Submitted from Freshrubber.com

With Canada’s first taste of a NASCAR Busch Series race just days away at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, it’s only fitting we line up the home-grown talent who will take on — and may even win — against the array of NBS and Nextel Cup drivers expected to qualify.

Ron Fellows: The Toronto native will be among the pre-race favourites to take the checkered flag in the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc, Chevrolet. Fellows has three Busch series wins and the No. 33 car knows it’s way to Victory Lane. Tony Stewart won three times with it last season. And Fellows has a victory at Montreal’s Formula One track back when he was racing in the Player’s GM series.

Michael Valiante: The open-wheel racer from Vancouver was passed over for a ride in the Champ Car series in 2004 after winning five races in Formula Atlantic championship but has gone on to a respectable career racing sports cars in the Rolex Grand Am series. The 27-year-old will be driving a Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge from the same garage that prepared Juan Pablo Montoya’s winning car at Mexico City earlier this season. That, and his credentials at turning both left and right, will make him a contender right off the trailer.

Patrick Carpentier: One of the most popular race car drivers to come out of Quebec, Carpentier also knows how to win at the 4.361-km permanent road course that is home to the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix.

– Toronto Sun

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

This is a shot of I-87 on the Canada/New York border. This beautiful interstate runs from NYC to near Montreal, winding through the Catskills and Adirondack Mountains and is the main and only interstate here where I live about 2 hours south of the border. This means that the NASCAR haulers and Motor Coaches for this weekends Busch race are running through my town. It makes me want to go sit on an overpass with my camera, but duties prevail. Still, it gives me a cool feeling knowing that once a year the NASCAR brigade travels through here.

The Pocono race…. I’m leaning towards another JGR victory with Hamlin being the favorite. Denny plays a lot of EA Sports NASCAR games and has stated it helps his performance. I have these games and the Pocono track selection is the easiest to play. Makes me wonder how realistic these video games are, because I have the Pocono track mastered and end up in victory lane always. Perhaps Joe Gibbs would let me drive the #11 this weekend.

**photo found at http://nascareclectic.blogspot.com/2007/08/northway.html**

Submitted from Freshrubber.com

NASCAR announced Tuesday that Tony Stewart has been fined $25,000 and penalized 25 Nextel Cup Series driver championship points, as a result of using inappropriate language during a post-race televised interview following his victory Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Chevrolet, retains his fifth-place standing in the series points, with his total points reduced to 2,599.

Stewart violated Section 12-4-A of the series rule book (actions detrimental to stock car racing) by using the inappropriate language.

“This one’s for every one of those fans in the stands who pull for me every week and take all the [expletive] from everybody else,” Stewart said to an ESPN reporter as he began to walk away.

The curse spoiled ESPN’s return to NASCAR. Stewart is feuding with the network, which criticized him two weeks ago for saying he was going to drink a case of beer to celebrate his July 15 win in Chicago.

An ESPN analyst said later that Stewart was not a good role model, and Stewart has been reluctant to do interviews with its announcers. He participated in the post-race interview at the finish line, but it ended after he used the expletive.

He later criticized the network when asked if he would be celebrating the Indy win with another case of beer.

“I don’t want anybody from ESPN talking about how irresponsible I am, even though it’s legal to do everything I did,” he said. “Heaven forbid you actually have fun in life.”

In addition, Stewart’s car owner, Joe Gibbs, has been penalized 25 car owner championship points because of the infraction.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

**Photo found at http://freshrubber.com/blog/?p=61**