Team owner Bob Leavine said:

We are pleased to have Scott Speed join our team. We, as a team, want to give Scott the equipment and the resources he needs to win – and that is what I believe he will do for us in return. Scott is a proven driver. He was the first American to race in Formula One since Michael Andretti and has a lot to offer our program as a teammate and a competitor.

Speed added:

I am excited to team up with Bob Leavine and his guys at Leavine Family Racing. They have a solid group of guys working on the team and I think it will be a real fun deal. Our goal is to build this race team to become competitive. We know it will be baby steps, but we are all excited to get it rolling.

Speed is in his fifth NASCAR season, having driven for Red Bull Racing, Max Q Motorsports, and Whitney Motorsports.

RBR announced earlier this season that they would not be returning to NASCAR in 2012.  The team’s future is still uncertain, just seven days before the end of the 2011 season.  It is expected that the team will shut down at season’s end, unless owner Dietrich Mateschitz can find a buyer for the operation.

Championship Rundown

The Championship battle is now a two man show between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.  Edwards remains the point’s leader, with a three-point advantage over Stewart.  Both drivers had fast cars at Phoenix, but they were no match for Kahne.  Edwards and Stewart finished the race in second and third position, respectively.  Stewart led a race-high 160 laps.

Going into Homestead, Edwards seems to have an advantage over Stewart.  Edwards has won two of the last three races at Homestead, with an average finish of 5.7.  Stewart also has two wins at Homestead, back in 1999 and 2000.  However, Edwards has a better average finish  than Stewart, who has an average finish of 12.4.

For the first time in the past eight seasons for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Jimmie Johnson will not be eligible for the championship going into Homestead.   He finished in 14th position in Phoenix, his fifth finish outside the top-10 in nine races.  Johnson will try to keep a 10-season streak of finishing in the top five in points alive.  He is currently fifth position in points, just two points ahead of Matt Kenseth.

Rough Day for Busch and Kenseth

Kyle Busch, after being parked at Texas Motor Speedway, stepped back into Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 car at Phoenix.  He raced this weekend without his primary sponsor M&M’s after the organization decided that they did not want to be on the car for the remainder of the season.  During the first practice, Busch blew a motor, forcing him to start at the rear of the field.  To add insult to injury, as Busch was racing for third position on lap 188, he announced to the team that the engine was blowing up.  This resulted in a 36th place finish.

On the other side of the track, Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth had fans thinking we were back at Martinsville Speedway.  Late in the race, Vickers slammed into straight Kenseth’s rear bumper going down the backstretch, causing major damage to Kenseth’s racecar.  Vickers claimed over the radio that Kenseth had slowed up, causing Vickers to slam into him.  Kenseth’s comments after the incident backed up that statement.

“I was out of brakes, and I was up on everybody,” he said. “I saw [Vickers] coming and I lifted at least 10 car lengths before where I would normally lift. And he drove in there at 165 miles per hour and cleaned us out.”  Kenseth finished the race in 34th position, Vickers in 23rd.

There were more differences than I expected. But then I thought back to Red Bull, and how much different that was from the prior year [at Richard Petty Motorsports], and how the cars are. It’s all little things, but they keep adding up and it kind of takes time to kind of figure out that feel.

Unlike most NASCAR silly season deals, Kahne was signed by HMS a full season before he would actually make his first start for the team. This led to constant speculation of what Martin would do. He said he plans to drive in 2012.

Rumors ranged from joining Red Bull Racing to starting his own team or purchasing a team. He denied that rumor. Ultimately, Kahne ended up signing a one-year deal with RBR. Martin still has yet to announce his 2012 plans, but he is confident he will have a ride. Many speculate that he will drive for Stewart Haas Racing, sharing a ride with Danica Patrick.

With 48 laps to go, Clint Bowyer took the lead with Stewart a close second.  The race came down to who could conserve fuel the best.  In the end Bowyer ran out of fuel with two laps to go, handing the win to Tony Stewart.  This puts Stewart in the points lead, with seven points over Kevin Harvick.  Bowyer finished the race in 26th position.

Stewart made it clear to the media before the Chase started that he wouldn’t be one of the drivers battling for the Championship.  I think everyone has come to realize now that Stewart likes to play mind games.  I believe he told the media that he wouldn’t be a contender so nobody considered him a threat.  Now, two races into the Chase he is one of the biggest threats.

Tough Day for Chase Contenders

Dale Earnhardt Jr started the race off well, qualifying in 12th position.  He was running consistently, rounding out the Top-10 for most of the race.  With 72 to go, Earnhardt had a flat right front tire and was forced to make a pit stop.  This threw off his pit strategy, sending him to the back of the field.  To make a bad day even worse, Dale Jr coasted across the finish line after blowing another right front tire on the last lap.  He finished the race in 17th position and dropped to eighth in standings. The silver lining is that he is in a three-way tie with Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth in the points.

Teammate Jimmie Johnson also had issues throughout the day, battling an ill-handling race car.  On Lap 279, Johnson and Kyle Busch were battling hard for 13th position.  They made slight contact, sending Johnson back to 17th position.  After a rough day, Johnson finished the race in 18th position, dropping to 10th in standings.

Cracking the Top-10 with 50 laps to go, it looked as if Denny Hamlin was going to have the day he needed.  He raced his way up to fifth position with five laps to go, while trying to conserve fuel mileage.  Unfortunately with 3-laps to go, Hamlin ran out of fuel and finished the race in 29th position.  He now sits 12th in points, 66 points behind the leader and virtually out of contention.

Roush Racing Finishes Strong

Roush Racing had a good day, having all four drivers finish in the Top-10.  On Lap 174, Carl Edwards got into the back of his teammate Matt Kenseth, spinning him to bring out the caution.  Edwards was very apologetic over the radio, saying it wasn’t intentional.  Both drivers managed to overcome the incident, finishing in sixth(Kenseth) and eighth(Edwards) position.  Edwards is now fourth position in points, Kenseth in seventh.  Greg Biffle was the top Roush driver of the race, finishing in third position.

Fresh Faces in the Top 10 

I have to give the spotlight to a few drivers who we don’t normally see finish in the Top-10.  Brian Vickers qualified his Red Bull Racing car in third position and ran in the Top-10 almost all day.  His pit crew gave him fast pit stops, helping him run well the entire race.  Vickers finished the race in fifth position.  Despite Red Bull exiting his team at the end of the season, it’s nice to see him racing hard and running to his full potential.

With all the drama of fuel mileage towards the end of the race, not many people noticed that David Ragan and Regan Smith finished the race in seventh and 10th position, respectively.  Conserving fuel and racing consistently throughout the race contributed to their Top-10 finishes.  With all the hype surrounding the Chase contenders, it’s nice to see fresh faces in the Top-10.

We head to Dover next weekend with just eight races left in the season.  The point’s battle is close and tension is high between the Chase drivers.  Who do you think will be in victory lane at The Monster Mile?

RBR announced in June that they would be leaving NASCAR at the end of the Sprint Cup Series schedule. Since then, there have been no announcements or leaks of who might take over the team. Back when it was announced, there was speculation that Jay Frye, the team’s current general manager, could purchase the team with help from investors. Mark Martin and Ray Evernham were also rumored to be potential owner candidates.

Martin, however, appears to be considering racing part time next season, sharing a Cup seat with Danica Patrick at Stewart Haas Racing.

RBR driver Brian Vickers has also been attempting to line up potential buyers, but nothing has materialized at this point.

You know, we’ve tried and we’ve really worked really hard to put the deal together to keep Clint. It’s not 100% off the table, but it’s getting tougher and tougher as the day goes by. Clint’s got a couple of really good opportunities there facing him. For us, it just didn’t seem that we could get everything worked out. Clint’s still a good friend. I want the best for him. I feel like that we’ve done a lot together, and I hope that if we can’t put him in a car next year that he gets in a ride that he’s really good and happy with. The door’s not closed for sure, and it’ll always be open no matter where he ends up. But we’re still looking at other options and trying to put some things together. It’d be great to get him back in that No. 33 and run him, but if we don’t, I want him to have the best for him because he’s a great guy, a great talent, a lot of fun, and I look at him as a good friend.

For Bowyer’s part, he said:

There’s opportunities and stuff we’re trying to weigh out. You’ve got to have all the stars line up. You can’t [have] one piece of the puzzle or a couple pieces. You have to have the whole puzzle put together. Until you do that, you’re wasting your time talking about it in the media because you don’t have anything to deliver.

Bowyer is said to be considering an offer from Richard Petty Motorsports. Beyond that, there aren’t many other options for Bowyer in the Sprint Cup Series. Before Red Bull Racing announced they would be leaving the sport at the end of the season, he was linked to one of their Toyotas. That’s become murky because no one knows the status of that team beyond this season. It’s unclear whether another owner will take over the team, or if it will dissolve altogether.

Michael Waltrip Racing, Stewart Haas Racing, and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing all have the room to accommodate another team, but SHR appears set at three cars, with Danica Patrick part time. The other two teams have not indicated that they would expand, nor does that seem likely.

Joe Gibbs Racing could be an option. They were rumored to have made a hard play to get Carl Edwards. They may consider Bowyer to replace Logano, or for a fourth team. There have been no indications that they are pursuing Bowyer, though.

When you add in the fact that Brian Vickers may also be looking for a ride at season’s end, seats become even more scarce. Vickers could, however, replace Bowyer in the No. 33 RCR Chevy, though there is nothing to indicate that’s a possibility.

In the end, I think Bowyer will stay with RCR. There’s a small chance he could go to RPM, but I think he will realize that the available rides out there do not compare to the equipment he is in.

JGR and MWR will use the engines produced in the new partnership beginning in 2012. The engines will be built in California, at TRD’s shop, and then sent to North Carolina for tuning. The partnership will produce engines for the Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck Series.

Given JGR’s recent engine struggles, the team could switch to TRD engines as soon as this season.

JGR has struggled at times with the durability of their engines this season. They have had 11 engine failures so far this season, including practices and races. Third-year driver Joey Logano has been impacted the most by engine problems. Last month at Daytona International Speedway, the No. 20 team had to replace an engine in the first few minutes of practice forcing Logano to jump in teammate Denny Hamlins No. 11.  Most recently Logano had to start at the rear of the field for the Brickyard 400 because of an engine change after qualifying.

JGR builds their engines, unlike the other Toyota teams, who receive their engines from TRD.

The combination of JGR and TRD engines allows TRD to avoid laying off employees, if RBR leaves the sport. TRD will lead longer term projects, such as development of the new fuel injection engine.

JGR President J.D. Gibbs said in a conference call that TRD had already helped in several areas but acknowledged there were areas where the team is struggling. He said:

We’re kind of a the point now where I think we can combine a lot of the best attributes that JGR has, the best attributes TRD has, and really have a better package going forward.

This move should help JGR moving forward. It will take some of the pressure off many of the guys working in the engine shop for JGR, and it will allow JGR racing to make their race cars the best they possibly can. Not only will the move help JGR racing overall, but I believe that it will help strengthen the relationship between all of the Toyota teams because they will be working with the same equipment.

Team owner Rick Hendrick said:

Our people have a lot of respect for Kenny and what he’s accomplished. We know the chemistry is already there with Kasey, and there’s no doubt Kenny will communicate very well with our folks. He’s a character guy who brings an awful lot to the table as a crew chief. When we look at “fit factor,” it’s a great situation.

Francis added:

Joining Hendrick Motorsports and continuing to work with Kasey next year is an opportunity I’m excited about. He’s a championship-caliber driver and good friend, and I’m looking forward to building on our relationship. Mr. Hendrick has built an impressive team and culture, and it’s going to be fun to be a part of that when the time comes. I’m very optimistic about the rest of this season and focused on getting to Victory Lane with the No. 4 team. I want to thank Jay Frye and everyone with the organization for the chance to be part of such a great group of people. We still have goals to achieve there, and those are foremost on my mind right now.

In April of 2010, Kahne signed a multi-year deal with HMS to drive the No. 5 Sprint Cup Chevy. At the time, Mark Martin was slated to drive the car in 2011. With the NASCAR-mandated maximum of four drivers under contract, Kahne was left to sign with a team for one year.

After much speculation that Martin would leave the team and sign with Red Bull Racing, Kahne ended up going to RBR.

A couple of months later, it was reported that Francis would move to RBR with Kahne. At that time, I speculated that Francis would move to HMS with Kahne for 2012, which would result in Alan Gustafson ending up as crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr in 2012.

With last off-season’s reshuffling of crew chiefs at HMS, I don’t think that Gustafson or Steve Letarte will switch teams.

Lance McGrew, current crew chief of the team that Francis will take over when Kahne joins HMS, will return to HMS’s research and development department, including working on special projects and working with the development of the 2013 Sprint Cup car.

This weekend will mark Speed’s first start in the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season. Speed ran two seasons for Red Bull Racing. In 76 starts, Speed has one top 5 and three top 10’s.

Speed has two starts in the Brickyard 400, with a best finish of 25th in 2010. Speed thanked his fans on his Twitter page by saying, “Really appreciate all the love and support from everyone! Feels great to be going back to the races and look forward to this new challenge.”

Speed is currently in the midst of a lawsuit against RBR for $6.5 million for breach of contract. At the beginning of the month, Speed obtained an order of attachment against RBR, which meant a lein has been placed on their race shop.

No…I don’t. I am very interested and would love to commit to Jay Frye (Red Bull Racing vice president and general manager) and that organization to help Jay move forward and rebuild that organization in all forms. There’s a lot of things I want to do in the sport still, including driving race cars, and outside of driving race cars. But as an equity owner, I can’t see it happening anywhere. I’m not interested in doing that.

As with anything a NASCAR driver or owner says regarding rumors about future moves, you have to take what Martin says with a grain of salt until he actually signs with another team to be a driver only. It is very rare for someone to tip their hand before deals are finalized and Martin has been in the sport long enough to know that.

Martin also left himself a little wiggle room by saying that he couldn’t see it happening. He didn’t say it wouldn’t, won’t or can’t happen. I’m not saying he will become an owner, but I don’t think he has decided yet.