Your Fourth of July NASCAR News and Notes

Truex's Car Impounded: Martin Truex Jr.'s primary car was impounded yesterday after it failed tech inspection when its roof did not match the templates set by NASCAR. That meant Truex and his team had to go to a backup car which meant they missed first practice and didn't get a chance to run second practice due to the rains that came on Thursday night. Truex was none too happy about the situation.

�Somebody made a big mistake,� said Truex. �That shouldn�t happen at this level of auto racing, but people make mistakes. We�ll go on.�

�It�s tough when you miss practice. Two hours of practice isn�t much to begin with, you miss one hour and it�s tough to catch up if you�re not right.�

Truex unhappy with team [Speedtv.com]

S**t happens, Chad Walter: Crew Chief for Jr Motorsports number 5 car, Chad Walter, was fined by NASCAR for dropping the s-bomb on live television during last Saturday's Nationwide race at New Hampshire. Walter recevied a $10,000 fine, while the team suffred a loss of both 25 driver and owner points. Chad Walter is also on probation and will have to have a bar of soap in his mouth until December 31st.

Boy, what a bullshit call. What? It's not like they can fine me, too. [Source: Jayski.com]

Amirola in the 8 for 2009: Dale Earnhardt Inc. announced that Aric Amirola will drive the full time in 2009. *Yawn* This is news? [Source: DEI PR]

Hylton and Kerry Earnhardt to race at Daytona tonight: The 1,000 year old man James Harvey Hylton and the lovable Kerry Earnhardt will particpate in the Nationwide Race. Kerry will drive a DEI car while Hylton will drive for Johnny Davis' car. [Source: Jayski.com]

Eury Sr. and two others fined for brew-ha-ha in Charlotte

Brad Keselowski's crew chief Tony Eury, Sr has been fined $1,000 and put on probation until June 25th for not keeping his crew members under control after his driver and Denny Hamlin had their own altercation towards the end of Saturday night's race. Two pit crew members involved with the fight Michael Sandlin and Jordan Allen have been fined $1,500 and put on probation until October 15th for thier actions on Saturday night. Sandlin, himself, also received a one race susepnsion.

Good call by NASCAR, this shit should have stayed between the drivers.

NASCAR Suspends JR Motorsports Crew member, puts Eury Sr. on probation (Scenedaily.com)

JR Motorsports to Cup?

JR Motorsports started its Nationwide Series program just a couple of years ago, but owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr figures the team may be ready to make the jump to Sprint Cup if the right opportunities arose.

�I used to say no way, no way. But it�s almost as expensive to run in the Nationwide Series. And their going to bring a CoT in and we won�t be able to race in the Nationwide Series with the CoT probably. That�ll just be too expensive to switch all that over,� Earnhardt said at weekly top 12 drivers press conference. �If the right opportunity comes along with the right sponsorship and driver, we�d love to do it. And it would cost the same amount of money to do that, as it is to run the Nationwide Series. It�s harder to get sponsorships. And the CoT program is going to be too expensive for me to justify creating a whole new program with CoT stuff, so I�d just as soon go into the Cup Series or get out of the Nationwide Series altogether.�

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