NASCAR won't alter the age limit for next season, a series official said Friday at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

 

"It's not something we're looking at to put in place in 2009 if we even put it in place,'' said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR VP of racing operations.

 

Series officials had said before the season they were looking into the possibility of raising the minimum age requirement for the Sprint Cup series from 18 to 21.

 

"We got some good feedback from the owners and have kind of taken that and evaluated that and decided that's not something we really want to pursue right now,'' O'Donnell said.

 

# Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he would consider moving his Nationwide team to the Cup series.

 

"I used to say no way, no way,'' he said. "But it's almost as expensive to run in the Nationwide Series. And they're going to bring a COT in and we won't be able to race in the Nationwide Series with the COT probably. That'll just be too expensive to switch all that over.''

 

So, would Earnhardt consider making the move next year?

 

"Maybe. If the right opportunity comes along with the right sponsorship and driver, we'd love to do it. And it would cost the same amount of money do to that as it is to run the Nationwide Series.''

 

So, would he get Martin Truex Jr. to be his driver?

 

"No. why would he want to come drive for me? He's in good stuff now, and he's going to have great opportunities from other people. For the first year coming out of the box, man we'll struggle like (heck). Come on, man. He's going to have deals offered to him by these great companies around here and from DEI.

 

# Joe Gibbs Racing has been developing its own version of the Toyota engine and its drivers will have those JGR engines in the cars for the first time this season for the all-star race, said Mark Cronquist, who oversees JGR's engine department.

 

Kyle Busch won the pole for the all-star race with that engine, although Tony Stewart had to change engines earlier in the day. Stewart will start 12th and Denny Hamlin will start 20th.

 

Despite the team's success, Cronquist says that the Toyotas have been down on power compared to other teams.

 

"We know where we should be and we're not quite there yet,'' Cronquist said. "It's a relief to know we've got a decent package. We know the little things we need to work on.''

 

Cronquist described the engines being used this week as those from Toyota Racing Development " with Joe Gibbs fixes and other things that we know work on them.''

 

Cronquist said the team will go back to the TRD motors for next week's Coca-Cola 600. He said in a perfect world, he'd like to have the JGR engines ready to put in the cars by Chicago or Indianapolis in July.

 

"At the same time,'' Cronquist said, "the guys at TRD are trying to make their motors better so we just have to (see) which package is better. It's all about durability. We have to finish races before you can have as much power as you want.

 

# Matt Crafton won the Truck series race for Crafton's first career victory. It came in his 178th start, ending the longest winless drough in series history.

 

"We never gave up,'' Crafton said of finally winning. "(The winless drought has) been a black cloud following me for a long time. It's been a thorn in my side. You can't imagine how long I've been waiting to do one of those burnouts.''

 

Chad McCumbee placed second with Brendan Gaughan, Erik Darnell and Rick Crawford completing the top five. Kyle Busch led a race-high 86 laps but crashed after Ron Hornaday made contact with him. Busch finished eighth. Later, Hornaday pulled in front of Todd Bodine and a Bodine tap sent Hornaday spinning.

 

"He just flat tried to kill me,'' Hornaday said of Bodine. "You don't spin somebody out on the straightaway. We were pretty good friends. We were just getting to like each other. I don't know what's going to happen now. I really don't.

 

Said Bodine: "I know everybody is going to find this hard to believe; I was trying to help him. I wasn't trying to wreck him. I was trying to give him a good shove to get up there and race Matt because there was no way I was going to.''