NASCAR NOTEBOOK News and notes from Texas Motor Speedway

April 4, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Petty plan: Richard Petty will make his first foray into the Indianapolis 500 as an owner when he fields a car for John Andretti in next month’s race. Petty will be joining fellow NASCAR team owners Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi at Indy. Andretti drove for the now-defunct family-owned Petty Enterprises team in NASCAR from 1998 through the middle of the 2003 season. He has driven in nine Indy 500s, including the last two — finishing 16th last year driving for Marty Roth — and 10 NASCAR races at the famed Brickyard.

Chevy concern: NASCAR’s biggest names aren’t driving with blinders on. They realize President Barack Obama essentially put General Motors on watch this week. That’s a big deal in a sport synonymous with GM for decades. It’s also a big deal when some of the drivers are Chevrolet men Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. The Obama administration’s bailout of GM was the primary topic of conversation Friday, the first time most drivers faced reporters since the government asserted unprecedented control over the auto industry. The answers struck a theme. The drivers are aware and concerned. Conversations about the troubles have been ongoing. They think GM will weather the difficulties. “I’m definitely concerned about it,” said Gordon, a four-time Sprint Cup champion. “I’m concerned for it more from the fact that I want to see them do well as much for General Motors as it is for all American car makers and looking at how many people they employ in our economy. I’m way more concerned from that aspect than I am from a racing standpoint.”

Moving on: Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin maintain their differing views of Johnson’s late pass to win last week’s race in Martinsville. Johnson says the opening was there; Hamlin says it was pretty aggressive driving. Either way, both say they have moved on. “He didn’t take us out or anything like that,” said Hamlin, who settled for second. “We still had a good finish. Definitely no hard feelings or anything like that.” Johnson said, “He and I have a great deal of respect for one another.” Johnson edged past Hamlin in the point standings, taking over fourth.

Associated Press