ESPN Sprint Cup

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Good morning folks. We're starting a new concept today with a live blog from the track. We hope everyone enjoys the quick updates of a variety of topics.

First, some good news. The weather at Texas Motor Speedway is magnificent. Today's forecast calls for a high of 79 degrees under clear skies.

Barring an unforeseen earthquake, NASCAR will have Sprint Cup qualifying for the first time in four weeks. Cup qualifying starts at 4:40 p.m. ET. Nationwide qualifying is 6:35 p.m. ET.

The Nationwide drivers are on the track now at 10:15 a.m. ET. Carl Edwards is the early leader on the speed chart.

11 a.m. ET

NASCAR gave me a little news this week that the Nationwide points system will not change in 2009.

One year ago, NASCAR officials floated one of its infamous trial balloons about the possibility of changing the system to keep Cup regulars from earning points in the feeder league.

The proposed plan was this: Any Cup driver ranked in the top 35 in the Cup standings would not earn points for a Nationwide event. The idea was to ensure that a Nationwide-only driver win the series championship without excluding or limiting Cup drivers from participating in Nationwide events.

But NASCAR officials said Tuesday they have no plans to change the points format for 2009.

So what fans could see is another Cup regular as the Nationwide champion. That will happen this year for the third consecutive season.

But fewer Cup regulars are planning on racing the full Nationwide schedule next season. The only one committed to it at the moment is Carl Edwards, who trails Nationwide points leader Clint Bowyer by 116 points with three races remaining.

11:30 a.m. ET

Matt Kenseth is the driver who many people see as responsible for the Chase playoff. He won the 2003 Cup title going away, so the Chase was started the following season. Some people called it The Kenseth Rule.

The system hasn't kept Jimmie Johnson from building a big points lead with three races to go. So Kenseth was asked this week if he thought more changes were coming.

"I was thinking that if he wraps it up in Phoenix [next weekend], that might bring on another change," Kenseth said. "But it all really depends on what you're after.

"It's impossible to make everybody happy, no matter what you do, but I was kind of thinking about that yesterday. Being a driver and a competitor, I want the best driver, team, organization combination to win the championship. If Jimmie wins it this year they've proven to be the best over not only the last three years in a row, but, in my opinion, over the last five, six or seven years."

***

Carl Edwards posted the best lap in the first Nationwide practice at 185.637 mph in the No. 60 Ford. David Stremme was No. 2 at 185.008 mph in the No. 64 Chevy.

The first Cup practice starts at 1 p.m. ET. The 90-minute session will be shown on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com.

12:15 p.m. ET

Greg Biffle doesn't think the Chase points system needs changing, but he has one suggestion for the 10 playoff races -- eliminate Talladega from the mix.

"I'd rather see Talladega taken out of the Chase," Biffle said Friday. "The same thing has happened every year."

Biffle is speaking of the inevitable big wreck that comes in restrictor-plate racing at Talladega.

"We went there after working as hard as we can and got taken out by something that wasn't our doing," Biffle said.

Biffle finished 24th at Talladega on Oct. 5 after being involved in a multi-car crash late in the race that was started by Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards.

Biffle believes Dega is too volatile to be included in the playoff.

"Anything can happen [at any track], but historically, that hasn't happened," Biffle said. "Maybe we wreck two, three Chase cars at other places, but not six or seven of them."

Biffle also said he believes Jimmie Johnson would make a mistake if he tried to race conservatively in the final three events to protect his points lead.

"The best thing to do is to do nothing different," Biffle said. "When you try to do something different is when you make mistakes.

"Say he decides to coast a little in this race and run sixth of seven. The next thing you know is the guy in fifth spins out and you're in the wreck. He might think, 'If I had run like I normally do, I would have been third and not in that wreck.' "

Biffle was asked why the other top five drivers in the standings haven't done more to try to get Johnson off his game. Biffle scoffed at that idea and got a chuckle from the media center crowd with his response.

"I have to get to him," Biffle said with a smirk. "As soon as I can get my car close enough to his car, I will rattle his cage."

12:30 p.m. ET

Jeff Burton said people need to stop thinking of ways to change the Chase to keep a driver from building a big points lead as Jimmie Johnson has done.

"If Jimmie wins, it's because they did it better than anybody else," Burton said Friday. "If you want to make a championship where every single year it comes down to the last race of the year, the only way to do it is to eliminate [playoff] teams as you go.

"Having two teams with the same points in the last race of the year is the only way to do it. I don't think it's the right thing to do.

"But that's how it happens in other sports. The Super Bowl is one game for the championship. The NCAA tournament is elimination to one game between two teams at the end.

"To me, that's not how we judge a champion here. Every time it doesn't work out the way we want, we can't blame the system. If someone is way better than everyone else, it won't be close."

Burton also was asked about Cup team owner Jack Roush's suggestion last week of adding a mulligan in the Chase, allowing each playoff team to throw out its worst finish.

"Jack wasn't saying that when Matt Kenseth won the championship," Burton said.

Kenseth, who drives for Roush Fenway Racing, won the 2003 championship by a large margin, the year before the Chase started.

1 p.m. ET

Jimmie Johnson said he doesn't plan to change the ways he races in the last three events, but the No. 48 Chevy team will test a new set-up in the first practice session today.

"We'll start with something a little different today," Johnson said.

What if it doesn't work?

"If we need to, we'll just go back to what we used [at TMS] in the spring," Johnson said

Johnson finished second to Carl Edwards in the April event at Texas. Johnson won this race a year ago.

***

Edwards also led the second Nationwide Series practice session Friday, turning a lap at 184.704 mph. Kevin Harvick was second on the speed chart at 184.319 mph in the No. 33 Chevy.

3:01 p.m. ET

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was given a $65,000 Beretta shotgun Friday, which he then gave to crew chief Tony Eury Jr.

It's the prize given to the Sprint Cup pole winner at TMS events. Earnhardt earned his gun for winning the pole at the April event.

"Tony asked me for it if we won it, but I didn't know it was worth 65 grand," Earnhardt said. "He didn't tell me that part."

The specially designed 12-gauge shotgun has hand-engraving on each side. On one side is a likeness of TMS and on the other is a likeness of the pole-winning driver and his car. The custom engraving involves 120 man-hours of work.

***

Jeff Gordon topped the Cup practice session Friday afternoon, turning a lap at 186.638 mph in the No. 24 Chevrolet. TMS is one of only two tracks (along with Homestead-Miami Speedway) where Gordon hasn't won a Cup race.

The surprise of the session was A.J. Allmendinger, who had the second-best lap at 186.632 mph.

Jimmie Johnson was sixth in the practice session, using a new setup on the No. 48 Chevrolet. Carl Edwards was third in the No. 99 Ford.

The slowest Chase driver was Jeff Burton, who was 29th in the session. Max Papis was the slowest overall in the No. 13 Toyota. Forty-eight cars are entered at TMS, so five drivers will fail to qualify.

***

Kasey Kahne was asked Friday what makes Texas Motor Speedway different than other 1.5-mile ovals.

"Getting into Turn 1 can be tricky," Kahne said. "It's real flat and then as you are coming into the corner, you get into the banking. It's almost like you fall into the corner at 190 mph.

"Turn 3 is similar but not as drastic. It's a difficult place to get your car to handle the way you want. It's a great track, but you really need your car to handle well on entry to be competitive."

4:43 p.m. ET

Matt Kenseth was asked Friday who he considers the nicest driver in NASCAR.

"Probably Mark Martin," Kenseth said. "He's just friendly and approachable and honest. He's been really happy, especially the last 8-10 years, so he's just a fun guy to be around.

"He's easy to talk to. I've never seen him really give anybody the cold shoulder and not give somebody advice if they wanted it or not help somebody. He's just always been like that."

***

Carl Edwards said all you have to do is look at Kyle Busch to realize Jimmie Johnson doesn't have the championship won yet.

"Heading into the Chase, everyone thought that Kyle was going to be the toughest guy," Edwards said Friday. "That's why it's kind of interesting to me that everyone writes off these last three races like they've already been run.

"You look at the first three races and what happened -- totally not anything other than pure bad luck, and Kyle lost over 200 points. That's what can happen.

"I would have bet, and I'm sure a lot of people actually did place bets, that he would be leading right now. But that's the way this sport goes. It's very cutthroat."

5:30 p.m. ET

Tony Stewart is down to his final three races for Joe Gibbs Racing, where he has raced his entire 10-year Cup career. Stewart talked Friday about his immense admiration for his longtime boss.

"No matter what position you're in, he cares about everybody," Stewart said. "It doesn't matter what role you're in there. The way he treats people is why he has such a successful organization and why he's been successful in the NFL, in the NHRA and NASCAR. He's good to the people that work for him."

Stewart, who becomes a team owner/driver at Stewart-Haas Racing next year, was asked what he has learned from Gibbs.

"He's made me a smarter businessman," Stewart said. "I've been very fortunate and blessed to be surrounded by a guy and drive for a guy that is of the caliber of Joe. And not only what he does as a team owner, but who he is as a person and what he means to us as a person."

6:08 p.m. ET

Jeff Gordon backed up his top lap in practice with the fastest lap in qualifying to win the pole for Sunday's Dickies 500. Martin Truex Jr. joins him on the front row.

Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski had to sweat it out, but he qualified for his first Cup start. Keselowski will start 37th in the No. 25 Chevy, a fifth car for Hendrick Motorsports.

Failing to qualify were Chad McCumbee, Max Papis, Bryan Clauson, Johnny Sauter and Tony Raines.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson will start seventh. It wasn't a good qualifying effort for Chase driver Jeff Burton, who will start 38th in the No. 31 Chevy.

Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.