nascar roundup \ News and notes

Engine rule changes? NASCAR’s decision to take 10 Nationwide Series engines to its research and development center in Concord, N.C., for evaluation isn’t an unprecedented move, but it may be an indication of upcoming changes to rules governing engine packages in the series. In its second year of competition, Toyota has dominated the Nationwide Series this season, winning 14 of 20 races. Does Toyota have a horsepower advantage, as non-Toyota teams have claimed? The last set of dynamometer numbers, taken after Carl Edwards won in a Ford at Milwaukee, would support that assertion. A garage source told Sporting News that Edwards’ peak horsepower was measured at 611, compared with 632 for the No. 20 Toyota, 628 for the No. 40 Dodge and 612 for the No. 88 Chevrolet.

Stewart-Haas an option: Ryan Newman hasn’t wavered from his position that performance will determine the team he drives for next year. In the final year of his current contract with Penske Racing, Newman won the season-opening Daytona 500 but has slipped to 16th in the Sprint Cup championship standings, 185 points behind 12th-place Tony Stewart, the driver who might be Newman’s boss next year. Newman acknowledges that Stewart-Haas Racing, the formation of which Stewart announced Thursday, is an option for 2009. “Driving for Tony’s team is an option,” Newman said Saturday before the Lifelock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. “He’s got an open seat.” Newman said emphatically, however, that he has not made a decision and that he will continue talks with current owner Roger Penske.

Johnson’s advice: It’s no secret that Mark Martin’s sights are set on winning the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard July 27. Jimmie Johnson, on the other hand, hopes he’ll wait a year — until Martin has made his offseason move from the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet to Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevy. “I think a California guy, especially a guy from El Cajon, California, would be best to win that thing for a second time,” said Johnson, who happens to be from El Cajon. “But you can’t help but respect Mark Martin and respect what he’s done in the car and want to see him do well. I’m excited for him at the Brickyard. I don’t want him to win there until he’s in a Hendrick car, personally; I want it to be in one of our vehicles, and I’ll be selfish in that regard.”

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service