You've already got the video this week of Ryan Newman causing a major pileup behind him, so to help get you through the weekend without any Sprint Cup action, here's some Talladega footage of old.

In this video, from 1994, Mark Martin gets involved in typical "Big One" at Talladega Superspeedway in the tri-oval. From there, his No. 6 Valvoline Ford loses its brakes and careens into the infield.


Martin, as you can see at the end of the video, was in some pretty intense pain from being slammed against the seats belts in an very personal area, but luckily that was his only injury.

Martin's car glanced one concrete wall, broke through a guard rail, and slammed to a stop on another guard rail that ended up being the last restraint before his car went into an area where fans where. It's definitely one of the craziest rides I've ever seen from a NASCAR race.

Hopefully Talladega has modified that wall since then.

Jimmie Johnson kicked all of those stories about Hendrick Motorsports struggling to find its way to the curb Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway.

By outlasting the rest of the field, Johnson had enough gas at the end to take his first victory of the season during the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

A restart on lap 233 left 79 laps left until the checkered flag and forced teams to calculate their pit strategy according to how far they could run on fuel. Only Johnson and Clint Bowyer were able to conserve enough to avoid a pit stop.

In a race marred by cautions -- it was a new race record of 13 -- even one of NASCAR's most-respected drivers caused a race-changing incident in Saturday's Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Mark Martin, driving for JR Motorsports in the No. 5 Delphi Chevrolet, was closing on 2007 Nationwide champ Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski (Martin's teammate) coming to the line on lap 196 of the 200 lap race. Edwards and Keselowski were side-by-side for the lead and Martin got a great run off of turn 4 and tapped Edwards gently, spinning the No. 60 into Keselowski's No. 88, ending both drivers' chance at victory.

Martin then won easily in a green-white-checkered finish.

Martin, who won his 48th-career Nationwide Series race and led 81 laps, was very apologetic for the incident in victory lane. From the ESPN2 telecast:

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch paced the first practice of the weekend for the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and didn't fall off when it came to qualify.

Busch will start out front Sunday afternoon at the "Diamond in the Desert" after laying down a lap of 182.352mph.

The lap Busch ran was down over 2 miles per hour over the pole-winning speed last year at the 1.5-mile track set by Kasey Kahne.

For Kyle, it's just the continuation of an impressive start to the 2008 campaign that not a whole lot of people counted on after his switch from Hendrick Motorsports to JGR, and JGR's manufacturer switch from Chevrolet to Toyota. Busch currently leads the point standings in the Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck Series.

Carl Edwards, fresh off of his first win of 2008 last week at Auto Club Speedway, will start next to Busch in 2nd-place. Mark Martin in the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet will start third, Jeff Gordon fourth, and Mike Skinner in the No. 27 Bill Davis Racing entry will start fifth.

Friday was the first opportunity for NASCAR to try out its new format in letting all of the cars not locked into the field via the Top-35 rule to qualify together at the end of a session, and it was an overall success.

Fans watching on TV could easily pick up which teams would make it and which wouldn't and I'm the fans in Vegas had a little more to stick around for.

If nothing else, it's a step in the right direction.

It's been quite a month for Aric Almirola.

He went from having no Nextel Cup ride, to having a third-rate Cup ride to possibly taking over what is now the most popular Cup ride on the circuit.

According to Marty Smith, DEI might solve their "too many drivers not enough cars and lack of a new high-caliber driver to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr." with the most obvious solution: putting veteran Mark Martin behind the wheel of the #8.

DEI President Max Siegel:

"If there's anyone that would represent Dale Earnhardt Inc. and what the No. 8 means to this company it would be Mark Martin."

Martin doesn't want a full-time Cup ride, though, so he'd split the season with Almirola, but nothing is written in stone yet.

The car would be sponsored by The Army and presumably this means that Regan Smith could still have a job driving the #01 for 2008 with sponsor TBD. But, it sounds like DEI is keeping their "several options" open and is still looking at Greg Biffle for 2009.

Almirola will make his DEI debut Saturday night in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in the #01. I don't know what to make of his racing abilities yet since I haven't seen him race too much and he hasn't completed even one full season in any NASCAR series. But I do know he's gonna have to work his a** off to get the same kind of love showered on the #8 car as it gets now.

The race to the Chase for the Nextel Cup is well under way and the points margins are narrowing as the stakes get higher with each passing race. Following each race on the the road to the Chase, the Fanhouse takes a look at the week's biggest winners and losers.

Standings following the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway:

7. +2 Jimmie Johnson
8. -- Kyle Busch
9. -1 Kevin Harvick
10. -- Clint Bowyer
11. -- Martin Truex Jr.
12. +1 Kurt Busch

13. -1 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
14. -- Ryan Newman
15. +1 Greg Biffle
16. +1 Mark Martin
17. -1 Jamie McMurray

Biggest Winners
Kurt Busch again. As predicted, he has passed Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Jimmie Johnson also had a great week regaining the two positions previously lost with a top 5 finish.

Biggest Losers
Ryan Newman's good run and solid 7th-place finish didn't do a thing for his points situation given the other Chase contenders good performances.

Despite a 2nd place finish, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fell to the unlucky 13th position with a 7-point differential. It's not much, but for some drivers that could affect the psyche. I don't anticipate that happening to Junior, but something's gotta give for him to make the Chase. Will it be his teammate?

Five more races to go and over 20,000 points to go around. Please stand by.

The race to the Chase for the Nextel Cup is well under way and the points margins are narrowing as the stakes get higher with each passing race. Following each race on the the road to the Chase, the Fanhouse will take a look at the week's biggest winners and losers.

Race to the Chase Standings after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard:

7. +1 Kevin Harvick
8. +1 Kyle Busch
9. -2 Jimmie Johnson
10. -- Clint Bowyer
11. -- Martin Truex Jr.
12. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.

13. +1 Kurt Busch
14. -1 Ryan Newman
15. -- Jamie McMurray
16. -- Greg Biffle
17. +1 Mark Martin

Biggest Winner
Kurt Busch - All he had to do this week to gain momentum in the race to the Chase simply finish the race and capitalize on the misfortune of the two drivers in front of him impeding his way to the top 12. Check.

Biggest Losers
Dale Earnhardt Jr. - He led several laps and was looking at a top 5 finish when the engine blew on the #8 Bud Chevy. Junior didn't fall to the 13th spot this week, but the unlucky break cut his 30-point cushion inside the top 12 to 13 points.

Ryan Newman - He was already dropping fast in the opening laps today when he spun into the wall and retired from the race, giving up the 13th position to Busch and distancing himself further from the Chase.

It's only one race since we posted them, but so far it looks like the Fanhouse was right on the money assigning better Chase odds for Busch, than Earnhardt and Newman.

Until recently, I don't imagine Martin ever thought he'd ever be driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. I sure didn't. And I certainly never thought he'd be driving for DEI in the Craftsman Truck Series, but that's what they reported tonight on "NASCAR Now" tonight.

After confirming the uncertainty of Regan Smith's future, it was mentioned that DEI will run two Busch teams and possibly a truck team with Martin behind the wheel. No idea if that means that DEI is acquiring the Ginn truck that Smith is racing this weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

I do believe that this is Martin's dream situation--to be able to run a full-time season in the truck series--for the "fun" of it--as well as a part-time Cup season--for the cash.

Whatever else he was thinking about the "merger," Martin had to have been thrilled with this development. Speaking of Martin's thoughts... I've been dying to hear them. He has been outspoken about his confidence in Ginn, but I have to wonder if the firing of three drivers, two veterans like himself and a rookie he personally mentored, wrenched his gut a little.

Update: Mark Martin speaks: "It's not something I ever dreamed of happening."

When Bobby Ginn bought MB2 Motorsports last season, the move was heralded as a way for the small team to compete with NASCAR Nextel Cup's big teams.

After all, Ginn was known as a real estate mogul with some deep pockets, and the guy promised to do everything possible to get into victory lane .

The season started incredibly for the new owner. He had already landed Ford-forever driver Mark Martin to pilot his No. 01 Chevy and he was inches from having a Daytona 500 victory.

His way of handling his operation was different -- especially after booting Joe Nemechek from his stable ride that he had consistently performed in. He kept Nemechek around in a No. 13 ride, but it wasn't the same, and for Nemechek, it really was a raw deal.

Ginn did dive in head first with his pockets. Not only did he start Nemechek's team, he had to manage Sterling Marlin's No. 14 and Regan Smith would be driving full-time Busch in addition to splitting time with Martin in the No. 01.

But all of that big action has seemingly caught up with the (former?) owner who has his own blimp.

That's the word coming from inside DEI this afternoon.

Tim Packman, former website editor of www.daleearnhardtinc.com, was a guest on Dave Moody's show this afternoon and said that DEI has finalized its merger with Ginn Racing. Under the deal, the #13 team's owner points will be transferred Paul Menard to lock him into the field.

Mark Martin will drive the #01 in Indy as planned and will presumably finish the season splitting with Aric Almirola, who just signed with Ginn.

The #14 team's owner points will reportedly be sold to Furniture Row Racing to lock Kenny Wallace in.

And that leaves Regan Smith where exactly ... ?

Developing ...

Update: No name change for DEI, Ginn to be partner

Previously on Fanhouse
Rubbin' is Racin': Fans v. Ginn Racing
Almirola Bails on Gibbs, Headed to Ginn
DEI Ginn Merger 2007 and Beyond
Junior to Do the Dew and Other Silly Rumors
Ginn Racing Downsizing to One Cup Team?