Per Kennseth’s post race comments that they weren’t capable of being a Championship contender anyway. At least his outage opens a spot “for” potential contender.

The real question now is how difficult is Baby Busch gonna make it on the Chasers now that he has nothing to lose? Should be interesting.

I also admit (and I have long been a vocal opponent of the chase) that the Vickers-Busch-Kenseth story was a great one – I was paying more attention to the 18 and 83 than the 11. It gave me a wacky idea, yet another variation on the chase:

divide the first 28 races into four “legs” of seven races. The three leading pointgetters in each “leg” get into the chase, which is now the final eight races. If there are duplicates, the next highest point totals in any leg court. Say Gordon wins the first leg with 1000 points, followed by Hamlin with 960, Montoya with 930, and Stewart with 920. Gordon wins the second leg as well, again with 1000, followed by Harvick at 960, Burton at 940, and Johnson at 960. Gordon, Hamlin, Montoya (first leg) are in; Harvick and Burton (second leg) are in, and Stewart gets the final slot because of his 920 point leg topping Johnson’s 860.

You still have the season-ending chase, but you have FOUR mini-chases, and you don’t know who gets the “wild cards” until after the 28th race! These “mini-chases” will also feature far less points racing, because after only seven races, the points totals are bound to be pretty close. The guy fourth in points after six races is going to bust a– trying to finish as high as possible, because even if he doesn’t get a guaranteed slot, maybe one more position will give him the wild card later on. It also recognizes teams that have a hot streak, even if they later have a slump.

I will say it again,
GO MARK MARTIN, YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Regrets to Kyle who ended up only 8 points out of chase (ouch).

Any comments about TS UPending Duane, rear tire changer for the 00 car?