Stewart still confident

As his rivals worked on their cars, Tony Stewart retreated to his motorhome to relax. Barefoot and in a pair of shorts, Stewart showed no worries Friday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway despite losing his spot on top of the points standings a week ago.

“I don’t feel like we’re really in a catch-up mode,” Stewart said. “We had our bad week and even with that, we’re only 23 points behind. We could take the points lead back this weekend very easily.”

Stewart had a rare poor run last weekend in Dover, Del., finishing 18th to fall off the top of Nextel Cup leaderboard for the first time in eight weeks. He’s tied with Greg Biffle for fifth in the Chase for the championship standings, but only trails new leader Jimmie Johnson by 23 points.

Still, he heads into the UAW-Ford 500 on Sunday as an obvious favorite, showing up at the track in the same Chevrolet he drove to a dominating victory at Daytona in July.

He qualified fourth at 188.570 mph, behind Elliott Sadler’s fast lap of 189.260.

NASCAR changes rule

NASCAR officials are changing the rules for rear shock absorbers according to Nextel Cup director John Darby, after the cars of Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch were initially too high after the race last week at Dover.

Darby said both cars were initially too high, but sank back within the required specifications as the shocks bled out air over a 30-second period.

No penalties were handed down, but Darby said a technical bulletin precluding the type of shock absorber used at Dover will be issued this weekend.

End of the road for raceway

Pikes Peak International Raceway will be shut down and sold to a company that plans to move equipment to other race venues and to sell off the track’s 1,200 acres in Fountain, Colo.

The track will be sold to Rocky Mountain Speedway.