TALLADEGA, Ala.—Jimmie Johnson last started from the pole at Talladega Superspeedway in 2002, as the points leader, lined up next to Mark Martin. He didn’t even make it to the first lap. In a bizarre prerace mishap as the drivers were warming up their tires, a problem with Martin’s steering box caused him to run into Johnson. The two cars skidded into the infield grass, Johnson suffered damage to the front of his Chevrolet, and had dropped to the back of the field when the race began.

TALLADEGA, Ala.—Dale Earnhardt Jr. will keep his crew chief next season. Hendrick Motorsports says Lance McGrew will stay with the No. 88 team in 2010. McGrew took over the job on an interim basis in May when Tony Eury Jr. was fired after a horrendous start to the season. Team owner Rick Hendrick says he has faith that McGrew can get the No. 88 team turned around. Earnhardt is 24th in the standings, and has two top 10 finishes since McGrew took over.

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Mark Martin has another pole in his race to win the Chase. Martin turned a lap of 175.758 mph on a cool, windy day on the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas Speedway, earning his career-best seventh pole of the season. The 50-year-old will start on the front row with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in tomorrow’s Price Chopper 400, the third of 10 races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

DOVER, Del.—Gentleman, stop your wagering. The idea of putting $5 to win on the No. 5 has gone bust at Dover. This could have been the weekend when gamblers and sports fans wagered on the NASCAR race at the Dover Downs casino and walked over to the Dover International Speedway to see if they picked a winner or should tear up their ticket.

Juan Pablo Montoya will have a hard time playing the role of darkhorse if he keeps driving like this. Montoya will make his debut in the Chase for the Sprint Cup from the pole after setting a track record at New Hampshire Motor Speedway yesterday. Montoya turned a lap at 133.431 mph on the 1.058-mile oval, breaking the mark of 133.357 set by Ryan Newman in 2003.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Michael Waltrip Racing has hired Pat Tryson as the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. next season. Tryson will leave Kurt Busch’s team at the end of this season. He has been with Busch at Penske Racing since 2007 and guided him to four wins and two berths in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Busch will start the Chase this weekend seventh in the standings.

Crew chief Pat Tryson, who has been working with Kurt Busch, will leave at the end of the season, reportedly to work for Martin Truex Jr.‘s team in 2010. Truex declined comment yesterday. Busch said that the team would finish the season, including the Chase, before they parted ways. He added that the timing of the announcement was not ideal.

There was an awkward moment at the start of last night’s race when feuding drivers Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers shared the same truck for their introductory lap around Bristol Motor Speedway. The two drivers didn’t appear to speak as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the back of a truck and waved to the sold-out crowd. Some fans and an ESPN camera crew shared the ride, which appeared to be tense.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.—Jeff Gordon once was the master of Watkins Glen International. Now, he can’t seem to catch a break at the storied road course, or keep his back from hurting. Relegated to starting 31st after the worst qualifying effort of his career, the four-time Cup champion was making headway despite some damage to his No. 24 Chevy in yesterday’s rain-delayed race at Watkins Glen International.

A year ago, Marcos Ambrose used pit strategy to win at Watkins Glen International. The second time around he used a little aggression. The hard-charging Tasmanian passed series points leader Kyle Busch with a daring move through the chicane yesterday and won the Nationwide Zippo 200 for the second straight year for JTG-Daugherty Racing.

Unlike a driver nabbed going 70 mph in a 55 zone, Juan Pablo Montoya couldn’t talk his way out his speeding ticket. Not when NASCAR’s the traffic cop. Busted at the Brickyard for speeding on the final pit stop, the penalty cost Montoya his shot at winning on the historic track. Perhaps the result would have been different if Montoya had a speedometer instead of relying on a tachometer that monitors engine RPMs. Or maybe he would finished 11th anyway.

At least a handful of the drivers racing in today’s Sprint Cup race in New Hampshire will be thinking about another race here in September. The second race of the season on the 1.058-mile oval will be the start of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, contested among the 12 top drivers in the season points. There are 10 races left in the regular season. But for the drivers and teams expecting to be part of the Chase, the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 today is a learning experience.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Johnny Benson lost his ride yesterday when Red Horse Racing folded his team because it couldn’t find sponsorship for the defending Truck Series champion. “This leaves me without a ride, I’d say, and not a lot of time to put something together,“ Benson said. He said the team notified him yesterday morning that the No. 11 Toyota would not finish the season. Red Horse will continue to field the No. 11 truck for T.J. Bell, who has some funding but is not fully sponsored.

Mark Martin has won his third pole of the season, qualifying first last night at Phoenix International Raceway. Martin ran a lap at 133.814 mph in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to beat Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch for the top starting spot tonight. Before this season, Martin had not won a pole since 2001. Kyle Busch qualified second with a lap at 133.725 in a Toyota, and older brother Kurt was third in a Dodge with a lap at 133.700.