By MIKE MULHERN, Winston-Salem Journal

''NASCAR comes to Europe," reads a headline out of the weekend's Paris Tuning and Racing Show, an annual car show. But none of the four NASCAR manufacturers here, or any of the Sprint Cup tour teams mentioned, seems to know anything about it.

With Monday's win in the Auto Club 500, car owner Jack Roush has now won twice since NASCAR rival Rick Hendrick's last Cup win.Now, that's not much of a trend, but if a Roush driver can beat Hendrick's Jimmie Johnson next Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- where Johnson will be going for his fourth straight win at that track -- then that might well make it one.

FONTANA, Calif. -- Jeff Gordon was close to NASCAR officials on Sunday night when there was vigorous debate about the race-worthiness of the California Speedway track, particularly after several crashes on the wet and weeping asphalt.

After a dismal showing during Speedweeks at Daytona, it's time for a Ford driver to stand up and make something happen.Matt Kenseth might do that in California this weekend.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- So just how strong is Dale Earnhardt Jr. here this week?Is he the driver to beat in Sunday's Daytona 500?NASCAR's season opener is shaping up as a head-to-head battle between Earnhardt and the rest of Rick Hendrick's powerful Chevrolet operation and Tony Stewart and the rest of Joe Gibbs' new-to-Toyota group.

Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart will drive in Sunday's Daytona 500 while on NASCAR probation for their Friday night altercation. How that affects what happens on the track remains to be seen.NASCAR officials vow to "redefine" probation this season.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ford teams have been conspicuously absent from all the NASCAR Speedweeks hoopla so far.Maybe they're sandbagging, not showing all they have, but so far it doesn't look as though Ford is bringing much to the Daytona 500 table.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans may be painted green and blue and white this season, instead of Bud red, but as Speedweeks kicks off, his huge fan base is finally cheering again, because their hero is finally winning again.Earnhardt's thrilling Shootout win against Tony Stewart on Saturday night was his first big win since Richmond in the spring of 2006.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Stock-car racing's finest faced one of their biggest challenges of SpeedWeeks Thursday, running the gauntlet during the sport's annual Daytona 500 Media Day.Some of them would rather face an angry Jimmy Spencer on the rampage than meet this pack of writers, photographers and TV types.

Patrick Carpentier is all smiles -- for the moment. He has a great deal, a full-time ride for the first time in a couple of years, with a top-notch NASCAR operation, the George Gillett-Ray Evernham Dodge operation. And he's having a blast.