Autoblog

GM reached a climax of the senses with its Corvette ZR1 introduction at the GM Style kickoff to the 2008 NAIAS. Kid Rock was singing about the Motor City while Jeff Gordon drove in the ZR-1 on stage. The General threw in some scantily clad women and flashing lights for good measure, and the crowd of 1,500 was on its feet. We were there too, with camera rolling. Hit the jump to view the ZR1's grand entrance. Don't get too disappointed that the GM execs are blocking the view of the company's $100,000 supercar, as the super Vette gets elevated 15 feet in the air on a giant pedestal about halfway through the video.

After Jeff Gordon won Thursday's second qualifying race in Daytona, his car failed a post-race inspection for riding too low. While NASCAR officials are not accusing Gordon or his team of cheating, it will cost him. Instead of starting Saturday's race in 4th position, Gordon will fight his way through 41 other cars if he wants to take the lead.

Autoweek quotes NASCAR vice-president of competition Robin Pemberton as saying, "The bolt on the shock fastener and the shock bracket itself were misaligned. It was unintentional because it would have been unsafe to intentionally build it like that. Give or take, it was about an inch too low. My experience through the years tells me this was unintentional. It would have taken different parts and pieces to do it intentionally."

Inspectors also found that the cars of Jimmie Johnson and, uh oh, Michael Waltrip measured lower than the allowed height after the race, but officials chalked up their infractions to damage suffered during the event.

At the end of Autoweek's article, they have some fun with this week's Daytona scandals, joking that the newest NASCAR official is Judge Judy and NASCAR's theme song is now "Your Cheating Part."

Sunday's race begins at 2 p.m.

[Source: Autoweek]

Joining the endless ranks of officially-licensed Barbie dolls (tie-ins have ranged from Harley-Davidson to the X-Files and literally everything in-between) are a pair of new plastic fantastic NASCAR fangirls-- Jeff Gordon Barbie and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Barbie.
The Jeff Gordon NASCAR Barbie sports a #24 t-shirt, a DuPont jacket, jeans and cowboy boots, while the Dale Jr. Barbie rocks a #8-logoed minidress, a read headband, red go-go boots and a Dale Jr. flag for her to wave from the imaginary grandstand. You'll be fascinated to learn that both dolls use the Model/Muse body sculpt. Too much information? Clearly, but it's the kind of thing that will likely remain in your "useless information I can't forget" memory banks until the reaper calls your name.

Adding the dolls to your permanent collection will run you a somewhat ridiculous $34.95 a pop. Hey, Mattel's got to recoup that (undoubtedly) sizeable licensing fee they paid NASCAR, right? Call us when a Richard Petty edition comes out, and maybe we'll talk.

[Source: Mattel via The Car Connection]

This Sunday the Chase for the 2006 Nextel Cup will cross the finish line. At the end of the day, as long as No. 48 Jimmie Johnson finishes 12th or better at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he will walk away with his long-awaited championship. According to the guys who crunch the numbers, that's even if No. 17 Matt Kenseth, who trails Johnson by 63 points, wins the race and leads the most laps.

But No. 29 Kevin Harvick, third in the standings going into this weekend's race, will not end the year empty-handed. Harvick's done even better in the Busch Series. He had that title wrapped up in October. He can just coast through Saturday's Busch race (Ford 300 on TNT at 7 p.m. ET). No. 11 Denny Hamlin, fourth in Nextel Cup standings, looks good to take home rookie-of-the-year trophy.
Sorry No. 8 fans, at 115 points behind Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. is a long shot. There's always next year, Dale. Rounding out Nextel Cup's top 10 are No. 24 Jeff Gordon, No. 31 Jeff Burton, No. 6 Mark Martin, No. 9 Kasey Kahne and No. 5 Kyle Busch.

Watch the Ford 400/Nextel Cup Series Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

For the Craftsman Truck Series championship, Johnny Benson trails Todd Bodine by 112 points before Friday's Ford 200 in Miami. Watch that race on Speed Channel at 7:30 p.m. ET

Check the NASCAR TV schedule for official airing times.