Good evening out there in FanIQ Land.  This is the NASCAR Nation VP with today's NASCAR Digest, your stop for the latest news from around the top 3 divisions of NASCAR.  I'll post the link to the stories from NASCAR.com followed by my personal take on the matter.

Stewart unveils new team name, still wonders if being an owner/driver will work.

Tony Stewart unveiled a picture today which shows his new team for next year, Stewart-Haas Racing.  I must say I commend Stewart for such a gutsy move, I just don't see him doing anything with his new team.  Yes he's Tony Stewart, yes he has 32 wins and 2 championships, but it's been 10 years since Ricky Rudd last got interviewed in victory lane as an onwer/driver while getting oxygen from Dr. Jerry Punch.  It's been even longer since an owner/driver won the championship, and that was of course Alan Kulwicki 16 years ago.  Stewart has a tough task ahead of him, and I would love to see him do well.  Good luck next year, Smoke, you're certainly going to need it with everything you have stacked against you!

The Bloke makes his debut with Brad Daugherty, Kyle Petty decides to sit out again

Daugherty recently announced he's starting a new team with Australian driver Marcos Ambrose as the man behind the wheel.  The team will try to qualify for their debut this week at the Brickyard.  As for Petty Enterprises, is Kyle finally saying enough is enough?  TNT is done broadcasting until next June (THANK GOD!), but Kyle is still sitting out this week and once again letting Texas Terry Labonte drive the #45 at Indy.  Kyle, please do us all a favor and hang it up.  I'm sorry to say this, but you're pretty much done.  It's been over 10 years since you last saw victory lane, and you can't even qualify anymore.  Please don't stay until you become the next Dave Marcis.

Hello Aztec, New Mexico...this is called NASCAR!

First there was Brad Keselowski, then Landon Cassill, and now Joey Logano.  Could the next young Nationwide Series driver be Alex Kennedy?  He's on a mission to make it to NASCAR's top divisions, and he's showing his small town something they never even knew about.  Kennedy is on his way up and I wish this kid luck.  You never know what the future holds, but for this young boy, the only future he sees is one behind the wheel of a Sprint Cup ride.

LMS promises to "leave the light on for ya," working to lower hotel rates for race weekends

Now if you want to spend a weekend in Charlotte, you may pay less than you used to.  Thanks to a lousy economy, through-the-roof and expensive-as-hell hotels near the Speedway, it's not easy to afford a weekend in Charlotte.  Let's all make reservations for cheap seats and cheap hotels for the October race at Lowe's!

Win the Brickyard, your championship chances go up

It's happened 6 times before.  Almost half of the 14 previous runnings at Indy, the race winner went on to win the championship.  So does that mean if Shrub wins the race he'll win the championship?  No, absolutely not...but it does seem to be a big boost.  We'll see what happens this weekend.  He's not guaranteed to lose the championship if he doesn't win this race either.  If he does, history is on his side with those 6 Brickyard/Championship winners all coming in the last 10 years.

Tune in again tomorrow, same NASCAR time, same NASCAR channel.

BK signing off