Many people think that a NASCAR Sprint Cup race is about longevity, that the driver that’s able to just drive around comfortably and save his car has a better chance of making it to the finish line first. This certainly is just not the case, while managing your car and its resources is ultimately a major factor in determining the final standings in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup event certainly requires considerable more than just surviving the carnage that often takes place on a NASCAR track. In fact I would argue that with the advances in technology in all phases of car performance and durability that short of running into an immovable object and taking a chunk out of your car, trying to save your car is something that definitely isn’t as prevalent in today’s NASCAR.

This subject has been on my mind today because the 50^th edition of the longest race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series is taking place on Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Coca Cola 600 is considered one of the hardest races to win on the NASCAR Sprint Cup calendar and certainly distinguishes itself due to its singularity as the longest Sprint Cup event of the year. The Coca Cola 600 also illustrates beautifully how the most important element to a good finish in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race is actually a good pole position, a consistently fast and reliable car and maybe a slight brush by Lady Luck.

Ryan Newman - Image: Zuma Press

Ryan Newman sits in the pole position of Sunday’s Coca Cola 600, his eighth pole position in Sprint Cup competitions in a race he has never won, and one he knows that he’ll need more than the pole position to have a chance to win. This said he’s certainly won’t be giving up the pole position either, it still’s an advantage, but is only one parameter in the equation of winning in NASCAR. He will still have to contend with the weather, the other racers, who want to win as much as him and maybe more in some cases, and possibly Lady Luck frowning on him.

NASCAR is a different animal then it was fifteen years ago when the a driver like Jeff Burton first ran his first 600 mile race and is actually more of a sprint then you might think. The speed, intensity and physical endurance required to win a race like the Coca Cola 600 means winning requires greater mental and physical endurance from the drivers than it use too. The need to concentrate constantly to drive on the edge of disaster that the speeds of today’s NASCAR race cars achieve and the split second timing required to avoid disaster makes a NASCAR Sprint Cup race a drive along the edge of a tilted cliff at times.

Note: The Coca Cola 600 was postponed on Sunday due to rain and will run Monday at noon instead.

Image details: Coke Zero 400 served by picapp.com

With only eight races remaining until NASCAR sets the field for their Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2008, only 223 points separates 8th place Kasey Kahne from 18th place Kurt Busch in the points standings. While that may seem like a lot and perhaps too much to overcome for some, keep in mind that at this time last year, those two positions were separated by 416 points, and 18th place at that point time was consumed by Mark Martin, who was running a part-time schedule and had already missed five races. Something else to keep in mind, though, is that the only driver that sat outside the top-12 in points following the Pepsi 400 at Daytona last year and still went onto make the Chase was Kurt Busch, who then ranked 15th and sat 121 points behind then 12th place, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Now, after a very rocky start to his season, Busch is 18th in the standings and lags 191 points behind Tony Stewart for that 12th spot in the Chase. The bright side? Three weeks ago, Kurt left Sonoma in 23rd, but has since managed to put together a mini-rally for himself with a win at New Hampshire and then a fourth-place effort last week at Daytona. Now, the schedule appears to be headed in Kurt’s favor. Next week, the series will make a stop in Chicago where he has 5 top-ten’s in the seven races run at the track. Kurt also finished 11th or better last year in each of the seven races on the schedule following Chicago, picking up wins at Pocono and Michigan in the process.

Despite currently being “stuck” in 16th place, Brian Vickers is another driver on the move. Ever since the disappointing ending to his strong run at Lowe’s back in May when the wheel fell off of his car, Brian has put together a string of six consecutive finishes of 16th or better. Included in that span of races were 2 top-five finishes at Pocono and Michigan - both races that he had a shot to win late in the race - and, Chicago ranks as one of his better tracks. He has an average finish of 10.3 in three trips to Chicagoland, though he did fail to make the show here last year.

Both Busch and Vickers could be in an excellent position to capitalize on the misfortune of quite a few drivers ahead of them. Though Martin Truex Jr. currently sits 14th in the standings, his team is awaiting word from NASCAR this week as to the severity of the penalty that they will incur for the infractions that occurred prior the race in Daytona. Should Truex be hit with a penalty of 150 points or more - as many suspect he will be - that would immediately drop him down in 18th in the standings, giving him a very long road of recovery.

Just as encouraging for Busch and Vickers fans is the recent slump of Ryan Newman (17th) and Kevin Harvick (13th). Newman has picked up only one top-ten in the last 8 points races, and Harvick’s last top-ten came at Richmond all the way back on May 3rd, a big reason why both drivers have slipped outside of the top-12 in points in recent weeks. David Ragan (15th) could potentially be a threat in hindering either driver’s march towards the Chase, but many people feel that his inexperience is shown with the inconsistency of his finishes, and that will ultimately give the advantage to the other drivers looking to lock onto that spot.

There’s also opportunity for Vickers and Busch with some of the cars that currently reside in the Chase transfer spots. While Greg Biffle (11th) and Tony Stewart (12th) have been two of the most dominant cars on the track this season, they’ve also had arguably the worst luck of any of the drivers in the garage, and there teams could be ready to switch to survival mode at any moment now.

Clint Bowyer (10th) and Kasey Kahne (8th) could also be two of the wildcards in the race for the Chase. After a strong run through the first leg of the season, Bowyer’s progress got hindered somewhere along the way and he’s plummeted through the rankings. After winning at Richmond, he then hit a six-race skid where he failed to finish in the top-ten before rebounding in the past three weeks with a 4th at Infineon and then a 9th last week at Daytona. Meanwhile, Kasey Kahne has managed to save his season with 2 wins, 3 top-five’s, and 4 top-ten’s in the last 7 races, but he also finished 30th or worse in the other three events, proving that the inconsistency of his race team has not gone away completely.

In fact, the only driver currently 8th or worse in the standings that seems to be an inevitable lock for the Chase is the no. 17 team of Matt Kenseth, who is currently in 9th. Ten races into the season, Matt was all the way back in 22nd, and few people were giving him a legitimate shot at rebounding to make the Chase. Now, with 7 top-ten’s in the last 8 races, Matt has gained 14 spots in the standings and has the look of a bonafide championship contender.

But, the good news for Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers is that they don’t need ALL of the other drivers from 8th to 18th to hit a rough patch and hand their points over to them … but, it would certainly help.

NASCAR officials confiscated and impounded the no. 1 DEI Chevy driven by Martin Truex Jr. on Thursday afternoon when the car failed multiple attempts during the opening day inspections, as the roof failed to meet the inspection templates. The incident forced Truex to miss out on the first practice session after the team was unable to beat the roof into submission and NASCAR mandated that the team unload their backup car. Crew Chief, Kevin Manion, then decided to change the engine on the backup car, costing Martin valuable time on the track. Now, with rainy skies hovering over the Daytona infield, practice will be at a premium for this weekend’s Coke Zero 400, and there’s a very good chance that Truex will not have the opportunity to touch the track until the field is ready to qualify for the race.

“Somebody made a big mistake,” said Truex. “Shouldn’t happen in this level of auto racing, but people make mistakes. We’ll go on.”

Vice President of DEI, Johny Story, was less diplomatic about the situation. When asked about the situation, he replied, “The car fit our templates when they left the shop. Then they got down here, and apparently the greenhouse was too narrow for NASCAR’s liking. We worked on it as much as possible, but the more you work on it - well, basically we weren’t able to get it fixed.”

NASCAR is expected to examine the car at their R&D Center in Concord, NC sometime next week, and a decision as to whether or not any fines and penalties will be assessed are likely to be made at that time. This is the fourth time that NASCAR has impounded cars during opening day inspections since the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were each penalized 100 points, fined $100,000, and the Crew Chiefs were suspended for six weeks at Infineon Raceway last year for altered front fenders. Robby Gordon was then caught with an illegal nose cover prior to the Daytona 500 this year, but he appealed the penalty, and lost no points as a result. The Haas CNC Racing cars of Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter were impounded by NASCAR at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May for wing-mount violations, and each of those drivers were penalized 150 driver points.

Truex is currently 14th in the points standings and sits only 71 points behind 12th place, Kevin Harvick. A penalty of 100 or 150 points would drop him to 18th in the standings as they sit now, not to mention that the points he accrues in the Coke Zero 400 will likely suffer as well as a result of a lack of track time.

Okay, so they’re actually pretty good friends and probably the furthest thing from being rivals with one another, but still. It’s pretty abnormal for Smoke to run this deep into the season without a Sprint Cup win to show for it, but so far in 2008, he’s managed to do just that. Of course, the racing Gods haven’t really seemed to help Stewart out much in that department, either. What … a pit road speeding violation during the last round of stops at Pocono … the cut tire at Charlotte … the late race wreck at Talladega … the mid-race wreck at Vegas … and, of course, the last lap pass at Daytona … all races that Stewart could have won - but, didn’t.

But, wait … I believe there’s two more, the most recent of which came this past Sunday at Infineon Raceway at the Toyota Save/Mart 350. With only a small handful of laps remaining and Stewart 2nd and Kevin Harvick in 4th, Harvick got into the turn to fast and clipped the no. 26 Ford of Jamie McMurray. McMurray then got into Stewart, once again taking a winning opportunity out of Smoke’s hands, though he did somehow manage to come back for a top-ten finish.

That wasn’t the first time that Harvick took the race out of Harvick’s hands this year, though. When the series ran at Bristol back in March, Harvick was racing Stewart for 2nd place in the last five laps of the race when Harvick got down on the apron going through turn 2, and he climbed up the track and got into Tony, sending him from 2nd to 14th just like that.

Despite attempts from the media, Stewart refused to show any angst towards Harvick following the incident at Sonoma this past Sunday, and all indications are that the two are still on good terms. But, of course, anytime they feel that their friendship has hit a rough patch, I’m sure Kevin will be more than willing to wax Tony again. Eeeewww.

David Gilliland almost got it done on Sunday at Sonoma, and we’ve seen a few impressive runs from unlikely candidates earlier in the year. But, following up on a 2007 that brought us a handful of first-time winners in the Cup Series, I find it surprising that we’ve yet to have even one this season. So, it got me to thinking, that’s led us to this week’s “List of the Week”, in which I will rank the five likeliest candidates currently driving in the Cup Series to become the next first-time winner:

5. David Reutimann - Running in his second full-time season for Michael Waltrip Racing, Reutimann still lacks the consistency that it takes to win in this sport. However, he does seem mature and poised enough to strike at any time. His best run to-date was 10th this past May at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

4. David Gilliland - Gilliland took over the no. 38 car at Yates Racing with high expectations, but those have yet to come to fruition. In his third full season in the Cup Series, David has amassed only 2 top-five’s and 4 top-ten’s, but his unexpected 2nd place run last weekend at Infineon could re-energize this team.

3. AJ Allmendinger - In his two seasons in Cup, he’s failed to qualify for almost as many races as he’s run, and it was beginning to look as though the kid didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell for success at NASCAR’s premier level. But, when Team Red Bull replaced AJ with veteran Mike Skinner inside the no. 84 machine earlier this season, it seems to have paid dividends, and Allmendinger has since responded with some very stout runs, though the finishes haven’t necessarly been indicative of such good runs.

2. Travis Kvapil - He’s had a rough go of it in his quest to become a Cup Series regular, and things haven’t gotten much easier as he and Yates Racing struggle on a weekly basis to attain sponsorship for the no. 28 car. Yet, here they sit with 3 top-ten finishes on the season, and they’re 18th in points. Travis has handled himself well on a variety of tracks, and could be ready to strike at any moment.

1. David Ragan - Most people didn’t expect Ragan to improve as quickly as he has, but he’s been knocking on the doorsteps of the Chase field nearly all season long, and has run surprisingly well at many points during the season. He has 2 top-five’s and 4 top-ten’s on the season, but perhaps most impressive is his 9 top-15’s. His no. 6 team has helped him build a model of consistency week in and week out, and it will eventually payoff with some trips to Victory Lane.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Welcome everyone to yet another rendition of your favorite weekend blogging series.  I’m joined here by Bruce Simmons from Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces, and the infamous Charlie Turner from On Pit Row for our weekly rendition of “Loose in Turn Three”.

This week here at Do You NASCAR, we’re going to determine what effect - if any - the big penalties handed out by NASCAR to Haas CNC Racing will have on Tony Stewart’s future in the sport. Over at the Bits & Pieces, with Pocono now in the rearview mirror (temporarily), we talk about whether it’s time for them to repave the track, and On Pit Row, Charlie poses an interesting potential solution to reviving some of the races at the “less popular” tracks.

So, sit back and buckle up tight. Three questions, three voices, and three different answer … we’re about to get Loose in Turn Three!

Assuming that he was seriously contemplating the move, do the recent penalties awarded to Haas CNC Racing deter Tony Stewart from pursuing future ownership with that organization?

TZ: I really think it does. Granted, Stewart’s highly regarded as a guy that can drive the wheels off virtually anything, but we’re seeing a trend in NASCAR where drivers’ careers seem to be tapering off at an earlier age than they had in the past. With Joe Gibbs Racing - or really any top-tier team - Stewart can still contend for championships, but it would be a real challenge for him to find a high level of success with any below average team, just as it would be difficult for any driver. He can find ownership otpions with a number of organizations, so with the financial blow that the team’s just been dealt with - not to mention a tarnished image - I just don’t see this as an appealing offer for Smoke anymore.

Bruce:  I don’t think a little thing as a fine / penalty would deter anyone if they were serious about a perspective team.  A plan is a plan, regardless.  As far as a tarnished image, any press is good press, so it would be a turn-around fairy tale story if Tony went there.  It would be an incredible “human-adversity” story the media would eat up.  Would he really go there?  Probably not.  It’s not an impossibility.  Look at when Mark Martin went to the 01 car.  It was a total surprise that they put him up at the front more than anyone ever expected.  But I can’t see him going to Haas.  He’s said in the past that he’s going to finish out his career at Gibbs.  Now we’ll see if that was just company talk or real loyalty.

Charlie:  If none of those Haas cars are in the top thirty five in owner’s points at season’s end - and with the penalties, they probably won’t be - then the Haas CNC team is worth much less than it was when both cars were top thirty five. That might be a key reason for Stewart to put on the brakes in a purchase bid. The fact that the Haas team tried to push the rules won’t - in itself - be a negative. That’s the job of the crew chief - get an edge where ever you can. The owner’s concerns are not necessarily the same. You need some cars in the top thirty five.

Follow the rest of this discussion:
- If NASCAR retains two races at the facility, (And I don’t see why they won’t) do you think the track management should at least repave the track or is there something they can do to change up the action?

- Would requiring race tracks that host multiple races, to have different race lengths for each race resolve the complaints of those who want to take races away from the Poconos and Californias?

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Image details: Coca-Cola 600 Practice served by picapp.com

The NASCAR Commission announced on Tuesday their ruling on the appeal from Haas CNC Racing and their decision to uphold the penalties handed out for violations incurred at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Coca Cola 600. During practice for the race, NASCAR officials confiscated both of the team’s cars - the #66 driven by Scott Riggs and the #70, which at the time was driven by Johnny Sauter - for violations of the upper rear wing mounting points.

NASCAR docked both drivers 150 driver points and car owners, Jack Custer and Margaret Haas, 150 owner points. They also suspended both Crew Chiefs, Bootie Barker and David Skog, as well as both Car Chiefs for the duration of six races and fined each Crew Chief $100,000. NASCAR has also kept both of the cars that they confiscated at Lowe’s and has sent them to their R&D Center in Concord, NC.

Haas CNC was not appealing the infractions themselves, but rather the severity of the penalties, which is regarded as the most severe penalties in the history of the sport. It has been a trend in NASCAR over the past two seasons that they continue to hand out stiffer and stiffer fines and penalties the more teams continue to get caught with such infractions, particularly pertaining to any alterations to the body of the car itself, which is something NASCAR was very adament about when they first launched the Car of Tomorrow program. This should send a loud and clear message to the teams in the NASCAR garage area, and it’s not likely that we’ll see Haas CNC making any further alterations anytime soon.

We all know that Joe Gibbs Racing has established themselves as the powerhouse of the field at this point in time. We know that Roush-Fenway Racing has come a long way in figuring out this new car and that Hendrick Motorsports seems to have lost the edge that they had on everyone else last year. We’ve analyzed potential contractual signings every which way we could, and still found ourselves locked in a guessing game. Been there, done that, but perhaps one of the stories that we haven’t talked nearly enough about are two teams that are holding out hope of getting a driver into contention for the Chase for the Cup for the first time in their team’s history, and another that hasn’t fielded a Chase contender since 2004.

Once considered one of the top organizations in NASCAR, Yates Racing last visited Victory Lane back in the Fall of 2005 when Dale Jarrett drove the no. 88 car to a win at Talladega and the last time they were able to land a driver inside the top-12 in points was with Elliott Sadler back in ‘04. Since those days, the team has gone through a horrendous rebuilding stage and continue to struggle week in and week out to find primary sponsorship of their cars driven by Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland. Both are highly regarded as “underdogs” every Sunday when the series hits the track, and both have failed to land a top-five finish all season long. Still, they’ve continued to push forward, and have managed to turn a few heads along the way, particularly Kvapil. Coming into the season as a driver that nobody really paid much attention to, Travis admittedly got off to a rather slow start. But, something seems to have clicked within this team ever since a solid run at Phoenix turned sour and he finished 22nd. After that race, Kvapil sat 24th in points, but four finishes of 16th or better in the last six races - highlighted with a 6th place run at Talladega and an 8th place run in Darlington - have now moved Travis up six spots in the standings. He’s now 18th in points and trails 12th place, Tony Stewart, by only 150 points.

Red Bull Racing has been the team that quite a few people have been talking about as of late. With Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger behind the wheel for the organization, the team managed to qualify for only 40 races in a combined 72 attempts in their inaugural season in 2007. Coming into the season with both cars outside of the top-35 in points and forced to qualify on time, Allmendinger again missed out on the first three events of ‘08 before being replaced temporarily by veteran driver, Mike Skinner. Despite failing to finish inside of the top-25 in any of the five races that Skinner filled in, the move appears to have paid dividends. AJ has been able to take what he’s learned from Skinner and put it to good use on the track, first winning the All-Star Showdown at Lowe’s to make the cut for the All-Star event itself, and then scoring a career best 12th place finish last week at Pocono. Still, the focus of the media on this team has been placed with Brian Vickers, who appears to be on the verge of scoring the second Cup victory of his career. After a disappointing 2007 that brought him only 1 top-five and 5 top-ten’s, Vickers has been impressive on several occassions this year, though it may not always show up in the results column. He’s been strong on all of the superspeedways, but the team really started to turn heads when they established themselves as one of the dominant cars in the Coca Cola 600 before an equipment failure ended their day. Since then he’s bounced back with a 13th place effort at Dover and finished 2nd last week at Pocono. Brian has now moved up to 17th place overall and trails 12th by a mere 112 points.

Rounding out the list of underdogs making a charge towards the Chase is non-other than Petty Enterprises. Despite the fact that this team has more wins than any other organization in the history of the sport and a slieu of championships from when “the King” himself, Richard Petty, drove the car, the company hasn’t celebrated a win since 1999 when John Andretti won at Martinsville, and the closest they’ve come to a bid for the Chase was an 18th place finish in the standings last year from Bobby LaBonte. Now, nobody’s really sure who will drive the no. 45 car next year as Kyle Petty, Chad McCumbee, and Terry LaBonte have all failed to do much with the ride, but Bobby continues to press forward. Though he’s failed to score a top-ten all season long, he does have seven top-15’s and has gone the entire year without a DNF, something that has hindered the team in recent years. Additionally, he’s got six finishes of 18th or better in the last eight races, which started with a 12th place run at Phoenix, and LaBonte now resides in 19th in the standings, trailing his former Gibbs teammate in 12th by 159 points.

As many of the drivers in the top-12 continue to experience their share of misfortunes as they bounce back and forth between the bubble spots, this could be a prime opportunity for one of these teams to capitalize. But, with the recent emergance of guys like David Ragan, the resurgance of Matt Kenseth, and other perrenial Chase hopefuls such as Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr. standing between them as well, the guys currently in the top-12 may not be all they’ll have to contend with.

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Which driver in these 3 organizations will be the first to score their first / next win?
2. Are consistent top-15 and top-20 runs going to be enough to land a driver in the Chase field?
3. Which of these teams has made the best organizational move(s) in the last 2 years?
4. Will any of these 3 teams get a driver into the 2008 Chase? If so, who?

*Credit photos to Newscom.

Image details: Best Buy 400 served by picapp.com

For many viewers, about the only real excitement during Sunday’s Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway came on lap 18 of the 400 lap event when Elliott Sadler - in an effort to clear the lapped car of Jeremy Mayfield - slid down the track and clipped the nose of David Gilliland, setting off a chain reaction that collected a total of twelve cars. Included in the accident were six drivers that entered the day in the top-12 in points, including Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Tony Stewart. As fate would have it, none of these drivers fell out of the top-12, but there was quite a bit of shakeup in the points themselves, nonetheless.

For Stewart, it marked the second time in just three races that his car had been in an accident that also involved Sadler, the first of which came on the second lap of the Dodge Challenger 500 a few weeks ago at Darlington. In that event, Sadler’s car bobbled getting into Turn 2 and got into Stewart, knocking the toe of Tony’s car in the process. While Sadler was forced to retire to the garage, Stewart found himself two laps down. Despite being able to repair the car enough to give Smoke the fastest car on the track by the end of the race, he was never able to get back onto the lead lap, and thus was forced to settle with a 21st place finish.

Following the race this past Sunday, Stewart sarcastically assumed responsibility for the accident, stating, “If I’m within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen. It’s my fault. I hit him. When I hit him, it caused all the guys behind us to wreck. So, it’s my fault.”

Stewart has been on the receiving end of a lot of bad luck this season, which also includes a cut tire on the final lap of the Coca Cola 600 that robbed him of his first win of the season, and he’s now dropped to 11th in points, just 35 points ahead of 13th place, David Ragan. But, as Smoke fans already know, not only is it now officially “his time of the year,” but Stewart also has a habit of performing better when he adds a bit of attitude to his walk. A short little feud with Sadler could be the ticket.

Image details: Dodge Challenger 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

A few weeks ago following the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond, things were beginning to look a little grim for car owner, Jack Roush. Ten races into the season, and only two of his five drivers were sitting inside the top-12 in points, though at the time both Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards were less than 120 points away from a potential slip to 13th in the standings. David Ragan was in 14th, Matt Kenseth in 22nd, and Jamie McMurray a very distant 26th. What’s happened since then? Well, things have gotten better to say the least. Biffle and Edwards have solidified their stance inside the Chase field; Ragan and Kenseth still have a good fighting chance to crack the top-12; and Jamie McMurray has evaded the danger zone of falling outside of the top-35 in owners points, and now sits in 22nd.

Matt Kenseth has seen perhaps the most drastic improvement. After scoring only four top-ten finishes through the first ten races of the season, Kenseth has answered back by firing off three consecutive finishes of 7th or better at Darlington, Charlotte, and most recently, Dover, where he earned his first top-five since Fontana two weeks into the season. While Matt still lags back in 16th in the points standings, he’s closed the points gap significantly and now trails 12th place Kasey Kahne by a mere 95 points.

Trailing the points leaders at this point in the season is by no means new territory for the man affectionately referred to as “Weasel”. In 2005 - two years after winning the Cup Championship - Kenseth sat 22nd in points after the first thirteen races. At that time, the Chase field consisted of only the top-ten drivers, and Matt trailed 10th place by a distant 278 points. He would not be denied, however, as he rattled off 9 top-ten finishes throughout the next 13 races and entered the Chase for the Cup 8th in points. He finished the year in 7th, but many Kenseth fans still tout that season as a victory nonetheless.

Since entering the Cup Series full-time in 2000, Kenseth has finished outside of the top-12 in points only during his first two seasons. Since then, he has finished no worse than 8th in the standings, and won the championship for Roush in 2003 - as well as finishing runner-up for the title to Jimmie Johnson in ‘06.

Up until this year, Kenseth had known only one crew chief - Robby Reiser - who had been with Matt during his entire NASCAR career. Robbie has since been promoted within the Roush organization, and Matt found himself struggling with his new Crew Chief, Chip Bolin. Things appear to be coming together at this point, though, and Kenseth could very well be on his way to keeping his Chase streak alive.

Kenseth has long been known as the type of driver that can turn a bad situation into a good one without anyone ever seeing it coming, and that’s exactly what we could be looking at from the no. 17 team this season. Since 2005, in races number 14 through 26 on the schedule (39 races in all over the past 3 years), Kenseth has tallied 3 wins, 13 top-five’s, and 23 top-ten’s, and has a 12.15 average finish over the course of those races. If he can hold true to form, there should be plenty of time left for Kenseth to “weasel” his way back into Chase contention.