Notes: Junior not ruling out N'wide team going to Cup (cont'd)

Hendrick teammates at odds over qualifying

"Bitter" might not be the right way to describe it, but Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson found themselves with opposite opinions after qualifying was rained-out for the third time in the last five weeks.

Gordon

The sun was out and the track was dry at Daytona on Friday, but qualifying was scrubbed due to having two Nationwide Series cars that hadn't completed their qualifying runs, 45 Sprint Cup cars to qualify and a narrow window of time before the Nationwide race was due to begin.

"I'll tell you what I will say about the 2.5-mile tracks -- I don't understand why we're doing two-lap qualifying. It's not necessary," Gordon said. "We can go out there and get up to speed in three-quarters of a lap that we run. Run one lap. That would cut back on the amount of time it takes.

"One of the problems we have here is that they look at it and say, 'Well, we need 3.5 hours to qualify all the cars.' That's just crazy how long it takes. I don't think the outcome would be a whole lot different. So I would just like to see us at here and Talladega just go to one-lap qualifying."

Johnson disagreed, saying it would make for confusion.

Johnson

"At moments like right now in trying to take care of the guys who needed to qualify on speed, we can come up with ideas, but we need consistency, in my opinion," Johnson said. "And to have it work at some tracks and not others, I think would just confuse us all the more, and the fan, for that matter. And then at some tracks you'd wish that it would work and why is it only on superspeedways?

"Pocono, there's an argument. It takes a long time to get around that race track. So I just think it would confuse things. But, yeah, you'd like to see us qualify, especially when the sun starts to come out and it's too small of a window of sun to get it in. So I see where the thought comes from, but I just think it would be tough."

Don't expect more foreign automakers soon

Other manufacturers may be welcome in NASCAR racing, but don't expect new entries into the top three touring series any time soon, says NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France.

France said three weeks ago at Michigan that the sanctioning body was open to working with foreign automakers. Factory support to the sport from American automakers has diminished in a floundering economy, and recent Chrysler and General Motors reorganizations under government supervision have limited the manufacturers' ability to provide cash and technology to race teams.

Toyota currently competes in all three series -- Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck -- but France said bringing another foreign car maker into NASCAR racing would be a long-term project. Current rules require manufacturers to race cars built in the United States, as is Toyota's Camry.

"Our policy and our views haven't really changed," France said Friday at Daytona during his traditional mid-year meeting with the media. "Some of the opportunities for a new manufacturer to come into NASCAR probably have changed. Obviously, there are teams that were getting direct support or were affiliated with one manufacturer or another that are available now. So that is a fact.

"We have been talking, and we have routinely, because we are open, as we demonstrated with Toyota -- which worked well, under the right approach that's unique to NASCAR -- for a manufacturer to come in and compete at one of our national divisions. That policy remains open. It is not something that happens easily or overnight.

"...I do not anticipate -- there's absolutely nothing imminent that we will be announcing that somebody will be will be joining or any of that. But do I see more interest because there's more opportunity? Sure. We see that, and we're fielding the kinds of questions and evaluation that you would think under the circumstances." (Continued)