News-Record.com

Freeze them definitely, they'll be eaten words alright. I hope Mac likes crow. Eury Jr. and June-Yah are just what the doctor ordered there.. and beginning this weekend at NHIS.. ten races to build on for next year.. that could prove formidable...

I see a picture of a monkey eating bananas. Is that the next champ?

Mark: You must have clicked on the link to "next chimp." Try again. Or call tech services. ;)

2006 NEXTEL Cup Champion = Brian France

How is this possible, you might ask? Well Vince McMahon is a former WWF Champion, so anything is possible ;)

John, no I'm getting the banana eating monkey again. Why does this ad for mortgages have a picture of Little E and Tony Jr. alongside of it?
If you put your cursor on the monkey it will jump up and down, kind of like Terry Grier when he doesn't get the budget dollars he wants.

Matt, at least Vince would get in the ring with Stone Cold and the Rock. I don't see Brian France going through the tri-oval at 'Dega any time soon.

Ah...no.

There are more problems at DEI than a second marriage of the two Jr's. It starts at the top with a mostly absent owner "mother" Teresa and filters down to Gilmore.

Dale Jr's first championshp will come only after he leaves DEI.

Speaking of banana-eating monkeys, Jeff Gordon made a change yesterday, too: Crew chief Robbie Loomis will now be a Hendrick consultant, and Steve Letarte will finish the year atop the 24's pit box (second item).

Who knows if any of this will make any difference for either driver. It's obviously too early to make any sort of reasonable prediction. But it sure is fun to speculate.

Speaking of wild speculation, I think this guy will make the chase next year, if not win the whole thing.

Remember that I have control over these posts and that this prediction will disappear into the ether should he finish 17th in 2006. ;)

The last time there was a late season crew chief change on the 24 I believe Gordon won the next 2 races. They were struggling back then, but not as severely as now.

I'm not sure if that will make much difference, Mark.

Looking back at last year -- I know, I know, past performance is no guarantee of future results -- eight of the 10 chase races were won by drivers in the chase: Johnson (Charlotte, Martinsville, Atlanta and Darlington), Junior ('Dega and Phoenix), Busch (New Hampshire) and Newman (Dover). The exceptions: Nemechek (Kansas) and Biffle (Homestead).

I'm not sure if it's a case that the chasers are the 10 best drivers, therefore they should win; or that the non-chase drivers gave the chasers more leeway. Either way, I don't think that bodes well for Gordon (or Junior) -- neither has raced all that well this year (despite four wins between them), and I don't think either one wants to be in the middle of something that would take out Stewart, Johnson, the Roushkateers, etc.

OK John, I don't think the 24 is as well stocked this time as it was when Everham turned everything over to Brian Whitesell back in '99 (I think).

However I'm sensing a strength in positions 11-20 that wasn't there last year.

I'll go out on a limb for you, I still see the following non-chase drivers winning this year:

Vickers (Charlotte or Kansas)
Nemechek (New Hampshire)
Kyle Busch (again) (Charlotte or Atlanta)
Earnhardt (Talledega)
Burton (New Hampshire or Martinsville)

I just have a feeling that more non-Chase drivers will win during the remaining 10 races than Chase drivers. What I have heard no one talk about is what would NASCAR do if a non-Chase driver amassed the most points over the next 10 weeks? I just think with all of the pressure to win that the other guys will not pull over and let these 10 guys by.

Newsome, you could be 100% spot on about Kyle Busch, and I agree with Mark there is an astounding amount of strength outside the Chase field..Vickers I'm not sure about, but Nemechek seems to have Kansas as a favorite track..and I wouldn't totally discount Kahne for a late win either... either way, the other 33 odd entries are not going to roll over and play dead.

Re. other drivers not rolling over and playing dead -- it's one of those "yes, but ..." situations.

Every driver in the field each week (well, everyone except maybe Scott Wimmer and Carl Long) think they can win the race and drive like they're going to, at least until they get lapped. And that won't change.

But Junior's already said he's going to use the last 10 races as a glorified test session. To me, that means he's not looking for a win. Or it means a lot of blown engines or the loss of about 100 penalty points for some, ah, unusual setups.

I figure some other drivers will try the same.

I hear what you are saying John, but if I'm Budweiser I want Junior winning now. Same goes for the rest of the guys outside the top 10. TV exposure is really weighted towards the Chase contenders during the race so the only way I get a bang for my buck if I'm a non-Chase sponsor is if my car is leading the race.

If Jr. and Tony, Jr. want to get to know each other again via practice I tell them to go to Kentucky and test every Monday through Thursday if they want to. Or if you want to test for Martinsville head over to Caraway.

Good point, Mark. If I'm Budweiser, I'm steamed because Junior has stunk this season. And, true, he's gotten next to no exposure over the past few weeks. (Except when he blew up at California. That was a thing of beauty.) I figure it'll be like that for the next 10 weeks. Same for Jeff Gordon and everyone else outside the top 10.

Speaking of stink, I was looking at NASCAR.com's stat site yesterday, specifically at its best 25 drivers over the past six races. Junior was 22nd, between Mears and Winner. Great company.

The rankings with chase implications:
1. Tony Stewart
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Jeremy Mayfield
4. Greg Biffle
19. Jimmie Johnson (!)

John, check out the 1st session practice speeds, if I counted correctly 11 of the top 15 are non-Chase drivers. That "other" Gordon is 3rd quickest. The Gordon he bumped out of the way 4 years ago is quickest.

By the way watch out for the guy in 12th. He may have more laps at NHIS than most of the current cup drivers. I don't believe I've ever seen the #34 that high before.

Mark: I just started a New Hampshire thread -- it's atop the page. I mentioned your boy Ted.