Chevrolets roar out of Turn 2

By Brian Hilderbrand

Thursday, July 12, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

This much is clear now that the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series has reached the midway point of the 2007 season:

Chevrolet drivers have won 14 of the 18 Cup races this season and seven of the eight in which the Car of Tomorrow - NASCAR's new, safer car , which is being used in 16 races this season - has competed. With eight races remaining to determine the dozen drivers who will qualify for the Chase, 10 of the top 12 in points are powered by Chevrolet.

And that probably won't change in the next eight races. Of the three drivers immediately outside the top 12 in points (Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch), none has shown an inkling of consistency this season and none drive s a Chevy.

McMurray, who is 13th in points and trails 12th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 49 points, is confident he can make it into the Chase.

"I think everybody in the top 15 thinks they are going to make the Chase," he said. "If you're within a couple hundred points, you feel like you can make that up. I think we're running well enough to make it, but you can't make any mistakes or have any failures."

Actually, until he won Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona, McMurray had only one top-10 finish in his previous eight races.

Hendrick Motorsports has led the way for the Bowtie Brigade this season - no matter which version of car it is running. Hendrick drivers have won five of the eight COT races and 10 overall, paced by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who have four wins each.

"I said if there's a team that gets an advantage early with the COT, they're going to be hard to chase down," Busch said. "I've said that all along."

Although Busch has had more than his share of bad luck this season, he also has no one to blame but himself for being 121 points out of 12th place. Had it not been for a 100-point penalty Busch incurred as a result of a pit-road incident with Tony Stewart at Dover International Speedway last month, he would be a mere 21 points behind Earnhardt in the standings.

Instead of being within striking distance of the top 12, Busch likely won't be able to repeat the comeback Matt Kenseth put together in 2005 when he rallied from a 202-point deficit in the final 10 "regular-season" races and qualified for the Chase (when only the top 10 drivers qualified).

"We certainly could use a few more races like last Saturday night's Pepsi 400 if we're going to be able to pull it off," said Busch, who finished third at Daytona. "We have a lot of good tracks coming up for us between now and September, so you can bet that we're keeping the faith.

"I'm optimistic, but I'm also being a realist about it all. It's not like we're battling just one guy to make the cut . There could be eight or 10 drivers in the mix and really duking it out for the final spots in the Chase."

So, unless he is ostracized by his Hendrick Motorsports team, which he will be leaving at the end of this season, Kyle will be the only Busch brother to qualify for the Chase. The younger Busch moved up two spots to eighth in points after his runner-up finish to McMurray in the Pepsi 400 - a race in which Busch received no drafting help from his teammates in the closing laps.

"I'm the outsider looking in now ... so I think bliss is over at Hendrick Motorsports for Kyle Busch," he said after the race.

But at least he can take consolation in the fact that he'll be one of the favorites to win the Nextel Cup championship when the Chase begins on Sept. 16 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Dreadful debut

As Toyota prepared in February to make its debut in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, officials with the Japanese automaker said they didn't expect to be a dominant force right away.

Boy, were they ever right about that. Midway through its first season in America's top stock-car racing series, Toyota hasn't lived up to even the most conservative expectations.

The seven Toyota drivers have combined to make only a little more than half of the races (68 starts out of a possible 126) and have posted only three top-10 and nine top-20 finishes. Brian Vickers has the top finish in a Toyota (fifth in the Coca-Cola 600 in May) and Dave Blaney - who scored Toyota's first Cup pole two weeks ago at New Hampshire International Speedway - is the highest-ranked Toyota driver at 35th in points.

Andy Graves, Toyota Racing Development's project manager in the Nextel Cup Series, said he sees better times in the not-too-distant future.

"We're definitely looking forward to the second half of the season," he said. "Obviously, we want to be more competitive than we are today and that's just the racer mentality in all of us.

"Now, we start going back to the tracks we've already visited and our teams can start accessing the databases they've been building. That will be huge for all of us."

Lovable losers

Jamie McMurray snapped a 166-race winless streak when he edged Kyle Busch and won Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, but his wasn't the longest drought among current NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers.

John Andretti, a nephew of racing legend Mario Andretti, has attempted 187 races since he last visited Victory Lane (in April 1999 at Martinsville Speedway).

The only other Nextel Cup driver who has gone longer than McMurray between wins is Sterling Marlin, who last won in March 2002 at Darlington Raceway - a span of 185 attempts.

Michael Waltrip snapped a streak of 462 races without a victory when he won the 2001 Daytona 500.

Toyota drivers

Driver, team - Rank - Starts - Wins - Top 10 - Top 20

Dave Blaney, Bill Davis Racing - 35th - 16 - 0 - 0 - 2

Brian Vickers, Team Red Bull - 39th - 10 - 0 - 2 - 5

Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip Racing - 40th - 13 - 0 - 0 - 0

David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip Racing - 41st - 12 - 0 - 0 - 1

A.J. Allmendinger, Team Red Bull - 45th - 8 - 0 - 0 - 0

Jeremy Mayfield, Bill Davis Racing - 48th - 6 - 0 - 0 - 0

Michael Waltrip, Michael Waltrip Racing - 52nd - 3 - 0 - 1 - 1

Race winners

Date - Venue - Winner

2/18 - Daytona International Speedway - Kevin Harvick

2/25 - California Speedway - Matt Kenseth

3/11 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Jimmie Johnson

3/18 - Atlanta Motor Speedway - Jimmie Johnson

3/25 - Bristol Motor Speedway - Kyle Busch

4/1 - Martinsville Speedway - Jimmie Johnson

4/15 - Texas Motor Speedway - Jeff Burton

4/21 - Phoenix International Raceway - Jeff Gordon

4/29 - Talladega Superspeedway - Jeff Gordon

5/6 - Richmond International Raceway - Jimmie Johnson

5/13 - Darlington Raceway - Jeff Gordon

5/27 - Lowe's Motor Speedway - Casey Mears

6/4 - Dover International Speedway - Martin Truex Jr.

6/10 - Pocono Raceway - Jeff Gordon

6/17 - Michigan International Speedway - Carl Edwards

6/24 - Infineon Raceway - Juan Pablo Montoya

7/1 - N.H. International Speedway - Denny Hamlin

7/7 - Daytona International Speedway - Jamie McMurray

Winning Teams

10

Hendrick Motorsports: Jeff Gordon 4, Jimmie Johnson 4, Kyle Busch 1, Casey Mears 1

3

Roush Racing: Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray

2

Richard Childress Racing: Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton

1

Chip Ganassi Racing: Juan Pablo Montoya

Dale Earnhardt Inc.: Martin Truex Jr.

Joe Gibbs Racing: Denny Hamlin