A new career track

LOUDON, N.H. -- Yesterday morning, for the first time in a long time, Robbie Loomis strolled the garage at New Hampshire International Speedway wearing a brown shirt instead of his DuPont uniform.

Loomis was serving his first weekend as a consultant to Hendrick Motorsports instead of as Jeff Gordon's full-time crew chief. Loomis signed with Petty Enterprises Wednesday to become its executive vice president of race operations, allowing Steve Letarte to take over his old job as crew chief on the No. 24 team.

''It hurt. It hurt tremendously," Loomis said about leaving the No. 24 team without qualifying for the Chase for the Nextel Cup. ''It's one of those situations where you'd love for it to be a storybook ending, you win the championship and you walk off into the sunset."

Loomis, who will be helping Jimmie Johnson for the rest of the season, will work with the Petty crew chiefs in his new position. The organization has struggled recently and didn't come close to placing any of its cars in the Chase.

Yesterday, Rusty Wallace said Gordon has always relied heavily on his crew chiefs, and when those relationships waver, the four-time champion's performance tails off. Loomis confirmed that Gordon was not at fault for the car's shortcomings this season.

''Jeff Gordon is one of the greatest drivers out there, and so is Jimmie Johnson," Loomis said. ''It'll show in these final 10 races. I was struggling with a lot of decisions that were going on with me that weren't fair to Hendrick Motorsports or the team. I think now you're going to see a reenergized DuPont race team."

NASCAR's new face

He's young, handsome, and polished enough to survive ''The Gong Show," Roush Racing's annual contest to find rising drivers to fill its rides in the Craftsman Truck Series. On Thursday, rookie truck driver Todd Kluever, currently 15th in the points standings, became the latest driver in NASCAR's youth movement to continue an upward trajectory, as Roush promoted him to a full-time Busch Series ride next season. The 27-year-old said he did not have a car number or sponsor yet.

''I'm ready," Kluever said yesterday. ''I'll go there and get more experience."

While Cup veterans such as Wallace have questioned why teams have embraced the youth movement, Kluever's promotion to a Busch car confirms that the trend will continue. Sponsors such as Shell ROTELLA T, which will run the paint scheme on Kluever's No. 50 truck in today's Sylvania 200, are eating up young drivers.

Kluever is following in the footsteps of Roush employees Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, and Carl Edwards, all former truck drivers who have since graduated to Nextel Cup -- and qualified for this year's Chase. If plans don't change, Busch will leave the No. 97 at the end of 2006 for Penske Racing South's No. 2 car, perhaps making Kluever a candidate to become Roush's fifth Cup driver.

Sweet sweep

Ted Christopher won the Busch North Sylvania 125 in the first race of the afternoon yesterday. Several hours later, in the Whelen Modified Sylvania 100, Christopher pulled off the sweep by claiming his second checkered flag of the day.

''It's quite an accomplishment," Christopher said.

A mist descended on NHIS, cutting the Sylvania 125 six laps short and giving Christopher the win under caution. The moisture, however, did nothing to douse the hot tempers that flared after the race. Third-place Ryan Moore thought Christopher was driving too hard, wedging into holes too narrow for the car to negotiate.

''I'm sick of watching him race people the way he does," said Moore. ''I just think it's wrong."

Christopher had a succinct response: ''[Expletive] him."

In the Sylvania 100, Christopher beat Mike Stefanik to the finish line by 0.207 seconds. Veteran Todd Bodine, who is racing in today's Sylvania 200, drove the No. 75 in the race and finished 28th. He last drove a Modified car in 1985.

Failing grade

The Chevrolet of Brian Vickers failed inspection yesterday and the No. 25 team forfeited the car. Vickers missed most of practice as his team prepared his backup car. ''We learned of a measurement issue during the inspection process and made attempts to correct it," said Hendrick vice president of development Doug Duchardt. ''But after several tries, we decided to forfeit the car and go with our backup." . . . Wallace was the fastest driver in the afternoon practice. He ran his best lap at 130.765 miles per hour. Edwards was the slowest of the 10 Chase drivers, clocking a fast lap of 127.282 m.p.h. . . . Richard Childress reiterated yesterday that Kevin Harvick will return next year to drive the No. 29 Chevrolet. Harvick's contract expires at the end of 2006.