Kyle Busch celebrated 12 wins with crew chief Steve Addington, including a comeback victory last year at Talladega Superspeedway.

It seemed like a lifetime ago, though, yesterday as Addington prepared for his final weekend with Busch. He'll call tomorrow's race at Talladega and then hand the job over to Dave Rogers in a firing that admittedly left Addington "pretty confused."

"Do I agree with it? No," Addington said. "But it is what it is, and I felt like we had a good run."

Busch said the decision was made by team owner Joe Gibbs and president J.D. Gibbs, and it was based on lack of consistency this season.

"It seems like we're either feast or famine -- we're either going to win the race or finish 30th," Busch said. "Some of that's my fault, some of that's just not having the right stuff for me."

Addington and Busch charged out of the gate at the start of the 2008 season. Busch moved to Joe Gibbs Racing after his firing from Hendrick Motorsports, and Addington got the job of trying to rein in NASCAR's wild child.

He made it look easy with immediate results. They almost won the season-opening Daytona 500, and did get their first win together three weeks later with a victory at Atlanta.

There were eight wins in all, and Busch led the points standings for 21 weeks. Although they faltered in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship -- Busch finished 10th after starting as the top seed -- the duo seemed to rebound at the start of this season.

Busch has four more wins this year, but the consistency was off and a summer slump cost him a spot in the Chase. Busch missed the final qualifying spot by just eight points.

Rogers, crew chief for JGR in the Nationwide Series, will replace Addington beginning next week at Texas.

Shock seemed to be the widespread feeling throughout the garage over Addington's ouster.

"I think it's tough with so many positive accomplishments to lose your job," said Alan Gustafson, who spent three seasons as Busch's crew chief at Hendrick. "Only time will tell if that's the right move, but I don't think it's fair for Steve. My opinion is he's done a good job."

NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger was required to take a breath test before yesterday's practice at Talladega Superspeedway after his arrest on a drunken driving charge. Allmendinger was arrested by Mooresville (N.C.) police early Thursday morning. He was placed on probation by NASCAR through the end of the season.

McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest time in yesterday's practice sessions for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kovalainen, who is expected to leave McLaren after tomorrow's race, set a time of 1 minute, 41.307 seconds around the new Yas Marina circuit, edging teammate Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths of a second. Brawn GP world champion Jenson Button was third fastest.

In team news, Timo Glock says he is likely to leave Toyota and join a new team for the 2010 season. The German driver, who is sitting out this weekend's season closer in Abu Dhabi because of a back injury, said yesterday he was yet to sign a deal with a new team. There has been recent speculation linking Glock to Renault. Glock had a 2010 option with Toyota, but the team was yet to commit becasue of its pursuit of other drivers and uncertainty over next season's budget.

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