Notes: Andretti out, Said in after No. 49 fails inspection (cont'd)

Junior likes teammate in Chase
Dale Earnhardt Jr. addressed a number of topics Friday morning at New Hampshire, and one of them was his favorite to win the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Not surprisingly, he chose DEI teammate Martin Truex Jr.

"Well, I pick Martin to win anytime anybody asks me," Earnhardt said. "I think Martin's team is competitive enough. From what I'm seeing from the competition and I think the way Martin runs and his abilities and how competitive his team has become over the year, I think that he has the chance.

Inside The Chase

After back-to-back wins at California and Richmond, Jimmie Johnson is hitting his stride as the Chase starts.

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"He has as good and probably a better chance than he even believes he has -- so really it comes down to trying to minimize your mistakes. And I've learned that the hard way a couple times. You can't have any part failures and you got to minimize the mistakes that you make as a driver.

"The team will do their job and the cars will be competitive for Martin so he's got a good shot. He's my pick to win it."

Harvick digging in
Kevin Harvick won the season-opening Daytona 500, but then had to scramble to get into the Chase for the Nextel Cup as the 12th and final qualifier. He said doing well at New Hampshire on Sunday is no guarantee, but not doing well can doom his 2007 title hopes.

"We won this race last year and didn't win the championship -- so I think it's all about 10 weeks, it's not about one week. It's not about the first week; it's not about the last week -- it's about all 10."

But Harvick did say that his previous success at NHIS works in his favor as he looks at the Chase kickoff.

"Just go try to win," Harvick said. "We need to capitalize on our strengths; this is one of our strengths. And you've got to capitalize on the good days and you've got to make the bad days into decent days. So that's what it's going to take to win.

"Everybody's got to pick it up a notch and be as focused as we've all ever been. Just see what happens in the end. You've got to be aggressive and if you're not, somebody else is going to be -- in all departments. Jimmie [Johnson] came back and won last year but this field is pretty deep with competition. I think the guy who wins it is really going to have 10 good weeks this year."

Hamlin says Toyota will be competitive
Denny Hamlin says he feels no urgency to win a championship this season because of his Joe Gibbs Racing organization's switch next season to Toyota.

"We don't see this as the end of our winning days at the end of this year. We're going to be just as competitive next year, without a doubt -- without a doubt we will be just as competitive," said Hamlin, who is seeded sixth in the Chase. "I think that it's going to take some time to make us to where we're championship contenders, where the No. 24 and No. 48 are every single year. But we're not at that level right now.

"I feel like those guys can run 75 percent and that's my 100 percent. Their cars are just really good right now. That can change over the offseason. I think as long as we do our homework we're going to come back just as strong, if not stronger next year."

Lazier next 500 champ to NASCAR
Billy Ballew Motorsports announced that former Indy Racing League champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier will drive its No. 15 Chevrolet Silverado in the Sept. 22 Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas.

Lazier, a former International Race of Champions runner-up, previously tested one of Ballew's trucks at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2005.

"IROC really was an eye-opener for me into the world of stock-car racing," Lazier said. "Racing with the best in the Nextel Cup and Busch Series, as well as other race drivers, was a blast. It was probably the most fun racing experience for me in my 20 years of professional motorsports [and] I've been trying to find the right opportunity since then."

His test with Ballew was part of that.

"I was pretty cautious but our times were comparable to the other trucks on the track and I knew I wanted to race for that team some day. The opportunity arose for us to race in Las Vegas and I am extremely excited. They are racers on that team and to me it's a perfect fit -- I feel right at home with the whole team.

"I'll be studying up on last year's race this week and be looking forward to a lot of seat time during practice. I look forward to a good start and finish and see what develops from there. Obviously, I'd love to continue racing in a top-tier NASCAR series and hope I can make a good start next week in Las Vegas."