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That three car battle for the Chase to the Cup that many – including me – were predicting seems to be shaping up.  Jimmy Johnson got his first 2008 Chase win.  Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle each grabbed another top three finish.  Throw a blanket on those three with the pack over ninety points back already.  

And the pack doesn’t include any Toyotas at all.  The Joe Gibbs Racing gang is falling farther behind with each poor showing.  Wait until next year coach. Oh, and Kyle, the pressure’s off now. Go ahead and win some races.

Kansas was a pretty predictably dull race other that Carl Edwards’ banzai pass attempt at the end and Juan Pablo Montoya’s cheating penalty in qualifying.  My guess is, that Talladega will be a different story.

Want to spice up the race interest at the office?  Start a big-one pool and try to pick what lap the semi-annual wreck will occur.  I say 155.  But there will be plenty of Fast Laps before that.  Try the next four, restrictor-plated, four-wide, warm-ups for the weekend.

1: Was the penalty to Juan Pablo Montoya for over-filled shocks during qualifying appropriate?

2: Should Kansas get a second Cup date, in part because a casino is being built next to the track?

3: Can Joe Gibbs Racing return to respectability during the Chase?

4: Paul Newman?

That’s it.  That’s the Talladega 2 edition of ON PIT ROW’s Fast Lap.  Steve and I will kick these things around on Tuesday’s show.  Listen live right here and call us between 5 and 7 PM EDT at 877-502-8255 and give us your take on any or all of the above.  And, of course, leave your thoughts here in the comment section.  Just be nice to your friends.

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I think I may be convinced.  In 2007 Clint Bowyer parlayed a win in the first race of the Chase to the Sprint Cup playoffs -his first ever win as a matter of fact – into contention with Jeff Gordon and eventual champ, Jimmy Johnson.  Clint hung in without another win.

Greg Biffle has two.  In a row.  And he’s going back to Kansas, where he is the most recent winner as well.  And the once – and probably future – favorite driver to sweep the Cup up – Kyle Busch is limping with an average finish of a tic worse than 38th place in the first to Chase races.  Yikes!  Looks like Biffle may be for real and Rowdy is outta here.

And where did Matt Kenseth come from?  I mean lately you expect the Biff and Carl Edwards to be tough, but that no. 17 team has been as resilient as the Detroit Lions.  Good to see though.

Take a look at our little mid-week distraction we call the Fast Lap and tell us, in your own concise way,  what you think of the four topics that Steve-O has tossed up today. 

1: NASCAR’s new drug policy adds random testing, but why isn’t there a banned substance list?

2: This weeks Robby Gordon rumor has he and DEI joining forces. Will Robby ever get it right?

3: How can the new car provide such great racing on a one miler and not even come close when you add another half mile?

4: Is The Chase down to a three car battle?

This is a debate so bring your arguing shoes.  We’ll use the best, or maybe the worst, comments on a future episode of ON PIT ROW. 

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Greg Biffle finally got the win that I and plenty of others had called for at various venues this year.  With what he called a “text-book pass” the Biff relegated Jimmy Johnson to runner-up status at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  

Johnson was good again.  Tony Stewart was good for a change.  Dale Earnhardt Jr was tough early, and petulant late.  None of them won.  Kyle Busch sucked (maybe because of his crew).  Earnhardt bitched (at his crew).  Stewart apologized (to his crew).  Johnson probably shrugged and told his crew, “we’ll see how good they are at Dover”.

Chase week one is done and gone.  Chase race number two is on deck.  Biffle was probably a long shot to be a factor for the championship before Sunday night.  If he can win at The Monster Mile in Dover – and he’s been among the best there for better than three years – he will stamp himself as the “real deal” in the early playoffs.

This is the Fast Lap blog and it is a comment blog.  We want to read what YOUR opinions are to the four Fast Lap topics which follow.  And then we plan to assault your opinions and cause huge, vociferous debate.  Take a shot.

1: Should NASCAR be more flexible with qualifying and not so quick to cancel-but move it?

2: The much anticipated debut of Joey Logano was not too impressive; was it driver or equipment?

3: Can Kyle Busch’s championship hopes be realized now?

4: Last week it was Stewart/Zippadelli-this week its Earnhardt/Eury. Are these spats showing cracks in their relationships or just idle chatter?

Got any opinions on those babies?  Are you ready to defend your position.  Better yet, are you prepared to have your thoughts thrown out to the ON PIT ROW studio audience?  It could happen.  We want it to happen, in fact.  Come on, I want to argue with you!

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Well at least we know who won’t win the Sprint Cup.  Michael Waltrip is officially elliminated, costing Buffy Waltrip uncalculated bucks.  So too are Robby Gordon, Kasey Kahne and David Ragan.  Ragan and Kahne were close to getting into the Brian France Invitational.  Robby, sadly was not.  So he’ll sue somebody.  Like we need another law suit.

The most disappointing, and to me surprising failure was that of the Penske Racing teams.  After Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch finished one-two at the season opening Daytona 500, they bombed.  Oh, Kurt won a race on a roll of the dice, but other than that, nada. 

Is the Chase a battle between NASCAR’s dynamic dozen or is it really just the big three and other nine?  Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards are getting heat from two time defending Cup champ Jimmy Johnson.  Who else really has a shot?  Tune in Sunday to the track known widely as Martinsville on Steroids, for your first taste of the the 2008  Chase for the Sprint Cup.  But first, try your wit at the ON PIT ROW Invitational – the Fast Lap.

1: Has Jimmy Johnson surfaced as the “man to beat” for the championship?

2: How will Dodge’s announcement to pull factory support from the Craftsman Truck teams affect the rest of their programs?

3: Is Tony Stewart trying to get released from Joe Gibbs Racing early by being a PITA and A-hole?

4: Robby Gordon or Gillett Evernham Motorsports?

That’s it.  So what do you think?  The Fast Lap is a comment blog and lately, we’ve been a little weak in the comment department.  Give a brother a break.  Tell me what you think.  I promise not to treat you any worse than the Falcons treated my Lions yesterday.  I think I’m gonna be sick. 

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Wake up!  It isn’t Auto Club Speedway’s fault that Jimmy Johnson had everybody covered for the last Labor Day race at Fontana.  It was Johnson’s turn to be the Superman of the super speedways as he totally dominated the 500 mile  in the fruitlands.

Carl Edwards had nothing for J J.  Neither did Busch the Younger.  And Kyle and Carl kept their tempers this time, perhaps waiting for a track with more of a door banging nature to wreak more havoc upon each other.  Maybe they’re hoping for plausible deniability.  Or perhaps the vaunted vengence that  everyone expects was really squelched by NASCAR’s probation.  I doubt it though.

Richmond is next.  And Richmond is the last chance for a select few drivers to lock in their opportunity to win the 2008 Sprint Cup.  This weeks Fast Lap questions have a Chase flavor of their own.  Can you qualify?

1:  Is Dodge in trouble if Kasey Kahne fails to make the Chase, which would mean no Dodges qualify for NASCAR’s playoff’s?

2:  Will next years Chase be better for the replacement on the schedule of Atlanta Motor Speedway with Auto Club Speedway at Fontana?

3:  Is Felix Sabates right?  Have we seen the best of Reed Sorenson?

4:  Who’s in and who’s out?  Give me your twelve qualifiers for the Chase?

Remember, your Fast Lap answers are limited to 100 words or less.  But come on back and bang fenders with your fellow Fast Lappers.  Throw some debris on the track.  Bench Race a bit.  We want to have a reason to put someone on probation too dammit! 

Bristol was interesting wasn’t it?  Nothing like a little short track carnage and door banging to spice up the final two weeks of NASCAR’s Race to the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

There is still a race for the last few spots in the Chase top twelve.  Clint Bowyer, in 12th is only 12 points up on steady David Ragan.  Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin are in right now and Kasey Kahne is not.  The two race showdown is all that is left.

First up is the two miler at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.  The track is a near twin to Michigan and two weeks ago, MIS hosted the Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards show.  Of course, last weekend’s Bristol night race was a Carl and Kyle show – with a side of short track fireworks.

These two really only have the twenty remaining bonus points – that are up for grabs to the winners of Fontana and Richmond – to race for.   Carl grabbed the ten extra points for  Bristol with his bump-to-pass move.  Can’t wait to see what happens next.

Until then, we have four fast variably banked and slickly paved Fast Lap questions for your debating pleasure.

1: Given his history with Hendrick and Ganassi; can Casey Mears’ move to the #07 car be successful?

2: Is the racing better to watch at the new Bristol?

3: Will “Magnetgate” change the way you view Joe Gibbs, JD Gibbs and/or Joe Gibbs Racing?

4: Will having the Labor Day weekend race move to Atlanta at night be enough to stop the nostalgia mongers from calling for a return to Darlington?

You can bang doors, bump pass, even wreck your competitors in this race.  The Fast Lap doesn’t cater to whiners.  Kyle.

Check out this Bench Racing post for a shot at a free Kevin Harvick bobblehead, courtesy of Shell Gasonlines.

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The Race to the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is down to two short tracks and a big, two mile intermediate.  That’s thirty, potentially huge, Chase bonus points up for grabs.

Carl Edwards snagged the extra ten points for winning the Michigan race.  And MIS is the clone of one of the three tracks remaining – Auto Club Speedwayin Fontana, Fruitland. 

Edwards is also the defending race winner of the Bristol night race, which just happens to be the next stop on the NASCAR Sprint Cup tour.

Racing under the lights in Thunder Valleyis one of the true spectacles of motorsports.  Maybe of any sport.  It has become more than just a race.  Anything can happen at Bristol.  I can’t wait.

But there’s a whole week to kill before Saturday night.  Try our own, four Fast Lap heat race to help make the time go by.

1: Ryan Newman to Stewart-Haas in 2009 wasn’t a very well kept secret; but what could be causing a delay in sponsorship talks?

2: Morgan-McClure Motorsports said NASCAR hijacked their number 4 to give it to SHR. Should NASCAR have been more sensitive to one of its historic teams?

3: What should the penalty be to Joe Gibbs racing for trying to alter the dyno test results after the Nationwide race at Michigan?

4: Four Roush-Fenway cars finished in the top 5 at Michigan. Is that finish a good indication of who should be jettisoned when the team needs to get down to four teams?

Keep your responses down to 100 words or less.  We are working through the bugs of a weekly video feature that will take the best of the Fast Lap to, we hope, another level.  The first Fast Lap Show would have been making its debut this week, in fact.  If only I had remebered to turn the mike on.

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Maybe the only question left for Kyle Busch to answer is whether he and crew chief Steve Addington can win a fuel economy race.  They will likely get a chance this week in the hilly cottage country of Southeast Michigan. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr won the June race at MIS with what seemed at the time, the ultimate gas gamble.  It worked and Junior broke a long winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series.  But the win had a “great taste – less filling” feel for many of his fans.

Much as we hope for victories by the bravest and the fastest every week, races at the Michigan track are often decided by the educated guesses of the guys up on the box.  Just such a decision by Tony Eury Jr may have cost Earnhardt a win last weekend at Watkins Glen.  That decision is actually Steve’s Buzz on Pit Row topic this week.  We’ll be kicking that to death ON PIT ROW along with these Fast Lap questions too.

1:  Being the first ever to win three road course races in one Cup season, is Kyle Busch the best Nascar road racer ever?

2:  Can the Wood Brothers parlay their third place finish at The Glen into a company turn-around?

3:  Should the “The Chase” be a microcosm of the season-with all track types present in the final ten races?

4:  Why don’t “The Ringers” do better at the road courses, that they supposedly excel at?

Take your best shot at all four of those fast left handers as you prepare your pit stategy for Sunday’s race.  Remember, 100 words or less for the answers but unlimited ability to defend your answers and attack your fellow Fast Lappers.  Just be nice, or we’ll have to call you to the trailer.  Again.

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I know that in the land of NASCAR , praying for rain on a race weekend is blasphemous. Condemn me all you want. I loved that race in the wet stuff up at Montreal on Saturday.

I’ve been waiting ever since NASCAR announced, years ago its intention to rain race in the Nationwide Series, for the clouds to open. They did in Canada. The results were a blast to watch. It sound like it was fun to drive in too. I hope NASCAR takes what they learned about wiperss and, maybe tail lights, and lets the guys try again someday.

Carl Edwards is on the march in the Sprint Cup Series. Kyle Busch and Team Gibbs are showing that they may be human afterall. And the Race to the Chase is heating up, bigtime.

The Fast Lap will be right in the middle of that heat too. Take a shot at turning left and right this week.

1: Which of The Chase Bubble Boys; Harvick, Kenseth, Bowyer or Ragan, will make the playoffs?

2: Even though it didn’t work out for them, was the no-pit strategy of the #9, before the rain the right call?

3: Carl Edwards’ post race interview included wondering if the car would pass post race inspection. What motivation could he have had for that statement?

4: Of all the road course ringers available for Watkins Glen, why is Kyle Petty back in the #45 car for this one race?

We have big plans to take this Fast Lap discussion to another level. Now that the site has been upgraded, we are getting close to producing our first ever Fast Lap Show, featuring your comments and opinions on selected weekly Fast Lap questions. So sharpen up your arguments and tear your fellow Fast Lappers new ones. It’s all part of the deal here at OnPitRow.com.

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Nineteen heat races and a ten lap feature. That Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was more like what we’re used to at the Friday and Saturday night short track races around here than one of NASCAR’s biggest extravaganzas.

I’ll bet Jimmy Johnson doesn’t care about that though. Johnson had the best car all day, even if he only got to show it off in ten lap sprints. But with his win, you have to look at Jimmy as one of the guys who may be able to challenge Kyle Busch, once we get to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Throw Carl Edwards into that mix too.

Goodyear’s tire woes made for a less than satisfying Brickyard race. But this stuff has happened before, and with the continuing development of the New Car, it’s likely to happen again.

There was plenty to talk about after the race. Toss your opinions in on these four Fast Lap questions and place your bets on whether the Pocono tire will be better.

1: Will Tony Stewart be able to successfully juggle his responsibilities as driver of the #20 and as owner of the #14 through the rest of 2008?

2: Would an open test at Indy have been able to head off the tire problems before the race weekend?

3: NASCAR’s attempt to cut Toyota horsepower in the Nationwide Series didn’t slow down Kyle Bush on Saturday. Is engine restriction the best way to regain parity?

4: Did Rusty Wallace lose some of his credibility by saying Ryan Newman was fired by Penske; then have Roger turn around and say he wasn’t?

Limit your answers to 100 words or less, but come back throughout the week to defend your ground and throw some tire debris those not as smart as you. This is the Fast Lap comment blog and we will be taking selected questions and responses to use in an upcoming video feature for OnPitRow.com and Bench Racing TV.

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NASCAR Fantasy Racing

On Pit Row is glad to be a part of such a great NASCAR fantasy racing game like Champs, Chumps & Sleepers. Grand prize is a Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure. How cool is that?

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