Upcoming Events in the World of NASCAR

After an exciting Memorial Day weekend of events, festivities, and flare-ups, NASCAR heads to the Monster Mile of Dover International Speedway. Dover kicks off the meat of the schedule. There are 13 more races before the field for the championship Chase is set. However, for those drivers looking to qualify for the chase, the next 13 weeks are critical.

To qualify for the chase, a driver most be in the top 10 drivers or within 400 points of the first place driver. Currently, Johnson has set a blistering pace early in the season is already 435 points ahead of 10th place Kevin Harvick. That means for guys like Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards to qualify for the Chase, they have to smoke this middle portion of the schedule and boot a few of the drivers out of the top 10. Greg and Carl will be waiting for drivers like Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick (currently ranked 8th, 9th, and 10th) to falter so they can make their move to qualify for the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship.

However, don't expect Kyle Busch to falter next week. In just two starts at the Monster Mile, Kyle has 2 top-5 finishes.

Also expect the following drivers to do well next week:

Other drivers to note:

Tony Stewart - Average Finish 6th (that is if he can race with a fractured shoulder blade)
Ryan Newman - Average Finish 7th
Jimmie Johnson - Average Finish 12th
Jeff Gordon - Average Finish 13th

Next Week's Schedule:
(all times CST)

Nextel Cup: @ Dover International Speedway
6/03/06 - 10:35pm NASCAR Nextel Cup Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America Practice
6/02/06 - 03:10pm NASCAR Nextel Cup Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America Qualifying
6/04/06 - 02:10pm NASCAR Nextel Cup Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America

Busch Series: @ Dover International Speedway
6/02/06 - 01:50pm NASCAR Busch Series StonebridgeRacing.com 200 Practice
6/03/06 - 12:05pm NASCAR Busch Series StonebridgeRacing.com 200 Qualifying
6/03/06 - 03:30pm NASCAR Busch Series StonebridgeRacing.com 200

Craftsman Truck Series: @ Dover International Speedway
6/01/06 - 04:30pm NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series AAA Insurance 200 Practice
6/02/06 - 10:15pm NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series AAA Insurance 200 Qualifying
6/02/06 - 04:45pm NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series AAA Insurance 200

Who's Hot?

This week, Evernham Motorsports dominated! At various points throughout the race, all of Evernham drivers, even Jeremy Mayfield who has been dismal in 2006, were in the top 10. Both Scott and Carl combined to lead more laps than any other manufacturer's driver combo in the race.

Scott Riggs even had a chance to win the race until a series of mistakes on pit road with 40 laps to go doomed him. Scott stalled his car while in the pits prompting everyone to jump in and start pushing. However, both the catch-can man and the jack-man forgot to drop their tools while pushing the car out of the pits. The ever watchful NASCAR officials were there to spot tools leaving the pit-box which is an unforgivable sin in NASCAR.

With the series of bad finishes that Evernham has had, this could be the spark that ignites a fire. Kasey Kahne, sitting in 6th place -219 points out of 1st place, should easily qualify for the Chase for the Championship. Scott Riggs (-719 points out of 1st place) and Jeremy Mayfield (-863 points out of 1st place) are too far out to even think of qualifying for the Chase. However, the success both drivers had this past weekend could help fuel a strong run through the middle part of the season.

Who's Not?

Spinning out on the first lap of the Coca-Cola 600 may have been enough to take Dale Jarrett out of championship contention. The last place finish at the 600 dropped Dale 4 spots in the points standings to 16th place, -590 points out of 1st and -155 points out of 10th place. 155 points may not sound insurmountable. However, when you look at who is sitting just in front of Dale and also looking to qualify, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, you may get cold shivers down your spine.

Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle both come from a championship organization, Roush Racing, and are both young gun-slingers with an appetite for winning races. Dale is in the twilight of his career and on the verge of switching teams. I very seriously doubt his team has a lot of chemistry right now, and I doubt Dale is committed to his team. I haven't heard any rumblings of team problems or lack of commitment from Dale, but from an outsider looking in, these would be logical conclusions to a lackluster season.

Last Week's Headlines

The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race of any major racing circuit in the world. It is a grueling, hot, and incredibly long race for the fans; just imagine what the drivers go through! I will go out on a limb and say that even the supposed world's greatest driver, Michael Schumacher, would shrivel up like a raison if he had to endure 4+ hours of 120+ degree heat. After all, he is used to racing only 60 laps with the top down.

What makes the 600 fun to watch are all the races within the race. Drivers might dominate certain segments of the race but fail to appear at the critical end segment of the race. Take Scott Riggs for example. In the early portions of the race, Scott had one of the strongest cars in the race. However, as the sun went down and the track began to cool, so did Scott's car. After making critical mistakes in the pits with 40 laps to go, the #10 Valvoline Dodge wasn't strong enough to work it's way to the front again.

What was surprising with the 2006 Coca-Cola 600 was the lack of engine blow-ups. Typically, a 600 mile race will claim a number of engines. I thought this would especially hold true this year with the mandated smaller fuel cells. The smaller cells were implemented by NASCAR to help solve the tire problems from last year. A smaller fuel cell means the car holds less gas and requires more pit stops. This would in turn give teams more opportunities to change tires. However, in a 600 mile race, more pit stops mean more rpm cycles for an engine which could cause problematic.

Most importantly, this Coca-Cola 600 is dedicated to all the young, gorgeous, bikini-clad beauties who rank Kasey Kahne as their American Idol. As long as these young beauties are happy, they'll continue to watch NASCAR, along with the shirtless bear of a man sitting behind them!

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