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Pit Crew Struggles Worry Kenseth

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By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 16, 2007

LOUDON, N.H. - One of only two drivers who have made the Chase every year, Matt Kenseth owes no small amount of credit to having one of the best pit crews in the business.

And he's usually quick to give that credit. But the 'Killer B's' are missing a key member, and their performance in the last couple of races have Kenseth worried heading into today's Chase opener at New Hampshire.

'Our jack man got hurt a couple of weeks ago, and the last two weeks have really been a struggle on pit road,' Kenseth said. 'This week we have another new jack man trying to come in, so I'm a little concerned about that.

'The last couple of weeks we've probably been worse on pit road than we've been in three or four years, so that's a little bit of a concern. Hopefully, this new guy can get in and the guys can get all their rhythm together.'

Regular jack man Russ Strupp, an original member of the Killer B's, suffered a back injury two weeks ago. The team used an interim jack man last week at Richmond but for today's race will turn to John Smith, the regular jack man on Carl Edwards' first-place Busch Series team.

STILL ON THE TEAM: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a lame duck at Dale Earnhardt Inc., and he isn't in the Chase, but he says he'll remain loyal to teammate and friend Martin Truex Jr., who is in the Chase.

'If I can do anything specific to help Martin in his race for the championship, I'd like to be able to do that - whatever that might be. Whatever he needs, I don't know.'

Earnhardt has run as well as Truex this year, although only Truex has a win. The major difference in their standing is that Earnhardt has had five engine failures to Truex's two.

'We're a good team and we run well,' Earnhardt said. 'We run in the top five. Martin's got that data to look at and use if needed and that's really what's helped him and me this year. We've both been competitive, and that's sort helped both teams when we needed speed and needed some handling.'

TAKE ON CHEATING: From Barry Bonds to Bill Belichick to McLaren, cheating has never been more topical in professional sports.

Jeff Burton says cheating will always be an issue in NASCAR because it's impossible for the rulebook to cover every gray area.

'There's always going to be in our sport more talk about cheating, more people getting caught cheating, because we have a component in our sport that others don't, and that's our car,' he said. 'We have a piece of equipment with thousands of pieces on it, that each one of those pieces can greatly influence the way you run.

'It's our job to make NASCAR have to step and rule quicker and more effectively. Essentially they have to write a rule before we break it to tell us you can't do that. Anytime you have that going on, the teams area going to always try to be ahead of NASCAR. We're always going to be trying to do something before they thought about telling us not to do it.'

ANOTHER ONE: Add Buddy Lazier's name to the list of open-wheel drivers trying to find work in NASCAR. Lazier will attempt to make his NASCAR debut next weekend in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas.

The former Indy Racing League champion and Indy 500 winner tested a truck at Charlotte in 2005 and has 'been looking for the right opportunity' in NASCAR since. He'll drive Billy Ballew Motorsports' No. 15 Chevy.

Lazier didn't have an IRL ride in 2007 but finished 19th in the Indy 500 for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

HOT LAPS: Saturday's Nextel Cup 'Happy Hour' practice was rained out. ... Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing's prodigious 17-year-old developmental prospect, all but clinched the Busch East championship with his fifth victory of the season late Friday at New Hampshire. Logano needs only to start next week's finale at Dover to become the first rookie champion since the regional series was formed in 1989.

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