Thomas Bowles – frontstretch.com

Did You Notice? … Big-time teams swimming in a mountain of money problems?I know most people come back to that sobering reality from Vegas, but these appear to be worse than that few hundred lost on a bad hand at poker. We’ll start with Rusty Wallace, Inc. whose team revealed Tuesday they’re owed $535,439.18 by former primary sponsor U.S. Fidelis. Considering a competitive Nationwide Series sponsorship can run you at least $5 million these days, that’s a significant chunk of change that went unpaid (seven races’ worth, in fact).

 Did You Notice?… Richard Childress’ sudden, unnecessary distraction? I know you’re thinking about the underage drinking charge leveled against john Wes Townley. No, to me the real issue for RCR right now is the sudden partnership with the once-defunct Hall of Fame Racing, led by San Diego baseball execs Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel. The duo plans to get marketing assistance in finding sponsorship while hoping to return a car to the track under their name.

Did You Notice? … Denny Hamlin taking a swipe at NASCAR media?

Here’s the backstory, in case you missed it: Hamlin and Carl Edwards finished second and third in the rain-delayed Nationwide race on Saturday. They were brought up to the media center for a post-race press conference, standard procedure for anyone that finishes inside the top 3. Once there, each driver gave their usual statement before NASCAR PR director Ramsey Poston opened it up to questions from the floor. But that’s when things got a little quirky: there were none. Even when given a minute of extra time, nobody raised a hand – and just like that, the post-race “presser” was over before it started.

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