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Thanks John, I guess Ted is a little old for a Cup team's Driver Development program isn't he?

I'm glad to see he has at least gotten a shot in a slightly faster car than the #27. I checked over on Jayski and the #34 gets in on owner's points in the event of rain.

It's a shame the #39 of Ganassi or the #11 of Gibbs doesn't offer a one off ride. Deep down I know that the #34 doesn't last to the first caution.

Back in either 98 or 99 this guy had a top-10 going at Watkins Glen until he got bumped out of the way. He used to drive the #31 Busch car at the same time if I remember right.

Maybe Ted oughta set up a Saturday night race and challenge the Young Guns to a modified race. That'll scare the Cup championship thoughts right out of most of them.

Or they could do it right now. I believe the modified race takes place right after Cup Happy Hour.

While it is interesting that only 8 of the "Chasers" make the top twenty it is the first practice and for the most part are running "off the truck" setups.

It does point up one thing all the whiners, complainers and "my drivers out, I'm not watching" crowd fail to recognize, or ignore to support an illogical point.

Just because the season hit the 26 event mark racing doesn't stop. I'd love to see a few of the Chase events won by non-qualifiers. Nemechek (Who BTW I've selected as the 11th place "winner" in my Chase prediction post) won at Kansas last year as an example.

When ever I get into a discussion with one of the "not in, not watching" crowd I ask one simple question.

If driver "X" (fill in their non-Chase driver) wins one or two Chase events how would you feel if you missed it by tuning into the crackheads of the NFL or the "overinflated" MLB stars?

Out of 8-10 times asking I haven't gotten an answer yet.

Ted Christopher wasn't exactly feeling it in Happy Hour -- he was 38th fastest, down there with the Stuart Kirbys, Carl Longs and Dale Jarretts of the racin' world.

But he had it going on in the Busch North race: He won it tonight and picked up $17K. At the Cup race at NH in July, he won $65K for running 29 laps and finishing 42nd. Would love to see him improve on that Sunday.

Well I was a little worried when I saw TC was down in the 30's during Happy Hour practice. Then I went over to the Touring Site and I see why: he won 2 races at the track today, the modified race and the Busch North race. He's the second driver to do that at NHIS, the first was Mike McLaughlin.

The guy may have been a little tired when you consider he was practicing for 3 divisions today and raced and won in two of them. These are 3 cars with 3 unique feels to them. If I'm not mistaken the Busch North cars have a different wheelbase and tire (used to still be a bias ply).

I counted the non-Chase drivers in the top 20 and I think it is still 12 out of 20.

Forgot all about the Modified race. Next time some guy complains about doing double duty in Busch and Cup, I'll have to go *cough* Ted Christopher *cough*. And no one's going to confuse him for a Young Gun.

Also, Dustin has a piece running tomorrow on the topic we were talking about earlier -- whether the non-chasers will give up and fall to the back. The answer to that, as Dustin's story will say, is "no."

I don't really think any guy complains about double duty in Busch and Cup, they sign up for it...

Christopher drove two races in the RCR 21 Rockwell Automation car back in 2001.

Lastly, has Ryan Moore even contended for a Busch North win?

Matt, the Busch North site has Ryan Moore with 2 wins this year and 6 Top 5's out of 9 races. I believe he has won in the past as well. Very similar to Truex, Jr. I don't think he has ever dominated up North.

Well Matt, if you call a slew of top 5 and top 10 finishes contending for a win.. then Ryan Moore is definitely a contender. And he's won this year at Lake Erie Speedway and at Stafford in BSN competition.

.. as Mark and I say in stereo... ;-)

... and I hope y'all recall that Moore is the latest Yankee tapped to be part of the DEI family. He'll be in the 81 in the Busch series next year if DEI can find sponsorship.

Woohoo!

Also (and I had to look this up, because I don't know beans about Busch North), he's the son of Kelly Moore, who leads the BNS series with 20 career wins.

Hi ! I just wanted to give you a website http://www.soundandspeed2006.com/ This is Suntrust/Nextel's big charity event that benefits Victory Junction and the Country Music Hall of Fame. There will be bunches of NASCAR guys and their garages. Be sure to enter the contest for free tickets to the concert.

Thanks for the mention, Cara.

Here is the direct link for those of us, er, you, too lazy to type it in yourselves. (Warning: Diamond Rio link ahead.)

And here's your daily Ted Christopher update: He made the field and will start 38th today. I'd love to see him stay in the race and crack the top 30. Maybe he'll have a decent car, not one that will crap out after 30 laps?

This southern boy doesn't follow the yankee series up there, so I didn't know ;)

John, I'm sure TC would appreciate all the talk the last few days. The car went 9 laps further than I thought it would.

That's all I would like to see though is regional guys given a chance and in some type flight equipment next time.