* BEST STORY OF the week came from Thunder Road, where Brad Leighton won the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic for the American-Canadian Tour.

But the story really had nothing to do with Leighton winning the event for the first time in a Late Model, or that he fought off four flat right-front tires and two trips over the turn two banking to do so.

The real story was that Dale Shaw served as Leighton’s crew chief.

The two didn’t exactly state love-in get togethers in their days racing one another in the old Busch North Series, in fact each one beat the other to win a Labor Day Classic at Thunder Road.

But when Leighton decided he wanted to get serious about the Late Model thing at T-Road last weekend, and was doing so in a Dale Shaw Race Car, it only seemed natural that he would call on Shaw for expertise.

It worked.

* MIKE HARNISH REPORTED this week that interest in the "Maine Racing Tour" he’s trying to launch has been lukewarm in recent weeks.

The plan is for the fledgling series to hold an informational meeting on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 14, in Waterville – in which Harnish and cohort Steve Reny hope to outline the foundation for their Super Late Model-Late Model hybrid tour.

Harnish said that if there aren’t at least eight to 10 interested teams at the meeting, the tour will likely die on the vine for lack of interest.

After being inundated with more than 500 inquiries when he first voice interest in starting such a tour last month, fewer than a dozen teams have called Harnish since he called the inaugural meeting

"I’m optimistic," Harnish said. "I think if we can get 10 teams at this first meeting, then we’ll have another meeting at the end of the season, once every one has had time to calm down, and go over what we want to do."

I told Mike the following: If I had a nickel for every time I’d heard racers talk about big plans, big ideas and building new cars to race in new places – only to see them resort back to where they started – I’d be a wealthy man.

Like I said when I was told last spring that all those Strictly Stocks were going to leave other Maine tracks to go run weekly at Wiscasset, show me. When I see the proof, I’ll believe it.

Still Harnish believes that because his rules package allows for a scenario where teams will spend "about a thousand bucks" to change their current cars over to meet the tour’s specs, people will want to race.

"Hey, let’s face it," Harnish said. "If you can’t afford $1,000, you probably shouldn’t be racing to begin with."

Like I said, if I had a nickel...

* DAVID RAGAN IN The Chase?

Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha.

Oooohhh.....

Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha-Ha-ha.

I’ll stop.

What? He could actually make The Chase?

Oh.

* THE PASSWORD IS: "Circus clowns."

* WAKE ME UP when that snooze-fest at Fontana actually ends.

I know it’s been said a hundred times over, and I know this isn’t a new thought by any stretch of the imagination – but, wow, did NASCAR ever screw up a good thing by ripping the Darlington Labor Day tradition away and putting in its place as sterile and uninteresting an event as they could find.

Last Saturday’s race only served to underscore that fact.

Even supposed "Chase drama" couldn’t save the night.

And, at a time when NASCAR is trying desperately to hold onto its fan base and resurrect some interest from a core group that feels more and more alienated with each passing season, why on earth wouldn’t the powers that be admit their mistake and put Darlington back in its rightful place?

Atlanta is certainly an upgrade from California, but we all know there’s really only one way to make Labor Day weekend a must-see, must-attend NASCAR event again. That’s by moving Darlington again.

Of course, I suppose that’s an oxymoron, too. "Must-attend" and "NASCAR" in the same sentence. Laughable, really.

* IF YOU WEREN’T yet willing to admit that Roger Penske’s Cup team has fallen completely off the radar, you have to face facts now.

No star-riddled list of resumes on Penske’s desk. No big ‘Wow!’ factor when it came to hiring Ryan Newman’s replacement in the No. 12 Dodges at Penske. Not even an open-wheel star looking to make the jump to stock cars.

David Stremme, another of the Cup retreads, most recently released by the juggernaut Chip Ganassi operation, will take Newman’s seat.

This, folks, was one of the strongest teams in Cup racing less than five years ago. And, need we remind everyone, it is also the reigning Daytona 500 championship team. But all it could muster was Stremme – both a sign that there’s no real plan in place to bring the team back into prominence and that no one else with garage ties views it as the kind of opportunity you can’t pass up.

* I’M GIVING RED BULL another shot.

After I was told that I wasn’t "extreme" enough for Monster, it occurred to me that I’m not exactly the demographic the folks at Monster are targeting. I don’t jump BMX bikes, work on a 300 mph Top Fuel Funny Car and I sure as heck don’t wrestle alligators in a mud pit at the state fair.

In fact, about the most extreme thing I did this week had to do with pushing chips all-in in a no-limit poker tournament. Except I was reading about going all-in, not actually doing it myself.

Now that you mention it, maybe Lipton Green Tea is more my speed.

* I’M SORRY, BUT for some reason, I just don’t buy all the "Jimmie Johnson is back" we’re being fed these days.

Yes, he dominated at California after starting on the pole, but before last week, his only two wins were a fuel mileage race and the abomination at Indy.

In fact, I think Jeff Gordon is better poised for a championship run than his own driver is. I can’t find the facts to back it up necessarily, but I’ll be glad to point out "I told you so" in November.

Posted at 10:15 a.m. by TBarrett