Rating the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season: 2 Stars **

The 2012 Sprint Cup Series struggled to keep the momentum created by the closest championship battle in series history in 2011 when Tony Stewart beat Carl Edwards by a tiebreaker. The 2012 version was defined by lots of green-flag racing, which isn’t a bad thing, but the excitement level was noticeably down this year. The 2012 season gets a 2 Star Rating.

Brad Keselowski helped add some spark (and suds) to the finish of the season as he beat five-time champion Jimmie Johnson to win the title. However, the number of memorable races can probably be counted on one hand.

Here’s the breakdown of this year’s ratings, which includes the Budweiser Shootout and Sprint All-Star Race. It does not include the annual “You Rate the Race” event, which this season was at Kentucky Speedway.

5 Stars: 5 races

4 Stars: 10 races

3 Stars: 8 races

2 Stars: 10 races

1 Star: 4 races

This year had the most 1 Star races in the history of Monday Morning Crew Chief, and the number of 5 Star races dropped from eight to five.

Let’s revisit some of the most memorable races of the season. Click on the links to see the rating for each race mentioned.

We’ll start with Daytona Speedweeks, which included a very exciting Budweiser Shootout and bizarre Daytona 500. Kyle Busch drove through turns 3 and 4 sideways early in the shootout, sending sparks flying from his car. The damage wasn’t enough to slow him down, though, and he came back to win the race by a few feet ahead of Tony Stewart at the finish line in a race that started the season with a 5 Star Rating.

The Daytona 500 was definitely the strangest of the season, and perhaps one of the strangest in the history of the sport. Rain postponed the race until not only Monday, but Monday night in primetime. Busch sent sparks flying in the shootout, but Juan Pablo Montoya did him one better by crashing into a jet dryer under caution. The impact created an explosion and fire in Turn 3 that put the race under a red flag. Matt Kenseth ended up winning the race that got a 3 Star Rating because of the day-and-a-half rain delay.

Once the series left Daytona, the long green-flag runs set in. The racing was remarkably clean, which is good, but the drivers stayed spread out enough on tracks such as Phoenix, Fontana, Texas and even Richmond that any excitement from Speedweeks or the previous season had disappeared. Just six races following Speedweeks received a rating higher than 3 Stars until the series went back to Daytona in July for a 5 Star race.

The second half of the season started to gain momentum as drivers such as Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon battled back from early season troubles to make the race. Kahne grabbed a wild-card spot, and Gordon snuck by Busch by one point to claim the 10^th and final Chase spot based on points. That final regular-season race at Richmond received a 4 Star Rating, and Clint Bowyer took home the trophy.

Johnson won another Brickyard 400 this year, his fourth, but the race was less than thrilling in part because of his dominance. It received a 2 Star Rating.

However, things got interesting two weeks later at Watkins Glen as Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose slide through oil as Busch wrecked on the final lap. Keselowski and Ambrose had the best final-lap battle of the season, and Ambrose came out on top to win for the second year in a row on the road course. That final lap bumped the race to a 4 Star Rating.

The late-season fireworks first showed up at the, once again, newly reconfigured Bristol Motor Speedway during the August night race. The shaved top groove brought back the old-style beating and banging, although this time at the top of the racetrack. Stewart and Kenseth crashed while battling for the lead, and Stewart threw his helmet at Kenseth’s car, bouncing it off the hood of Kenseth’s #17. Danica Patrick also wrecked and angrily shook her finger at Regan Smith. Denny Hamlin ended up winning the 5 Star Race. He won again the next week at Atlanta and a month later at New Hampshire, but too many mechanical problems ended his championship run.

Once the Chase began, Keselowski took charge by winning at Chicago and Dover, neither of which were particularly action-packed races. They both got 2 Star Ratings.

The action-packed Chase race this season was at Phoenix. Kevin Harvick rose from the desert dust to win his first race of the season, but he was a mere footnote to the craziness of that 5 Star afternoon. Gordon and Clint Bowyer battled late in the race, and Gordon cut a tire from the battle and crashed. He then waited for Bowyer to come back around the track and intentionally wrecked him. Bowyer’s pit crew was waiting for Gordon when he drove back to the garage, and they immediately jumped him, inciting one of the largest brawls the sport had seen in years. Patrick also played a hand in this crazy race. She wrecked as the field came to the white flag, put down oil in Turn 4 coming to the finish line, and a half-dozen cars piled up as they crossed the line.

That all set the stage for the championship race at Homestead. Keselowski came into the race with a 20-point lead of Johnson and qualified third to Johnson’s 10^th. Johnson made a run to the front that night and might have won the title until a loose lug nut penalty cost him time on the track and a problem in the drivetrain sent him to the garage early, effectively handing Keselowski the championship.

This year marked the end of the Car of Tomorrow body style NASCAR introduced in 2007. A new model will be used next year. As is the case with every new model, NASCAR officials say it will race better than the previous version. That wasn’t the case the last time around, but at least the new cars look better.

Next year will also have its fair share of new drivers with new teams. Most notably, Kenseth will move to the #20 car, while Joey Logano takes over the #22 ride. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will fill the #17 car, and Kurt Busch will continue to try and revive his career in the #78 car, formerly driven by Smith.

The 2012 season had its exciting and interesting moments. Let’s just hope there are more in 2013.

Rating the Ford EcoBoost 400: 3 Stars ***

For the first time in eight years, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has a first-time champion. Brad Keselowski won the championship, and Jeff Gordon won a race that had a lot of storylines, although few that made for a really exciting race. The final race of the 2012 season gets a 3 Star Rating.

Gordon won the race after Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. had to pit for fuel late in the race, and he beat his nemesis from Phoenix, Clint Bowyer. My how a week changes things. Last week those two were involved in garage fights and had torn up race cars; this week they had the two top finishes.

The best racing of the day came from Busch and Truex Jr. As he did in both the truck and Nationwide races this weekend, Busch led nearly all of the first 100 laps, but then a debris caution came out and bunched up the field.

At that point, Truex Jr. challenged for the lead and the two drivers ran next to each other the remainder of the race. They traded the lead a few times, and Truex Jr. hounded Busch’s bumper for much of the night.

It’s too bad the race couldn’t have come down to a battle between those two drivers. The finish likely wouldn’t have ended as close as Friday’s truck race between Busch and Cale Gale, but it would’ve been better than Gordon beating Bowyer by more than one second.

But the championship was the focus of the day anyway. Johnson put up a good fight throughout much of the race and had a shot to win the championship after pit strategies worked in his favor with a little more than 50 laps remaining.

Then his night quickly took a turn for the worse. His pit crew missed a lugnut on the left-rear tire on lap 213 and by lap 227 he was in the pits with a blown drivetrain that would end his night and hopes of a championship.

Johnson did make the title fight dramatic for a bit, though. After Keselowski chose to stay on track under caution after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wrecked on lap 154, Johnson took the opportunity to get tires and set up his fuel strategy for the rest of the race.

Had Johnson been able to avoid his late-race problems, he just might have squeaked out his sixth championship.

It wasn’t meant to be, however, and Keselowski is the Sprint Cup Series champion in just his third full season in the series. And what a ride he has had to the top.

Keselowski won his first race at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2009 in the famous finish that sent Carl Edwards flying into the fence. That race he drove the James Finch-owned #09 car to its first victory.

Since then he’s won eight more races, made the Chase in two of his three years with Penske Racing and now has the championship. Oh yeah, he also won the Nationwide Series championship for owner Roger Penske in 2010. Both of his championships are Penske’s first championships in each series.

That is a remarkable run of success, and he has earned it. It has been fun to watch Keselowski enter the sport and go from a part-timer looking for a full ride to a brash kid who upset veteran drivers to a champion.

Whether or not he wins more championships in the future, Keselowski's career will be a success. Congratulations to him and the entire #2 team on winning the 2012 Sprint Cup Series championship.

Unfortunately, the end of the championship race also means the end of the season and no more Sunday afternoons filled by a NASCAR race. That is always a sad time and takes somewhat of an adjustment for many fans after they’ve had the same routine for eight months.

But as always, Daytona Speedweeks will open a new season in mid-February and NASCAR life will begin anew. Hopefully the days between now and then are filled with happiness and holiday celebrations with friends and family.

Thank you for following the Monday Morning Crew Chief ratings again this season. It’s been a fun year and expect more in 2013. Also, look for the rating of the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season, which will be posted following the champion’s celebration Nov. 30 in Las Vegas.

Have a great offseason, everybody.

If NASCAR doesn’t suspend Jeff Gordon, it should have only one explanation

NASCAR officials had a difficult decision on their hands as they went to bed Sunday night following a wild race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Jeff Gordon incited a massive brawl that involved him, his #24 team and several members of Clint Bowyer’s #15 team Sunday after he intentionally turned Bowyer into the wall Sunday as the field came to the white flag.

While the fight was the most eye-catching part of the incident, the part of the situation that will likely receive the most scrutiny is Gordon’s punting of Bowyer into the wall on purpose, even though Bowyer still had a mathematical chance to win the Sprint Cup Series championship.

Bowyer had gotten underneath Gordon and made contact a few laps before the wreck that started the fight. The fender rub caused Gordon’s tire to blow and he crashed in Turn 4. The part of the wreck that should be the focus of NASCAR’s decision is what happened next.

Gordon waited for Bowyer to come back around the track and then turned him straight into the wall while also wrecking Joey Logano and Aric Almirola. He also nearly ruined another championship contender’s day because Brad Keselowski was right behind Logano when the wreck happened.

Anyway, Gordon’s actions looked a lot like what Kyle Busch did to Ron Hornaday Jr. last year at Texas Motor Speedway in a Camping World Truck Series race.

Hornaday Jr. was in championship contention heading into the race, but he and Busch traded paint early in the event. The caution came out shortly thereafter, and Busch drove Hornaday Jr. up into the Turn 2 wall, effectively ending Hornaday Jr.’s shot at winning the title.

The only difference between Busch’s actions and Gordon’s actions was the presence of the yellow flag. Busch wrecked Hornaday Jr. under caution while Gordon wrecked Bowyer under green-flag conditions.

That should also be the only reason NASCAR doesn’t suspend Gordon for next week’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Everything else about the wrecks is essentially the same.

If NASCAR doesn’t suspend Gordon and says they made the decision based on something other than whether the wreck happened under caution, the sport will be thrown into a mess that would once again tarnish the integrity of the sport.

NASCAR dropped a major punishment on Busch last year by parking him for both the Nationwide and Cup races at Texas following his intentional wreck. Sure, Busch is considered a brash, pain-in-the-butt by many in the sport and Gordon has the reputation of a four-time champion that time has helped mold. But none of that should factor into whether NASCAR allows Gordon to race next Sunday.

Some people might say a punishment by NASCAR would prevent rough racing in the future and continue to make a sport that has dwindling excitement even more mellow. I doubt it. NASCAR has delivered punishments for all kinds of actions on the track and in the garage area through the years, and we still end up with arguments and even fights from time to time.

It would be better for the integrity of the sport to suspend Gordon, if for nothing else than to establish a little bit of consistency in the sport’s rulings.

Others might say the Busch incident was different because he wasn't a full-time competitor in the truck series, but that shouldn't make a difference. He was on the track that night trying to win the race just as much as the other 35 drivers in that truck race, just as Gordon did Sunday against a full Cup series field.

Whether Gordon’s actions Sunday deserve a suspension will be debated for a long time, but NASCAR set a precedent last year by suspending Busch for his wreck at Texas.

That is, unless officials say they won’t suspend Gordon because he intentionally wrecked a championship contender under green-flag conditions.

Anything else would further diminish the integrity of a sport that already has enough of those problems.

Rating the AdvoCare 500: 5 Stars *****

The Sprint Cup Series’ final trip out West turned into an old-fashioned bar fight, a down-and-out team won for the first time in more than a year situation the championship situation changed dramatically amid all the noise. The wild day at Phoenix International Raceway gets a 5 Star Rating.

Like it or not, Sunday’s race had everything, and all of it was unexpected.

First, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson hit the wall coming out of Turn 4 on lap 235 after his right-front tire went flat. That incident relegated him to a 32-place finish and put him 20 points behind Brad Keselowski, who finished sixth.

But that was only the beginning of the mayhem that took place Sunday in the desert.

Danica Patrick and Sam Hornish Jr. had their weekly spat as Hornish Jr. tapped the side of Danica’s car on lap 299 coming out of Turn 4. The contact cut down Hornish Jr.’s left-front tire and eventually sent him into the wall.

Then the big one happened. Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon made contact in turns 3 and 4 on the restart, and Gordon ended up slapping the wall. He then waited for Bowyer to come back around the track and turned him sideways, wrecking Bowyer, Joey Logano and Aric Almirola in the process.

Once Gordon got to the garage area, Bowyer’s team was waiting and ready to pounce. They did, and a huge brawl broke out behind the #24 team’s hauler as members of both teams started throwing punches. Bowyer sprinted to the garage area to get in on the action, but he and Gordon never met until after the race inside the NASCAR hauler with officials.

After that excitement settles down, NASCAR restarts the race with a green-white-checkered finish. Patrick wrecks in Turn 4 as the field comes to the white flag, but NASCAR doesn’t throw a caution. The entire field then slides through the oil from Patrick’s car as they come to the finish line and a major wreck ensues.

Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch and Paul Menard all sustain major hits as they plowed through the oil and into Patrick’s car. Keselowski got hit coming to the line, but he didn’t get turned.

To put the finishing touches on a crazy day, Kevin Harvick won the race. It was the first time he and the #29 team had gone to Victory Lane since September of last year at Richmond.

The win was surprising because Harvick and the entire Richard Childress Racing organization had shown no signs of contending for a win for nearly the entire season. Harvick finished second at Phoenix in the spring race, but he hadn’t even had a top-10 finish in the Chase up until Sunday.

Maybe the win will boost the Childress teams, but they still have a lot of work to do to be competitive on a weekly basis, especially at larger tracks.

People will likely debate for days about what NASCAR should do about the Gordon-Bowyer incident and what penalties it should or should not hand out. The one issue from Sunday’s race that shouldn’t be disputed is NASCAR’s incorrect call to throw the caution flag for Patrick’s wreck.

Week after week NASCAR officials call for a caution flag for water bottles and sandwiches or whatever incidental piece of debris is on the race track, yet they didn’t call a caution when Patrick’s #10 car slid sideways through Turn 4 after hitting the wall.

That’s what caused the big wreck on the final lap. Officials always talk about the importance of safety in the sport, but they put drivers in harm’s way on the final lap when they allowed the race to finish under green.

Robin Pemberton’s excuse that officials couldn’t see fluid on the track shouldn’t justify NASCAR’s actions, or lack of action. The caution comes out for small incidents all the time when the leader has put together a big enough lead to keep the race from being exciting.

NASCAR should’ve thrown the caution flag for Patrick’s wreck. Period.

Anyway, Johnson will take a 20-point lead into Homestead to try to win … Wait, not Johnson. Keselowski will take that lead to Homestead to try to win his first championship. He needs to finish 15^th or better to win the trophy. If he does, he will become the first driver to go head-to-head with Johnson in the Chase and beat him since Tony Stewart did it in 2005. That’s a pretty impressive feat, and Keselowski and the #2 team have had a very impressive season.

Have a great final week of the 2012 season, everybody.

Rating the TUMS Fast Relief 500: 3 Stars ***

A week after his team pulled off a fairly big miracle to stay in championship contention, Jimmie Johnson put together a vintage performance Sunday at Martinsville Speedway to put him back in that all-too-familiar position atop the points standings. The final short track race of the season gets a 3 StarRating.

Johnson now leads Brad Keselowski by two points after Keselowski finished in sixth, which was actually a terrific finish considering he started 32^nd and never had a car capable of contending for the lead. However, the overwhelming sense around the sport is that another championship for Johnson is just a formality.

For the sake of the sport, hopefully Keselowski keeps the top of the standings tight going into Homestead so there would be a real chance he could rise up and beat the five-time champion. If not, 2012 could go down as one of the more boring seasons in recent memory.

Anyway, Sunday’s race was about as typical of a Martinsville race as possible. Cautions fell fairly regularly throughout the race while allowing for some long green-flag runs, the end of the race got shuffled up by a late-race wreck and the #48 car ended up in Victory Lane.

Martinsville is one of the few tracks in NASCAR where the final caution creates an agonizing decision for crew chiefs in terms of whether or not to pit. Maybe it’s because Martinsville is one a half-mile track, but the tire wear is ideal. The lap times do fall off during a run, but they don’t drop so much that taking four tires every stop is a given.

Keselowski stayed out on the final stop to try and steal a win, but he faded to sixth. But that’s also part of what makes Martinsville a great track. The tires wear enough that it is difficult to stay ahead of cars with four fresh tires, yet not enough to have everyone follow the leader into the pits.

Martinsville is also a place that allows for some new faces in the top 10. Aric Almirola put together his second straight fantastic race. He led much of the early part of the race at Kansas before tire issues derailed his day. He then backed up that performance Sunday with a fourth-place finish.

The top 10 actually contained four non-Chasers, by far the most in any Chase race this season. Kyle Busch finished second, Almirola fourth, Brian Vickers eighth and Bobby Labonte ninth. But don’t expect that to continue next week at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway.

The season is down to the point where just a few drivers still have a chance to win the championship, and they will most likely perform as though they are the best in the sport.

Johnson and Keselowski will likely run well inside the top 10 and even the top five most of the night. Other contenders such as Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne will absolutely have to be at the front of the field throughout the race, finish in the top three and have some help in the form of less-than-stellar races from the top two drivers.

In any case, it is no longer premature to talk about who the real contenders are going to be for the championship. Johnson and Keselowski look to be the two drivers who will face off at Homestead, while Bowyer and Kahne will be close enough to catch a bit of a draft from the front two, but they needed more outstanding races earlier in the Chase.

Either way, this is one of the most intense times of the year.

Have a great week, everybody.

Rating the Hollywood Casino 400: 3 Stars ***

In perhaps the craziest race of the 2012 Chase, Matt Kenseth came out on top while nearly half the field did not finish the race, and that’s at a 1.5-mile track that typically produces fairly pedestrian racing. But all of that still wasn’t enough to get the final race of the season in the North anything above a 3 StarRating.

The wrecks began early and often Sunday at Kansas Speedway, and they affected nearly everyone regardless of running order or position in the points standings. Chasers Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart all spun. Aric Almirola even wrecked while leading the race.

All of the carnage had a chance to really shake up the points standings, but it turned out the Brad Keselowski maintained his seven-point lead on Johnson while narrowly missing several of the wrecks that led to a track-record 14 cautions.

However, the fact that Johnson stayed just seven points out of the lead is truly remarkable. Johnson spun in Turn 4 and smashed up the rear end of his car. The damage looked extensive enough to send the car to the garage for repairs, but the #48 pit crew went to work and fixed the back of the car to the point where it could not only maintain minimum speed, but to the point where Johnson could drive back through the field to finish ninth.

Races like that are why the #48 team has won five championships and competed for a championship nearly all of the 10 years it has existed. There might not be another team in the sport right now that could have fixed a car with that much damage without losing a lap and have a driver who could drive it back into the top 10.

As for Keselowski, he also salvaged a day when the #2 car was not good enough to compete for the win. He started in 25^th and hung near the top 10 most of the day, finishing eighth.

That’s not a bad day for Keselowski and the #2 team, but they are going to have to produce a couple of top-fives soon or Johnson will make his move and take the lead.

Other contenders Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne finished inside the top 10, and Denny Hamlin finished in 13^th. All three of those drivers will likely need top-five finishes the rest of the way to win the championship, and possibly just to stay in contention by the time the series reaches Homestead for the final race.

Hamlin’s big chance could be next week at Martinsville, where he has won four times. Unfortunately for Hamlin, who sits 20 points out of the Chase lead, Johnson has won there six times. Next week will still be one of the better chances for either Hamlin or Johnson to make up ground on Keselowski, who doesn’t have a win at Martinsville.

The funny part is there will likely be fewer cautions at Martinsville than there were this week at Kansas, although the number of cautions at Kansas was in large part because the track was repaved over the summer and speeds were up dramatically from past races.

But before we head off to the next race, Kenseth and the #17 team should be commended for their win at Kansas and second in the Chase. Kenseth sits 11^th in the points standings, is headed to the #20 car at the end of the season and does not have a realistic shot at winning this year’s championship. However, Kenseth and his team have continued to put together races consistent with his performance throughout his entire career.

Both the driver and team are very professional. It will be a shame to see that partnership broken up when the season comes to a close.

Have a great week, everybody.

Rating the Bank of America 500: 4 Stars ****

The top three Sprint Cup Series championship contenders dominated Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but the driver now fourth in the Chase, Clint Bowyer, outlasted everyone to grab his third win of the season. The final race of the season at Charlotte gets a 4 Star Rating.

Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin were the class of the field all night. Keselowski used pit strategy to move up from his 20^th-place starting spot after the third caution in 36 laps. The race went incident free the rest of the way with only a couple of debris cautions for NASCAR to make sure it stayed entertaining.

Keselowski, Johnson and Hamlin combined to lead 228 of the 334 laps, but fueld mileage came into play after the final debris caution on lap 223. Johnson and Hamlin both couldn’t make it to the finish when they pitted with about 55 laps to go. Surprisingly, neither could Keselowski, who usually has good fuel mileage.

Keselowski’s chance at winning the race ended anyway on that next-to-last pit stop because he ran out of gas going down the backstretch and had a 22-second stop once he got there. That put him outside the top 10, and he would never recover, finishing 11^th.

Johnson and Hamlin also had to come back to pit road for a splash-and-go stop late in the race, but they managed to finish second and third, respectively.

While all that was going on, Bowyer had enough fuel to make the finish, although not complete a celebration burnout, and give Michael Waltrip Racing its first Chase win. The victory also moved Bowyer up to fourth in the points standings, 28 points out of the lead.

Bowyer is still a bit of a long shot to be a factor by the time the series reaches the final race at Homestead, but he has shown once again that he is on the cusp of being a championship contender.

Bowyer has made noise in just about every Chase in which he’s competed. He finished third in 2007 and fifth in 2008. He also made the Chase in 2010 and won the first race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but his car didn’t pass postrace inspection and NASCAR docked him 150 points. That took him out of the picture, and he finished the season in 10^th place.

This year Bowyer could be in a similar position. He still doesn’t have the consistency to match Keselowski, Johnson and Hamlin, but he is the best of the rest.

He is also headed to his hometown track, Kansas Speedway, next week and could have another good finish there, but it would still take a flawless run through the rest of the Chase to have a legitimate shot to win the title.

The track in Kansas now has a brand-new surface and progressive banking in the corners. Does that mean it will be a more exciting race to watch? Probably not. The progressive banking has worked at Homestead but hasn’t made much difference at other tracks once the idea became popular.

In any case, expect the Chase frontrunners to lead the field as they did at Charlotte. It might stink to have the same guys up front each week right now, but their battle to win the championship will be a good one if they can all stay in contention throughout the next month.

Have a great week, everybody.

Rating the Federated Auto Parts 400: 4 Stars ****

The Sprint Cup Series regular season came to a close in dramatic fashion Saturday night and early Sunday morning at Richmond International Raceway. Jeff Gordon snuck through the raindrops to grab the final spot in the Chase in a race that constantly changed complexion. Overall, this race gets a 4 Star Rating.

To accentuate the changing nature of the race, Clint Bowyer won his second race of the season even though he spun down the frontstretch in the second half of the event. He and Juan Pablo Montoya made contact on lap 235. That cut down Bowyer’s left-rear tire and caused his spin.

But that turned out to be a big-time blessing in disguise. The resulting pit stop strategies put Bowyer back near the front of the field for the final 117 laps and he passed Ryan Newman for the lead with 88 laps to go. He didn’t look back, although he did have to manage his fuel mileage to reach the finish line.

While Bowyer led the final run, Gordon made a comeback that deserved to be rewarded with a Chase spot. Gordon’s #24 car was junk in the first half of the race even though he started in second. By the time the red flag came out for rain on lap 152, Gordon was a lap down to then-leader Denny Hamlin and looked to be out of contention for anything. It turns out he was in contention for both a Chase spot and the race win.

Gordon charged through the field in the second half of the race and reached second when the checkered flag flew. Kyle Busch faded to 16^th, which meant Gordon had snagged the second wild-card spot by a mere three points.

No matter what type of points system NASCAR uses, the fall race at Richmond almost always produces a wild night of racing both on the track and in the points standings. Those type of races don’t come around very often, but they are sure fun when they do.

Also, pretty much any important race in the last year has had to deal with rain delays. Both Homestead last year and this season’s Daytona 500 were affected by rain, but the racing was great when the weather let them get out on the track. Hopefully that’s just a coincidence and this year’s Homestead race will be fun but without rain.

But before the series gets to Homestead, the 12 Chase drivers will start their battle next week at Chicagoland Speedway. Expectations for a fun and exciting Chase are always extremely high the week leading up to the first race, but this year there are a myriad of contenders.

All of the top drivers have won multiple races. Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart are going to be primed for a good next 10 races. Even drivers such as Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick, who are winless this season, are running well right now and it wouldn’t be shocking to see them bust through with victories in the Chase.

In any case, this should be the best part of what has been a mediocre season in terms of action. There won’t be time for Chase drivers to ride around because they could quickly lose touch with the leaders in the points standings. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the memorable part of the 2012 season.

Have a great week, everybody.

Rating the Toyota/Save Mart 350: 2 Stars **

The first road course race of the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season followed the theme for most of the year so far that the majority of the race should be void of any action. The race at Sonoma had very long stretches of time where everyone just logged laps and talked about strategy. All in all, Sunday’s race gets a generous 2 Star Rating.

Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch did have a good battle toward the end of the race. Busch looked like he might be able to pull off a pass at the end but instead broke a piece in the rear of his car. Instead, he had to work harder at holding off Tony Stewart than catching Bowyer.

However, having Busch in contention for the win certainly added some intrigue to the finish of the race, even if for nothing more than to find out what he said afterward. Still, it is cool to see an unsponsored car challenge for a win or even run near the front of the field, regardless of who is in the car.

The rest of the race left much to be desired. Sometimes long green-flag runs are fun if drivers are sliding around and racing each other, but long green-flag runs at a road course are brutal. There wasn’t one exciting moment for the first 85 laps of Sunday’s race.

Pit stops were about the only things that happened after Jeff Gordon passed Marcos Ambrose on lap 12. Martin Truex Jr. took the lead after green-flag stops cycled around because he came in before everybody else, and then Bowyer would take the lead when Truex Jr. pitted.

The rest of the race wasn’t even just full of cars going around in circles, it was full of cars winding their way through a road with a few hills. Unfortunatly, the latter is worse for NASCAR fans.

Anyway, congratulations to Bowyer, the #15 team and Mikdkchael Waltrip Racing. That organization has improved the most of any group in the sport during the past year. Most people didn’t expect any MWR cars to make the Chase, and now Truex Jr. and Bowyer both sit comfortably in the top 10 in the points standings.

Regardless of driver preferences, it is nice to see another organization step into serious Chase contention. Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing has a car challenge for a spot every other year or so, but otherwise the Hendrick, Gibbs, Roush-Fenway and Childress organizations dominated the scene. New contenders are always good for the sport.

Although there haven’t been any first-time winners this season, there have been 12 different winners in the 16 races this year. That is an even better rate than last year, when we talked about how many different drivers reached Victory Lane at this point in the season. Only 11 different drivers won the first 16 races in 2011.

So, although the racing hasn’t been particularly exciting in many races this season, at least there has been a bunch of different winners. This would not be a good year to have one driver dominate the entire season, unless it was Dale Earnhardt Jr., of course. We saw how much his wins drum up interest after he won at Michigan last week.

Now the Cup series heads to Kentucky for the second Cup race at Kentucky Speedway. Kyle Busch dominated the inaugural event last year that received more attention for the traffic problems than the actual race. If the race at Sonoma lacked action, it is hard to imagine the race at Kentucky will have much more, but we’ll always hope.

Either way, Daytona is only two weeks away.

Many NASCAR teams in worse sponsorship situation than when economy collapsed in 2008

NASCAR teams entered the 2009 season with a bleak outlook in financial and sponsorship terms, but the outlook for this season doesn’t look any better.

In fact, it might be worse.

As the 2008 NASCAR season came to a close, the United States economy was on the verge of disaster, and its struggles quickly affected NASCAR teams.

Many teams had to lay off large parts of their staff, and the Sprint Cup Series went from having nearly 43 fully funded teams to questions about whether enough cars would show up on a race weekend to fill the field.

It turned out that every race still had a full field, but more and more teams showed up to run just the first few laps in a race and then head home while collecting the prize money. Even then, cars with mostly full sponsorship packages filled the top 35 guaranteed spots in a race.

Now cars that finished last season in the Chase might not even have full sponsorship for the 2012 season. Matt Kenseth, who finished fourth in the points standings last year, has sponsorship lined up for less than half of the season so far.

Several teams are still looking to put together a sponsorship package to fund the entire season, and other teams have completely shut down.

Red Bull Racing has fielded two cars since 2008, but it folded at the end of the 2011 season for financial reasons. TRG Motorsports won’t return in 2012 after fielding one full-time car for the past three seasons, and Front Row Motorsports, has yet to announce its plans for the upcoming season.

In addition, some of the big-time teams are cutting back, as well. Roush-Fenway Racing will run Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the #6 car for the Daytona 500, but it currently doesn’t have any sponsorship for the race, and the #6 car could very well be shut down for the remainder of the season.

The #33 driven by Clint Bowyer for the past three seasons will cease to exist as Bowyer moves to the #15 car for Michael Waltrip Racing. Richard Petty Motorsports recently tabbed Aric Almirola to drive the #43 car, but it doesn’t have any sponsorship as of yet. Even Tommy Baldwin Racing’s two cars currently don’t have a sponsor.

All of these changes could lead to a season where less than 30 teams have sponsorship to run the entire schedule.

Last season 30 teams ran all 36 races. A few others attempted to run every race and didn’t qualify on time. However, this season there could be cars in the top 35 in the points standings that won’t have the money to show up at the track.

TV ratings improved in the 2011 season, and attendance numbers started to stabilize after several years of freefall. At least it appears fan interest in the sport has stabalized, if not started to grow once again.

Hopefully this is rock bottom and money will start flowing back into the sport throughout the 2012 season and years beyond. But, the current situation might be the toughest stretch NASCAR teams have ever faced.

Rating the Good Sam Club 500: 5 Stars *****

After five relatively boring races to start the Chase, the excitement level jumped up a notch at Talladega. The final restrictor-plate race of the season gets the first 5 Star Rating of the Chase.

Clint Bowyer won yet another photo finish Sunday at Talladega, edging out his teammate Jeff Burton at the line. Bowyer made a great move coming into the tri-oval and just barely kept Burton from coming back to beat him.

This race was one of the best restrictor-plate races since the two-car bump draft has been used in full force. While NASCAR didn’t end the two-car draft with its rule changes heading into the race, it did keep the pack a little closer.

Sunday’s race kind of combined the two styles of drafting. Cars had to be touching to make any speed, but other than Bowyer and Burton at the end, nobody really jumped out from the pack.

Plus, the emotional ride of a restrictor-plate race is unlike any other.

Before the gentlemen start their engines, there is a nervous tension that surrounds the racetrack. Talladega one of the two most exciting tracks on the schedule, but that also means it is one of the two most dangerous, as well, along with Daytona.

The drivers’ eyes tell the story on a Sunday morning at Talladega. There is a little more trepidation than normal, and Dan Wheldon’s wreck last week only made that feeling worse.

Then the race starts and all of the focus turns to the track. The first several laps are usually pretty intense as the field sorts itself out, but then the race settles into a rhythm. That rhythm remains until the laps wind down. Then the tension really starts to pick up.

The little bit larger packs Sunday brought back a few larger wrecks. A.J. Allmendinger and Mark Martin both got turned into the middle of the racetrack. Those spins would’ve taken out 20 cars a couple of years ago, but they also would’ve taken out maybe just a car or two in recent restrictor-plate races.

However, these wrecks are extremely dangerous. The hit Regan Smith took in Turn 4 was unbelievably hard.

After the big wreck, it’s time to settle the race among the cars that are left, and then things get wild as drivers such as Jeff Gordon manage to find their way through a hole that hadn’t even developed yet.

Finally, the final laps turn into a final lunge toward the finish line. This time Burton and Bowyer jumped out after the late restart and were able to settle things before the four-wide pack barreled across the finish line.

There is no other type of race with an intensity level as high for nearly as long. Once a restrictor-plate race is finished, fans often feel more exhausted emotionally than their favorite driver looks after he climbs out of his car.

Overall, this Talladega race was another wild ride. Many people might not like the two-car drafts, but this was the best version of that style of racing so far.

Now it’s time to finish the run to the championship. Carl Edwards extended his lead, Kevin Harvick took a big hit in the points standings, and Jimmie Johnson is 50 points out of the lead. That’s more than a full race, and doubts that he can come back get larger with every passing week.

Will Bowyer be better at Michael Waltrip Racing?

One of the final major pieces of the 2011 Silly Season fell in place last week when Clint Bowyer finally announced he will be moving to the #15 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012.

But, is this a good move for Bowyer?

Ever since Bowyer broke into the Sprint Cup Series with Richard Childress Racing in 2006, he has been a fringe contender for the Chase. Some years he squeaks in and makes it, other years he misses by just a few points.

This year he missed by just a few points, but Childress couldn’t put together a sponsorship deal to keep Bowyer in the #33 so Bowyer will try his hand as the third car at Michael Waltrip Racing.

On the surface this looks like a win-win situation for everybody. Waltrip gets a high-profile driver that has consistently finished better than his current two drivers, David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr, and Bowyer gets a fresh start after several up-and-down years for Richard Childress Racing.

However, people who think Bowyer is instantly going to be as much of a Chase contender next year as he has been in the past need to temper their enthusiasm. Just because he’s helping an organization expand and has full sponsorship doesn’t mean he’s going to succeed. Just ask Truex Jr.

The driver of the #56 car hasn’t won a race since joining MWR in 2010 and finished 22nd in the points standings.

Michael Waltrip Racing is still a young organization and growing each year, but this isn’t a group that has consistently won. In fact, it has hardly won at all.

Reutimann won at Chicago in 2010, but his best points finish was 16th in 2009. He and Truex Jr. are currently 28th and 22nd in the standings, respectively.

So, Bowyer is leaving an organization that has won 10 times in the past two years and had drivers contend for the championship to a team that has won one race in the past two years and has yet to put a team in the Chase.

Sure, it’s nice to think Bowyer will help raise the performance level at MWR, but many people hailed Truex Jr.’s move to the #56 in the same way. Granted, Bowyer has had more success in his career than Truex Jr., but it is going to be an uphill climb for the new #15 team.

Bowyer may have had to move because Childress couldn’t field a car for him next year, but he and the #15 have a lot of work to do just to maintain the performance Bowyer had at RCR.

Rating the Sylvania 300: 2 Stars **

Another Chase race, and another fuel-mileage win for Tony Stewart. The first two Chase tracks might look different, but their races were nearly the same. New Hampshire draws the second consecutive 2 Star Rating to start the Chase.

Stewart and the #14 sure have the fuel-mileage game figured out right now. Both at Chicago and New Hampshire he had not only a good car, but he and his team put themselves in position to take advantage of the situation. Last week he had to hold off the field, this week he had to wait for Clint Bowyer to run out of gas to take the lead.

This race was nearly a mirror image of last week’s race at Chicago, except the sky was finally blue with hardly any clouds.

As for the action on the track, both races were extremely clean. Chicago had twice as many as New Hampshire’s three cautions, but only one actually came from a wreck. Everything else was a myriad of reasons that didn’t involve cars being damaged.

Also, nobody made a pass Sunday. We saw this in the July race at New Hampshire, as well. Once the field settled down after a restart, everybody pretty much remained in their same spot.

That’s not to say the drivers simply took it easy all day. Sure, that may be part of the problem the past two weeks, but right now the setup of the cars does not make for good racing at New Hampshire.

Even last year, the drivers beat and banged their way through the race, and that has been fairly common in the past several years. That’s not the case this year. The New Hampshire races this year weren’t far from the restrictor-plate race at the track in 2000 when Jeff Burton led the entire race.

Along with the cars not matching up with the track very well, the fact that the Chase has started also plays a part in why these races have been so tame.

It’s not that this group of drivers can’t mix it up. They could barely get through 30 laps at Richmond without taking each other out. The Chase drivers have to play it safe right now, especially with the new points system. Denny Hamlin is 66 points out, and out of the championship picture.

Jimmie Johnson finished 18th Sunday and is 29 points out of the lead in 10th. That margin, however, is not insurmountable. Johnson has climbed out of similar holes to go on and win the championship, and he isn’t a full race out of the lead yet. That’s when things start to get scary, and Hamlin is already a race and a half behind points leader Stewart.

Still, these two races cannot be used to truly measure the Chase drivers’ success and predict how the rest of the Chase will play out. Although right now it seems possible, not every race is going to come down to fuel mileage. It would be shocking if it came into play next week at Dover. It could well be the fifth race at Charlotte Motor Speedway before we start to see who is going to be a factor for the championship at Homestead.

So far this year’s Chase has only taught us one thing: Save fuel; it’s a killer to run out.

Stewart's championship chances still small

Tony Stewart made a statement in a lot of minds Monday that he is not only a championship contender, but could be a favorite to win the championship this season.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Stewart looked strong at Chicago and would’ve had a good finish even if the race hadn’t come down to fuel mileage, and the future looks promising as the Sprint Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where teammate Ryan Newman won and Stewart finished second.

Those are all positives for Stewart’s championship hopes, but there’s still that lingering factor: The Chase has eight more races after New Hampshire.

Stewart has won at every track in the Chase at some point in his career and 17 of his 40 career wins have come at current Chase tracks.

However, the measure of a driver’s performance is usually more accurate based on how they have performed throughout the season more than throughout their career. Shoot, Jeff Burton has won at New Hampshire four times, but he finished 16th in the July race and has just one top 10 all season.

Just three weeks ago, Stewart was having trouble hanging onto the final spot in the Chase and had just come off of a stretch where he finished outside the top 10 in three of four races, including a dreadful 28th-place performance at Bristol.

We’ve seen other drivers, particularly Clint Bowyer, barely squeak into the Chase and then reel off a win or two at the start that throws them up into the top five in the points standings. But, those teams typically don’t sustain their success enough to truly contend for the championship.

Even 2007, the first year Bowyer made the Chase, he won the first race at New Hampshire and finished second twice more in the first five races of the Chase, but he still finished third, 346 points behind champion Jimmie Johnson.

Stewart could very well have turned a corner Monday and will contend for the championship all the way to Homestead, but 10th-place teams don’t usually turn into championship teams in 10 races.

The first 26 races of the season are typically a good barometer for how strong a team is in a given year. Plus, it’s much easier to drop from first to 10th, as Kyle Busch did in 2008, than it is to climb from 10th to first.

With its win at Chicago, the #14 team might have hit on a setup that will keep them near the top of the standings for the remainder of the Chase, but a fuel-mileage win in the first-place shouldn’t make that team the favorite to win it all.

Rating the Wonderful Pistachios 400: 5 Stars *****

The Sprint Cup Series drivers battled through a wild night at Richmond International Raceway to set the field for the 2011 Chase. The action track certainly lived up to its name, and the final race of the regular season gets a 5 Star Rating.

This type of race came out of nowhere. Sure, there have been some exciting races lately and a few with several hard wrecks, but cars wrecked nearly from the drop of the green flag Saturday night and drivers stood in the gas all night long, causing 15 cautions, the second-most this season and most since the Daytona 500.

Maybe the new Chase format spiced things up for this race. Last year’s race was very clean with only three cautions. Also, most of Saturday night’s wrecks were because drivers tried to force their way into a hole, especially early in a race, and we haven’t seen that in quite a while.

NASCAR may have finally settled on a system that will produce the excitement it has been trying to manufacture for years.

The entire race felt like it was the final 10 laps at Talladega where all heck breaks loose.

The craziness started early and involved several of the main Chase contenders. Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all sustained damage in the second wreck of the evening.

As it turns out, the points standings didn’t change at all and everybody who was in the Chase coming into the race left Richmond with a Chase spot. But the #88 hung on a small limb off the edge of a cliff for most of the night.

At times, Dale Jr. was only four points from falling out of the top 10 in the standings after he got caught up in the early wreck and then traded blows with Travis Kvapil of all people, and spun Kvapil out on lap 154.

However, Dale Jr. and Kvapil weren’t the only two drivers to engage in short track vengeance. Marcos Ambrose and Brian Vickers ran into each other, and Vickers got parked by NASCAR for blocking Ambrose under the caution. Also, possibly the most interesting battle of the night, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson took turns spinning each other out.

The Busch-Johnson battle has simmered for years now and could really blow up if they meet during the Chase. Thankfully, both were already locked into the Chase and didn’t have anything to lose by trying to ruin each other’s night. That situation could be a lot different if it happens again sometime in the next 10 weeks.

Along with the carnage, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards had a good race to the finish as Harvick crossed the line with Edwards inches from his rear bumper.

Harvick deserved to win the race. He had the best car for most of the night even though the running order kept getting shuffled because of all the wrecks.

The win gives Harvick four on the season and he will start the Chase on top with Kyle Busch.

Overall, the changes to the points system and Chase format this year worked well during the regular season. It will be interesting to see how the Chase plays out, but it’s unlikely one driver will run away with the championship since several contenders have been on top of their game in recent weeks.

Have a good week everybody and enjoy this year’s Chase.

For his sake, Clint Bowyer needs to stay at RCR

Carl Edwards announced he will return to Roush-Fenway Racing in 2012, Danica Patrick announced she will go to NASCAR full-time next season and Dale Earnhardt Jr. has all but announced he will stay at Hendrick Motorsports long term.

But, the Silly Season isn't quite finished.

While it seems most of the NASCAR rides are accounted for in 2012, there is still one nagging situation that won’t wrap up. Clint Bowyer still needs a contract for next season.

When Edwards announced he would stay in a Ford next season, the talk was that everybody else would stay in their current ride, including Bowyer. Reports said Bowyer and Richard Childress were close to a deal and just hammering out sponsorship for the full season.

Now, less than a month later, it sounds more and more like Bowyer might not return to the #33 car. Reports are that the organization is still having trouble securing sponsorship, and Bowyer doesn’t want to take a pay cut.

Both of these problems are understandable. The sponsorship issue has been a problem throughout the sport for several years, and it’s tough for a driver who has been in the Chase three of the past four years to accept a pay cut after Edwards just signed one of the largest contracts in the history of the sport.

With all that said, Bowyer still needs to come to an agreement with Richard Childress Racing, even if it means a pay cut. Sure, he might get more money if he jumps ship and finds a ride at Richard Petty Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing, but the #33 car will be better in 2012 than any of his other options.

Bowyer started in the #07 at Richard Childress Racing in 2006 as a rookie, but then moved to the brand-new #33 team in 2009 after Casey Mears came in to drive the #07.

The 2009 season was a bad one for the entire RCR organization as none of its four teams made the Chase. However, it downsized to three teams in 2010 and every car made the Chase.

By leaving RCR, even though it is struggling mightily at the moment, Bowyer would put himself back in a similar position to his 2009 season. He would most likely drive for a start-up team as the third or fourth car at whatever organization he chose. Those teams don’t typically challenge for a Chase spot, much less contend for a championship.

It would feel like he’s starting over, and he would likely have to spend a few seasons waiting for the team to develop into a contender.

Richard Childress Racing might have stretches where the entire organization struggles, but as Kevin Harvick found out when he re-signed with RCR following the 2009 season, it comes back with a vengeance. Harvick nearly won the 2010 championship.

Right now RCR might look like it’s in trouble and can’t keep up with the other big teams, but when this organization figures out what is wrong, it generally rises to the top of the sport.

Even if Bowyer misses the Chase this season, the #33 team could easily be in the Chase and battle for a championship next season. That might not be possible at any of Bowyer’s other options.

With Austin Dillon contending for a championship in the truck series, RCR has options if Bowyer bolts. Right now Bowyer needs Childress more than Childress needs Bowyer.

Even if it means a lower salary, Bowyer needs to stay at RCR if he wants to be a contender in 2012.

Edwards stays put, leaves possible seat open at Gibbs

Finally, the first move of the 2011 NASCAR Silly Season happened Thursday, although it turned out not to be a move at all.

After weeks and weeks of speculation, Carl Edwards signed a multiyear deal to remain the driver of the #99 Ford for Roush-Fenway Racing.

However, his decision to stay with his current team might be more surprising than if he left. People knew Edwards’ contract was up at the end of this season, and even as far back as last year the speculation was that Edwards would remain with Roush.

Then Joe Gibbs Racing came into play.

All of a sudden reports started to surface that Edwards was going to sign with Gibbs and possibly take over Joey Logano’s current ride, with Logano moving to a fourth car in the organization.

This would have made for a powerhouse team at Gibbs. The team currently has three of the young guns in the sport with the brightest futures, and Edwards would have immediately shot to the top of that group.

But, Edwards decided to stay with the organization that brought him into NASCAR and might carry him to a championship as early as this November.

Now that Edwards has signed, the rest of the moves can follow. Every year there is one big-time driver everyone waits for to make a move before the rest of the puzzle pieces fit into place. A few years ago it was Tony Stewart starting his own team, then it was Martin Truex Jr. moving to the #56 car and last year it was Kasey Kahne leaving the #9 car.

Since Edwards stayed put, that might open the door for somebody else to hop on as the fourth driver at Gibbs, but it looks like many of the other big-name free agents will follow Edwards’ lead and stay with their current team.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer are said to be close to finalizing their deals to remain at Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing next year. Juan Pablo Montoya will also likely re-sign with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing.

Still, however unlikely, the option of a fourth car at Gibbs is a possibility, and it would be a steal for a second-tier driver to get in that ride next year.

Right now it looks like all of the main championship contenders will remain in their same colors and with their same teams next year, but the extra car at Gibbs could keep the Silly Season at least a little bit silly.

Amid 14 different winners, Stewart, Biffle and Bowyer still looking for Victory Lane

The next three races might not be the three an average NASCAR fan would pick to attend if he or she didn’t live nearby Pocono, Watkins Glen or Michigan, but they are important weeks on the NASCAR schedule.

With the exception of Daytona, Pocono Raceway is the first track the Sprint Cup Series visits for a second time in the season. It always feels like the haulers just pulled out of the infield before they come rolling back in today.

Since Jeff Gordon won the first race at Pocono in June, five of the six races have been won by a driver who was winless on the season going into that race. Kyle Busch’s dominating performance at Kentucky was the only race where a driver picked up his second win of the season. Overall, there have been 14 different winners so far this season.

Will this trend of a different face in Victory Lane nearly every week continue? Probably not, but there are still several drivers who usually have wins at this point in the season yet are still winless in 2011.

Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle all have cars capable of running up front more weeks than not, but so far the perfect scenario it takes to win a race has not come together for these drivers.

That’s not to say they are in dire trouble yet this season. Stewart has several tracks coming up where he has had success in the past, and his cars have been better lately as he’s made his way inside the top 10 in the points standings to head to Pocono in ninth.

Biffle also has reasons to be optimistic as the midway point of the Race to the Chase approaches. He won the second Pocono race a year ago, and the Ford cars continue to be strong at the larger tracks on the schedule. It’s just a matter of time before the end of a race plays out in Biffle’s favor.

That leaves Bowyer. He might be in the most trouble of these three drivers. The #33 car consistently comes to the front of the field at short tracks and flat tracks.

Unfortunately, Bristol is the only short track until the cutoff race at Richmond, and Pocono is also as flat as the tracks get until Richmond. Like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer will need good, consistent finishes the rest of the way if he wants to be a factor for the Chase come Richmond.

If these three drivers do win, that will push the total number of different winners to 17 before the Chase starts. That is remarkable, and it could go beyond that since the series will visit Chicagoland for the first and only time this year to start the Chase, and then Talladega looms later in the Chase. Anybody could win that one, and the way things have been going this year, somebody different likely will.

Rating the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks: 2 Stars **

For the second straight week, a gamble on a late-race caution brought an unexpected winner to Victory Lane. This week’s winner, Matt Kenseth, wasn’t as unexpected as Darlington-winner Regan Smith, but similar strategy won him the race. Unfortunately, that was the most interesting part of a race that gets a 2 Star Rating.

Kenseth made a bold call on the final caution and it looked like there would be a heck of a battle to the finish, but the race’s three dominators, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, couldn’t come back through the field and Kenseth quickly got around Mark Martin and drove off into the sunset for a relatively uncontested victory.

Sunday’s race was actually pretty typical of Dover. The few cars that really hit the setup were able to jump to the lead and stay there as the three dominators led a combined 353 of the 400 laps. Johnson, Edwards, Jeff Gordon and others have done the same thing in the past. Sometimes that’s just the way it is at Dover for whatever reason.

Not every race is going to be thrilling the way several have been already this season, and the long green-flag runs and the opportunity for different strategies to come into play late in the race made things interesting, but I think the fans would’ve gotten more of a kick out of a three-way battle among Johnson, Edwards and Bowyer for the win rather than Kenseth driving away from everybody.

The unexpected weather also affected the racing. When a cloudy day was forecast, and much worse weather actually was called for, many cars likely had a setup under the car that did not anticipate sunshine and warm weather. With that type of weather, the track was much more slick than expected and many drivers really had to fight their cars throughout the day, and that often limits the amount of hard racing that can be done.

In the big picture, Kenseth and the #17 team are all of a sudden basically locked into the Chase, barring a major meltdown, and that certainly seems unlikely with the way the Fords have been running this season. The win bumped Kenseth up four spots in the standings and gave him two wins on the year, so even if he falls out of the top 10 in points, he still has a very good shot at getting one of the two wild card spots.

For the first time in several weeks, everybody remained relatively calm and a pair of drivers didn’t have to meet with NASCAR after the race. That’s good, because the chances of that happening next weekend are as high as there will be for a race this season.

The All-Star race is next up on the schedule and a bunch of things will be on the line in a race that doesn’t even count in the season standings. The drivers will be battling for a big check in Victory Lane, and some might end up battling each other to either attempt to settle an old score, or settle a new one.

Either way, the All-Star race is shaping up to potentially be one of the best ever. That’s saying something with the way some of those races go. Enjoy a week where points don’t matter. It’s the last time that will happen this season.

Rating the Sylvania 300: You Rate the Race!!

In another relatively clean race, the Chase started with none other than a classic fuel-mileage finish. Some Chasers soared while others faltered. The big question is, was it a great race, terrible race or somewhere in between? This week it’s your turn to put a rating on the race, so take a look at the Rating System and voice your opinion.

Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart both took the big gamble on the final run. Bowyer had enough fuel to make the finish while Stewart came up two laps short; so much for these guys playing it safe in the Chase. However, NASCAR should also be commended for putting the yellow flag in its pocket the last couple of weeks.

So, is this the start of something big for Clint Bowyer or will he begin to struggle as the turns become more and more banked in the coming weeks? The stat about the championship winner not finishing worse than sixth in all but one year at New Hampshire has been thrown out there plenty this weekend, but does it really matter? In some cases it has, but Johnson still won the championship in 2006 when he finished 39th in this race.

The long final run Sunday was kind of surprising, as New Hampshire certainly isn’t known for that type of a finish. In general, fuel-mileage races don’t happen in the Chase for one reason or another. The only other one that comes to mind was Greg Biffle’s victory at Kansas in 2007.

Along with the Chase picture, several non-Chasers had good runs this week, which doesn’t always happen at this point in the season. Had Jamie McMurray been more consistent during the regular season, he would be in a similar position to Bowyer right now.

And how could we forget Dale Earnhardt Jr.? His fourth-place finish was his best outing since he finished fourth at Daytona in July, and his only top five-finish at a track other than Daytona this season. Plus, this run kind of came out of nowhere. The Hendrick Motorsports cars ran better overall this weekend, and New Hampshire has been a pretty good track for Earnhardt Jr. throughout the years. In any case, his run Sunday surely has Jr. Nation excited that brighter days lay ahead.

Next week is on to the other one-mile oval in the Chase: Dover. The Monster Mile will be tough as always, but I expect the Fords to have a better showing this week. Other than Carl Edwards lately, the Fords have struggled for a while now on flat racetracks. The larger tracks should help, and Miles the Monster might just hold a Roush-Fenway Racing car in Victory Lane at the end of the day.