Dale Jarrett

Dale Jarrett appeared as Batman and Kenny Irwin as the Joker in last night's Goody's 500 NASCAR race in Bristol, Tenn.Their Ford Tauruses have received special paint jobs, and both drivers will wear suits and headgear patterned after the comic book stars.What makes this so special? After all, Winston Cup cars promote everything from Tide to the Cartoon Network to Hot Wheels.This time, though, it's Ford's marketing concept."This gets us into venues beyond traditional race audiences," said Roy Gadomski, Ford Quality Care Motorsports coordinator.

HAMPTON, Ga. -- A Winston Cup car owner is well-served if he gets to run for a title once in his lifetime. Thus, Rick Hendrick, the man who owns the cars of points leader Terry Labonte and defending champion Jeff Gordon, should be doubly delighted that his teams are battling each other and Dale Jarrett for the Winston Cup Championship."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Just because Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the defending Busch Grand National champion doesn't mean he has a pre-ordained right to the pole for the NAPA Auto Parts 300 Saturday.That became clear, when Ken Schrader (189.865 mph) and Randy LaJoie (189.661) earned the front-row starting positions, and Earnhardt (187.891) had to be satisfied with 16th -- and was."This is a victory for us," Earnhardt said. "We've been struggling all week. I was hoping to get in the top 25, so we could begin working on our race setup instead of fooling with it for second-round qualifying."

Last Wednesday, as New York Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda pitched to the Orioles' lineup, All Stars Sports Bar failed to live up to its name. The downtown bar, located to the right of the gentleman's club The Goddess and 1/8 of a mile from Camden Yards, looked the part at first glance: There was a long bar with more than 15 seats, three mounted flatscreen TVs above the bar and framed Ravens posters lining the walls. But after a few blinks, the problems became apparent. Before going any further, let's make this point clear: My expectations were not of a jam-packed bar such as Pickles Pub or even Pratt Street Ale House, an underrated spot to watch a game.

Checker Auto Parts 500 At Avondale, Ariz. Lap length: 1 mile Car number in parentheses 1. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 132.773 mph. 2. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevy, 132.758. 3. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevy, 132.699. 4. (18) J.J. Yeley, Chevy, 132.236. 5. (70) Johnny Sauter, Chevy, 132.144. 6. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevy, 132.129. 7. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 132.091. 8. (96) Tony Raines, Chevy, 132.057. 9. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 132.023. 10. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 132.023. 11. (25) Casey Mears, Chevy, 132.008.

DOVER, Del. - At this point a year ago, Winston Cup driver Jeff Burton knew whom he had to beat if he wanted to win the Winston Cup championship. Everyone knew. But now? Burton looks around the garage area at Dover Downs International Speedway, where the MBNA Platinum 400 will be run today, and can't point anywhere. It's hard to hit a moving target. "It's like you're racing the whole world," he said. "I'm racing everybody now. The sport has just gotten so much harder." Twelve races into this season, the Winston Cup series has had 11 different winners go to Victory Lane.

Nextel Cup driver Ryan Newman could have been sitting pretty this week had it not been for a case of road rage at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night in the Sharpie 500. Yesterday, he feasted on steamed crabs at Harborplace and considered the events of the weekend that cost him valuable points and left him with only a 31-point cushion with two races to go in the race to make The Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship. The incident, an intentional crash on Lap 318, wasn't exactly out of the ordinary in Cup racing but caught him by surprise nonetheless.

Darrell Waltrip has been getting letters of apology. They have come from fans, from competitors, even from writers who cover the Winston Cup circuit. All say much the same thing. All say they regret having said, thought or written that Old DW was washed up.Behind this abundance of regret is Waltrip's resurrection. At 51, the former three-time Winston Cup champion ascended from a fixture at the back of the pack to a contender. Over the past four months, Waltrip has become the eighth most competitive driver in Winston Cup racing and second only to Jeff Gordon among the Chevrolet drivers.

Calendar NASCAR NEXTEL CUP UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Site -- Las Vegas When -- Sunday, 4:35 p.m. TV -- Ch. 45 (4 p.m.) Track -- Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval) Distance -- 267 laps, 400.5 miles 2005 champion -- Jimmie Johnson 2005 pole-sitter -- Ryan Newman Last year -- Johnson led a race-high 107 laps on the way to his 15th career victory. Kyle Busch finished second, followed by Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick. Johnson cut Kurt Busch's points lead to 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr., a favorite entering the race, was involved in a four-car accident with Bobby Labonte, Brian Vickers and Ricky Rudd on Lap 12, taking out all four cars early in the race.