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After a three-month layoff and a change in job title, I'm back on the blog.

My time away from the blog: I didn't have much to say, really. NASCAR had worn me out by the end of 2007, and not much interesting happened in the two weeks of the Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup off-sesaon. But, yeah, I'm glad the 500 is next week. Oh, and Junior's back.

The change in job title: I'm no longer assistant sports editor. That was 100 percent my call. (You want to hate sports? Work in the business for three years. When watching racin' felt like being at work, I knew it was time for a change.) Now I'm the online news reporter here. I'm operating under the pseudonym "From Staff Reports." (It's a shared byline, by the way. I'm not nearly so prolific.)

Back at the blog: Sort of. I'm going to change the focus this year. Instead of writing on things that happen as they happen -- I know, I know, it was hard to pass up piling on Hippie Stewart and Bad Busch -- I'm going to write once, maybe twice, a week. (Think of it as going from a daily newspaper to Sports Illustrated. And, yeah, I'm well aware that this corner of cyberspace ain't SI. But what is up with Stewart's hair?)

More on the team aspect after the jump ...

I promised a post, and it's after the jump. Do yourself a favor and get a drink or go to the bathroom or let the dog out, because it's a long one.

Ready? OK. Click the link thing below.

Below the jump, I've broken out the Small Team standings from 2007. (It's the standings with only drivers from one- and two-car teams.) Even within the Small Teams there's a lot of disparity. Penske finished 1-2, then Labonte, then everyone else, sort of like Dale Jarrett in yesterday's second duel.

I'll look at the Small Teams later today. In the meantime, I put last year's rankings after the jump.

After writing my opus on the big teams yesterday (my fingers are still tired, thanks for asking), I'm turning my attention to the small teams, the underfunded, overwhelmed and out-Young Gunned one- and two-car operations you don't hear much about. Pretty much all of them can be summed up this way:

Last year: They didn't win.
This year: They won't win.

And look at the numbers: The only two-car team to win a race last year was Penske (Big Busch won two), but Penske has been promoted to Big Team status because Roger took the padlock off the No. 77 garage. (Come to think of it, Newman and Hornish can tear up some race cars. I hope Penske has a good fab shop, 'cause they'll need it.)

But the Small Teams need some love because, frankly, they're more interesting than the Big Teams. Everyone knows all about Junior and Four Time and even Juan Pablo. But the best stories are in the Flameouts, the Never Weres and the Never Will Bes, and NASCAR's history and tradition is rooted in these smaller teams. Besides, it's hard not to smile when you say "Yeley." (Go on, try it. See?)

So here's my look at the Small Teams. Grab a (fill in the name of your favorite beverage here) because it's another long one.

If Big Teams didn't rule the world. Your Top 10 of the small teams ...

Rk / Driver (Team)(*) / Pts-behind
1. Bobby Labonte (Petty) (10) ... 130
2. Brian Vickers (Red Bull) (12) ... -3
3. Scott Riggs (Haas CNC) (20) ... -30
4. Jeremy Mayfield (Haas CNC) (23) ... -36
5. J.J. Yeley (Hall of Fame) (24) ... -42
6. David Gilliland (Yates) (28) ... -51
7. Travis Kvapil (Yates) (29) ... -57
8. Kyle Petty (Petty) (33) ... -69
9. Dave Blaney (Davis) (36) ... -76
10. John Andretti (Front Row) (39) ... -87
(* = The number in parentheses is the official NASCAR rank.Don't get used to seeing any of these guys in the top 20 for much longer.)

Updated Thursday to reflect Robby Gordon's 100 point penalty (and slide out of the STR Top 10) and to correct my gross oversight of Bobby Labonte. This is a work in progress, people!

A couple of superlatives after the jump.

Loyal readers of this space (Hi, mom! Hi, dad!) will remember my ramblings from last week about how NASCAR has become a team sport and should be treated as such. I'd like to thank Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch for proving me 1,000 percent correct on that point.

Still, Kurt Busch didn't look all too happy with second. Lucky for Roger Penske, Big Busch's meds kicked in at the right time and he said all the right things about his teammate. But I wouldn't have wanted to be Busch's dog or a sheriff's deputy who pulled him over after the race. Guy looked like he felt he's been screwed out of the biggest race win of his life. I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Anyway, now for the Big Team Rankings after Week 1.

Here we go with the first Small Team Rankings. Small Teams have two or fewer cars; the rankings are based on an average of NASCAR's driver ratings.

(1) ROBBY GORDON
STR: 72.0
Driver: Gordon-7
My take: It's always one step forward and three steps back with this team. Robby G. rode the Dodge wave to an eighth-place finish at Daytona. But that little matter of a bad nose that turned up in pre-qualifying inspection cost him 100 points and sent him back to the danger zone. Now he has zero cushion over the next four races. Too bad, because a NASCAR race without Robby Gordon is, well, not as interesting.

(2) PETTY
STR: 56.8
Drivers: Labonte-43, Petty-45
My take: I don't expect to see Bobby Labonte in the top 10 after next week at California. But a boy can dream, can't he?

(3) HALL OF FAME
STR: 55.1
Driver: Yeley-96
My take: A piece of debris, possibly from fellow-Small Teamer Brian Vickers, put a hole in his grill and killed his chances in the 500. English majors, consider this to be a bit of foreshadowing.

The rest of the Small Teamers after the jump ...

The Big Dawg has blown a gasket over the AP's change to its race result agate -- namely, that AP has dropped race winnings (i.e., the amount of money won) and replaced it with driver rating. Read his rant here. (It's the first bullet.)

My say: Yay.

A few responses:

* If Sport Fan can make sense of the new math behind the BCS standings, Texas Hold 'Em and a QB's passer rating, the driver rating won't be that much of a stretch. (Dustin Long explains it here.) NASCAR Fan ain't dumb.

* Driver rating is as relevant to fans as race winnings or top speed. I'm never going to make $1.5 million for four hours of work, and I'm never going to drive a car 200 mph. In other words, none of those stats are relavent to my day-to-day existence.

* Unlike in golf, where annual earnings dictates who keeps their PGA card and who doesn't, NASCAR winnings are an absolutely meaningless statistic that plays no role in who drives, who doesn't and where they rank.

Let's face it: The who-got-more game is just one big p*ssing match between athletes. The reality check is that even the lousy ones (I mean you, Kenny Wallace) make more money playing sports or hitting a golf ball or driving a car than you or me or the neighbors on both sides of you. Track promoters used to use the purse as some sizzle. But in a day and age where the right tackle (not the left) for the Carolina Panthers is being forced to take upward of $7 million to play 16 football games next year, a million bucks seems, well, kinda cheap.

If money's the story, how about finding out the dollar values of the contracts these drivers make? C'mon, Big Dawg! Dig for that bone!

If Small Teams ruled the world ...

Top 10 after yesterday's long-delayed (and little-watched) race at Fontucky, and note the new leader (Vickers scooted past Labonte):

Rank (Official) Driver (Team) ... Pts ... behind
1 (11) Brian Vickers (Red Bull) ... 257... leader
2. (16) Bobby Labonte (Petty) ... 218 ... -39
3. (20) Scott Riggs (Haas CNC) ... 200 ... -57
4. (21) David Gilliland (Yates) ... 191 ... -66
5. (28) J.J. Yeley (Hall of Fame) ... 164 ... -93
6. (32) Robby Gordon (R. Gordon) ... 156 ... -101
7. (34) Jeremy Mayfield (Haas) ... 140 ... -117
8. (36) Travis Kvapil (Yates) ... 128 ... -129
9. (37) Dave Blaney (Bill Davis) ... 127 ... -130
10. (39) Kyle Petty (Petty) ... 110 ... -147

Did you watch the race? I didn't. Too many red flags, and too many laps run on Monday. (Some of us have to work, ya know.)

Even I could have told you how it would have ended up: The racing will stink, one of the Roush drivers will win, the two Hendrick stars (no, not Junior) would run up front and one of the open wheel guys will cause a big wreck. And you know what? I would have been right.

Maybe the Vegas race will be better this year. Here's hoping. Now for the rankings:

Things were looking better in the world of the Small Teams:
* The second straight week with three Small Teams finishing in the top 20
* Robby Gordon's 18th-place finish boosted him into 32nd in owner points, which takes a little pressure off.
* If the Chase started today, Red Cow's Brian Vickers would be in.
* John Andretti and Joe Nemechek are *both* ahead of Casey Mears in the driver standings.

You know, it would be accurate to note that a few Small Teams are in trouble. The 28 (Yates), 22 (Bill Davis), the 21 (Wood Bros.) and the 45

(c'mon, Kyle, you can drive faster) are on the wrong side of 35th place in the owners standings. But for now, let's just celebrate the fact that most every Small Team driver is higher up in the standings than Mears.

Something tells me that Mister Hendrick is going to want a driver who can wheel the 5 rather than someone who looks good in his teammate's wedding pictures.

The Small Team Rankings after the jump...