Notes: Johnson says Chase cause for snoozer, not COT

CONCORD, N.C. -- Don't be so quick, Jimmie Johnson warned, to place all the blame for this past Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway on the Car of Tomorrow. Fans and even drivers complained about the lack of action in the event, the first for the COT on a restrictor-plate venue, which featured long stretches of single-file racing.

But to Johnson, the cause wasn't the COT. It was the Chase for the Nextel Cup, which led many participants to get conservative.

"I just think that the race and the result of the race and it not being as action-packed is that 12 of us have a lot to lose right now," said the race runner-up. "Just those 12 cars and the mindsets they have, and maybe the teammates associated with those 12 cars, broke up that whole pack and all that energy and chaos that we typically have."

That doesn't mean that the Daytona 500 and next year's spring race at Talladega, contested before points become a real concern, will be identical to Sunday. But the Chase could take the steam out of the 2.66-mile track's fall race.

"I think the spring Talladega race will be wild and crazy and everything everyone would hope, because it's still early in the year and you're not counting points closely at that point," Johnson said. "But the fall race, I would say in general the fall race has a good chance of being boring, and it's just because the Chase contenders don't want to get in there and mix it up until the end. You've got too much to lose. I really feel it was the Chase and not the cars at Talladega."

Jarrett announcement looms

After saying last weekend that he would tell the world his future plans Thursday, Dale Jarrett is making the world wait another day. He has scheduled an announcement at the Lowe's Motor Speedway infield media center at 12:45 p.m. ET Friday, and sources confirmed that Jarrett plans to announce that he will retire after running the first six Cup races next season.

Upon retirement, sources say that Jarrett will continue to expand on his new career in television broadcasting and that David Reutimann, his teammate at Michael Waltrip Racing, will move from the No. 00 Toyota to Jarrett's No. 44. When Reutimann switches cars, sources say that David Stremme could be a possibility to step in to drive the No. 00 next season.

Stremme is losing his current full-time ride with Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of this season, with open-wheel driver Dario Franchitti set to replace Stremme in the No. 40 Dodge.

Appeal denied

The National Stock Car Racing Commission denied the appeal of Roush Fenway Racing's No. 99 team, whose car was found to be too low after the Sept. 23 race at Dover. NASCAR penalized driver Carl Edwards 25 points for the infraction, which the team said was caused by a failed jack bolt clamp and did not affect performance on the track.

On Thursday at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Edwards was still trying to figure out what his team did wrong.

"The whole appeal process, it was interesting to go through it and see how they did it," he said. "I guess we all race under the same rules and under these appeals processes, so eventually it all evens everything out. But in this case, it's really difficult to understand, being penalized for something that was a disadvantage and being the first person ever penalized for that exact infraction on a downforce track. It's just too bad that's the way it's going to be."

Three members of the commission, which draws from a pool of roughly 30, heard Edwards' appeal. "I was impressed with the guys who came and heard our side of it," Edwards said. "They were all volunteers and it's awesome they do that, but they're all appointed by NASCAR, I guess. If I could have brought three or four of my friends to hear it, I'm sure it would have been different."

NASCAR cooties?

Management of the Charlotte-area track was steaming after congressional aides were instructed to get immunized before House Homeland Security Committee fact-finding trips to NASCAR races at Talladega last weekend and Lowe's on Saturday night. The trips are designed to explore public health preparedness at mass gatherings.

Track president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler wasn't happy. "The very idea of immunization is laughable," he said. "It's like taping your ankles to go to the mailbox. This is not some third- or fourth-world country. As a matter of fact, never in the 50-plus years of NASCAR has there been an outbreak of any kind at an event, other than a few headaches because somebody's favorite driver ran out of gas or maybe a morning hangover."

According to the Charlotte Observer, staff organizing the trips advised the aides to get vaccinated for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, diphtheria and influenza. "I feel compelled to ask why the heck the committee feels that immunizations are needed to travel to my hometown," the area's congressional representative, Rep. Robin Hayes, wondered in a letter to panel chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.

Even Jeff Gordon seemed befuddled. "I probably shake as many hands as the president does during the year, and I've never even considered that one as an option," he said. "Maybe I need to now."

... you may now kiss the bride.

Honeymoon at Martinsville

Driver Greg Biffle is getting married next Wednesday, and, well, he can't wait to get it over with. He said he doesn't mean that how it might sound, in some kind of bad way, but because he's looking forward to beginning his new life with his longtime fiancée, Nicole Lunders.

Yeah, right.

Biffle then went on to describe how he is getting a little distracted by preparations for the big day.

"I have to be more involved just to make sure everything is going right," Biffle said. "For instance, [Wednesday] night I get home at 8 o'clock. I just picked up the tuxedo and it doesn't fit. So I had to go back [Thursday]. They opened at 10:30 [a.m.] and I had to be at the track at 1 [p.m.]. And still none of them fit. ... I don't understand.

"So you know, those kinds of things are getting down to the nitty-gritty. And then probably one of the worst parts of it and the most difficult has been organizing people a place to stay, because it's kind of at a resort. So I basically blocked off almost the entire resort for our guests. But when they first started calling, they told probably a quarter of our party that they were sold out, that they didn't have any rooms."

The wedding and reception are planned for a resort in South Carolina. And shortly thereafter, Biffle will be headed for the next Cup race in Martinsville, Va.

"Yep, we're going to honeymoon at Martinsville. We'll eat some Martinsville [hot] dogs and maybe mix up a margarita or something on the bus," Biffle said.