SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Here's a novel approach for David Ragan's job security: drive Ned Jarrett's championship-winning car!

Ragan, driving his No. 6 UPS Ford painted up like Jarrett's 1965 machine, finished a steamy Saturday afternoon at Indianapolis by scoring the pole for Sunday's Brickyard 400. Ragan's lap of 182.994 mph (49.182 seconds) edged Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski.

Ragan won the pole — his second of the season and career — in the blue-and-white car that's honoring Jarrett's induction in to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The connection for Ragan to Jarrett is through his primary sponsor UPS' former relationship with two-time NASCAR champion & Ned's son Dale. (Got that?)

The 25-year-old picked up his first career Cup win earlier this month at Daytona amid reports that his seat and sponsor might be going with a different driver next season. A few poles and a win certainly should help scuttle that talk.

Sprint Cup Series point leader Carl Edwards qualified

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — It was once the unfathomable or, better yet, a joke someone had told you. Empty seats at the Brickyard — and lots of them?

The most popular racing series in the United States competing at the world's most famous race course was supposed to be a sure thing. The tickets? They'd sell themselves; the interest needed not be piqued. Fans, drivers and sponsors would love it. It was a sure thing, for NASCAR at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway couldn't fail.

For 15 years, those predictions were as likely as the waving of the checkered flag. They were spot on.

The 1994 race — likely the most thrilling race in the event's 17 attempts — saw the largest crowd to ever attend a NASCAR race (250,000+). That day, the Bodine brothers wrecked one another before a late battle between Ernie Irvan and Jeff Gordon eventually put Indiana-resident Gordon ahead for the final time. During the final lap, the IMS grandstands trembled as the masses roared for Gordon's victory — just like they had

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Jeff Gordon never has changed teams in his 20-year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has been his lone stop in NASCAR's top division.

But if Gordon were to ever consider a change, he's positive that it would have a negative effect on his on-track performance. Because of that, Gordon thinks the ongoing discussions Carl Edwards has had about 2012 aren't doing the Roush-Fenway driver any competitive favors.

"I think that's a big factor. I think, you know, whether or not he's staying or going, it's a big distraction, a lot on his mind," Gordon said Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "I think it's unfortunate in some ways because I think this is the best year I've seen Carl have with a team and a car capable of winning the championship."

Gordon, a four-time champion himself, said the discussions may be the difference between Edwards hoisting the championship trophy at Homestead in November or going home empty.

"Let's say he's

301 laps at the Magic Mile produces one of the shorter oval track race distances of the Sprint Cup season. Also provided? A glimpse at what to expect for Round 2 of the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup. Oh, and a lobster, too.

HOT: There certainly was a more dominant duo at the end of Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but the efforts turned in by five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson and his teammate Jeff Gordon certainly couldn't have been too lost on the rest of the garage area. In fact, it may be quite the foreshadowing moment for how the two head into the Chase eight races from now.

Johnson (finished 5th) and Gordon (11th) battled issue after issue most of the day. For Johnson, it was a missing lugnut and later a spin, while Gordon suffered battery issues while leading before cutting a tire on the final lap. For their efforts, Johnson and Gordon showed up second and third, respectively, on NASCAR's statistical chart indicating total green-flag passes.

Johnson made

It's Tuesday, meaning that most fans who attended Saturday night's race at Kentucky Speedway should be arriving home within a day or two. To welcome them back, here's a look at a weekend in the Bluegrass State.

NOT: Suddenly, 2011 Dale Earnhardt Jr. is finishing very much like the 2010 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Bad luck struck late in Saturday's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky when the No. 88 blew a left-front tire just after exiting the pits for the planned-to-be final time. The tire demolished his left-front fender (in a completely and utterly beautiful car painted similar to Darrell Waltrip's old Mountain Dew car) and demolished his hopes to bang out a top-15 finish.

Earnhardt finished 30th, his fourth-straight finish of 21st or worse. For comparison, Earnhardt had finished outside the top 20 just once this season prior to his current slide after wrecking late in the Daytona 500.

All is certainly not lost for Earnhardt — he is still in position to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup — but the

Ah, there NASCAR goes again: doing exactly the opposite of what most fans seem to want.

The sport announced Wednesday that two of its feeder series' most popular events — both the Nationwide Series' and Camping World Truck Series' events at Lucas Oil Raceway (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park) — will be no longer. Instead, NASCAR is using those events — winners of various NASCAR awards in the past for little things like "race of the decade" — to make one big Band-Aid for a track that ought to never, ever need one.

Yes, the iconic, tradition-rich, oh-my-this-is-racing-Mecca Indianapolis Motor Speedway will receive a to-be-named Nationwide Series race in 2012 that coincides with the Sprint Cup Series' Brickyard 400 — a move worth roughly eight miles geographically and an unknown number of yawns.

It's no secret that the Brickyard has struggled in recent years, most likely due to a NASCAR-created problem in 2008 that left the new Cars of Tomorrow unable to keep their Goodyear tires intact

David Ragan won his first career Cup race, taking the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Here's what is on my mind as the circuit left the world center of racing:

HOT: Joey Logano had a pretty impressive weekend in the Sunshine State, scoring his first restrictor plate victory Friday night in the wild Nationwide Series finish before his third-place effort in the Sprint Cup event.

The 21-year-old Logano has struggled some in his third year of Sprint Cup Series racing. He's currently 20th in the point standings with just four top 10s and two top fives in 17 races. A year ago after Daytona, Logano had already earned seven top 10s en route to finishing 16th in points during his sophomore campaign.

Logano made no bones about it after Saturday night's race that the weekend that was Daytona provided an immeasurable boost to his confidence after coming up mostly empty so far this year. It hasn't help, of course, that Logano's seat has become a hot bed of NASCAR's Silly Season

Kurt Busch picked up his first win on a road course, winning the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. Here's what is on my mind as the circuit left wine country:

NOT: Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers evened out their apparent on-track beef during Sunday's race, and now all is well in paradise, right?

Not so fast.

Stewart and Vickers both seemed to have top-10 cars at Infineon Raceway, but instead wound up 39th and 36th, respectively, courtesy of each other's vindictive behavior. As a result, Stewart slipped to 12th in the point standings and now rides the razor-thin edge of qualifying for NASCAR's championship battle.

Vickers, meanwhile, is doing little to make himself a marketable commodity in the sport. The North Carolina driver's contract at Red Bull expires after this year, and just last week the team announced it was considering closure at the end of the 2011 season. After Sunday's race, Vickers stands 26th in points with five top 10s in 16 races — numbers certainly not