Cross Words - Charlotte

[muggle not]

By Duane Cross, NASCAR.COM
Six of one ...
Drivers with momentum heading to Dover:

• Ricky Rudd -- He posted his first top-10 finish since Oct. 15, 2005, at Charlotte -- and now trails fifth-place Mark Martin by five on the all-time list.

• Bobby Labonte -- Don't look now, but he's lurking: finished 13th at Charlotte and now is only 89 points outside the top 12. He also hasn't finished outside the top 20 in the past five races.

• Carl Edwards -- Among the drivers in the top 12 in points, he made the biggest move -- up two spots, to eighth. And he finished second at Dover in last year's fall race.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- He has four consecutive top-15 finishes, the team's best run since Race Nos. 10-15 last year. Could the end to the 38-race winless streak be near?

• J.J. Yeley -- Since the bar was upped for Yeley, his average finish in the past two races is 10th. The guy who upped the bar -- Driver 8 -- his average finish is 8.0. ... Not saying that Yeley got the message loud 'n' clear, but ...

• Casey Mears -- C'mon, the guy just won his first race; you know he's stoked! Bring on Dover ... and a 25.6 average finish in eight previous starts. And big ups to crew chief Darian Grubb.

Half a dozen of the other ...
And six drivers who need a jump start:

• Greg Biffle -- Only 12 races into the season and he has as many DNFs (2) as he does top-10 finishes. Welcome to the Titanic, Greg Erwin.

• Ryan Newman -- Another pole ... another thirtysomething finish, his fifth of the season. The team also has three DNFs in the past four races.

• Elliott Sadler -- Believe it or not: three consecutive finishes outside the top 20 and only two lead-lap finishes in the past eight races.

• Juan Montoya -- He hasn't finished on the lead lap in the past five races. ... Eso no es una buena cosa, tipo. (That's not a good thing, dude.)

• Reed Sorenson -- He finished fourth! Why does he need a jump start? The only other time Sorenson posted a top-five (June 18, 2006, at Michigan) he followed it up with a 29th-place finish at Sonoma. Consistency, grasshopper.

• Michael Waltrip -- Fans and detractors alike need you back behind the wheel. ... One non-racer is enough on Inside Nextel Cup, which should be reason enough for NASCAR to change the qualifying rules.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.
__________________

[Hazza]

Bobbbbyyyyy Laabbonnntee!

[Fish_Flake]

Robert Yates Racing began the season with a steep learning curve adjusting to two new drivers, one a rookie and the other coming out of retirement. That team started out strong at Daytona, hit a rut, but has been gaining momentum ever since. The best is yet to come for Rudd and David Gilliland.

Petty Enterprises has really upped the ante this season. Bobby Labonte has been very consistent in his results (unlike many Dodge drivers), and Kyle Petty has also been showing a bit of spark as of late. With Kyle slowly making his way to retirement, I think he really wants to make sure the legacy of this team's past can be evident in the here and now.

Carl Edwards just needs to do a couple of backflips.

Junior has a weight lifted off of him, as he is no longer bickering with his stepmom about ownership of DEI. It's a good thing, too, because driver-owner responsibilities are too much of a load to bear in today's NASCAR. Right now, all he needs to concentrate on is driving the car and leaving an impression on potential suitors.

J.J. has always been a strong racer; anyone who has seen him in a sprint car can attest to that. But in NEXTEL Cup, he has been fast, yet inconsistant. He's in a contract year, and he knows he needs to step up either to keep his Joe Gibbs ride or to land in another competitive car.

Casey Mears was going to win sooner or later the way Hendrick Motorsports has performed this season. That hurdle has been cleared, and with the top-35 threshold now well in the rear-view mirror, the team can relax and concentrate on improving their results and gaining ground in the points standings.

Greg Biffle is in dire straits. It's a forgone conclusion that he's out at Roush Fenway Racing at the end of the season, and knowing that the best seat available for next year is almost certainly going to be filled by Dale Earnhardt Jr., there is very little for Greg to be confident about right now.

Ryan Newman has lost something. He's still a qualifying machine, but he can't manage anything during the actual race. I don't want to say that he's a 29-year-old has been, because that's certainly not the case. But he hasn't won in two years, and even when he was racking up victories, his DNFs would cancel a lot of them out. With wins hard to come by these days, what's left is a rather unimpressive driver.

Elliott Sadler: I can believe it. People see a lot in him that isn't there. He has one career top-ten finish in points in his career, and only three victories, none since 2004. He just isn't a top-tier NEXTEL Cup driver. He'll win a race here and there, but he is never going to be a serious title contender.

Juan Montoya has reached the part of his rookie season in which everyone knew he would struggle. The last two months of the schedule have been short tracks and quirky ovals which he has never raced on before. He needs to calm down first and foremost, because after next week comes a summer full of big, fast ovals and road courses, tracks where he will feel much more comfortable. He'll get some top tens under his belt before the current series of tracks repeats itself in the fall.

Reed Sorenson is a much better driver now than he was last year. There's no reason to expect him to get in trouble at Dover.

I have said enough in forum about Michael Waltrip: rest assured, I share no sympathy for him.

[Hazza]

To quote Kurt Busch

"(Newman) as a 29 year old has been? Or a 29 year old never was..."

I jest, I jest...

[kingfloopy]

Like I said before I doubt Newman will back at Penske next year whether he has a contract or not. I don't believe his problem is entirely his fault. The entire Penske team (at least in NASCAR) has been lackluster over the last year or so. I think Rusty was a significant part of the teams operations and without him they are missing something. Neither of the teams drivers now (Kurt Busch or Newman) strikes me as much of a leader and that hurts. I think that they are only running two cars also hurts to some degree compared to the larger teams.

Petty Enterprises has been impressive over the last couple seasons as they continue to rebuild. Petty had his first top-5 in 10 years and Labonte is a legitimate contender for the chase and a win if he can avoid trouble and remain consistent. I'm glad to see a team which has been a part of NASCAR longer than any others finally start to come back together. I only hope they can find a young talented driver to replace Kyle when he retires. They may join the Busch series next year since Busch is leaving as a sponsor and they're won't be any family issues with alcohol sponsorship.

Sadler should be sent packing. For some reason I've always thought that his brother Hermie actually had more talent, but just never had the equipment to prove it. Not sure why I think that.

J.D.

[Fish_Flake]

Newman and Biffle both would benefit from a change in scenery. Newman has never known anything other than Penske; Biffle has never known anything other than Roush. I think both drivers have probably done as much as they can at their respective teams, and the partnerships have become stale. Would I be suggesting a driver swap between these two teams? Not necessarily, but where else are they going to go?

Both deserve competitive rides in 2008, and until the Dale Jr. sweepstakes calms down, there isn't much of a clear picture of what else is available. The best available ride at Richard Childress or Ginn Racing is going to be Junior's, and that ride is probably going to be via a fourth team that doesn't exist without him. Jeff Burton's contract is up, but I can't see him or RCR balking to re-sign. J.J. Yeley's contract is up, but he's not going anywhere as long as he stays top-15 in points. Jamie McMurray's contract has an option out, but Roush has a queue of developmental drivers to take his place if he leaves, and Biffle wouldn't be in the picture there anyway. Hendrick isn't going to push Kyle Busch or Casey Mears under the bus as long as the team is running this well. All of Ganassi's drivers are long-term projects. That leaves Evernham, where Scott Riggs is in a contract year. I don't think that team is going to give up on Sadler so easily, considering the trouble they went through last year to get him. One car for two drivers, that math doesn't add up.

I'll agree with you about Penske's problems. Rusty Wallace was the face of the team and of the sponsors, even when he was being outperformed by Newman or Mayfield in the 12 car. The only way a team can really prepare void left by such a pivotal figure within the organization is to groom a successor to gradually take his place, not sign a free agent and bear him with the load of the franchise. Jack Roush and Rick Hendrick know this, and that's why they are so successful. Petty Enterprises was grooming Kyle's son Adam for that role, and when his life was cut tragically short, they had rebuild from nothing to get back to this point. The team had a third car in the 77, but Roger became impatient with both Brendan Gaughan and Travis Kvapil, and eventually sent both drivers packing back to the truck series and sold the team to Michael Waltrip. So that missing part of the puzzle serves him right.