NASCAR notebook

As Penske Racing's Brad Keselowski closes in on the Nationwide Series championship and continues to show improvement in the Sprint Cup Series, many in the sport wonder who will be the next driver to do as Keselowski did and advance from a struggling, underfunded team to one of the sport's powerhouses.

Jeremy Clements, fresh off a career-best Nationwide finish of 10th last week at Gateway International Raceway, says he can be that driver, with the right breaks.

“I could do the same thing,” Clements said, pointing out that his occasional good finishes come in spite of a huge gap in the amount of money his team has to spend and what the top teams have in their budgets.

For instance, at Gateway, he ran the entire race on used tires purchased from teams that failed to qualify, and his family-owned team builds their own engines.

Clements, like Keselowski, comes from a family that has a long heritage in the sport.

Clements' father and car owner, Tony Clements, is a respected builder of short-track racing engines, and Tony's uncle, Louis Clements, was the crew chief for Rex White back in 1960 when White won the championship in what is now the Sprint Cup Series.

The team's long-time crew chief is Ricky Pearson, the son of David Pearson, the man many consider the best stock-car driver ever. Clements said Pearson, a fellow Spartanburg, S.C., resident, plays a major role in his being able to show glimpses of his potential as a driver.

“He sets the car up, and he’s really good in the pits and at figuring the best strategy,” Clements said.

Clements, now 26, first showed his driving ability on the dirt tracks of the Southeast, where he won often, but also suffered serious injury in 2004 when the drive shaft in his car came loose and damaged his right hand so badly that doctors were challenged to save it.

“It took 10 surgeries, and I was out of racing for a year, but it doesn’t affect my driving at all,” he said.

He rebounded and scored an impressive ARCA win at Nashville Superspeedway in 2007, driving a car No. 3.

He also has practiced and qualified a Nationwide car for Kyle Busch during standalone Nationwide races where Busch was tied up with his Cup duties elsewhere. But as Clements points out, his main assignment in those situations was not to wreck the car.

So far, the big career break hasn’t come his way. His only good offers have come with the stipulation that he bring along millions in sponsor dollars. Therefore, he and his family are trying to do a lot with a little.

Talladega mayhem

If there are any doubts that Talladega is the “wild card” in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the final lap of last fall’s 500 should be examined closer.

One of the “Big Wrecks” that almost always happens at least once in a Cup race at Talladega, occurred on the frontstretch on the final lap and had a major impact on the points race.

Jimmie Johnson came into the race leading his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin by 118 points and one of his other teammates, Jeff Gordon, by 150.

On the last lap at Talladega, Martin was running seventh, one spot behind Johnson when the wrecking started. He wound up on his roof, while Johnson scooted through the mayhem and finished sixth.

Martin was credited with 28th place and dropped to 184 points back.

Gordon, the other driver still realistically in the title hunt at that point, also was swept up in the crash. He finished 20th and dropped to 192 points out of the lead.

“I’m running sixth on the track, he’s [Martin] running seventh coming to the checkered flag,”

Johnson remembered. “His car gets hit. He gets hit. He is upside down. I’m just one spot ahead of him. I finish the race [and] get a bunch of points.”