Notebook: Hamlin feeling ill but dominant in practice (cont'd)

The start of the race at Dover will mark Labonte's 500th consecutive start.

And as the past champ continues to log laps, books are donated to children in need through the First Book nonprofit program along with Labonte and his sponsor Cheerios.

For every lap Labonte completes, 43 books are donated to the cause.

And last weekend at the New Hampshire International Speedway, Cheerios and First Book agreed to double the number of books donated for every top 10 finish the team garners from now through the last race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18.

"It's been great to have the opportunity to raise so many books for children so far this season, and help call attention to the importance of books and reading in helping kids get a good start in life," Labonte said. "Our performance has greatly improved lately, and we are really pumped to know that when we finish in the top 10 in these final races, we can earn even more books for these kids."

To date, 311,532 books have been donated.

Musical crew chiefs

Tony Eury Jr., crew chief and cousin to Dale Earnhardt Jr., will leave his current post to make an early transition to Hendrick Motorsports next month.

It is unclear whether Tony Gibson or Steve Hmiel will fill in as crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. for the remainder of the season.

Crew chief Gene Nead, who recently left Robby Gordon Motorsports, will head to Wood Brothers/JTG Racing and Peter Sospenzo, formerly of Ginn Racing, is still looking for work but may be considered by Robby Gordon Motorsports among others.

NASCAR's newest baby

The next racing Kahne was born this weekend in Charlotte, N.C.

Kasey Kahne's older sister Shannon Adams and her husband Jarrod Adams gave birth to a healthy baby boy name Eli making Kahne one proud uncle.

"It's exciting," Kahne said. "He was a perfect eight pounds 15 ounces, just a perfect little boy. It was pretty exciting. I can't wait to get home on Sunday night and hang out with them when they're out of the hospital."

Got crabs?

You never know who promoters or NASCAR will bring to a track to kick off a race.

This weekend was no different in Dover, Del. when the crew from the Deadliest Catch, a popular Discovery Chanel documentary about crab fishing professionals, was ushered into the media center.

Josh Harris from the ship "Cornelia Marie" was asked to describe the strangest thing his crew has ever taken from the ocean.

"We pulled this crab out that was road-cone orange. But that wasn't the crazy part; it was covered in hair. So I was going to shave it down and give it sideburns, because whenever you put a cigarette in a crab's claw, it puts it to its mouth. So it could have been the Dirk Diggler crab," Harris said. "That's the craziest thing I've seen."

Where are they now?

Professional wrestler Rick Flair is still wrestling in the WWE?

Apparently so after 35 years, now on a limited schedule, but the "Nature Boy" said he he's ready to take a step away from the arena to promote the sport of NASCAR.

Flair was the honorary starter for Saturday's Busch Series race and made a point to mention that he's a much better "performer" than fellow wrestler Hulk Hogan, though Flair admits the Hulk is a bigger superstar.