Garage chatter: What everybody's talking about heading to Atlanta

September 4 news and notes

Where's the beef? With Stenhouse – 3 p.m. ET

Roush Fenway Racing officials announced that Blackwell Angus Beef will extend its sponsorship of the No. 6 NASCAR Nationwide Series entry for three additional races.

The sponsorship for the team, with driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., will include this weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the events at Auto Club Speedway and Phoenix International raceway.

Stenhouse, 22, has a top finish of third this season, which came at Daytona International Speedway in July. In 22 races, he has three top-10 finishes, one of them a top five.

September 3 news and notes

Friendly rivals: Childress helping Shepherd – 3 p.m. ET

Richard Childress Racing and Morgan Shepherd's Racing for Jesus have formed Shepherd Racing Ventures, a partnership to run the No. 21 for the remainder of the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series season.

Cup lite?

The NASCAR Nationwide Series has boasted 12 winners this season - but only one is a full-time Nationwide-only driver. Who is it? Take a look at the 2010 Nationwide race winners here.

For fans, it’s another sign of the loyalty that NASCAR teams have shown in keeping a long-term veteran Shepherd in the game. Both Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick have personally helped Shepherd in recent years as he tried to maintain a presence in NASCAR.

Under the new deal. Bowyer will drive RCR’s No. 21 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Shepherd will drive the No. 21Chevrolet under the Shepherd Racing Ventures banner in the seven other races remaining this season.

"Morgan and I have been friends for a long time and he is a direct link back to the days when we raced together in the '60s, '70s and 80s," Childress said. "He's been a great representative of NASCAR for all that time so I'm honored to be working with Morgan in continuing his racing career."

Shepherd has four Cup wins to his credit in 514 races. He finished four Cup seasons in the top 10 in the standings with a career-best finish of fifth in 1990. He has 15 wins in 280 Nationwide Series starts and has competed in 19 of the 24 series races this season.

—Rea White

September 2 news and notes

Busch already eyeing the Chase – 2 p.m. ET

Kurt Busch certainly isn’t taking the Chase for the Sprint Cup lightly.

The Penske Racing driver, as well as his teammates, recently spent some extra time testing in preparation for the upcoming race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. That race is the opener in the 10-race, title-determining segment of the season.

NASCAR prohibits testing at any track that holds sanctioned races in its three premier series, so Busch and his teammates headed to the Milwaukee Mile Aug. 23-24.

“We had all three drivers and teams there, and brought up our research and development guys, too,” Busch crew chief Steve Addington said. “It was time well-spent and will hopefully help us quite a bit on down the line. One of the unique things we did was to put Kurt, Sam and Brad in and out of the same car for 30-lap runs.

“We got some great feedback from all of them, and it will certainly be useful in deciding what direction we head in determining what cars that we bring to the races when the Chase kicks in – when all the marbles are on the line.”

New Gordon makes Cup debut at Atlanta – 9 a.m. ET

Jeff Gordon won’t be the only member of his family represented in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. His 3-year-old daughter, Ella, will also have a role.

Jeff Gordon holds his daughter, Ella, earlier this season.

Tom Whitmore

Ella, with some assistance and finishing touches from NASCAR artist Sam Bass, created the design for “My Papa’s Car,” the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports entry that Gordon will drive this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The design features the new logo of the newly renamed Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation.

“DuPont has graciously allowed us to run this scheme during one of their races, and I really appreciate their continued support of the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation in its efforts to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer research,” Gordon said.

— Rea White

Darnell to drive in trio of Nationwide races – 9 a.m. ET

Roush Fenway Racing officials say that Erik Darnell will drive the organization’s No. 16 Ford in three NASCAR Nationwide Series races.

Darnell, who began driving for Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2006 then advanced to a limited Nationwide schedule in 2009, will compete at Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

The 27-year-old has 17 Nationwide starts, with five top-10 finishes, including two top fives. He has one pole position. He also competed in seven Cup races in 2009.

This season, Darnell has been practicing and qualifying Carl Edwards’ No. 60 Ford in the Nationwide Series when Edwards was tied up with Cup duties at a separate track. Darnell has taken on that role five times, and in four of those races Edwards finished inside the top two. That stretch includes his win at Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

3M is sponsoring Darnell in the events.

— Rea White

September 1 news and notes

Hamlin only cares about wins right now - 1:30 p.m. ET

Think NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup has changed the way drivers compete? Just ask Denny Hamlin.

Currently fifth in the NASCAR standings, Hamlin is poised to move into a share of the points lead once the field is reset in two weeks. With five Cup wins, he’s currently in a tie with Jimmie Johnson for 50 bonus points when the Chase begins. That certainly changes his approach to the next two races.

What happened?

How did Jimmie Johnson claim his fifth-straight title? DEFINING MOMENTS OF THE CHASE

“We’re in the position where if we don’t win, this weekend really doesn’t mean that much to us,” Hamlin said. “Our attitude is to throw whatever we can at the car. If we feel like we’re off, we’re going to take some risks and maybe run terrible, but maybe hit that magical setup and go out there and win and get 10 more bonus points for the Chase. Right now, it’s more about building momentum than anything.”

— Rea White

Johnson looks to heat up in Hotlanta – 9 a.m. ET

A note to the Jimmie Johnson haters out there: I hope you’ve enjoyed the four-time defending champion’s slump as of late.

You likely won’t be able to after this weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Although Johnson has not had a top-10 finish in four starts and his average finish since his last win seven races ago is 23.29, he has plenty of reasons to be optimistic about this weekend. First and foremost, his average finish at the 1.54-mile speedway is 10.8 – tops amongst all Sprint Cup competitors. On top of that, he’s got an impressive mark of 99.3 percent laps completed at the speedway entering this weekend (5,755 of 5,798).

And oh yeah, he has got a backup ride which has three wins in four starts – so even his Plan B seems pretty good.

"I hate that we've run into some bad racing luck the last few weeks. We've had good race cars, but just haven't been able to get the finishes,” Johnson said in a news release previewing the weekend. “The important thing is to just stay the course and continue to work as hard as we can. We're looking forward to going to Atlanta this weekend. Atlanta has its own characteristics and reminds me more and more of a Darlington the way it used to be. Although Atlanta is different from a lot of the mile-and-a-half tracks we run on, it will give us an opportunity to work on that program."

Haters and rivals be warned – the slump looks to be near its end.

— Jorge A. Mondaca

Bill Elliott changes his colors – 9 a.m. ET

Do not adjust your television or computer screens.

Awesome Bill from Dawsonville is sporting a new look this weekend.

The 1988 NASCAR Cup champion and his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team will swap their familiar red-and-white Motorcraft scheme for a blue-and-white FordParts.com wrapper. This is the second time Elliott is donning the blue-and-white. He raced his No. 21 FordParts.com Ford Fusion during the Michigan International Speedway race in mid-June, qualifying 29th and finishing 28th.

Elliott, a five-time Atlanta race winner, is not alone in changing his stripes. NHRA driver Bob Tasca III will make the same change this weekend as he competes in the NHRA U.S. Nationals.

— Jorge A. Mondaca

August 30 news and notes

From the editors’ desks ... — Noon ET

The NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers enjoyed a rare off weekend, but there was plenty of action for fans.

The Camping World Truck Series headed to Chicagoland Speedway, where the racing turned into a hot contest with a familiar face in Victory Lane.

Kyle Busch pushed his recent surge to four wins in a row after battling points leader Todd Bodine and taking the win. With the victory, Busch proved why the FOX Sports team of Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond say NASCAR needs this guy.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series took the show to the road course Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. While defending race winner Carl Edwards and road-ace Marcos Ambrose enjoyed some laps at the front, this race became a duel of road-course specialists. In the end, Boris Said held off Max Papis to take the win. ( Highlights)

And where were the Cup drivers and teams? Waltrip, McReynolds and Hammond discussed how vital proper usage of this final off weekend could be to Chase teams.

On the news front, Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard said that the organization would be open to allowing suspended NASCAR driver Shane Hmiel compete in its ranks.

Now, the Sprint Cup teams turn their attention to Atlanta Motor Speedway and the pair of races remaining before the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins.

Can Hendrick Motorsports get back on track? Is Kevin Harvick the Chase favorite? And who will lock into the field at Atlanta?

What will happen next? Stay logged on to FOXSports.com all week long – we’ve got you covered.

— Jorge A. Mondaca and Rea White