The team has enough sponsorship to run the first fives races of the season.

McDowell will also drive Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 in five races in the Nationwide Series. McDowell will pilot the car at Road America, Watkins Glen International, Michigan International Speedway, and Iowa Speedway twice.

Martin will drive the Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.

Martin said:

Team president JD Gibbs said:

We’ve always hoped to have the opportunity for Mark to drive for us and to have him behind the wheel of our Interstate Batteries Toyota for the Nationwide race in Vegas is exciting. He is a great example to all drivers of the dedication it takes to be successful and certainly we’re honored to have him part of our efforts in 2012.

Zippadelli will join SHR as competition director. There was speculation during the season that Zipadelli would join SHR as Stewart’s crew chief, as the two won two Sprint Cup championships together. But, following the firing of Darian Grubb, Stewart chose Steve Addington to sit atop the pit box. Grubb joined JGR as crew chief for Denny Hamlin, with Mike Ford getting released.

JGR confirmed Zipadelli’s release. No word on who will replace him as crew chief for the No. 20 car.

Update: In another tweet, Utter reported that Jason Ratcliff will serve as crew chief for the No. 20 team. Ratcliff climbed the ranks in the Nationwide Series, working at Sadler Racing and Brewco Motorsports before joining JGR in 2005 as crew chief for JJ Yeley. He then went on to serve as crew chief for Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, winning the 2009 Nationwide Series championship with Busch.

Update 2: JGR issued a press release indicating the moves.

Team owner Roger Penske said:

Our first priority is always to look within the walls of Penske Racing when making personnel decisions. We want to reward success. The path we are taking with Todd mirrors what we did with Paul Wolfe who led the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge to a Chase berth in 2011. We think Todd can get the job done in the same manner.

Gordon said:

I can’t thank Roger and everyone at Penske Racing enough for this vote of confidence. It’s an honor to step into a race-winning team. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but this is an organization full of talented people that know how to get the job done. I look forward to getting the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge back in Victory Lane.

Gordon replaces Steve Addington, who left the team at the end of the season to join Stewart Haas Racing as crew chief for Tony Stewart, after SHR let go of Darian Grubb. Grubb has since moved on to Joe Gibbs Racing.

Penske is still seeking a driver for the No. 22 team, as Kurt Busch and Penske mutually agreed to part ways, after a series of high-profile outbursts, including a video in which Busch berated respected media member Dr. Jerry Punch.

Candidates are said to include Sam Hornish, David Reutimann, David Ragan, and Brian Vickers.

Team owner Joe Gibbs said:

Darian is a great addition to our organization and person to lead our No. 11 FedEx team. Obviously he has proven the ability to guide a team to a championship and we are excited to have him working with Denny toward achieving that goal here at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Grubb said:

I’m thrilled to join Joe Gibbs Racing. The chance to work with Denny is something I’m excited about. When you sit down with Joe and [president] J.D. Gibbs, you can’t help but be excited about this opportunity and the team aspects of JGR. There is no question about the level of support you get here and I’m looking forward to working with everyone across the entire organization.

Grubb was told halfway through the Chase that he would be fired from Stewart Haas Racing at season’s end. Following that discussion, Stewart went on a tear, winning the championship as the result of a tie-breaker with Carl Edwards. SHR released Grubb, as they said they would. Steve Addington replaced Grubb at SHR as crew chief for Tony Stewart.

Following his release, the Associated Press reported that Mike Ford had been let go as crew chief for Hamlin, citing Hamlin’s struggles this season, and the release of Grubb as factors.

After his release, Ford said:

I’m kind of relieved. It had been dragging on for so long, I’m actually relieved there’s finally a resolution.

Team owner Joe Gibbs issues a statement:

Everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing appreciates what Mike has done for our organization over the past six seasons as crew chief with our No. 11 team. We’ve decided it was best to make a change with the team now to allow Mike the opportunity to pursue other opportunities.

While racing for second position on the 14th lap of the race, Hornday and Busch got three-wide going into Turn 1. Hornaday appeared to move up to pass a slower car, making it three-wide. Hornaday got a little loose and made contact with Busch, who was on his outside, in Turns 1 and 2.

Hornaday continued wiggling, trying to regain control of his truck. The two made contact again and both bounced of the wall. Both appeared to have tire rubs and cosmetic damage, but certainly nothing that would put them out of the race.

The caution came out and Hornaday was making his way back to pit road. Busch drove into the back of Hornaday and pushed him through Turn 3 wide open. He kept on Hornaday’s bumper, eventually turning him into the outside wall head-on. Hornaday made hard contact with the wall, but walked away from the incident.

Hornaday was a championship contender going into the race, but thanks to Busch, he will not win it this year. Busch was immediately parked for the remainder of the race.

On Saturday morning, Busch was then parked for the rest of the weekend’s events.

NASCAR president Mike Helton said:

The responsibility over the past two or three seasons we’ve given back to the drivers came, I think with a very clear understanding that there could be a line that got crossed. As annoying as the comments that I’ve made personally in the past about ‘we’ll know it when we see it’ might have been, we saw it [Friday] night. Obviously after the event, a lot of folks put their heads together to decide what, if anything, we would do. The volume of occurrences or reactions like I’m talking about, the rarity of those times that we’d make a step like this speak to the uniqueness and the severity of the topic. We understand the ramifications or the ripple effect of us making this type of a move, but we also take our responsibility very serious as to maintaining control of the event in all the garages; so it’s a balance there that we ultimately have to make a decision.

In response to NASCAR’s decision, Joe Gibbs Racing’s (Busch’s Sprint Cup team) owner Joe Gibbs said:

What we’re going to try to do now, [as in the past, with other situations involving Busch] we’ve tried to handle those things the right way and tried to make the right decisions and certainly that’s what we’re going to try to do with this.

Denny Hamlin was named to drive Busch’s Nationwide Series Toyota and Michael McDowell will drive JGR’s No. 18 Sprint Cup car.

This is the harshest punishment to date that NASCAR has issued since they instructed the drivers to “have at it.” This should serve as a warning to other drivers that “have at it” only goes so far.

An interesting note about the penatly, though, is that JGR is also punished by Busch’s actions when he was driving for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports team.

Dega Wreaks Havoc on Chasers

On Lap 174, Michaeal Waltrip was pushing Bobby Labonte when Labonte lost control of his race car and spun in the middle of the turn.  Kurt Busch had no where to go and drove straight into the side panel of Labonte.  This destroyed the hood of Busch’s race car and ended his day.  The elder Busch brother finished the race in 36th position, 15 laps down.  This did not help his chances for the championship, knocking him down one spot in standings to eighth place, 52 points behind the leader.

Luckily for Kurt Busch, he isn’t the only Chase driver that struggled at Talladega.  Hendrick Motorsports’ Chasers did not finish as expected on Sunday, coming home with 25th (Dale Earnhardt Jr), 26th (Jimmie Johnson), and 27th (Jeff Gordon) place finishes.  All three drivers rode out the race in the back of the pack and just didn’t seem to have the momentum to race towards the front at the end.

Earnhardt remains in ninth position in standings, 74 points behind the leader.  Thanks to others’ misfortune, Johnson moved up one position to seventh place, but is now 50 points behind the leader.  Jeff Gordon also moved up one position; however, he is now 82 points behind the leader.   I would say this is the end of Hendrick Motorsports’ chances to win the title.  Johnson would be the only driver with a chance, but he would need the drivers ahead of him in the Chase to have substantial bad luck to overtake them.

Kevin Harvick came to Talladega only five points behind leader Carl Edwards.  Leaving Talladega, he is in fifth position, now 26 points behind the leader.  Early on in the race, Harvick had a fast car; he even led the race on six different occasions.  But, he fell victim to a large pile-up on Lap 104 when AJ Allmendinger spun on the front-stretch. Harvick finished the race in 32nd position, nine laps down.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano worked well together early in the race.  On Lap 67, as the duo was attempting to make green flag pit stops, Trevor Bayne cut in front of them, abruptly separating the pair.  This caused Logano to spin his race car and forced Busch to drive down pit road to avoid an accident.  Logano then blew a left-front tire on the backstretch, bringing out the caution. Busch was then sent to the rear of the field for failure to reduce speed while driving down pit road.

Busch was able to recover, leading the race on Lap 90 with help of his teammate, Denny Hamlin.  After the pile-up on Lap 104, however, Busch was unable to race his way to the front and finished the race in 33rd position.  Logano on the other hand, was able to push Tony Stewart to the lead of the race on Lap 136, despite the damage to his race car. Logano finished the race in 24th position.  Busch is now sixth in standings, 40 points behind the leader.

Chase for the Sprint Cup

Carl Edwards remains the points leader after finishing in 11th position at Talladega.  Fellow Roush driver Matt Kenseth sits second, 14 points behind Edwards.  Brad Keselowski gained three spots in the standings, moving to third, just 18 points back.  Tony Stewart moved up to fourth position after finishing the race in seventh place and is now 19 points behind Edwards.

Both Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch dropped positions because of their misfortune and are now in fifth and sixth position.  Rivals Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson are now right beside each other in standings, sitting in eighth and ninth position.  Dale Jr and Jeff Gordon round out the top-10 in ninth and tenth positions, respectively.  Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman reside in 11th and 12th place, respectively.

Best Efforts of the Race

The Red Bull Racing team of Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne have to be recognized for their effort on Sunday.  Kahne started 26th, Vickers 30th, and the two pushed their way into the top-five within 10 laps.  They had troubles with the two-car tandem on Lap 159, causing Kahne to spin across the nose of Vickers to bring out a caution.  But with 50 laps to go, the pair had already hooked back up and were headed to the front.  Unfortunately they just couldn’t catch the RCR tandem, but still came home with fifth (Vickers) and sixth (Kahne) place finishes.

Dave Blaney’s third place finish at Talladega represented Tommy Baldwin’s Racing’s best finish yet at the Cup level.  Blaney was in the battle at the front in both the Daytona 500 and the spring race at Talladega this year, but couldn’t get the finishes he deserved.  This is a big step for a small organization with a short history in the sport.  Team owner Tommy Baldwin hopes the Talladega finish is a step in the right direction for a more competitive season in 2012.

Landon Cassill and Casey Mears deserve a shout-out for their strong effort at Talladega.  Before the race had even one lap in the books, Mear’s No. 13 GEICO Camry had moved from its 42nd starting position into 26th.  On Lap 3, Mears paired up with Cassill to head to the front.  They spent most of the race in the Top 5 and Top 10 until lap 174 when Mears lost his drafting partner.  Cassill was collected in a turn two crash involving Bobby Labonte and Kurt Busch, forcing Mears to find another dancing partner.  Although their finishes of 16th and 17th do not represent their hard effort, the fact that they survived Talladega tells the story by itself!

Dollar General will sponsor the No. 20 Sprint Cup Series Toyota and driver Joey Logano for around 10 races next season. Home Depot will scale back its sponsorship next season.

Dollar General will also sponsor the No. 11 Nationwide Series team and driver Brian Scott. The company will also appear as primary sponsor of the Nos. 18 and 20 Nationwide Toyotas in select races.

The sponsor is expected to continue working with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series.

Hamlin, who has not performed to expectations thus far this season, ran out of fuel during the closing laps of the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He was running fifth at the time and wound up finishing 29th.

During the conference, he was asked about his relationship with Mike Ford, his crew chief and the one who, ultimately, gets most of the blame for the No. 11 Toyota running out of fuel in the closing laps.

Hamlin said:

[W]e all know this is a performance business, and obviously you’ve got to be competitive and contend for race wins so everyone feels good about their job. I feel like Mike is the guy for me. I feel like he’s done a great job. He won me eight races last year. Some of the things that we’ve had go wrong this year are crew chief related, some of them are not. Most of them are not. Some of them are driver related. It weighs on all of our shoulders equally, and I feel like he’s kind of received a bit of a bad rap because of that.

Hamlin went on to call Ford the backbone of the race team, and said that replacing Ford would set the team back even further. He said:

[O]bviously if you made a change, it would take a long time to get back to where I feel like we’re capable of running at this point right now. I think at times during the season we’ve gotten off track between the two of us, and I feel like these last four or five weeks the communication has been better. I feel like we were heading in the right direction, we’ve just had some things go wrong these first couple Chase races that makes it look worse than it really is.

Hamlin added that everyone has contributed to the ups and downs of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Sprint Cup Toyota team. Some weeks, he says, it has been Ford’s calls on the pit box, some weeks it has been on his shoulders, and some weeks things back at the shop are what need to be improved. He said:

Until we have one specific thing that we need to work on and can identify as a problem, I can’t see changing much. But I feel like we have a good group of guys. I can win a championship with Mike; I really and truly do believe that. But we’ve just got to get our ship righted. It seems like our communication at some point in the year got stale. I felt like we’ve turned that around this last month or so, and we had three good finishes going into the Chase, and of course we had flat tires and a loose wheel the first Chase race. That’s stuff that Mike can’t help. … Loudon, New Hampshire, fuel mileage. It’s 50/50. It’s one of those things where maybe I used up too much gas, maybe it was too risky of a call. But either way, it weighs on us equally when we don’t run well. So I’m not going to completely throw him under the bus.

Hamlin currently sits in 12th place in the standings, 66 behind points leader Tony Stewart and virtually out of contention. In a year in which the team had such high expectations, it is good to see that Hamlin is committed to Mike Ford, the man that has been his crew chief since he entered the Cup series.

Hamlin is also working with a sports psychologist to help gain some perspective and a better outlook.

Murstein indicated that RPM is happy with its performance this season with drivers Marcos Ambrose and AJ Allmendinger.

Murstein said:

We are no longer in discussions with [Bowyer]. We just feel that RPM is in a great place today, especially how far we have come since last year. Both Marcos (Ambrose) and AJ (Allmendinger) are not only having career years, but they are both moving in the right directions and improving. … Clint is a great driver and we wish him the best wherever he ends up. For now, we will continue to focus on our two teams and continuing to make great strides as we return the King and his unmatched tradition and legion of loyal fans back into Victory Lane.

Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Fenway Racing, and Michael Waltrip Racing could be interested in signing Bowyer. But, for JGR, sponsorship is the issue. If Bowyer were to join JGR, it would most likely be in a fourth car, which would mean an additional sponsor would need to be found. Joey Logano was rumored to be on the hot seat, when the Carl Edwards rumors were circulating. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Bowyer, though.

Roush Fenway Racing would have to release a driver to accommodate Bowyer, which is unlikely. Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle are all secure at RFR, and David Ragan, with his win at Daytona International Speedway (and almost victory in the Daytona 500) this season, may have secured his place at RFR, despite UPS cutting back its sponsorship schedule.

Bowyer was touring MWR last week. If he were to join the team, it would be in a third car, which again means an additional sponsor would need to be found.