goodyear Gatorback Fastest Lap Award winner. What gives? How can there be two different "fastest" laps?

Kevin V.

Pittsburgh, PA

Ha! Essentially it comes down to cash, Kevin. In order for a driver to receive the Tissot Fastest Lap award winner, his car must carry the Tissot contingency sticker. Likewise for the Goodyear Gatorback Fast Lap award recipient.

Bowyer turned the fastest lap among the teams running the Tissot decal, while Kahne turned the fastest circuit among those cars carrying the Gatorback sticker.

The president takes his initial walk down pit road. Credit: Autostock

Is it just me, or before the last two races, when they were singing the Star Spangled Banner and showing a bunch of the drivers during the song, did Joe Nemechek actually have quite a bit of a resemblance to President Bush?

I was like "Hey, there's President Bush dressed up in an ARMY firesu... Oh wow, that's Joe Nemechek!" They look an awful lot alike at times!

Christy,

NJ

Never thought about that before, Christy, but come to think of it ...

Was wondering why car numbers sometimes appear as three-digit numbers on practice and qualifying sheets. For example, at Darlington Ryan Newman was listed as No. 139 for the Busch race.

Is the 1 in front just to signify a driver isn't a regular in that series??

3man

When it comes to SDMS, NASCAR.COM's HTML data input system for entry lists, practice and qualifying times and speeds, race results and the like, writer Dave Rodman is anal to an astounding degree. Like, up at 2 a.m. switching Subway/National Guard Ford to National Guard/Subway Ford. Stuff like that.

Anyway, I asked Dave the story behind this phenomenon and, ever-thorough, he gave me a 7,000-word dissertation. In short, here's the deal:

The numbers in NASCAR.COM's data files represent their officially registered numbers with the NASCAR Competition Department. When NASCAR assigns two-digit numbers, it, in general, gives preference to teams running the full schedule.

If a team would prefer a certain number and it's already assigned, they might be given "139," "239," etc.

And in order for NASCAR.COM's database to recognize the officially registered car owners when points are issued on Monday, the files must use the registered "139" -- not the "39" as the car appears on track.

If teams with variations of the same registered number enter the same race, for example "80" and "180," the team with the lower number gets preference on running it for the weekend.

Meanwhile the higher-numbered team, in this case "180," would have to select another unassigned number for the weekend -- but "180" would still appear on NASCAR.COM.

Apologies. I pray you're not more confused now than you were initially.

I was wondering how I could get copies of races that would have been broadcasted between 1999 and now. I have only started following NASCAR since 2001 and I have been a TONY STEWART AND HARVICK fan.

I would like to obtain copies of the races that they won. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

GLENN YOUNG

NOVA SCOTIA

CANADA

Not yet, Glenn. But you might not have to wait terribly long. NASCAR Images' editor-in-chief Ryan McGee said Monday that wheels are in motion to try to provide past race footage for fan download. Highlights of current races can be downloaded at iTunes each week in the TV Shows section.

That's all the time we have today, folks. Time to go find my Red Hot Chili Peppers collection.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.