by FOXSports.com

Updated: July 3, 2008, 11:13 AM EST 1004 comments

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Dario Franchitti still was mulling over his future Wednesday after the shuttering of his No. 40 Sprint Cup car by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, and one of his options could be returning to Andretti Green Racing in an American Le Mans Series car. Kim Green, one of AGR's three co-owners, told USA TODAY on Wednesday afternoon that though the team had not talked to Franchitti yet, the door was open for returning in its ALMS lineup, which isn't set after a recent driver shake-up. Franchitti drove in the Indy Racing League for AGR from 2003-07, winning the Indianapolis 500 and Indy Car championship last year before leaving for NASCAR. "We have a lot of respect for Dario, and he did a great job in our sports car last year," Green said. "If he approached us, we would be listening, absolutely." Franchitti told the Associated Press on Wednesday he wasn't sure what he'll do next. -- USA Today

Kyle Busch not worried about public opinion

When a NASCAR driver is cast as the "black hat," the perception generally gains momentum through the race fan community. People will boo Kyle Busch on Saturday night simply because others around them are jeering at the young phenom. Busch says he doesn't take it personally, saying that to really know him is to love him. "There's a lot of people out there that only get to see what I am, whether reading it on the Internet or seeing it on TV or whatever," he said. "They don't know me as a person." -- Daytona News-Journal

Crew chief's utterance costs him, driver and team owner

NASCAR fined Chad Walter, crew chief for JR Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series, $10,000 for the use of improper language during the live ABC broadcast of last weekend's race at New Hampshire. Team owner Rick Hendrick was also penalized 25 owner points for the infraction and driver Landon Cassill was docked 25 driver points. -- Charlotte Observer

For Nascar Fans, High Price of Gas Is Not Only Catalyst for Cutting Back Travel

Nascar fans are famous for traveling long distances to watch 43 gas-guzzling cars chug around a track hundreds of times, but with gas at $4 a gallon, or higher, they are being forced to rethink their travel plans. Four hours before last Sunday's race, track officials announced that all 101,000 seats had been sold -- the 27th straight sellout at the track. But there were large gaps of empty seats, their silver backs shining in the sun, outside the third and fourth turns of the oval. Nascar and the tracks that host Sprint Cup races do not release official attendance figures, but according to Nascar estimates, attendance figures have been lower at 10 of 17 races this season. Attendance has gone up at only one race, the season-opening Daytona 500. -- NY Times

Yates' team does more with less

Two weeks ago in his native state of California, driver David Gilliland took the opportunity to tease Yates Racing teammate Travis Kvapil. Gilliland, who later that day would drive to a career-best finish of second at Infineon Raceway, told Kvapil that when they do driver introductions he should come out in a CHP suit and hat. That's because Kvapil's primary sponsor of choice that week was the California Highway Patrol. Because he's had 10 different primary sponsors on the side of his car this season and six times ran sponsorless, Kvapil could take the ribbing all in good fun. "I couldn't tell you what my sponsor has been for certain races this year or who all of them are, but I'm glad we had 10 sponsors," Kvapil said. "I've only had four different fire suits, but I've got millions of polo shirts with the team and sponsor on them." Kvapil, Gilliland and team owners Doug Yates and Max Jones can look at the situation and laugh, but only because -- despite limited sponsorship and resources -- they've made everything work thus far. -- Daytona Beach News-Journal

Bowyer is king of efficiency

Series points leader Clint Bowyer has been a model of efficiency of late. Although he has not been in down-to-the-wire battles for victories, he has not finished lower than ninth in his past eight races and has only three finishes worse than ninth all season. That is championship-caliber material. -- Charlotte Observer

Wood Bros. on chopping block?

Which team is next on the chopping block? The Wood Brothers? Yates? DEI which will likely be a two car team next season. Petty Enterprises just bought time with a financial partner. -- Detroit News

Dale Jr. moving Nationwide Series team up to Cup?

Word leaked out that Dale Earnhardt was considering moving his Nationwide Series team up to Cup so driver Brad Keselowski could get a few races in, and Earnhardt unloaded when asked about it before last week's race at New Hampshire. "I should have just kept that to myself because I really don't want to talk about it in the press," he said. "That's personal to me, what I do with my business, and I'm damn sure ain't going to air my timeline out over to the media. If we feel like we want to do that, we'll do it. And we'll let you know and that will be that. I don't want to answer questions about it every week because it's really not that big of an issue. My team is doing great. I'd be foolish to make too many changes right now. It would be smart to keep things how they are while they're working." -- USA Today

Burton: huge advantage to be in top 10

Jeff Burton believes there is a huge advantage to being solidly in the top 10 as the cutoff for the Chase looms two months off. "I don't think it's psychology as much as it is facts," Burton said. "If you're a team that hasn't found a way to win, you're a team that hasn't done the things that you want to do, then you are not having the success that you need to have. That has an effect on you. We race to win. We race to finish the best we can. When we can't win and when you don't feel like you're doing that and the pressure starts, what are we going to do? How are we going to get better? What do we have to do? The workload gets higher and it just snowballs. Then when you work harder and you don't have success because you worked harder. The pressure just builds and builds and builds. When things go well, you are able to always see that you're making the next step. You're always being able to improve. When you aren't seeing that then you start questioning ... what are we doing wrong or how do we do it better ... and that builds tension within the team as well." -- USA Today

Kyle Busch: restrictor-plate racing in new car an adjustment

Kyle Busch believes there are plenty of differences in restrictor-plate racing between last year's car and the new car. "Before, if you got a big run, you could try to pull out and get around somebody and you could about clear them," Busch said. "Now, when you get side-by-side, you're both punching such a big hole in the air, so when you first pull out, you hit that brick wall of air. When you get up side-by-side with somebody, then you are both punching such a big hole that you just get stuck side-by-side where, before, you could almost clear and get past the guy. So it's a lot different, there. There's just a lot more slowdown now than there was." -- USA Today

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