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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.

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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.

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Dario Franchitti, driver of the no. 40 Target car for Chip Ganassi Racing, returned to the track on Tuesday for the first time since incurring his ankle injury a month ago at Talladega. Dario was on-hand for NASCAR’s test session at Pocono Raceway in preparation for the upcoming Pocono 500 two weeks from now which the husband of movie star, Ashley Judd, plans to participate in.

Since the injury to Franchitti back on April 26th in the Nationwide’s Aaron’s 312, car owner, Chip Ganassi, has used an extended list of contacts to keep the seat of the no. 40 car filled for the interim. Ganassi turned to Penske Racing’s test driver, David Stremme, for the Cup race at Talladega, and then Ken Schrader for Richmond, and then most recently, former Ganassi driver, Sterling Marlin, at Darlington and last weekend at Lowe’s. The team failed to qualify for the Dan Lowry 400 in Richmond, and posted an average finish of just 31.0 in the other three events.

Though Franchitti is considering possibly competing in this weekend’s Nationwide race at Dover, the Heluva Good! 200, Ganassi plans to run Jeremy Mayfield in the car for Sunday’s Cup race. Mayfield has been out of a ride since his release from Haas CNC Racing earlier in the season, and many people feel that he has just about run out of anymore good potential opportunities for the future. After touring with the soldiers in Iraq for 12 days earlier in the month, Mayfield now must concentrate on putting together a solid run this weekend if he hopes to have a shot at landing a solid ride for 2009.

NASCAR’s Worst Tracks:
5. Pocono Raceway
4. New Hampshire International Raceway
3. Auto Club Speedway
2. Michigan International Speedway
1. Texas Motor Speedway

NASCAR’s Best Tracks:
5. Richmond International Raceway
4. Daytona International Speedway
3. Lowe’s Motor Speedway
2. Chicagoland Speedway
1. Bristol Motor Speedway

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For the third time in this NASCAR season - or, for the third time in the past month, for that matter - Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the no. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge Charger, will hear a different voice over the team radio during the race this weekend. After playing a round of Charity golf with Montoya on Monday, by Tuesday afternoon Jimmy Elledge had received the official word from Ganassi Racing that his tenure with the race team was over and that he was being released.

Elledge started the season off as the Crew Chief for the no. 41 team piloted by Reed Sorenson, but the team has been in the danger zone of slipping outside of the top-35 in owners points all season long, so Ganassi decided to swap Crew Chiefs between the two teams, sending Elledge to Montoya’s team, ending the relationship between he and Donnie Wingo, who had served at the helm for JPM ever since Montoya made his break into the NASCAR ranks.

Elledge’s time working with Montoya has lasted the course of only three points races, which included a second place run at Talladega, but nothing noteworthy since then. With Elledge’s departure from the team, Ganassi has now named Brian Pattie as the interim crew chief for the no. 42 team until a permanent replacement is found.

Pattie has been with the organization since 2004 when he served as the Crew Chief for Reed Sorenson in the Nationwide Series. He also worked with Montoya in the Nationwide Series last year during his rookie season, and will now take his first swing at the Cup level beginning with the Coca Cola 600 this upcoming weekend. Montoya recently dropped out of the top-12 in the standings after a dismal run at Richmond, and has now fallen all the way down to 16th. The team will be hoping for an immediate connection between driver and chief, because too much more inter-team turmoil could quickly end Montoya’s bid for his first cut in the Chase for the Sprint Cup field.

With all of the controversy that Kyle Busch has managed to cause already this year due to his reckless on-track behavior, I thought it would only be fitting to compile a list of his most shining moments … or, rather, his top-ten wrecks. Enjoy!

10. Busch gets spun by Jeff Burton at the finish line as they race for the win at the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2007.

9. Kyle Busch sets off “the big one” in the 2006 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega.

8. Richmond wasn’t the first time that Kyle Busch has been involved in an accident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Here they make contact on pit road during the Ford 400 in 2007 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

7. Kyle is involved in another “big one” at Talladega Superspeedway, this time during the 2007 UAW-Ford 500.

6. Kyle Busch and Mike Skinner get into it at the Craftsman Truck Series’ opening event in 2008, the Camping World 300, at Daytona International Speedway.

5. In the closing laps of the Craftsman Truck Series’ Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway, Kyle plows into Johnny Benson as they race for third place.

4. Kyle’s involved in a horrific accident in the 2007 Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway, in which his Nationwide car performs several barrel rolls.

3. Kyle Busch was already quickly approaching notoriety status with the NASCAR fans, but here’s the one that pushed him over the top. Watch again, as Kyle battles Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead in the closing laps of the 2008 Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

2. Kyle gets into his older brother, Kurt, while racing him for the lead at the 2007 All-Star Race. Neither of the brothers appeared to take it personally, and Kurt even makes some witty comments following the race to make light of the situation.

1. Saving the best for last … at the 2006 NASCAR Awards Banquet held in New York City, Kyle Busch was giving his “thank you” speech – and, actually called his girlfriend by the wrong name. You’ll love this!

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Richard Childress Racing has announced that their brand new number 33 team - not scheduled to go full-time until the 2009 season - will be fielded in the running of the Coca Cola 600 two weeks from now at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and that NASCAR veteran driver, Ken Schrader, will attempt to qualify the car for the event.

Schrader was left without a full-time ride when, earlier in the season, BAM Racing announced that they would be taking a sabattical from the sport until the Fall due to sponsorship woes. Since then, Schrader ran the no. 70 Chevrolet for Haas CNC Racing to a 42nd place finish at Talladega, and failed to qualify the no. 40 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing two weeks ago at Richmond.

Schrader has run in four races this year, with a season-best finish of 21st back in March at Las Vegas and currently sits 47th in points. In his 44 career starts at Lowe’s, he has accumulated a win, 6 top-five’s, and 13 top-ten finishes. The most recent top-ten finish in Schrader’s career was a 7th place finish in the Fall of 2006 at Richmond.

One has to wonder if: a) There could be a potential matchup between Schrader and RCR for Childress’ fourth team in 2009, and b) Schrader can piece together some decent runs with solid equipment beneath him.

The wreck between Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. last Saturday at Richmond has gotten the entire NASCAR Nation talking, even Ryan Newman - Penske Racing teammate to Kyle’s older brother, Kurt. According to a post made on Kurt Busch’s fan forum, Newman had this to say about Kyle:

“What I think is Kyle Busch ran out of talent. Junior left him room, and Kyle turned him around. Kyle said it was good, hard racing, but good, hard racing doesn’t require you to spin somebody out.

He apologized afterwards, and that’s pretty much it. But, it’s funny, when that happens to Kyle, he sure is Mr. Tough Guy.

When something like that happens, my reaction depends on who it is and what’s going on in the race. You can play it different ways. Sometimes you cut people more slack, sometimes you don’t. It’s a give and take.”

Hmmm. Wonder how Newman’s good friend and teammate, Kurt Busch, feels about the strong words regarding his little brother? I don’t want to read too much into it, but with all the other small kinks that’ve gone on between Newman and the Penske organization this year, you have to wonder if this might add anything to it.

In Other News:
- Tony Stewart recently visited Indianapolis Motor Speedway to help promote a Chevrolet event. While there, he was asked about his desire to win the Indy 500. He responded by saying that the passion is still there, but if he ever does get back inside an IndyCar, it would be a long way down the road due to several other commitments on the NASCAR side of things. He also responded to another question concerning his continued involvement with Chevy with his other race teams, and he re-attested the fact that he is in no way unhappy driving a Toyota in the Cup Series.

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Sprint Cup Series driver, Ryan Newman, started the 2008 season off in grand fashion by winning the race of all races, the Daytona 500. Things couldn’t be better for Newman at the time. He was leading the Sprint Cup standings for the first time in his career, he’d bolstered the public perception of how well he and teammate, Kurt Busch, could work together after Busch gave him that huge push to win the race, and he’d forever solidified his name in the walls of Penske Racing by giving Roger his first-ever restrictor plate win.

Newman followed up his big win with a 10th place run the following week in Fontana, CA during the Auto Club 500, but things started to turn south real quick after that for the driver that fans once highly regarded as “Flyin” Ryan. Following that race, Newman then embarked on a string of four consecutive races outside the top-ten, including a 33rd place finish at Bristol thanks to mechanical issues.

Things have since started to turn back around for Newman, though. He’s currently pieced together three top-ten finishes in his last four starts, and would probably have four straight if not for another engine failure at Phoenix that caused him to finish dead last. After once looking as though he might slip outside of the top-12 in points, he remains in 11th place with a 56 point cushion between he and 13th place Jeff Gordon, and after ten races, he has been within the Chase field for the entire season now. Looking forward, the immediate future is looking bright for Newman, as he boasts the fourth best driver rating at Darlington according to racingone.com, and has an overall average finish there of 5th place.

It should also be noted that this is a pivotal year in the career of Newman, for both he and Penske Racing. Newman’s contract is up following the 2008 season, and if he fails to resign by the end of the season, he could potentially leave his name out there as the hottest free agent on the market. In the two years prior to ‘08, Newman compiled zero wins and finished outside of the top-12 both years.

In Other News:
- Roush Racing is looking more and more like they will be heading into 2009 with the same driver lineup as they entered this season with, despite having two of their biggest contracts expire at the end of the season. Carl Edwards, who currently leads the Cup Series in victories this year, recently inked a deal with Roush that will keep him with the organization for another three years, reported to be worth approximately $6 million a year. Greg Biffle’s contract is also up after this season, but continues to report that he’s 99% confident that a return to Roush-Fenway Racing is eminent, and that he has not yet begun fielding offers from any other race teams.

- It was recently reported widely across the internet that Bobby LaBonte signed a deal over the weekend with his current team, Petty Enterprises, that will lock up the driver of the no. 43 Dodge with the organization for the remainder of his career. The news came after Richard Childress Racing announced the formation of a fourth race team next season and that they had already signed General Mills to be their sponsor in 2009, and speculation immediately ran rampant that LaBonte would later be announced as the team’s driver. In response to the news of him resigning with Petty, LaBonte told the media Saturday in Richmond prior to the race that, “Unless you’ve heard it from me, it’s probably not true.” To that, there is still no official word as to whether or not these rumors hold true.

Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 served by picapp.com

Incase some of you may have forgotten already, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch were not the only two drivers involved in an emotion-filled accident this past Saturday night in Richmond. As you might recall, back on lap 352 of the Dan Lowry 400, Casey Mears clipped the side of Michael Waltrip’s no. 55 NAPA Autoparts Toyota Camry, knocking him into the wall and giving the car considerable damage. As retaliation, Waltrip kept driving and immediately clung to the back of Mears’ car, giving him an extra bit of a push down the track. Without hesitation, NASCAR immediately ordered Waltrip to park his car for the 48 remaining laps, an order that Waltrip was receiving for the first time in his professional racing career.

Both drivers were on-hand for Monday’s testing session at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (follow the link for a report on the testing session), and neither driver appeared to be carrying the extra weight of ill feelings over the mishap. Mears claimed that for him it was simply a breakdown in communication between he and his spotter that initiated the accident, and that he simply had no idea that the 55 car was there.

Waltrip stated, “It was just an accident, and Casey’s a good dude. I know he didn’t do it on purpose, and sometimes when somebody does something that I viewed as being pretty stupid, that will make you madder than if someone did something on purpose … I lost my cool for a split second and ran into the back of him.”

NASCAR stated that no additional penalties or fines will be given to Waltrip for his reckless behavior.

For more on this story, go read:
NASCAR’s Waltrip, Mears Make Nice After Richmond Wreck over at the Herald Net and Richmond’s Two Other Controversies over at NASCAR Ranting and Raving

In Other News:
- After dominating the first 381 laps of the Dan Lowry 400, Denny Hamlin suffered grave misfortunes when he felt a tire starting to go down. As a result, Denny limped his no. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the track for a few more laps before finally deciding to park it in the middle of turns three and four. Hamlin’s decision to stop his car on the track and intentionally draw the caution flag also managed to draw the wrath of NASCAR, to which they handed down a two-lap penalty to Hamlin. Following the race, NASCAR stated that the black flag on the 11 team was sufficient penalty, and that they, too, would not be the recipient of any further fines or penalties.

- NASCAR’s most popular star, Dale Earnhardt Jr, was recently offered a check for $100,000 from Texas Motor Speedway track owner, Eddie Gossage, to compete in the IndyCar Series race at Texas on June 7th.  When asked about the offer from the media, Junior responded by sarcastically stating, “Well, he thinks I’m a cheap date, I guess.” Gossage apparently hasn’t taken Earnhardt’s response as a direct no, and is apparently still pursuing the notion of getting Earnhardt to compete in the race.