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Paul Menard, who is scheduled to run a full season in the Nationwide Series with Roush Fenway Racing, almost saw the rain end his chances of making the first race of the year.

Menard is not guaranteed a spot in the top 35 in the Nationwide Series and would have to have made the race based on his qualifying time. Then rain came, canceling qualifying and the truck race which was to happen later last night.

To determine the starting field for the race NASCAR pulled out the rule book. Below is how the field order was determined via NASCAR.com.

The lineup would be set per the rule book, with the following parameters coming into play: The top-30 owners in the 2009 standings — or teams they had “transferred” their points to — got those spots. Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart, who won races last season, got the next two positions, followed by 2000 series champion Jeff Green.

The remaining 10 spots would go to the top 10 positions in the randomly-drawn qualifying order, if they were not already in the lineup.

Ten spots remained and they went to a draw. Menard drew a number that would have him just miss the race, and then suddenly five teams who were at the track for the chance of cashing in on 45,000 went to the NASCAR hauler and withdrew from the field.

The result put Menard back in the field.

A team manager at Roush Fenway stated that he could not talk about it and that it was confidential.

While the deal may make some question what exactly is going on here I don’t think it’s entirely a bad thing. Menard plans to run the full Nationwide schedule for Roush Fenway and is expected to be a top 5 team at the end of the year. Menard finished sixth in the standings the last time he raced a full schedule. It’s also a car with sponsor’s on it (even if they were paid for by Menards dad) that would have easily made the field had their been qualifying and perhaps best of all it’s a car that will run the full race baring accident which is more then can be said for any team that went home yesterday.

Those going home probably received around 50,000 as the payout was guaranteed to be 45,000 for running the race.

If Jack Roush did pay these teams off which it seems like he did, then it will be interesting to see how much Menard can recover of the $2.5 million plus he paid out to get him in the field.

I have to admit though I suspect that Roush is playing big picture here. He knows that he’ll get well in excess the difference should Menard remain in the seat of the 98 Fusion on the Nationwide Series this year and even more should he keep a blue oval on the front of his car past this season.

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One of the more talked about events outside of Danica Patrick has been how well the Ford teams have run during Speed weeks. Running the new engine the teams have found ways to run at the front of the field including a victory by Kasey Kahne in the second Gatorade Duel on Thursday.

Matt Kenseth and Elliott Sadler who ran the engine towards the end of last year will join Bill Elliott in driving the new engine on Sunday.

Kenseth won the Daytona 500 last year, while Sadler just missed out on the win himself.

It will be interesting to see how those driving the new FR9 engine compare to those driving the older engine.

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For those hoping to see a resolution to the Johnny Damon saga that has controlled baseball headlines the last few weeks… I guess we are still waiting.

It’s Friday evening, Damon is on vacation, and Scott Boras has four teams talking to him.

It’s not going away.

Not till next week rolls around at-least and even then it’ll be a dog and pony show.

Currently it’s said that the Tigers are in at two years and $14 million. The Braves have offered a one year deal with up to $5 million in total money, the Rays have a telephone and Kenny Williams of the White Sox is doing his best to remind people that just because he said something two weeks ago it has no bearing on today since other teams are doing the same thing.

Worst of all is Monday is a holiday so… we are probably looking at Tuesday for anything near official.

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Well considering how he’s roped in a market for outfielder Johnny Damon I was starting to wonder if there was anyone left in baseball that could say no to Scott Boras.

I guess I was wrong. Actually there was someone who fired him.

Felipe Lopez.

You may know Lopez, 29, as a decent middle infielder but he’s also one of a list of unemployed major leaguers as the middle of February comes around.

Lopez hit .310/.383/.427 with nine home runs and 57 RBI with the Diamondbacks and Brewers last season so it’s hard to believe there’s not teams willing to take a chance on him this year. Lopez who had been a Boras client opted to fire the “super agent” and has now signed with the Beverly Hill Sport Council.

It is interesting because Lopez was second only to Matt Holliday among free agents in batting average and on-base percentage.

The St. Louis Cardinals were known to have interest in Lopez earlier this winter. While Lopez would be an upgrade at either second base or short-stop there is no shortage of infielders currently on the roster.

Boras, meanwhile, has spent the better part of the offseason tending to more high-profile clients. He might be the only reason Lopez is without a contract right now.

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Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili died after a crash in practice. There is even talk that his death may make the country of Georgia drop out of the games but it’s likely they will remain there and take part in the opening ceremonies tonight.

Kumaritashvili was traveling at 90 mph when he lost control, flew over top the course and hit a steel rod at the finish line.

He was pronounced dead later at the hospital.

It’s certainly a black mark as the Olympics open tonight.

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Well the Olympics start today. I guess when you’re a kid you watch them more. You can’t get enough. When you get older you find an event or two you are interested in and after that you ignore them.

It’s not that the athletes aren’t talented in them. It’s just that a number of the events are well… boring. There is a ton of time in-between competitors, anything not being scored with a stopwatch is leaving open the possibility for human error/rigging and frankly having to hear the Olympic theme over and over gets on my nerves.

I’m sure NBC will post solid ratings for the event but don’t count me in. I have watched less and less in recent years and while there’s still interest of mine in much of the skiing events I likely will only make a concentrated effort to watch the bobsleigh.

I don’t know really the point of this post other then to say. It’s here. If you like it then great, if you hate it then watch something else, and if you have no opinion like myself then turn it on here or there if you got nothing else to do and maybe you’ll find something you like.

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Looks like Robb Quinlan has opted to return to the Angels on a minor league deal. Quinlan had drawn interested from the Dodgers, Rockies and Twins but each team opted to go in a different direction.

Quinlan hit .243/.275/.339 with two homers and 14 RBI in 115 at-bats with the last season while playing all around the field. While his versatility makes him somewhat useful, Quinlan hardly hits with much authority and his defense is average at best at just about every position.

I had wondered at the beginning of the winter if Quinlan would get a major league deal and ultimately figured he’d get a look at a minor league deal. This post just serves as some sort of reminder that I did know what I was talking about.

Obviously since Quinlan isn’t guaranteed any money his chances of making the Angels to start the year are slim to none. He may later serve as depth.

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Looks like Scott Boras and company have done things perfectly. While the market for the outfielder was once bare there now seems to be at-least three teams who have contacted the agent about Damon’s services in the last day.

It seemed Damon was looking at maybe even a contract as low as $2 million. Of course those were national sport reporters not me. I’ve steadfastly remained confident that Damon would eventually find a deal north of $5 million.

Then yesterday happened. The Tigers and Braves have been interested in Damon, everyone knows it. Then word came that the Braves were willing to offer Damon $2 million for the 2010 with an additional $2 million deferred. Some have said the deal was worth a total of $5 million but either way the wheels were in motion.

Now today the Tigers have apparently made an offer of $14 million over 2 year deals. Then Boras also threw out the White Sox’s name. Wouldn’t doubt that either.

In the matter of two days Boras has convinced three of the second tier spenders to engage in contacts with him about his client. This figures to wrap up quickly because Damon’s value can only go down from here.

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Four time Cup Champion Jimmy Johnson came from the back of the field, stayed out on old tires late in the race and then held off Kevin Harvick to win the first of two Gatorade Duels at Daytona International Speedway.

Also in the race was Michael Waltrip who was hoping to race his way into the event. Unfortunately for Waltrip his day ended with a wreck but should Scott Speed or Bobby Labonte race their way into the field he will be awarded a spot in the event. Max Papis and Michael McDowell both were the recipients of racing their way in and now will be assured a starting spot in the Daytona 500.

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I guess I jumped the gun like everyone else in saying that Chien Ming Wang had signed with the Washington Nationals. His agent is saying that Wang and the Nationals are roughly 7-10 days away from finalizing the deal.

What exactly could be holding up the deal is a mystery to anyone. Wang who had back to back 19 win seasons in 2006 and 2007 has been injury riddled and ineffective the last two years.

There hasn’t been much reported interest around the league in Wang and the Nationals provide perhaps the best chance for him in terms of re-establishing himself as a quality major leaguer.

The deal with the Nationals is said to be worth $2 million but perhaps the Nationals or Wang are looking for some sort of perk should he revert back to the pitcher he was two years ago.

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