NASCAR officials spent last Sunday touring racetracks in Canada, looking for a place to hold a Craftsman Truck Series race. Two issues are holding up a possible tour date north of the border. First, NASCAR uses leaded fuels, and Canada has a strict unleaded policy. The second issue involves the tires, though garage sources aren't clear what the problem is. Insiders were confident a deal will be worked out. . . .



NASCAR marketing chiefs were entertaining potential sponsors last weekend and reportedly took tours of the No. 99 Roush Racing team facility. Jeff Burton has continued a full-time campaign without a title sponsor. His spot in the points race, 29th, is not indicative of his talent. . . . Federal Express, which once was in the running to be the title sponsor of NASCAR's top series before Nextel came on board, has been in talks with both Joe Gibbs Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. Word in the garage: Fed Ex will end up on a third Cup car for the 2005 season at JGR with J.J. Yeley, a Busch rookie this season, behind the wheel. But Gibbs says it's too early to commit. "Right now, we're in the process of moving through things, and we can't announce anything because the deal isn't done," Gibbs says. "We've been in conversations for a long time but right now it's just a work in progress." DEI continues to search for a full-time sponsor for the No. 1 car but plans on running John Andretti this week with a Snap-on paint scheme for the Coca-Cola 600. . . . What does Dale Earnhardt Jr. like to do on his weekends off? Race, of course. Junior tested the American Le Mans Series version of the Corvette C5-R racecar at Gingerman Speedway in South Haven, Mich. last week with road specialists Ron Fellows, Boris Said and Andy Pilgrim. The test was in preparation for the Infineon Grand Prix of Sonoma for the American Le Mans Series July 16-18 in Sonoma, Calif. Earnhardt says any seat time will help him when he races on the two road courses later this year. . . . NASCAR's "car of the future" prototype is close to completion and expected to be taken to the wind tunnel for analysis in the next few weeks. . . . Tony Stewart backed out of a surprise qualifying run for the Indianapolis 500 at the last minute last week. He was set to qualify in a Toyota, but he has a personal services contract with General Motors. I'm not buying his trip to Indy was just a seat-of-the-pants decision. Doesn't an Indy driver have to be fitted for a seat, suit and helmet before showing up to race? Besides, Smoke doesn't seem to be in the necessary physical condition to race an 1,100-mile marathon of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. . . . Rookie Brendan Gaughan should have an easier time racing 600 miles on Sunday because Penske Racing and NASA developed a new air filtration system that removes toxic fumes and cools the air delivered to the driver. Gaughan first tested the system at Richmond and says it alleviated the hangover that he used to suffer the day after a race. Lee Spencer covers NASCAR for Sporting News. Email her at lspencer@sportingnews.com.

