Friday Five
By Sydney Davis

Friday Five for November 9, 2007

1. Freaky Friday: Points leader Jimmie Johnson and second-place Jeff Gordon have led exactly the same amount of laps in the Chase: 267

2. Phoenix phenom: In April, Clint Bowyer led 120 of the 200 laps in the Busch Series race at Phoenix. He racked up some impressive stats in the process. In spending all 200 laps in the top 15, he earned a Driver Rating of 148.5 (a perfect Driver Rating is 150.0), an Average Running Position of 1.4 and had 52 Fastest Laps Run.

3. Quadruple duty: Kyle Busch is one of two drivers running four races in three days. He will have quadruple-duty driving at Phoenix, running in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night and the NASCAR Busch Series race Saturday afternoon. He then will hop over to his hometown of Las Vegas to in the Fall Classic Super Late Model feature at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring Saturday night. And finally, end the weekend with the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race Sunday afternoon. Busch Series regular Jason Leffler will also have a busy schedule in Phoenix.. He ran the USAC Midget and Silver Crown races Thursday night, and will run the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night and the NASCAR Busch Series race Saturday afternoon.

4. Good-bye IRL hello Sprint Cup: Sam Hornish, Jr., has announced his full-time move to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008. While I don't find it surprising, some do considering his qualifying record the past few races. But word on the street has Penske ensuring Hornish a spot in the field for the first five races of next season by moving the points currently owned by Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2. Busch won the 2004 championship guarantying him a spot in the field if he were to fail to qualify on speed. Hornish was quoted as saying, "If Roger wants to give me Kurt's points, I'm not going to tell him no. I'll take whatever I can get." In the past, Hornish has proven to be a hell of a racer, but not so much a qualifier, but I'm not sure I agree with the whole transferring points idea.

5. Tax evasion, NASCAR style: Gene Haas, owner of Haas CNC Racing, was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion. $34 million in tax evasion please! As part of a plea agreement made in August he paid a $5 million fine and more than $70 million in back taxes and interest. What I want to know is, where did he spend $34 million? Signs are pointing away from his race team.

index