NASCAR notebook
Kenseth feels he's out of Chase
DOVER, Del. — Matt Kenseth entered the Chase already thinking he was a long shot to win a Cup title.
Then he got caught up in a wreck, was knocked out at New Hampshire and saw his championship hopes all but evaporate.
The former Cup champion is going to need the run of his career if he has any shot of becoming a factor over the final nine Chase races. Kenseth was 40th last week at New Hampshire and is in 12th place in the standings — already 177 points behind co-leaders Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson and 78 points behind Jeff Gordon in 11th.
Kenseth had three straight top-10 finishes before he finished the final "regular season" race at Richmond in 39th and limped into the Chase. The finish forced Kenseth to concede, "I don't think we'll be a factor."
Kenseth — one of only two drivers to have qualified for all five Chase fields — said he can't dwell on his long road ahead.
Free agents?
Seats for 2009 are filling fast in the Sprint Cup Series, and two new names have emerged as possible job candidates.
Paul Menard indicated Friday he could leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the season, and AJ Allmendinger is still without a new contract at Red Bull Racing.
Neither driver wanted to discuss their future after qualifying at Dover International Raceway, but when asked if he was considering rides with both DEI and Yates Racing next season, Menard said "Yes."
Menard drives the No. 15 for DEI and the car is sponsored by his father's midwest-based hardware chain. The family could move the sponsorship and Menard elsewhere, and Yates is considered a candidate because it has both the room to grow its two-car operation and is in need of financial support.
Allmendinger, meanwhile, has been in limbo as Red Bull decides the future of its race team now that former F1 driver Scott Speed is waiting in the wings.
Speed is favored by executives for the Austrian-based energy drink maker, which invested heavily in developing Speed for Formula One. When he lost his ride in that series, Red Bull sent him back to the U.S. to learn stock cars and he's been very good in both the Truck Series and ARCA Series.
Lawsuit dropped
Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Robby Gordon Motorsports agreed to a settlement in their lawsuit on Friday and have terminated their merger plan.
Gillett Evernham Motorsports had sued Gordon last month, claiming the owner/driver violated terms of an agreement that would have sold his team to GEM. Gordon insisted he hadn't breached any contract and wanted to proceed with the sale of Robby Gordon Motorsports to GEM.
As part of the resolution, the lawsuit will be dismissed and the merger will not proceed.
Gordon agreed to the deal on Jan. 29 to sell his team at the end of this season for $23.5 million. The deal would have given Gordon a four-year driving contract with GEM, and possibly a seat on the team's board of directors. GEM would have acquired Gordon's shop and property in Charlotte.
