How about some championship focus here...and maybe NASCAR shouldn't be throwing sponsors under the bus

  If NASCAR's Bill France Jr. were still running things, he'd be telling his men to get back on message -- the championship. And he'd probably be pretty blunt about it. And he'd probably be asking some pretty pointed questions about why Daytona execs aren't doing a better job handling these sponsors. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

  (Updated)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   Red Bull: going, going, gone.
   Diageo/Crown Royal: going, going, gone.
   UPS: going, going, gone.
   Aflac: cutting back.
   And now NASCAR has thrown Mars/M&Ms under the bus?
   How many major sponsors is NASCAR willing to lose this year?
   Car owners Jack Roush and Richard Childress forced to cut Sprint Cup teams, at the cost of how many jobs, for how many families….
   An ill-conceived and expensive engine changeover to electronic fuel injection looming, a blatant PR move…
   That expensive, and perhaps superfluous, changeover to E-15, with the expensive new gas cans needed because ethanol tends to absorb water….and stock car gas men have been worried about so much gas being spilled during pit road refueling this season that they're saying the sport has been extremely lucky not to have a major pit road fire.
   And, oh by the way, can you guys stop by Daytona International Speedway next Tuesday on your way to Homestead-Miami for the season finale and help test some possible rules changes for 2012?
   Off-message much?
   Where's the focus in the NASCAR headquarters?
   It should be on this championship race, with only another eight days to run. And yet Sunday's Phoenix 500 is coming into view with rabid Kyle Busch fans threatening boycotts and rabid anti-Busch fans cheering all the furor.
   Uh, a little championship focus here, please?
   And where is NASCAR CEO Brian France anyway? Why wasn't he at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend to weigh in on the Kyle Busch flap, and perhaps put it all to be with a little more style and care than actually went down?

   So for the moment – awaiting Saturday qualifying here (Saturday qualifying? again?) -- let's check out the newly repaved track, and that dipsy-doodle backstretch. And how are Goodyear's tires here working? And what's going on inside the heads of Mr. Stewart and Mr. Edwards?   
   Track boss Brian Sperber says the repaving team, which has been doing NASCAR tracks for nearly six years now, followed computer-generated designs for the odd backstretch that showed such a layout would be more conducive to side-by-side racing all the way around here.
   Not everyone here is convinced the computers were right.
   However that's not the only variable. There are a lot of them, drivers say.
     Stewart's take: "You hate to have to come into a situation like this where you don't know the variables.
    "But it's the same for everybody.
     "Who adapts to it is going to be a big key.
    "There are still variables yet to be answered about the racing side of it."
   Edwards' take: "Practice went so well, I feel there's a big weight off my shoulders."
   Paul Menard posted the quickest laps of the cloudy day, at 141.121 mph, just a bit quicker than Edwards.
   Kyle Busch, under the microscope here, was fifth quickest. Stewart was noticeably off, at 138 mph.
   However speed alone may not be the key issue here, rather strategy, Edwards says, "because it may be hard to pass.
   "And if we can beat Tony for this championship, with him having the best chase he's ever had, a two-time champ, that will mean a lot for this team.
   "But a lot of people have told me 'Hey, man, just have some fun with this.' And I've been trying to keep that in mind.
   "We might have to step it up these next few races...But we're on a run that really started in the summer of 2010, and this is one of the longest good runs we've had.
    "Running in the Nationwide race should give me a better idea of what to expect Sunday. Right now there's about a lane and a half, and if you get out of that, it's slippery. I saw a couple of guys hit the wall. And I don't know what to expect on restarts, if the outside line or inside line would work better."
  
   Goodyear's Stu Grant says things look very good on the tire front: "This is the Indianapolis setup, so we know it puts down rubber. It's a proven setup. The left-side tire is the Indy left-side, and the right-side is the Indy right-side just with a little less rubber, to compensate for heat build-up.
   "Things don't seem to be changing much from the way it all went when we tested here.
   "We've got good rubber down on the lower groove; the rubber on the outer groove is still a little thin. But when we get enough cars out there running side by side, they're going to put down enough rubber to get an outside groove. We know this Indianapolis setup puts rubber down."

    Will the outside groove come in for Sunday's race?
   "No," Juan Pablo Montoya says. "At some point, somebody is going to have to run up there."
    And, uh, how about that new contract between Montoya and team owner Chip Ganassi? "I'll be driving this car next year," Montoya said. "We're all good."
   Anything more? "None of your business," Montoya replied with a laugh.
   Jimmie Johnson isn't much more optimistic: "Unfortunately it's been tough to really get a wide race track out there.  There's been some huge efforts made to put rubber down….
   "For some reason we've had a hard time finding grip…which is odd with brand-new asphalt.
    "It might just take a while before the track ages in the right manner for our cars to be real comfortable here and widen out and use all of the new areas they created for us. 
    "The reconfiguration in one and two, I don't know how that's going to evolve. They built all that banking (off turn two), and all that extra space to run, but I don't think you're really in the turn long enough to work an outside lane.  At least as of now. 
    "We'll see as things evolve.  Passing may be a bit difficult.
    "The good thing is it's a fun lap to drive. I have never been through a combination of turns that we have at this track -- and then we show up and turn three is going a lot faster than we ever have before, and there is a downhill flat entry that makes turn three very exciting."

   Who will win the championship, Stewart or Edwards?
   Denny Hamlin, who came in here last fall as the man to beat for the title, and then beat himself, says he's leaning toward Edwards.
   "Carl still has the points lead, so I think he's fine, to be honest with you," Hamlin says. "I think he's only raced as hard as he's had to up, until last week. 
     "It's worked for them so far.  At Homestead he's going to be very strong, he'll be one of the guys to beat.
    "When Carl feels some pressure, he's going to have to perform a little better, and I think he has the ability to do that. Their cars are fast enough to do that."

    On the other hand, Jeff Gordon seems to lean toward Stewart.
    "Carl started the season really, really strong , and then it seemed other teams caught up," Gordon says. "But they've been able to maintain consistency.
    "Everybody is surprised by Tony Stewart.  I didn't think anybody expected Tony Stewart to win four of the first eight races.
     "Whatever they found, whatever they've done….you just can't count out a great driver and champion like Tony and that team.  It's been pretty impressive…and I think it's been very surprising to Carl.
    "I think last week (Stewart dominant victory) surprised Carl a lot.  I think Carl expected not to do well at Martinsville, and he was pretty happy with a top-10. But I think he expected to go to Texas and be the dominant car; yet Tony was the dominant car.  I think that sent quite a message.
   "That's why I say these last two weeks are going to be very interesting."
  
  

   Nice overnight paint job for Kyle Busch. Interstate's Norm Miller, the guy who helped Joe Gibbs break into this sport, stepped to the plate when Mars bailed out. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)