Time off ahead of Chase perfect timing for Cup series

The Sprint Cup Series enjoys its final off weekend of the year before a stretch of 12 consecutive weekends that will include the Chase and season championship race at Homestead the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

The respite will only be a memory at this time last year when the schedule calls for the Cup division to run 17 straight weeks from the end of July to the middle of November. That's probably why it's no coincidence the majority of drivers and teams are on extended vacations this week hoping to enjoy the precious downtime.

For Cup regular Carl Edwards, he can just focus on the Nationwide race in Montreal this weekend. (Getty Images)

But the wheels of the rest of the racing world roll on with a number of stories and situations:

• The Nationwide Series heads north of the border for the fourth time in Sunday's NAPA 200 at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. In a short time the Canadian stop has grown into one of the circuit's most popular and successful events with the historic track expected to host a crowd in excess of 75,000 on Sunday. The good news -- at this point -- is the weekend weather forecast appears to be dry and the God awful experiment of racing stock cars in the rain won't be repeated. As always there's an interesting mix of veterans, young drivers and road racing specialists in the field including the likes of Max Papis, Patrick Carpentier, Boris Said, Jacques Villeneuve, Ron Fellows and Andrew Ranger on the entry list. Many of that group have the benefit of being in competitive equipment including Papis with Kevin Harvick Inc., Villeneuve with Braun Racing and Fellows in a JR Motorsports entry. The possibility of a road racer stealing the spotlight on Sunday is very strong.

• Nothing is confirmed but NASCAR appears closer to announcing its Nationwide Series policy next season regarding the participation of Sprint Cup regulars. While drivers from the sport's top division will not be limited in their number of Nationwide races, they most likely won't be eligible for the series championship. Carl Edwards proclaimed his intention of running a full-time Nationwide slate again in 2011 even if he were banned from a title run. It will be interesting to see the level of other Cup drivers' involvement once a final decision is made. Some prominent team owners including Kelly Earnhardt of JR Motorsports aren't sure what the impact will be. "We obviously have Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. run our car, and we leverage his participation on our team a ton and I know other teams do," Earnhardt said of Cup drivers. "I don't think a quick decision on that is necessary. I think it's something we need to really think about strategically that we can make the series more healthy for the long haul and not just the short term."

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Edwards in Montreal's Nationwide field NASCAR to cut Nationwide purses

• Nationwide teams will have the challenge of running the next generation car for the full schedule in 2011 and do so with less prize money on the line. NASCAR announced plans to cut Nationwide race purses by 20 percent next season as a means of making events more profitable for track owners and operators, many who are finding it harder to generate revenue hosting stock car racing's second most popular division. Over the last few years such series staples as Memphis Motorsports Park, Gateway International Raceway and the Milwaukee Mile have dropped the series because of financial issues.

• The Camping World Truck Series hits the track on Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway, part of a weekend in the Windy City with the IZOD Indy Cars Series. Last week's historic Bristol winner Kyle Busch will be back to defend his Chicago victory of a year ago and it will be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets from the crowd. Busch didn't endear himself to many people after his run-ins at Bristol including his celebrated Nationwide tangle with Brad Keselowski as well as his incident with unheralded truck driver Jennifer Jo Cobb. Busch ran into the rear tailgate of Cobb on his way to last Wednesday night's Bristol truck victory, a move that has sparked some strong comments from fellow competitors. "I have absolutely no respect for him," series point leader Todd Bodine told Sirius NASCAR Radio.

• Busch wasn't the only one who was the target of pointed comments this week. Former championship-winning crew chief and current television analyst Ray Evernham took aim at Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his woes with Hendrick Motorsports. Evernham believes Junior's communication with crew chief Lance McGrew is the root of the issues on the No. 88 team. "In the end, sometimes a person has to decide whether they're committed to something or not," Evernham said of Earnhardt. "That's just the bottom line. He's talented enough to win races. He's talented enough to win championships. But you just can't be aggravated all the time. You just can't be ... For him not to be winning is a shame."

• The Sprint Cup Series garage will shrink by two cars next year with the revelation Richard Petty Motorsports plans to run only a pair of entries out of its stable in 2011. A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose are slated to be the RPM duo as Paul Menard takes his family sponsorship to Richard Childress Racing and Kasey Kahne departs first for Team Red Bull before finally landing at Hendrick. That leaves Elliott Sadler the odd man out and the veteran Virginia driver is reportedly eyeing a full-time Nationwide or Truck Series ride possibly with Kevin Harvick's team.

• More talk about the creation of a 24-hour NASCAR television network has started again with the sanctioning body's next TV package possibly including the creation of a channel similar to what the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball run.