Smith Replaces Marlin In Brickyard 400
Regan Smith will replace Sterling Marlin in the No. 14 car next week at Indianapolis, and Busch driver Aric Almirola will split time with Mark Martin in the No. 01 car as Ginn Racing continues its ongoing restructuring, NASCAR.COM has learned.

Smith had been splitting time with Martin in the No. 01 and driving in the Busch Series, but Ginn recently shuttered its Busch operation as part of a rollback that also involved some layoffs. Looking to get the young driver more seat time, Ginn will move him into the car driven until recently by Marlin, who turned 50 earlier this month and was not likely to be back with the team next year.

What happens to Joe Nemechek's No. 13 car at Ginn is still unknown. The teams of Nemechek and Marlin have been beset by sponsorship woes, a situation that has forced the Ginn team -- which came within a few inches of winning the Daytona 500 in February -- to step back and reorganize. The U.S. Army, which backs Martin's No. 01 car, is the only full-time sponsor the team currently has in place for next season.(nascar.com)

ESPN Returns At Indy
Historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a fitting location for the return of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series to ESPN with the running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday, July 29. The race telecast will begin at 1 p.m. ET.

ESPN, which has televised more NASCAR Cup races than any other network, will air its first Cup event since 2000. ESPN and ESPN on ABC will have live coverage of the final 17 races of the 2007 season, including all 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup on ESPN on ABC.

ESPN’s coverage of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series will include telecasts of practice and qualifying from select races, the season-ending banquet, a Chase preview show and a season review special. NASCAR Countdown provides a dedicated pre-race program for each race telecast, and ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program, NASCAR Now, delivers comprehensive coverage of the series. And, for the first time in televised motorsports, all of these programs are produced entirely in High Definition, including the first use of HD in-car cameras.

While the Indianapolis event will mark ESPN’s return to the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, the NASCAR Busch Series has been at home on ESPN2 for all of 2007. ESPN’s comprehensive, multi-platform NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, SportsCenter, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Radio, ESPN360.com and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms.

Brent Musburger will host ESPN’s coverage from Indianapolis. Dr. Jerry Punch will handle play-by-play for the race, joined in the booth for expert analysis by 1989 NASCAR Cup champion Rusty Wallace and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Pit reporters will be Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro. Two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN DISH Tech Center. ESPN’s Suzy Kolber will host NASCAR Countdown at Indianapolis, joined by analyst Brad Daugherty in the ESPN Pit Studio.

ESPN2 will have live coverage of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup qualifying at 10 a.m. ET Saturday, July 28, at Indianapolis, as well as coverage of the final practice session later that day at 3:30 p.m.

DEI-Ginn Work On Merger
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Ginn Racing are working on a merger agreement that, if finalized, would meld the two NASCAR organizations into a single company, multiple sources close to negotiations told ESPN.com on Monday.

The deal is not done, but a decision will be made soon. Both organizations hope, sources said, to firm up outstanding details and announce a partnership immediately.

This deal is an elaborate proposition that entails several obstacles, including how best to reduce from six Nextel Cup teams to the maximum four. The obvious answer, sources said, would be to eliminate Ginn's financially-strapped Nos. 13 and 14 teams.

Ginn Racing CEO Jay Frye said Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway that he expects to have the company shored up by the next Nextel Cup race, set for July 29 in Indianapolis. (espn.go.com)

New Crew Chief: RWI Racing
Officials of RWI Racing, LLC announced late this afternoon that Steve Darne, the team’s NASCAR Busch East Series crew chief and former NASCAR Busch Series car chief, will replace Bryant Frazier on an interim basis, as crew chief for the team’s Busch Series effort driven by Steve Wallace. The organization plans to announce a permanent replacement for Frazier at a later date.

Darne, a Virginia native, is no stranger to racing success when teamed with Wallace. Together, the duo dominated the ARCA RE/MAX Series in 2006, earning three wins, four poles and the season-long pole award, despite attempting only one-third of the races. In addition, Darne and NEXTEL Cup driver David Stremme lapped the field en route to victory in an RWI Racing Dodge at the 2006 ARCA event at Michigan.

Noted RWI Racing team owner, Rusty Wallace, “Bryant has done a good job for our team over the past two years, but it was just time for us to make a change. This is a performance-based business and unfortunately this year, we just haven’t seen the level of performance that we’d like to have. We owe it to our sponsor, HomeLife Communities and its CEO Jon Been, to our fans and to our driver, Steve Wallace, to put cars on the track every week that are competitive on a consistent basis. We are currently speaking with several candidates for the crew chief role and hope to make an announcement very soon. In the meantime, I have complete confidence in the job that Steve Darne will do for our team. He has stepped in and filled this role before and did a great job. I’m looking forward to improving our team’s performance in the second half of the year. I have a lot of respect for Bryant Frazier and wish him nothing but the best.”

Crew Chief-Driver Penalized
NASCAR announced today that Mike Beam, crew chief for the No. 6 Ford in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, has been fined $10,000 for violating Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4Q (track parts, components or equipment that doesn’t conform to NASCAR Rules) and 20B-12.8.1A (minimum roof height).

Driver Travis Kvapil has been penalized with the loss of 25 championship driver points and truck owner Jack Roush has been penalized 25 championship owner points due to their crew chief’s infraction.