Happy Tuesday all.

Today In Nascar History

September 2, 1957: In his first NASCAR race, Cale Yarborough finishes 42nd in field of 50 cars in the Southern 500 at Darlington. His No. 30 Pontiac (right front hub) is one of 27 cars that fail to finish the race. Speedy Thompson wins the race by more than three laps.

Number of the Day

381: Laps led by Denny Hamlin in the spring Cup race at Richmond International Raceway, site of Saturday's Sprint Cup Series race. It was a record for laps led in a 400-lap race at the track. Despite his dominance, Hamlin finished 24th, the victim of a slow leak in his right front tire.

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Quote of the Year

"NASCAR ain't doing nothing I like right now." "I don't like the rules they are doing...you can bump somebody and they want to fine you for it." Pearson saw the look on Carl Edwards face and made sure to say he knew that Edwards could not speak-up or he would get fined.

--David Pearson

In one weekend, Kyle supplanted Ulysses S. Grant as "the most-hated person in the history of Richmond."

--Mark Aumann In his Power Rankings comments

Comments from the Peanut Gallery

From Chip

Dear NASCAR Momma: I have a question: During the race Sunday it was mentioned that NASCAR allows teams to set a stagger in the rear end of the race cars. My question is how long has this been allowed? Maybe it’s the new car design or maybe in the years of watching races I just never seemed to notice but this new car at times to me looks like a dog running down the road with its rear end kicked off to the side. I have seen this before in vehicles that have been wrecked and had their frames straightened and it is quite noticeable on the highways but it seemed to jump out at me this year on the race track. I feel foolish for not noticing this until this year and the first thing that came to mind was how long has this been going on that I didn't see it before. Have I been so wrapped up in just watching the race that this fact escaped me or is it the new car that makes it so obvious? Maybe Lou, the old man of NASCAR, could help me on this one. I do not think that it is a newer camera angle that makes this stand out but it seems most obvious when they show the cars coming straight at the camera. Is this stagger allowed more or less from track to track? Just an inquiring mind that would like to know. Chip

Chip, they’ve just started that this year.  Drivers have found that by twisting the rear housing on the car, that it corner’s better under faster speeds.  Just recently, NASCAR has mandated just how much they can “twist” the housing.  I’m sure that someone else can explain this better than I am.  I know what they are doing, just not how to explain it clearly!

From my Mom

I also disagree with Eddie, I am very upset when they don't show all the racers up to the last one.  They often cut short the middle and end racers because I want to see where certain drivers are even tho they aren't in the "TOP 10".  They may be some day. Nascar Momma’s Momma.

From Lou

Eddie, I have to say on this one I disagree.  If my driver isn’t in the top 10, I want to know where he is, regardless of whether he is running in 11^th or 43^rd.  I have a need to know!!!

Hi again Momma,

On this point I agree with you 100%. If the race is a run-away, like some have been lately, why not show other races within the race. These can be more important than some think, like the difference from being in the top 35, or the top 12.

I believe Eddie, with his comments, is what I referred to before, a race watcher, not a race fan.

As for, and I quote Eddie here, "those washed up drivers and crew chiefs", who better to talk about anything than someone that has, "been there, done that". My modest knowledge of auto racing has come from listening to guys like this.

The Old Man of NASCAR,

Lou Elliott 

From Darrel

For Eddie I know how we can make you very happy.  Why not just tell all of those mechanics and drivers that are running 21st or back to go home. That no one is interested in them and they are just taking up track space getting in the hot shoes   Heeeeeey way wait let’s make it 15 and back..... no 12 and back  that  way every  finisher is in the  chase.    That  will work  Of  course  the  ticket  price will have to be tripled  to cover the  cost of opening the  tracks gates for the 100 or so people  that can  afford the price of the hot dog and  beer.wow    bet that  will make Eddie  happy Darrel

From Tommy

Momma,

Next week you get to enjoy and embrace another year of immortality....Happy 48 next Tuesday

TOM.....A FORD FAN.....GO MATT & GO KYLE (in a TOYOTA, see I do know the difference)

LOL…good one Tommy (the Toyota reference!)  And thanks for reminding me I will be a year older.  For that, you are sent to the corner…lol

AT&T Looking at ways to continue marketing to NASCAR fans: AT&T won't be able to sponsor the #31 Sprint Cup car of Jeff Burton next year, but that doesn't mean it will be nowhere to be seen around NASCAR tracks. The company is still weighing its options on how to market to NASCAR fans without having its logos on a car. "Obviously having to step away from the Cup Series, we’ve been approached by every other racing circuit out there – teams, drivers, racing leagues,” said Tim McGhee, AT&T director of national sponsorships. “We’re evaluating all of our opportunities right now." AT&T has spent significant money on advertising as well as sponsoring segments on the Sprint Cup telecasts. "We can’t do anything at the track, but we’re going through our 2009 media planning, and we did a significant media buy on Fox, TNT, ABC, ESPN [this year]," McGhee said. "I wouldn’t be surprised if we retained a presence on the broadcast because it does deliver a very desirable audience to us."(SceneDaily.com)

Jay Frye offered position at Stewart Haas: Longtime Sprint Cup Series team executive Jay Frye [currently with Red Bull Racing] has been offered a contract by Stewart Haas Racing, and is mulling a departure from Team Red Bull before season's end to accept a management position at SHR, ESPN.com has learned. Sources close to Stewart Haas confirmed Monday that Frye is the man they've targeted to run the organization's day-to-day operations. He is expected to accept, sources said, and would be titled vice president/general manager.(ESPN.com)

Petty Enterprises still working on 2009 driver lineup: Robbie Loomis, vice president for racing operations at Petty Enterprises: "As far as driver lineup for next year, we are very aggressive on moving forward…but we are facing the fact that, based on where our cars are running right now, we won't be able to get that A-level driver as a teammate with #43-Bobby Labonte. So we have to create that player: like Brett Favre at Green Bay. We're still working on those plans. Kyle [Petty] will run some races next year. And Bobby will have a teammate that we hope can grow into that B-level or A-level player."(Winston Salem Journal)

Keselowski's crashed California car now a conversation piece

Bob Packrass/scenedaily.com

FONTANA, Calif. – So whatever happened to the car that slid along the Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway wall last year, leaving a trail of flames as driver Brad Keselowski held on?

It’s not at JR Motorsports.

It’s at Junior’s home.

OK, it’s not inside the home, but it’s on team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s property.

“Dale’s got it out on his property there,” said Keselowski, who lives in an apartment on Earnhardt Jr.’s property. “Every once in a while, we’ll get in a golf cart or a four-wheeler and drive by it and see it.”

Keselowski remembers every bit of the wreck, not that he really wants to. But that doesn’t keep him from looking at the car every once in a while.

“It’s a good conversation piece,” Keselowski said. “It’s actually out back in the woods. It’s on a hill and there’s vines and stuff growing through it. It’s cool because Dale left it completely intact. Every single piece other than the radio is in it. It’s really cool to see.”

Gordon continues to fall with Chase cutoff in sight

ESPN.com

FONTANA, Calif. -- The only four-time Cup champion among active drivers and the man who won six races last season will go to Richmond this weekend with a chance of missing the Chase for the second time in the past four seasons.

Jeff Gordon is 10th in the standings, 102 points ahead of 13th-place David Ragan. Gordon probably is safe and likely will secure a top-12 spot to make the playoffs. But it's not a done deal.

A blown engine or a wrecked car could drop Gordon outside the top 12. He will start the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 on Saturday night uncertain of his plight.

"It's not as comfortable as we'd like to be," said Gordon, who finished 15th. "We were hoping to have a better run [in the Pepsi 500 Sunday night], but we got everything out of it and were a 15th-place car."

Gordon started third at Auto Club Speedway but quickly moved backward and never ran with the leaders. It's a story the No. 24 Chevy team has seen all too often this season.

If the worst-case scenario happens at Richmond, Gordon could find himself a Chase outsider. But Gordon doesn't see making the Chase as his primary goal.

"Obviously, we want to be in the Chase," Gordon said. "It's important to our team and our sponsors. But it doesn't do any good to make the Chase if you're not competitive enough to win races and battle for the championship.

"We want to perform well. We want to win races. We want to be competitive. It's not about giving up. It's about fighting to the last lap of every race."

Gordon missed the Chase in 2005 when he was 12th after the Richmond event. The Chase field was expanded from 10 drivers to 12 last season. His rookie season of 1993, when he finished 14th, was the only other time he finished worse than ninth in his career.

This season also could be the first time since his rookie year that Gordon fails to win a race. His still has 11 more chances to get a victory but only one more chance to secure his spot in the Chase.

"I know we are going to be better at Richmond than we were here," Gordon said.

Gordon finished 13th at Richmond in May. He was fourth at Richmond a year ago. Anything close to either of those results would earn Gordon a spot in the playoff and a chance to turn his season around.

But he'll have to start the race not knowing for sure whether he will get that chance.

-- Terry Blount  

Rick Hendrick says NASCAR’s new racer shouldn’t be this hard to get running well

By Mike Mulhern/independenttribune

Rick Hendrick was NASCAR’s hot ticket car owner the last two seasons, winning championship back-to-back with Jimmie Johnson, Sunday night’s winner here in a duel with Greg Biffle.

But this season, well, Hendrick all but rolls his eyes.

“You remember when we did the media tour (in January), and we’d finished first and second, and had, what, 18 wins last year, and everybody thought ‘Can anybody stop us this year?’” Hendrick was saying late Sunday night.

“I had this feeling…..that we’d spent a lot of time in the old car in the chase, building those new cars, and we got behind. 

“I didn’t think we’d struggle as bad as we have this year. And we worked harder this year than we did last year, and more testing, just trying to figure it out. 

“And it’s been frustrating because other teams have run well.

“But you can look at those two teams, Carl Edwards’ and Kyle Busch’s—the other cars on those teams are not as dominant as those two.  So it’s just this (winged) car.

“I’ve never seen it since I’ve been racing—It is so temperamental, and you just have to figure out what the crew chief and driver like.

“We’ve worked harder this year….I can’t remember testing any more…more meetings…throwing more things at it to try to get better.

“Sometimes the harder you work on this car, the further backwards you get.”

So, yes, NASCAR’s new car-of-tomorrow still draws razzing from the men who have to deal with it, and the new machine has simply not provided any better racing or changed the balance of power in the sport or opened the door to new team owners (in fact owners are falling by the wayside, and the Tom Garfinkel-Jeff Moorad team may be the next to make a major change, just a year after they joined the tour).

Still, NASCAR officials steadfastly refuse to make any concessions to the teams to make the racing any better, in what some see as either arrogance or ignorance.

“NASCAR’s got a problem, but I don’t think they even realize it,” one of the sport’s most successful crew chiefs said, asking not to be named. “I was just talking with (another highly successful team owner) and he was saying the same thing.”

What does Johnson, now a three-time winner this season and maybe back in the hunt for a third straight championship, think about this new car:

“There’s nothing comfortable about driving this car.  This thing is never going to complete a lap and have everything work out right for you.  You’re going to have to compromise somewhere. 

“This car is not comfortable, and I don’t think it ever will be – with the lack of downforce, higher center-of-gravity, and all of the things NASCAR wanted. They wanted it to be to the driver’s hands…and they made it hard to drive, that’s for sure.

“We finished second here at the start of the season, and that was the highlight of the first quarter of the season for us. Outside of that, we were terrible on the big tracks.”

Hendrick points to extreme frustration among his teams in trying to get the new car to work: “This thing has made a lot of people pull their hair out.  It’s hard….I mean Jimmie left his vacation twice came back to test.

“It was supposed to have been easier than this.”

Hendrick of course isn’t the only man in the NASCAR garage still complaining vigorously about NASCAR’s new ‘car-of-tomorrow,’ which crew chief Greg Erwin, on Biffle’s team, says may in fact actually have made worse many of the issues it was supposed to solve – like the issue of ‘clean air.’

Chad Knaus, Johnson’s crew chief, says the driver-crew chief relationship has become critical to making this new car work. And that’s an ironic statement, considering Knaus and Johnson are two of the tightest buds in the garage, and they’ve struggled so much with it.

“It is extremely finicky, but you can fix it,” Knaus said, looking hopefully ahead at his team’s prospects in the upcoming chase.

“And if you’re going to try to count out Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart or Matt Kenseth going into this chase, I think you are just fooling yourselves. 

“Now Carl, Kyle and us could walk in with our shoulders back thinking we’re going to whip everybody’s butt, but I think that’s pretty cocky to even think that.”

Johnson’s win was his 36th since joining the tour and his third here. Johnson, third in the Sprint Cup standings heading to Richmond this week, has been a key figure in the marketing of this east Los Angeles track, since he’s from nearby El Cajon.

Earnhardt has Hendrick’s only other tour win, a gas-mileage victory in June at Michigan.

Johnson started from the pole and, while he couldn’t escape Biffle, and then had to wait out a late run by Denny Hamlin, was in firm control all four hours, from heat of day through cool of night. “I think the track came to us, instead of us chasing the track,” Johnson said.

“Usually when you’re that good, you wait for something to happen,” Hendrick added. “And when you have a car that good, it’s hard to capitalize every race, especially a 500-mile race here.

“Hopefully we can take this momentum into the chase.”

But not likely, the way Johnson’s season has gone, hit-or-miss.

“Just before Chicago (mid-July) there were a couple of races where we were competitive—Michigan (June) was really the first sign we were working in the right direction,” Johnson said.  “We’ve been getting better…but this car is still so finicky. 

“The second Michigan (two weeks ago) we got a little more aggressive with the setup, thinking we could get away from it…and it turned away from us.”

And at Bristol, well, that’s not a great track for Johnson.

“To win this chase you’re going to have to fight for wins every week, and every pit stop is going to count, because you’re going to have at least Carl and Kyle to deal with,” Johnson said. “So this was a really good night for our guys to feel that pressure and go through that. 

“And for me inside the car, it’s been a while since I’ve been in a situation to blow it or throw away…and to really work on that mental toughness in those situations is important.

“We have been working on the other side of the line—finding speed, and dealing with those emotions of not being where we want.

“That speaks to how impressive Kyle and Carl have been. It’s tough to stay on top of this thing.

“At Indy (four weeks ago) we had a very, very good weekend.  But at the end Carl was putting a lot of pressure on us.”

Johnson quite capable of pulling off Cup three-peat

By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.COM

Sure, Takeri "Tsunami" Kobayashi won the Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest a remarkable six times in a row from 2001 through 2006. But if you ask him, he probably would say the third championship -- when his closest competitor pulled to within 14 hot dogs of him at the finish -- was one of the toughest.

That was in 2003, and by then the Hot Dog contest had come a long way since 1981 when American winner Thomas DeBerry retired after five minutes, and a mere 11 hot dogs consumed, to attend a family barbecue.

Well, driver Jimmie Johnson is no hot dog -- but he did barbecue the rest of the field in Sunday night's Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Johnson's win was so decisive that it revived spirited discussion of his chances of successfully defending back-to-back titles when the Chase for the Sprint Cup commences in less than two weeks.

Johnson led 228 of 250 laps and when he did fall back because of varying pit strategies or whatever, it usually took him all of about five seconds to get back to the front.

After laying low for much of this season, Johnson is gaining momentum at just the right time. He now has three victories, trailing only points-leader Kyle Busch, who has eight, and Carl Edwards, who has six, heading into this Saturday night's finale of the 26-race "regular season" at Richmond.

Edwards keeps saying he doesn't believe in momentum, but it's obvious, at least on some level, that Johnson does. As he heads into a race where he is the defending champion, he appears to be building it at precisely the right time.

History lessons

How hard is it to win three championships in a row?

Well, it's only been done once at what is now the Sprint Cup level in NASCAR. The legendary Cale Yarborough accomplished it, winning titles in 1976, 1977 and 1978 while driving for the even more legendary Junior Johnson.

Yarborough was so fired up after wrapping up the championship with two races left in the 1978 season (and by finishing two laps in front of everyone else at Rockingham) that he announced a bold goal.

"I'd like to win more championships than any other driver," Yarborough told reporters.

At the time, Richard Petty had six championships. Petty would go on to win one more. Yarborough, then 38 years old, raced full-time for only two more seasons and won a bunch more races but never another title before eventually retiring for good nine years later.

As great as Petty was, he never won three championships in a row.

Check in on other sports -- yes, we will include team sports because Sprint Cup racing is, in reality, a total team sport even though the driver frequently reaps 95 percent of the glory -- and it becomes glaringly obvious that three-peats are exceedingly rare.

The Los Angeles Lakers did it in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls also did it in the National Basketball Association in recent memory -- in fact accomplishing it twice (1996-98 and again in 1991-93).

In Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees did it in 1998-2000, but before that the most recent team to win three consecutive World Series titles was the Oakland Athletics in 1972-74.

And in the National Football League, no one has ever won three Super Bowls in a row. The Green Bay Packers were the last team to win three NFL championships in a row, but the first year they did it, in 1965, they didn't even have to contend with the pesky outsiders from the old American Football League that eventually would oppose them in football's biggest game.

Which brings us back to...

So can Johnson come from behind to pull it off? A race such as the one he dominated Sunday night sure makes it all seem possible.

Remember, the field will be re-set for the Chase, with the 12 Chase qualifiers beginning with 5,000 points each and then having 10 bonus points added for each race victory they claim in the regular season. At the moment, Busch has 80 bonus points piled up, Edwards 50 (he lost 10 because of a rules infraction penalty assessed after his victory at Las Vegas), and Johnson 30. No one else has more than 10.

The scary thing -- for those opposing Johnson, that is -- is that this is exactly the spot in the schedule when the No. 48 Chevrolet fielded by Hendrick Motorsports caught fire last year. And we're not talking about catching fire like after hitting the wall; we're talking smokin' hot in a good way, like at one of those family barbecues.

Johnson won last year's Labor Day weekend race at Fontana, too. Then he won at Richmond -- and beginning this past Oct. 21 at Martinsville, he won four times in a row to essentially have the issue decided by the time the final race in the Chase was held in Homestead, Fla., just before Thanksgiving.

If it weren't for the Chase, Johnson would have virtually no chance. Busch is currently a comfortable 208 points ahead of Edwards and 369 in front of Johnson. But after Richmond, that advantage will be reduced to no more than 30 over Edwards and possibly as few as 40 over Johnson.

Is it harder to win three consecutive championships now than it was when Yarborough pulled it off? Or is it easier?

Well, that depends on one's point of view. The competition is definitely tougher from top to bottom, and the Chase, after the first 26 races, obviously is the great equalizer that makes it seem more difficult for Busch to win a title some think he already deserves and easier for Johnson to continue hot pursuit of yet another trophy.

The truth is, the answers don't really matter. These are the rules of the game now, and Johnson is geared up to play by them and in position to take advantage of them.

The game is about to be on.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.

Yarborough wouldn't mind sharing mark with Johnson

Johnson: 'I'd be with one of my heroes since I was a kid.'

By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM

He was old enough to begin displaying the talent that would one day make him a champion in NASCAR's top division, but still young enough to be gulled by the power of advertising. Jimmie Johnson was just a kid when he saw his first Hardee's, somewhere on a trip cross-country to race dirt bikes. The tyke burst excitedly into the fast-food restaurant, expecting to see his idol Cale Yarborough tinkering with the No. 28 Hardee's Chevrolet he drove each weekend on television.

"I thought Cale Yarborough was going to be in there. I thought it was the race shop," Johnson says now, laughing. "We went in, and it had nothing to do with the racecar. It was just a place where you get a burger. But I was like, 'Where's Cale? What's the problem?' I couldn't understand that."

Years later, Johnson at last has an opportunity to catch up to his hero -- not just in person, but in the record books. With back-to-back titles in hand, the Hendrick Motorsports driver enters this season with a chance of tying Yarborough's mark of three consecutive Cup championships, set from 1976-78. Since then, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon have each made futile runs at NASCAR's version of the three-peat. In fact, Yarborough's triple is the only run of three consecutive titles ever achieved in any of the sport's three national series, even though 13 other drivers -- nine in Sprint Cup, and four in Nationwide -- have made attempts.

It's an achievement that Yarborough, now a car dealer in Florence, S.C., is understandably proud of. But he wouldn't mind some company at the top of the list.

"I wanted to win that [third consecutive title] bad, because nobody else had ever done it," said Yarborough, whose 83 career Cup victories rank fifth all-time, just ahead of sixth-place Gordon with 81. "It was pretty special, because nobody else has done it since, either. But Jimmie's got a good shot at it this time, and if he does it, it would suit me fine, because he's a good guy."

They're a strange combination, one an ultra-smooth, laid-back driver from Southern California, the other a hard-nosed scrapper -- literally, judging from the aftermath of the 1979 Daytona 500 -- from South Carolina's tobacco and cotton country. But there's a clear mutual respect between the two, even though they've only met in passing and don't know one another very well. Even Johnson isn't clear on exactly why he embraced Yarborough, although it might have had something to do with Cale's success during his formative years. Yarborough won seven races, including two Daytona 500s, driving that Hardee's car that Johnson remembers so well.

"I'm not really sure," Johnson admits. "Just being a kid in Southern California, seeing his success, I don't have any clear memories as of why. We're totally different. I think one of my earliest memories of him is when he crashed trying to get the pole at Talladega or Daytona, and a windshield fell out of the car and he was tumbling down the track. I remember that as a kid."

That would have been the 1983 Daytona 500, where Yarborough's car was blown sideways by a strong wind gust and went tumbling, its windshield shattered into pieces. He still went on to win the race, recording the third of his four career Daytona 500 victories, a triumph witnessed on the other side of the country by a then 7-year-old Johnson. Later, they would be linked in a more tangible way -- Johnson's spotter in what was then called the Busch Series, Lorin Rainier, is the son of Harry Rainier, who owned those No. 28 cars that Yarborough drove.

"Lorin has an old die-cast car of Cale's from way back in the day that he's going to give to me sometime," Johnson said. "That's going to be cool."

Their paths to greatness are as divergent as their personalities. Yarborough won all three of his titles under the old points system, where there was no playoff, and the margins weren't reset with 10 events remaining. Driving a No. 11 Chevrolet and then Oldsmobile for Junior Johnson, Yarborough bulldozed past the competition, winning his first championship by a decisive 215 points over Richard Petty, his second by a hefty 386 points over Petty, and his third by a whopping 474 points over Bobby Allison. Bidding for a fourth straight crown in 1979, he finished fourth.

"We had a good team," Yarborough said. "Junior Johnson put together a good team, and I knew we would win championships, just like Jimmie's got going for him now."

In winning his consecutive titles, Johnson has had to come from the back. Two years ago he was 156 points off the lead with six races remaining, but rallied to win. Last year he trailed Gordon for much of the regular season, but used the new bonus points format to take the lead going into the Chase, and never looked back. This year he faces not only competition from other drivers, but the challenge of adapting to a new car that will be used full time.

"I think it's going to be a bit of a scramble again to see who can find that magic for the mile-and-a-halfs, the 2-miles, all the downforce stuff," he said, referring to types of tracks where the new car was not used last year. "I feel very good about where we are. I know what we've done in the offseason has only made us stronger. ... All the ingredients are there for us to continue on. It just kind of boils down to getting into the season and seeing what we can do. I feel good about it."

"Any new season creates obstacles," added Gordon, the last driver to win back-to-back crowns (in 1997-98) before his Hendrick teammate did it last year. "The biggest one is, when you win a championship, do you lose people, do people come and try to take them away, are guys asking for big raises, is there any controversy? The good thing with the 48 team, and our team as well, is, we feel like the offseason has been very good to us. Then the other factor is, how much did the other teams, your competitors, did they find something you didn't find? Only time will tell."

Johnson's No. 48 team has shown few weaknesses in winning titles the past two years, and the driver has a firm sense that he's on the brink of a historic accomplishment. Not too long ago, people wondered if Johnson would ever win a single title. Now he has a chance to match one of the landmark records in NASCAR history.

"I don't know what I'd do for an encore after that," Johnson said. "It's already been amazing. But three in a row, if I was to do that, I'd be with one of my heroes since I was a kid, Cale Yarborough. That would be a very special thing."

Yarborough is clearly touched by the sentiment. "I appreciate that," he said. "That's the reason he's welcome to join me."

Waid’s World

Should Earnhardt Jr. fans be pleased, or want more?

Steve Waid/scenedaily.com

As you know, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 11th-place finish in the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway locked up a position in the Chase for him and his Hendrick Motorsports team.

Thus, Earnhardt Jr. has reached a goal he set for himself when he left Dale Earnhardt Inc. to join Hendrick this season. Now that he’s part of the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup, Earnhardt Jr. has the opportunity to reach another goal – a championship.

The vast majority of Earnhardt Jr.’s fans are extremely pleased that their man will have his chance to win a title. They also feel that he’s been much more competitive with Hendrick than he was with DEI, particularly during his last season with the team.

But there are some loyal to Earnhardt Jr. who feel he has come up short with Hendrick. They feel he should have won more than one points race and one pole so far this season. He should have been able to run more aggressively, win more races and even rise to No. 1 in points.

In other words, with Hendrick he should have been spectacular, not merely competitive and competent.

Some have even suggested that he would have been better off without crew chief Tony Eury Jr., who, they say, plotted strategies and made decisions that hampered Earnhardt Jr.

Of course, Earnhardt Jr. has strenuously defended his long-time pit boss.

I am not about to try to alter the opinions of those who feel Earnhardt Jr.’s accomplishments with Hendrick should have been far greater than they have been.

Why? Because I can understand them – to a point.

When Earnhardt Jr. joined Hendrick, many thought he had, at last, associated himself with a team that would allow him to excel tremendously.

He could live up to the driving legacy his late father established, which was to race aggressively – to give no quarter and take none.

Simply put, he could be the best driver in NASCAR, the one all Earnhardt Jr. fans want him to be and the one many of his fans already think he is.

But to some, Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t been what he should have been. It’s he, not Kyle Busch or Carl Edwards, who should be at the forefront of competition.

Earnhardt Jr., to date, has seldom displayed his father’s aggressiveness or flair. I think that is an accurate statement. But then, in the past when he’s had a bulletproof car, could anyone touch him?

That said, I’m not sure if it is a matter of his driving style. Perhaps it’s that Earnhardt Jr. has systematically made the most of his what his cars have given him – or not given him - and, more important, raced so that he could be in the position he is now.

This is only my own theory, of course.

But here are facts that I would urge the detractors to consider:

Although he didn’t lead in California, Earnhardt Jr. has led at least one lap in 18 of the 25 races held to date. He has led 706 laps this year. That’s more than he led in all of 2000 (426 laps), 2005 (169 laps), 2006 (444 laps) and last year with 433 laps.  He spent all those years with DEI.

So, competitively, it’s obviously been better with Hendrick.

Lest anyone think this is a condemnation of DEI, it must be said he did win 17 of his 18 career victories with the organization – sometimes convincingly.

I am sure Earnhardt Jr. is very satisfied with what he has achieved with Hendrick this year. Why should he not be? Yes, undoubtedly he would have liked to have won more races, but he’s solidly in the Chase and will have a chance to win a championship.

That is what he wanted. He got it. And it didn’t happen last year, did it?

Let’s not forget there is a lot of racing ahead. Starting with Richmond and then into the Chase, Earnhardt Jr. will have opportunities to win more races and a championship.

Most of his fans are very pleased with that, as they should be. After all, isn’t it far removed from what it was last year?

Gordon loses another spot, struggles continue with car

Hasn't gone this deep in season without win since 1993

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM

FONTANA, Calif. -- While Jimmie Johnson did a donut and pulled his car into Victory Lane to celebrate his third victory this season, Jeff Gordon shut off his machine behind his hauler, wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to face a tiny gathering of reporters. Most everyone else was with the championship contenders.

Gordon, although still part of the dozen drivers who will officially lock their Chase berths next weekend at Richmond, has slid from sixth to 10th in the standings in just three races. He crashed at Michigan, had a top-five at Bristol and then was abnormally mediocre Sunday night at Auto Club Speedway. Gordon had finished in the top five in three of the last for races at the California track entering this weekend.

His 15th-place finish, however, was as quiet as his post-race attention.

"We were a 15th-place car and we finished 15th. That's the bottom line," Gordon said. "That's all we had. We just didn't have any more than that.

"We were just off. We were off during the day and we were hoping that in the nighttime it would come through for us, and it never did."

Gordon hasn't pieced together consecutive top-five finishes since June. Intermediate tracks like California which make up half of the 10-race Chase and that have traditionally seen Gordon have consistently strong finishes -- have left the No. 24 team baffled as it tries to get a better grasp of the new car.

The mystery surprisingly goes back to last season. Gordon won six races in 2007, including two that used the new chassis. Yet the concentration was placed on winning the championship.

"I had this feeling that we spent a lot of time with the old car when we made the Chase and we got behind," said team owner Rick Hendrick. "I didn't think we would struggle as bad as we have this year. We've worked harder this year than we did last year, with more testing and just trying to figure it out, we just haven't been nowhere near as good as we were last year. We've struggled."

Last season, Hendrick drivers combined to win 18 races, 16 of which came from Johnson and Gordon.

Sunday, however, was Johnson's third victory of the season, and teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. won earlier in the season at Michigan. Casey Mears hasn't finished higher than fifth. But the red flag lies at Gordon's feet. Aside from his winless rookie year of 1993, Gordon has never gone this deep into a season without a victory.

"It's been frustrating," Hendrick said. "They're working awful hard. The car is just a fine edge and what works for one driver doesn't work for another driver. You've got to tune the car to the driver. This thing is making a lot of people pull their hair out. And we've been on top of the list."

Whereas Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, who have combined to win 14 races this season, traditionally like loose racecars and have often excelled when their cars are on the verge of too loose, Gordon doesn't necessarily work that way.

"It's tough to get the car right," Gordon said. "When it's off, there's no fixing it as far as I can see or that we've been able to find. We want to perform well and win races. We want to be competitive. I've said before, it doesn't do you any good to be in the Chase if you're not competitive enough to win races and battle for the championship."

Gordon said he thinks the team will be better next week at Richmond, and he may have to be. He's 102 points ahead of 13th-place David Ragan, while only the top 12 drivers make the Chase. He does have three consecutive top-10 finishes at Richmond. But the organization is looking big picture, too.

"Nobody's given up on that team," Hendrick said. "We work hard together and will keep testing. It's almost like the light comes on when you find a package that works for that driver, and that's what we've got to figure out."