Musical chairs in Nextel Cup continue

OK, enough already! Nextel Cup at Pocono, Indy Racing League at Milwaukee, and Champ Car at Edmonton are all on TV at the same time!

I need to know if A.J. Allmendinger is going to make it four in a row, if Denny Hamlin is going to sweep Pocono this year, if Danica will win her first race! Congress should pass a law that they have to stagger the start times of these races so race fans don't have to either miss races or spend more money on VCRs and DVRs. Remember that come election time.

They might as well hand Denny Hamlin the deed to Pocono Raceway right now. After overcoming problems during the Spring race there to take a victory, he's on the pole again for today's event, after blowing the field away with what he termed a "conservative" lap in qualifying. Hamlin is looking like the rookie most likely to make the Chase this season.

The game of musical chairs in Nextel Cup continues unabated, with the Elliott Sadler the latest entry. Robert Yates Racing announced that Sadler has requested and been granted a release from his contract effective at the end of the season.

Sadler, who had been rumored to be going to the Evernham team to take over the No. 19 Dodge, is being coy about his destination, telling a SPEEDTV reporter during Pocono qualifying that "I didn't realize how many available seats there will be next season."

Yates has reportedly already begun a search for a replacement driver for the No. 38 Ford, with Ward Burton the top pick of crew chief Tommy Baldwin. Mayfield, meanwhile, may be headed to Michael Waltrip's team to drive a Toyota Camry along with Michael and Dale Jarrett.

New Nextel Cup driver Juan Pablo Montoya will probably need some seat time in a Busch car to get a Nextel Cup license, at least on ovals.

NASCAR VP of competition, Robin Pemberton, said, "We would recommend that Montoya and Ganassi get a couple of Busch races under their belt and get the dynamics of full-body, side-by-side racing and the problems that may arise on pit road at different places."

That requirement seems to be no problem for either party. The biggest hurdle is Montoya's former employer, Ron Dennis of McLaren. Although Dennis has already replaced Montoya, he wants Ganassi to pay an undisclosed amount to release Montoya to drive. It always comes down to the money, doesn't it?

Although it appears that Danica Patrick will not be making the switch to Nextel Cup next season, she may very well be changing teams in the IRL. Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN reported last week that Danica will join Andretti Green Racing in 2007.

With the possibility that Rahal-Letterman may leave the IRL next season, this as yet unconfirmed report may carry some weight. It's rumored that Bobby Rahal may shut down the IRL team to manage his son Graham's racing career in Europe next year. Patrick has indicated that her preference is to stay in the IRL despite a preliminary offer from an unnamed Nextel Cup team, and Michael Andretti indicated that he might have an interest in signing Patrick for 2007.

Some time back I wrote about an organization to bring Champ Car racing to the streets of Reno in 2009. Well, Las Vegas has stolen a march on us, with the Las Vegas city council approving a street race in downtown Sin City next season. Open wheel cars have not drawn well at the Las Vegas Speedway oval, so the thought is to make the Champ Car season opener a street race on a 2.44-mile, 14 turn course in the downtown area in early April.

Finally, local female racer Mackena Bell continues to advance her racing career. Bell took a second-place finish in the last Legends race at Shasta Speedway. Despite missing the first race, Bell is currently fifth in points at Shasta, and has five top-five finishes in the six races she has run this season. She continues to run her Open Outlaw Kart in selected West Coast races as well, while little sister Kellcy is coming to grips with the move from Box Stock to a powerful 250cc kart.