2008 Sylvania 300 - Pre-Race News

Pre-Race News

• The biggest pre-race news didn't come from the Sprint Cup Series, other than the mandatory pre-Chase visit to New York City on Wednesday (September 10), and an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman to deliver a "Top Ten List" of the perks of being in the Chase, which turned to a Top 12 List for the occasion, including Jeff Burton exclaiming that "There's nothing like going through a car wash at 190 miles per hour" and Kyle Busch telling us that "after a race your ASS vibrates for days".

The major story to pop up this week was when Craftsman Truck Series driver Ron Hornaday admitted to ESPN's magazine in an interview that he used HGH and testosterone from the same pharmacy that was being used by NFL and MLB players in Florida. Hornaday, who drives for Kevin Harvick's self-owned racing team, admitted this when shown records from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center that between December 2004 and January 2006, a year before the stock car racing body banned these illegal substances. NASCAR ruled it a personal medical matter from a thyroid condition, and Hornaday will not be penalized as a result.

Reports of a revised policy including mandatory random testing to be implemented by NASCAR within the next two weeks hastened the revealing of this. Harvick's team has implemented in-house random testing as of this year, and according to those within, there have been no complaints.

• In on-track news, Joey Logano will race after last week's cancellation of qualifying at Richmond due to the remains of Hanna to make an attempt to qualify for this week's race. Logano will carry the Home Depot colors on Hall of Fame Racing's #96 Toyota, usually sponsored by Texas Instruments' DLP technology. Logano will drive for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2009 in the #20 Home Depot Toyota.
• In another item involving sponsorship news for next season, UPS will be moving to Roush Fenway Racing's #6 Ford with driver David Ragan from the David Reutimann #44 Toyota of Michael Waltrip Racing.