AP Top Nascar News At 12:26 p.m. EST

New NASCAR Qualifying May Improve Racing
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – There are no easy days for Rick Hendrick. He can throw himself into working with his NASCAR teams or his car dealerships, but not an hour goes by that he isn't flooded with thoughts about the plane crash that killed 10 of his relatives, employees and friends. He thinks about how he was supposed to be on the plane Oct. 24, when it took off from his Charlotte hangar headed for a race in Martinsville, Va. Illness kept him home...

NASCAR Stars Try Their Hand at Sports Car Racing
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - From daytime to nighttime and back again, teams led by Tony Stewart and Max Angelelli fought for the lead in the Rolex 24 endurance race.
Then, with just 123 minutes left in the 24-hour sports car event, the Pontiac Crawford that 2002 NASCAR champion Stewart shared with former race winners Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers had a gearbox failure.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) - Rusty Wallace has been advocating for years that NASCAR go to shorter rear spoilers and softer tires to give the drivers more control on the racetrack.
The sanctioning body has done that this year, and after two days of testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Wallace is happy with the package.

Elliott Will Drive Ganassi Car in Shootout
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) - Part-time racer Bill Elliott will drive a Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge in the Budweiser Shootout on Feb. 12 at Daytona International Speedway.
Elliott, a former NASCAR champion and Shootout winner, cut back to a limited schedule last season. He is eligible for the made-for-TV event, a non-points race for last year's pole winners and former race winners, by virtue of his victory in the event in 1987...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – NASCAR will only allow its competitors to use the HANS device in 2005 because the other head-and-neck restraint system did not meet performance standards.
Drivers have had a choice of restraint systems since 2001, when NASCAR began requiring all competitors to use either the HANS or Hutchens devices following an investigation of Dale Earnhardt's death. NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo said Monday that the Hutchens failed to meet minimum standards from testing by SFI Foundation Inc. The HANS device was approved by SFI, a California-based nonprofit organization that sets standards for specialty/performance automotive and racing equipment....