Right Sides Only

The stars and cars of NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series invade the rolling Irish Hills of Michigan this week for the Life Lock 400 at MIS. The track held its first race 40 years ago, on June, 15, 1969.

The new double-file restart rule helped make watching last week's race at Pocono tolerable. Hopefully, it will help this week also. MIS doesn't have as many cautions as Pocono, though. The record at MIS is 10 cautions, and that was a fluke. Five or six is more like it, with at least half being for 'debris'.

This weekend's race also marks the one year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt Jr's last win. A race won by ex-crew chief, Tony Eury Jr's stratedgy. These days, Eury Jr is harder to find than the #88's pit sign board.

Sunday is the 234th birthday of the U.S. Army, and the #39 of Ryan Newman will have a special paint theme in their honor. Newman has two wins at MIS.

Robby Gordon's #7 will be rocking with Jim Beam and Kid Rock on board. Kid is also the Grand Marshall and will give the command to start the engines. Gordon has no wins at MIS.

Reed Sorenson will not be foiled with Reynold's Wrap on his #43. The #1 of Martin Truex Jr will light it up with GE Reveal Light Bulbs. Matt Kenseth will be wearing Carhartt again on Sunday. Kenseth has two wins and 13 top-tens in 19 starts here.

Jimmie Johnson has never won at MIS and has only two top-5s in 14 races here. Kyle Busch has just one top-5 to show for his 8 MIS starts. Mike Waltrip has two top-5s.....in 47 starts.

Brian Vickers signed a long-term contract extension with Red Bull Racing earlier this week. Which may, or may not, squash rumors that Petty may merge with RBR, or take over Red Bull sponsorship.

Speculation is that RPM will switch to Toyota next year after Dodge cuts funding this summer. Change begins next month with RPM partnering with Toyota team, Braun Racing, for a handful of NNS races. This may be the final straw for some of our fellow bloggers. It was nice knowing you guys.

Chip Ganassi is rumored to be trying to sign Danica Patrick to drive a third car for his IRL team. Danica. Never, has someone, made so much, by doing, so little.