SCENE & HEARD

Humpy Wheeler, president of Speedway Motorsports Inc., doesn't believe resurfacing of Bristol Motor Speedway will have a negative effect on what's become one of NASCAR's most popular tracks. The track will put down new concrete for the first time since 1992, when it was converted from an asphalt surface.

"I don't think you're going to see a lot of change in the way we race, because No. 1 it's a Car of Tomorrow track, and the race in March is going to be wild and wooly because it's going to be the last race on the old concrete," he said. "Anytime you redo a track, you usually smooth it out and make it more predictable to run. That means better racing. Who knows, we might even develop a real second groove in the track, which would be neat."
-- David Caraviello

Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves thinks it will be only be a matter of time before he tries a NASCAR race. Especially now that his IndyCar team shares the same facility with Roger Penske's NASCAR entries.

"Obviously, because of the popularity and the attention it's getting, it's no question that one day I would like to try," he said. "The closest thing I've gotten in so far is the IROC, which was very exciting. So far, I've met a lot of good friends in NASCAR. I know drivers. I know the right time will come, we just have to wait and be patient."
-- David Caraviello

The nicest touch of the media tour was the fact that Roger Penske personally welcomed everyone to his shop.
--Ryan Smithson

With the departure of Trinity, N.C., native Brian Vickers and the addition of Bakersfield, Calif., native Casey Mears, all four Nextel Cup drivers at Hendrick Motorsports are from out West.

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were born in California, while Kyle Busch is from Las Vegas.

"I don't know what's going on with that, to be honest," said Gordon, who moved to Pittsboro, Ind., as a youth. "I don't know if more West Coast people are getting interested in NASCAR and taking this route, or if the type of racing they're doing is a great training ground for getting here. But it's working."
-- David Caraviello

Joe Gibbs Racing Busch driver Aric Almirola is set to test a Nextel Cup car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Monday and Tuesday, and may make his debut in NASCAR???s top series at the same track this season.

"We'll probably do Vegas, and maybe three others," J.D. Gibbs said. "Maybe a few more, if things go well. That's about what we're looking at."
-- David Caraviello

Two-time Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart is evidently keeping up with the workout routine he started in the offseason.

Stewart, who hired a trainer to travel with him, looked noticeably thinner Wednesday when Joe Gibbs Racing met with the media. He's even influenced teammate Denny Hamlin.

"Denny is a madman training away," team president J.D. Gibbs said.
-- David Caraviello

Joe Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing joked that the owners work for the drivers these days, and not the other way around.

"A few years ago Tony Stewart bought the biggest house in the Peninsula [subdivision of Charlotte], where I live," Gibbs said. "Now Denny Hamlin, who's only been driving for us for a short while, bought a house in Peninsula. It happens to be right next to mine. Not only did he buy it, but he's tearing it down and building something bigger."

Actually, Hamlin is only doing an extensive remodeling of the existing structure. J.D. Gibbs, Joe's son and president of Gibbs Racing, said that Hamlin's people have been working on it so long, though, that he might as well have torn it down and started over.

"They've been working on it for eight or nine months. But we like our drivers in debt, so that's good," J.D. Gibbs added with a laugh.
-- Joe Menzer

Kyle Petty took offense with criticism that today's drivers are too bland.

"I think racetracks have become too bland. How about that? They're all the same," Petty said.

Petty added that he heard track president Humpy Wheeler is about to launch an ad campaign ramping up where they're going to try to give Lowe's Motor Speedway a nickname.

"And I'm like, 'OK, that's the first thing I want to do: give a nickname to a guy after 50 years,'" Petty said. "If he doesn't have a nickname after the first 50 years, he ain't going to get a nickname. It don't work that way, dude. You don't come out Catfish, you're never gonna be Catfish. That's the way that works."

Petty argued that the way Nextel Cup racing is set up today, with drivers needing to be on good behavior all the time for their high-paying sponsors, it's difficult for drivers to express themselves in the wild ways they used to.

"I think Tony [Stewart] is a great individual," he said. "And every time something is written, he has to go to anger management. What's up with that? I would have loved to have seen Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison go to anger management after the 1979 Daytona 500. That would be the headlines: Petty wins Daytona 500; Allison and Yarborough go to Anger Management on Monday. What a great headline!

"You laugh, but that's what would happen now. And once you get to that point, it's not fun. It's not fun to have to watch what you say or what you do. But you have to, and that's part of it."
-- Joe Menzer

If anyone wants to see what Kyle Busch looks like surfing, go to YouTube and type: Kyle Busch surf.
-- Ryan Smithson

Roush on Toyota: We are going to go to war with them.
-- Ryan Smithson

We have been at Roush Racing for five minutes, and Jack Roush has already said that last year's results were not acceptable.
-- Ryan Smithson

You've heard of the great Intimidator. Does that mean that Martin Truex Jr. is the Urinator? Are drivers going to have Truex in the mirrors, get scared, and think, "I've got the Urinator behind me?"

Truex should embrace his citation for public intoxication. I can think of some great new nicknames.

-- The Man in Yellow
-- The Whiz Kid
-- Calvin

It never ends. Truex did something stupid, but every male in America has done what he did at some point.
-- Ryan Smithson