Notebook: Hamlin feeling ill but dominant in practice

DOVER, Del. -- Chase contender Denny Hamlin wasn't feeling very well during final Cup practice on Saturday but you wouldn't know it by his speed.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver in the No. 11 machine was the fastest car in both the second and final practice sessions averaging 150 mph lap times.

After practice, a team spokesperson said Hamlin was displaying flu-like symptoms, however, he soldiered on to race Saturday afternoon's Busch race at Dover International Speedway and will be in the Cup race Sunday.

Richard Childress Racing Chase contender Clint Bowyer, who is fourth in the Chase standings after winning last weekend's race in New Hampshire, practiced better than he qualified.

Bowyer, who will start at the tail end of Sunday's Dodge Dealers 400 in 42nd, was fifth quickest in final practice posting a speed of 149.279 mph. That was seven places up from the second practice session and Bowyer said he's slowly digging himself out of a deep qualifying hole from Friday.

Bowyer's qualifying lap (148.038) was the result of an "evil loose" car and will have to go from zero to hero in a hurry, battling through the pack.

"I'm going to have to let everyone get strung out and then we'll start picking them off one at a time," Bowyer said. "The car felt good at the end of practice and we'll be fine, we've had to do this before and came out with top 10 finishes."

His average finish at Dover is 11th.

Montoya making his marks

Juan Montoya is finding a higher comfort level with each additional track he adds to his racing resume; especially for his second time out at Dover International Speedway.

Familiarities like where to brake or where to roll out of the throttle are in the former F1 driver's advantage this weekend and were evident by his successful qualifying run that put the Chip Ganassi Racing driver second on the starting grid for the third time this season.

"Like in F1 when we're going from racetrack to racetrack, every racetrack is so different, where [NASCAR] each one is a little similar, each one you do something quiet close," said Montoya, who was 27th fastest in practice.

He leads Roush Fenway rookie David Ragan by 13 points in the rookie of the year chase.

Continued success for Labonte means success for the kids

Teams know NASCAR is a rollercoaster and Bobby Labonte is enjoying his time on top of the hill.

Labonte and the No. 43 crew continued their successful qualifying efforts at Dover as they qualified eighth for Sunday's Cup race. Here in the spring, the team qualified third.

The Dodge driver attributes some of the recent success to new Crew Chief Doug Randolph who joined the team at the Michigan race in August.

"Doug has played a big part in our recent success and we are excited with where we qualified, we are making a lot of progress," Labonte said before qualifying his Busch car Saturday. "It's great when you can unload with a competitive setup. Doug continues to give me awesome cars."

The start of the race at Dover will mark Labonte's 500th consecutive start.

And as the past champ continues to log laps, books are donated to children in need through the First Book nonprofit program along with Labonte and his sponsor Cheerios.

For every lap Labonte completes, 43 books are donated to the cause.

And last weekend at the New Hampshire International Speedway, Cheerios and First Book agreed to double the number of books donated for every top 10 finish the team garners from now through the last race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18.

"It's been great to have the opportunity to raise so many books for children so far this season, and help call attention to the importance of books and reading in helping kids get a good start in life," Labonte said. "Our performance has greatly improved lately, and we are really pumped to know that when we finish in the top 10 in these final races, we can earn even more books for these kids."

To date, 311,532 books have been donated.

Musical crew chiefs

Tony Eury Jr., crew chief and cousin to Dale Earnhardt Jr., will leave his current post to make an early transition to Hendrick Motorsports next month.

It is unclear whether Tony Gibson or Steve Hmiel will fill in as crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. for the remainder of the season.

Crew chief Gene Nead, who recently left Robby Gordon Motorsports, will head to Wood Brothers/JTG Racing and Peter Sospenzo, formerly of Ginn Racing, is still looking for work but may be considered by Robby Gordon Motorsports among others.

NASCAR's newest baby

The next racing Kahne was born this weekend in Charlotte, N.C.

Kasey Kahne's older sister Shannon Adams and her husband Jarrod Adams gave birth to a healthy baby boy name Eli making Kahne one proud uncle.

"It's exciting," Kahne said. "He was a perfect eight pounds 15 ounces, just a perfect little boy. It was pretty exciting. I can't wait to get home on Sunday night and hang out with them when they're out of the hospital."

Got crabs?

You never know who promoters or NASCAR will bring to a track to kick off a race.

This weekend was no different in Dover, Del. when the crew from the Deadliest Catch, a popular Discovery Chanel documentary about crab fishing professionals, was ushered into the media center.

Josh Harris from the ship "Cornelia Marie" was asked to describe the strangest thing his crew has ever taken from the ocean.

"We pulled this crab out that was road-cone orange. But that wasn't the crazy part; it was covered in hair. So I was going to shave it down and give it sideburns, because whenever you put a cigarette in a crab's claw, it puts it to its mouth. So it could have been the Dirk Diggler crab," Harris said. "That's the craziest thing I've seen."

Where are they now?

Professional wrestler Rick Flair is still wrestling in the WWE?

Apparently so after 35 years, now on a limited schedule, but the "Nature Boy" said he he's ready to take a step away from the arena to promote the sport of NASCAR.

Flair was the honorary starter for Saturday's Busch Series race and made a point to mention that he's a much better "performer" than fellow wrestler Hulk Hogan, though Flair admits the Hulk is a bigger superstar.