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There’s only 6 races to go before we make it to Richmond, and then, after that 7th race is over, we’ll know once and for all who’s in and who’s out of the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Historically speaking - since they first turned to the Chase format a few years ago - those who were in at this point in the season have typically stayed in, and those who were out have typically stayed out ….. but, this season could be one that breaks all the rules. While I think it’s safe to assume that Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon - the top-six in points - are all in, I can’t speak of spots 7 through 12 with the same level of certainty. Only 133 points separates 7th place Greg Biffle from 15th place David Ragan, and only 245 points separates 12th place Denny Hamlin to 18th place Kurt Busch.

That means that there’s six teams currently sitting outside of the Chase that I still believe it’s too early to count out of it, and that gives you 12 teams vying for those final 6 spots. That, of course, is the inspiration for this week’s “List of the Week”. Here’s who I say makes in 7th through 12th by the end of Richmond:

(*Note - I’m not going to move anyone out of the top-six any higher than sixth heading into the Chase, though I think they will be)

7th - Matt Kenseth
8th - Tony Stewart
9th - Greg Biffle
10th - Kevin Harvick
11th - Brian Vickers
12th - Clint Bowyer

This puts both Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin out of the top-12 where both currently sit, and also shuts the door on David Ragan, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr, and Kurt Busch.

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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.

If you talked to most race fans last week, you probably didn’t pickup on a ton of excitement heading into this weekend’s action. The Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck Series were both heading to Michigan, and the Nationwide Series was set to take to Kentucky Speedway … two tracks that probably don’t rank up there on most fans’ list of favorites. Yet, somehow, someway, NASCAR is coming off of one of its most historic weekends in recent memory.

It all started with the Truck Series’ Cool City Customs 200 on Saturday afternoon. With a late race caution bunching the field up with just six laps left, Johnny Benson tried to rundown Erik Darnell for the win. It proved to be futile, as Darnell escaped with the win, but Benson was edged by just 0.005 seconds at the finish line - the closest winning margin in the history of the Craftsman Truck Series (or, at least since they began using electronic scoring in the 90’s). The win was the second in Darnell’s career.

The next big moment came at the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway, when the young Joey Logano - in only his third career Nationwide Series start - became the youngest winner in series history at just 18 years, 21 days old. The victory also gave Joe Gibbs Racing their tenth win of the season in the Nationwide Series (15th overall between the NNS & Cup Series), and many non-believers are now beginning to believe in the youngster’s talent and potential future in the sport. His nickname “Sliced Bread” is becoming to appear more and more appropriate.

NASCAR then topped off their big weekend as Dale Earnhardt Jr. used fuel strategy to overcome a largely anticipated Roush-Fenway Racing victory in the Lifelock 400 at Michigan. Roush had won 6 of the last 12 events held at MIS, and appeared to be in position for another with Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards looking very strong late in the race. In the end, though, it was Dale Jr. reaching Victory Lane for the first time in 76 races. Perhaps most impressive about the victory was the fact that it didn’t come at the track that people expected it to. Earlier in the season everyone had predicted Earnhardt to win at tracks that he’d enjoyed tremendous success at in the past such as Daytona, Talladega, Richmond, and Darlington. He’d come close on several occassions, but in the end, the victory finally came when Junior Nation had least expected it.

Throughout the season, there have been many races that I’d been very much looking forward to, only to find myself utterly disappointed after 400 or 500 miles. On the flip side of that, there have also been a few tracks that didn’t particularly excite me, but the end result turned out to be much better than expected. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s a product of the Car of Tomorrow, or if it’s just one of those off deals, but it just goes to show you than anything can happen on any given Sunday.

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

1) How many NNS races will Joey Logano win in 2008?
2) How many Sprint Cup races will Dale Earnhardt Jr. win in 2008?
3) Which race was the most exciting of the weekend?
4) Which driver’s win means the most to his career?

Image details: LifeLock 400 served by picapp.com

It took 15 races with Hendrick Motorsports, and 76 races since Richmond in 2006, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finally once again reached Victory Lane - silencing his critics and giving Junior Nation something to cheer about. Earnhardt led five times on the day, last taking the lead from Jamie McMurray on lap 195. With the majority of the field making green flag stops for fuel in the last 20 laps of the race, Earnhardt fans watched nervously as the no. 88 team decided to stretch their fuel. Originally guesstimating themselves to be 2 laps short of the pit window, they were hoping that Dale had saved enough fuel during the last run to make the tank last … and then the caution flag waived on lap 197 when Sam Hornish Jr. spun through the infield, sending the race into overtime for a green-white-checkered finish.

Lining up for the restart for the 2-lap shootout, Earnhardt led the field to the green flag followed by Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin (both of whom were also gambling on fuel mileage), and then Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth. Junior was able to get a monster restart, putting some distance between he and the no. 9 car of Kasey Kahne. Mark Martin ran out of fuel on the first lap of the restart, making Earnhardt fans even that much more nervous. Then, on the final lap, contact between some cars a little deeper in the field sent Michael Waltrip and Patrick Carpentier spinning. The caution came out, and just like that, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had finally snapped his winless streak. He coasted to the finish, and then ran out of fuel heading down pit road.

The win is very symbolic for Earnhardt Jr, being that it came on Father’s Day. As car owner, Rick Hendrick, joined him in Winner’s Circle to celebrate the win, and the two hugged, Dale took the time to wish a Happy Father’s Day to everyone. This is now the 8th Father’s Day since the passing of Junior’s father, the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Last week’s race winner, Kasey Kahne, went onto finish 2nd as he was hooked up on the same fuel strategy as Earnhardt Jr. Matt Kenseth was perhaps the most dominant car in the second half of the race, but was forced to settle for 3rd. Brian Vickers started the race in 18th, but moved up inside the top-five by lap 15, and then took the lead for the first time on lap 34. The strategies, however, did not work in his favor, and he finished fourth, giving the team their second consecutive top-five finish. Tony Stewart had a very quiet day and led only 1 lap during the race, but he grabbed a much needed 5th place finish.

Jimmie Johnson led the most laps on the day, but a bad pit stop on lap 182 forced him into a 6th place finish. 7th place went to Carl Edwards who run up in the top-five for almost the entire day. David Ragan ran outside of the top-ten for most of the day, but as things shuffled out in the end, he found himself in 8th and just 10 points out of the Chase field. Elliott Sadler had a quiet and solid day. After starting in 27th, he went onto finish in 9th, giving the no. 19 team only their third top-ten finish of the season. And, Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-ten after looking as though he could finish 1st or 2nd until the lap 197 caution forced him to pit for fuel.

Points leader, Kyle Busch, got lost in the shuffle of things. After starting the race from the pole position and running near the front in the final segment of the race, he found himself in 13th when the checkers waived in the air. It was still enough to add to his points lead, however, as Jeff Burton finished in 15th. The run was a disappointing one for Burton, who started the race in 2nd, but it did keep his streak alive as he is still the only driver in the series to finish every race running inside the top-15. Busch now leads Burton in the standings by 32 points, while 3rd place, Dale Earnhardt Jr, has closed the gap between he and the leader to just 84 points.

Late race mishaps cost the cars of AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, and Sam Hornish Jr. some very valuable track position. After climbing into the top-ten, Allmendinger overshot his pit entrance during the last round of stops and wound up finishing 19th. For Biffle, it was another costly penalty late in the race. After running inside the top-ten all day long, Biffle made his final stop with just 15 laps to go. Greg received the command to go as soon as the jack dropped, so he did just that, but he ran over the air hose, and NASCAR penalized him with a drive thru penalty. He finished 20th. Sam Hornish Jr. led the first laps in his Cup career and was running inside the top-ten until he spun on lap 197 to bring out the sixth caution of the day, resulting in a 22nd place finish.

Earnhardt Jr’s victory gives Hendrick Motorsports only their second victory of the season - both of which were won on fuel mileage (the other being Johnson’s win at Phoenix). As previously mentioned, it also snaps a 75 race winless streak for Earnhardt and gives him his first points victory since making the move to HMS at the beginning of this year.

Michigan Grades:
the Race: 85%
the Drama: 99%
Coverage: 85%
Pre-Race: 84%

Overall Grade: 87.7%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

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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!

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

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.