NASCAR's New Sprint Cup Qualifying Format for 2013

The 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup series will introduce the 36-6-1 qualifying format and reintroduce random order qualifying.

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Though I've come to enjoy this year's process of qualifying for NASCAR Sprint Cup races, change is inevitable.  What's the saying?  "Life is change.  Growth is optional."  And NASCAR recognizes that a lack of growth is stagnation and that's never good.  Unless you're a mold spore or a fungus.

Next year, NASCAR is going to what they dubbed the "36-6-1 format" for qualifying.  This new process is effectively eliminating the top-35 owners points process that has been in effect for quite some time. 

The 36-6-1 process Explained:
The 36
In the "36-6-1 format" the fastest 36 cars on the track will be making the race. 

The 6:
After that, whoever is left of the qualifying group, the next 6 will be seeded by owners points.

The 1:
This final, lone position will be awarded to the most recent eligible past champion.  If there is no past champ, this will then be the 7th car in the owners points.

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In case of rain during qualifying and it's cancelled, (Like when does THAT happen?) the Sprint Cup Series field will be set by practice speeds.

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Also, qualifying order will now (again) be sorted by random draw.

BUT if you're wondering about the beginning of a new season...

"provisional positions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be based upon the previous year's owner points for the first three races, as opposed to the first five races in previous years for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and four races for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. "

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As far as the 36-6-1 process goes, I'm fine with that.  Fans have been grumbling about the top-35 in owners points for quite some time, but what they didn't realize that is sometimes, that rule got "name drivers" in the field, just in case of a bad qual.

As far as the random draw for qualifying order goes, I'm not so much a fan of returning to the random draw.

I enjoyed the process of qualifying order based on practice speeds.  What this did was make the televised process fairly more exciting.  As the slower guys qualified, the viewer was kept in suspense, wondering if the next fastest driver would out-pace the last driver to qualify.  And you WANTED to stick around to the end to see what would happen.

With the random draw, I don't have any incentive to stick around for the last few guys if they're not the "name drivers" in the field.

I wonder if they've pondered this and if televised qualifying wasn't a big factor for them?  My guess is not.  But hey, it is what it is.

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News and Notes for the Upcoming Atlanta Race

Let's take a look at a few things that might be eye catchers at the track!

Georgia natives at the track this weekend: David Ragan (Unadilla) – No. 6 driver
Reed Sorenson (Peachtree City) – No. 43 driver
Brian Taylor (Cuthbert) – No. 14 mechanic
Shannon Keys (Byron) – No. 8 front tire carrier
Adam North (Sonoraville) – No. 31 jack man
Dion Williams (Atlanta) – No. 5 rear tire carrier
Dwayne Moore (Griffin) – No. 55 rear tire carrier
Jason Jones (Rhine) – No. 5 pit support
Matt Skeen (Stone Mountain) – No. 88 pit support

Atlanta Motor Speedway is in its 50th season of hosting NASCAR events and Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 will be the 100th race in the series.

Michael Waltrip Racing Is In Our Face!
The biggest surprise of the season, though it's only been a couple of races, is that both Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota teams are in the top 12.

David Reutimann comes to Atlanta 5th in the standings while Michael Waltrip is 12th.

Michael has also made a promise to all of us out here in the land of fans: He said that if his results do not improve this year, he would retire at season's end!

Do You Think You'd Ever See the No 20 Toyota 32nd in Points?
There are only two races to go before the weekly 35 guaranteed starting spots will be based on this season's car owner points and for some, there are a few surprises sitting out there.

The No. 20 Toyota driven by Joey Logano is 32nd.
The No. 39 Chevrolet driven by Ryan Newman is 33rd.
The No. 5 Chevrolet driven by Mark Martin is 34th.

I'm not sure which one I'm surprised more by! Probably the Mark Martin bit.

Source: NASCAR Media, (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images)

DEI Ganassi Racing Affects The Top 35 Owners Race

Wha' happened? With the formation of DEI Ganassi Racing, two slots are about to be opened up in the Owners Top 35 Race.

Top 35 Impacted The team merge changes things up big time, for a few teams. All four DEI cars are in the top 35 Owners points.

14 -- #8 Teresa Earnhardt
16 -- #1 Teresa Earnhardt
27 -- #15 Teresa Earnhardt
30 -- #01 Teresa Earnhardt

If DEI doesn't sell or swap their car numbers with anyone and they drop two cars from the the field, we effectively will be looking at the top 37 in owners points for the focal point. Or, as the two cars would no longer be in the points standings, everyone is bumped up two spots.

This is WAS good news for the No 84 and No 77 cars, if the 77 had actually made the Ford 400 field.

As it stands now - The No. 10 Dodge driven by A.J. Allmendinger, (Who was running 31st on lap 36 of the Ford 400) can benefit if he can make up the 59 points that he's lagging behind the No 77 Dodge by in the Owners Points standings. This means he needs to come in 34th or better to get that car up in the Top 35.

Allmendinger has been able to show his obvious talent level when he gets himself behind the wheel of decent equipment and I dare say he will probably do what he needs to get that car up there, barring any in-race issues.

Yea... no pressure there.

Reader comments are always welcome on NASCAR Bits and Pieces.

Owners Points - The Battle Ends Here at Homestead

The Top 35 Battle

As the race winds down, if no paint chips or bird poops scare the media into dooming Jimmie Johnson, there's always the Owners Points race.

Remember, the top 35 have guaranteed starting spots for next season in the first 5 races of the year.

Currently,

the No. 47 Toyota driven by Marcos Ambrose holds the 35th position. But it is only 17 points ahead of the No. 84 Toyota in 36th-place and 35 points behind the Robby Gordon machine in 34th.

This might be the exciting race to watch!

Owners Bubble, After The Dickies 500

Below is a quick pictorial recap of the Chase for the Owners Bubble and the guaranteed starting spots in the first 6 races of 2009.

Realistically, spots 33 through 37 are in the fight but if no one goofs, I'm thinking we're looking at Robby Gordon in 35th, and the Scott Speed entry in 34th.

Click on the image for a better view:

Question to my readers: Do you like this presentation better than my usual presentation?

Owners Points Scramble Going To Texas

We have a good scramble of close knit owners points going on. Only 3 more races before the top 35 are locked in for the front part of the 2009 season.

I don't see the No. 10 car getting in.
The No. 77 Dodge is beleaguered as it is... I wouldn't be surprised if they don't make it.
OK, I'm clueless as to what the No 347 is, but he's only 80 points back from 35th.
The No. 84 has been dabbling above and below the magic 35th spot for weeks.. almost months it feels like.
I fully expect to see Robby Gordon pull his car out of the Mikey Waltrip reserved spot... and be in the top 35 for next year.
I have no read on the No. 22 car. I'll let you know what I think after the last race!!!

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	+/- 35th
29	--	#55	Michael Waltrip	2667	-3581	33	141
30	2	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	2656	-3592	33	130
31	-1	#41	Chip Ganassi	2652	-3596	33	126
32	-1	#66	Joe Custer	2628	-3620	32	102
33	--	#22	Bill Davis	2606	-3642	32	80
34	1	#7	Robby Gordon	2551	-3697	33	25
35	-1	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	2526	-3722	30	0
36	--	#347	Rob Kauffman	2446	-3802	32	-80
37	--	#77	Roger Penske	2396	-3852	32	-130
38	--	#10	George Gillett, Jr	2295	-3953	28	-231
39	--	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	2182	-4066	29	-344
40	--	#45	Kyle Petty	2136	-4112	29	-390

Owners Points Scramble for Atlanta Weekend

The season is wrapping up and we've got ourselves a tight points race going on at the 35th spot as a few teams are scrambling to get the automatic starting spot for the first 6 races in 2009.

Right now, there are 15 points between 34th and 35th. Part of this was due to an early exit at Martinsville by Robby Gordon, but nonetheless, he needs to make sure that doesn't happen anymore... somehow.

The No. 22 car seems to be confidently in 33rd, BUT if anything happens to them in the next 4 races, that could be a different tale of stress for the Bill Davis team. The same could be said for the 01, 66 and 41 cars. They need to make sure they don't DNF a day away.

The No 00 car is only 75 points behind 35th. They need to be more dependent on someone having a bad day as much as a lucky top-10 finish to get them up there in contention. Or do they? Actually, no. Keep in mind that Michael Waltrip Racing swapped car numbers and points around so they're looking pretty for the upcoming '09 season. That means he'll be applying the No. 44 car owner points to the No 00 Toyota. The No. 44 car is 26th in points right now and Waltrip is returning the car number to Petty Enterprises. So there's no real pressure on Michael McDowell, except to pad his resume with the best results possible!

30	-1	#41	Chip Ganassi	2606	32	161
31	1	#66	Joe Custer	2594	31	149
32	-2	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	2583	32	138
33	--	#22	Bill Davis	2566	31	121
34	1	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	2460	29	15
35	-1	#7	Robby Gordon	2445	32	0
36	--	#00	Rob Kauffman	2370	31	-75
37	--	#77	Roger Penske	2305	31	-140
38	--	#10	George Gillett, Jr	2174	27	-271

Owner Points Table on NASCAR.

Top 35 Owners Points.... With 6 To Go

What we have here is an interesting disparity!

Robby Gordon's car is in the 35th spot, but he's being bested by teams with fewer starts than him. That either bodes well for the other teams, and / or bad for Robby's team.

Then there's the team that Roger Penske dumped his drivers owners points on in the beginning of the year to give him a fighting chance, the No. 77 Dodge of Sam Hornish. We can see that the owners boost did not, in the long run, help the No. 77 car, but more than likely put Kurt Busch off balance and kept him struggling through the front of the year for no apparent reason.

Remember, Owners Points are just for starting a race, they can help determine garage spots too. That can be pretty helpful to some, while others get stuffed in the undesired spots of the garage that are too far out of the way, inconvenient, etc., etc. I don't know all the nuances, but I bet what there are, can be pretty important.

So the race in the race, we need to keep an eye on the No. 55, 22, 66, 84, 7 and 00 cars to see how they pan out. As the end of the season approaches, this 35th spot is becoming more coveted with each race. Anyone in 35th and up is guaranteed starting spots in the first few races of the 2009 season.

RANK		CAR	OWNER	POINTS	STARTS	Pts around 35th
29		#01	Teresa Earnhardt	2452	30	128
30		#41	Chip Ganassi	2425	30	101
31		#55	Michael Waltrip	2410	30	86
32		#22	Bill Davis	2387	29	63
33		#66	Joe Custer	2383	29	59
34		#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	2341	27	17
35		#7	Robby Gordon	2324	30	0
36		#00	Rob Kauffman	2285	29	-39
37		#77	Roger Penske	2147	29	-177
38		#96	Jeffrey Moorad	1996	26	-328
39		#10	George Gillett, Jr	1986	25	-338
40		#45	Kyle Petty	1935	26	-389

35th Spot, Owners Bubble - Going to Fontana

It's a snug affair going on around that 35th spot.
Can the 84 car make it in, or will the No. 77 car fall out and allow the No. 84 in?
I think Hornish is gonna let this one slip right out of his fingers.
What do you think?

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	AROUND BUBBLE
29	--	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1981	158
30	--	#41	Chip Ganassi	1904	81
31	--	#7	Robby Gordon	1868	45
32	1	#55	Michael Waltrip	1861	38
33	-1	#22	Bill Davis	1856	33
34	1	#66	Joe Custer	1843	20
35	-1	#77	Roger Penske	1823	0
36	--	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1809	-14
37	--	#00	Rob Kauffman	1798	-25
38	2	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	1582	-241
39	-1	#10	George Gillett, Jr	1570	-253
40	-1	#45	Kyle Petty	1563	-260

Drivers and Owners Points Going INTO Bristol

I've been remiss in posting Driver Standings and Owners Points this week... It's been a distractingly busy week!

Just for consistency sake, I'm puttin' them out here for you to look over and I'll be back on schedule next week:

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	+/-BUBBLE
6	1	Tony Stewart	2871	-558	136
7	3	Greg Biffle	2854	-575	119
8	3	Kevin Harvick	2812	-617	77
9	-3	Jeff Gordon	2791	-638	56
10	2	Matt Kenseth	2783	-646	48
11	-3	Kasey Kahne	2756	-673	21
12	-3	Denny Hamlin	2735	-694	0
	CHASE FOR THE CUP BUBBLE RACE
13	--	Clint Bowyer	2709	-720	-26
14	--	David Ragan	2709	-720	-26
15	2	Brian Vickers	2569	-860	-166
16	--	Martin Truex Jr.	2534	-895	-201
17	-2	Ryan Newman	2524	-905	-211

OWNERS POINTS

		Car No	Car Owner	Points	Around 35th
29	1	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1860	99
30	-1	#41	Chip Ganassi	1849	88
31	--	#7	Robby Gordon	1822	61
32	--	#22	Bill Davis	1807	46
33	--	#55	Michael Waltrip	1788	27
34	--	#77	Roger Penske	1771	10
35	2	#66	Joe Custer	1761	0
36	-1	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1748	-13
37	-1	#00	Rob Kauffman	1719	-42
38	--	#10	George Gillett, Jr	1542	-219
39	1	#45	Kyle Petty	1493	-268
40	-1	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	1482	-279

Owners Bubble for 35th... How's That Lookin' After Pocono?

For those owners hoping to have a guaranteed spot in any race, the 35th spot in owners points can be an ulcer garden!

The No. 77 of Sam Hornish Jr. is floating around 35th... in 34th, but he can't blink or it's doom!!
The No. 55 of Michael Waltrips' is slowly sinking and is in 33rd.
The No. 66 car has one less start (20) than the 00 car does... that can't feel good.
Then again, the No 84 car only has only has 18 starts vs the 21 starts most full time teams have.

It's a tight little shuffle in positions 33 to 37 right now, no matter how many starts you have

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	BEHIND	Around Bubble
30	-1	#41	Chip Ganassi	1715	-1344	138
31	--	#7	Robby Gordon	1688	-1371	111
32	1	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1660	-1399	83
33	-1	#55	Michael Waltrip	1636	-1423	59
34	--	#77	Roger Penske	1607	-1452	30
35	--	#66	Joe Custer	1577	-1482	0
36	--	#00	Rob Kauffman	1573	-1486	-4
37	--	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1539	-1520	-38
38	--	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	1381	-1678	-196
39	--	#10	George Gillett, Jr	1366	-1693	-211
40	1	#45	Kyle Petty	1335	-1724	-242

Owners Bubble, After Lieflock 400

After the Chicago race, the bubble chase "looks" tight, but it just depends on who starts when as far as who gets the points.

You can see who got jostled around after last week... with the No. 55 car of Michael Waltrip getting the worse of it after coming in 36th.

As usual, the point spread around the 35th spot is snug as usual this year.

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	+/- Bubble
28	1	#44	Michael Waltrip	1623	207
29	1	#22	Bill Davis	1594	178
30	1	#7	Robby Gordon	1572	156
31	-3	#55	Michael Waltrip	1563	147
32	--	#41	Chip Ganassi	1545	129
33	--	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1497	81
34	1	#77	Roger Penske	1422	6
35	-1	#00	Rob Kauffman	1416	0
36	--	#66	Joe Custer	1403	-13
37	--	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1294	-122
38	--	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	1256	-160
39	1	#10	George Gillett, Jr	1190	-226

Owners Points and the Bubble after Daytona in July 08

Just for grins, I slapped in the first place car of Kyle Busch and he's got a 1300+ point advantage on 35th. He ain't in no danger of falling below the 35th even if he drives backwards the rest of the year.

The No 55 Toyota is in 28th and was looking at a good finish last weekend, but he got street swept in the last lap wreck.

The No 77 Dodge has the 35th spot all to itself and unless something really stupid happens to that team, AND the No 66 car runs every week, he's in no danger. With Kyle Petty out of the field, there's no real competition for the 35th spot* and dare I say it may just remain this way for the rest of the year. There aren't enough cars running full time to make it interesting. Yet another side affect of the economy? Probably.

If there's any fight to be had, it's between 33rd to 35th.

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS
1	--	#18	Joe Gibbs	2686	1316
28	--	#55	Michael Waltrip	1508	138
29	--	#44	Michael Waltrip	1502	132
30	--	#22	Bill Davis	1500	130
31	2	#7	Robby Gordon	1484	114
32	-1	#41	Chip Ganassi	1475	105
33	-1	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1436	66
34	1	#00	Rob Kauffman	1382	12
35	-1	#77	Roger Penske	1370	0
36	--	#66	Joe Custer	1300	-70
37	1	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1170	-200
38	-1	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	1165	-205
39	--	#78	Barney Visser	1133	-237
40	1	#10	George Gillett, Jr	1117	-253

*OK, that was mean.

Is Penkse Team Loose in Turn 3?

So 1/2 way into the season with Hornish dabbling around the anti-illustrious 35th spot in owners points I had to wonder if Kurt Busch giving up his car points to Hornish hurt the No. 2 team overall? Being as how they seemed to stall this year in performance.

My thought is that yes, the points swap just might have done something to them. They have lousy garage spots, and though it must be nice to be trusted enough to have your points pulled from you because your car owner knows you can perform, what a let down it must be to have all your hard work go to someone who is being outperformed by Michael Waltrip.

I then posed this question to my cohorts in the "Loose In Turn 3" gang, Tim Zaegel and Charlie Turner:

Tim (Do You NASCAR?): To an extent, I can agree. You bring up an excellent point in terms of losing the garage spots and things of that nature, but that's still no excuse for the team running as lousy as they have all season long. They've got one of the best Crew Chiefs in the business and Kurt's a former Cup Series champion ... there's just no excuse.

Charlie (On Pit Row): Nope. Would the Busch/Hornish points swap explain Newmans miserable season since Daytona? Kurt didn't miss any races because of the swap. Allowing Hornish to make the races gave Penske three cars in every race. The data they were able to gather should have helped the team. Something else is missing there.

~

In our usual state of passing questions back and forth, Tim asks:
With the recent folding of Chip Ganassi's #40 operation due to lack of sponsorship, is this a trend we can continue to expect?

And with Mark Martin Looking to run full time in Hendrick Motorsports next year, Charlie wonders out loud
What will become of Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Top 35 Owners Bubble: After NH

This week, I thought I'd look at the bubble, +/- 200 points in the owners standings. At least that way I have something to write about because judging from the number of starts, we only have 36 cars struggling for that golden (??) exemption spot.

Zoinks, New Hampshire was a good thing for Michael Waltrip, moving his beleaguered No 55 Toyota up 4 spots so he's now 127 points in front of the 35th spot bubble. The other big winner was the 78 car, but unless he continues to compete regularly, it's a moot point to mention him.

Otherwise, it was a bunch of one's and two's in both direction. Just to make sure Waltrip's camp didn't get used to total success, lady luck plucked the No 00 car down 4 spots and is now tied for 35th with the No 77 car. So much for taking the car points from the 2 car?

Heck, the No 55 car is outperforming the 77 car. Ouch.

It's tight between 32nd and 36th so the race stays a notch above boring!

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	Bubble Pts
27	--	#15	Teresa Earnhardt	1519	-977	17	225
28	4	#55	Michael Waltrip	1421	-1075	17	127
29	--	#44	Michael Waltrip	1402	-1094	17	108
30	-2	#22	Bill Davis	1394	-1102	16	100
31	4	#41	Chip Ganassi	1378	-1118	17	84
32	-2	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1345	-1151	17	51
33	1	#7	Robby Gordon	1329	-1167	17	35
34	-1	#77	Roger Penske	1294	-1202	17	0
35	-4	#00	Rob Kauffman	1294	-1202	17	0
			OWNERS BUBBLE
36	--	#66	Joe Custer	1269	-1227	17	-25
37	1	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	1137	-1359	14	-157
38	-1	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1133	-1363	14	-161
39	3	#78	Barney Visser	1024	-1472	14	-270

Owners Bubble, After Sonoma

The race to avoid the Top 35 Owners Bubble spot is pretty heated from 29th to 36th so folks better stay on their toes and not make any mistakes in the upcoming weeks as this intense points battle continues as it has.

As you can see, the 00 and 55 cars benefited from the road course. Let's see if they can take advantage of that momentum now.

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	+/- 35th
27	-2	#15	Teresa Earnhardt	1443	215
28	1	#22	Bill Davis	1330	102
29	-1	#44	Michael Waltrip	1296	68
30	--	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1263	35
31	4	#00	Rob Kauffman	1257	29
32	2	#55	Michael Waltrip	1251	23
33	--	#77	Roger Penske	1248	20
34	-3	#7	Robby Gordon	1239	11
35	-3	#41	Chip Ganassi	1228	0
36	--	#66	Joe Custer	1208	-20
37	--	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1099	-129
38	--	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	972	-256

The Owners Points Bubble After Michigan

The owners points standings from 37th and up are actually pretty close, so nobody from 28th on back had better falter or they'll be looking at the bubble from the outside in! As you can see, the #5 car is hurtling ever so slowly toward that spot, but for now, they have an entire race buffer to keep them above 35th - for now.

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	+/- 35th
27	-2	#5	Mary Hendrick	1351	194
28	--	#44	Michael Waltrip	1253	96
29	--	#22	Bill Davis	1227	70
30	1	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1187	30
31	-1	#7	Robby Gordon	1184	27
32	--	#41	Chip Ganassi	1179	22
33	2	#77	Roger Penske	1178	21
34	2	#55	Michael Waltrip	1163	6
35	-2	#00	Rob Kauffman	1157	0
36	-2	#66	Joe Custer	1150	-7
37	--	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1047	-110
38	--	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	941	-216
39	--	#40	Felix Sabates	922	-235
40	--	#78	Barney Visser	831	-326

Owners Points After Pocono 6-11-08

Michael Waltrip lost his grip on 35th last weekend and needs to make it on time this week in Michigan. The new bubble car is the No 77 Dodge of Hornish Jr., but he didn't take the spot from Waltrip, he fell two spots into.

One more good week from Vickers ought to get him up into the top 35 and the now infamous No 66 car is surging up two spots. Hopefully proving that their previous success was not modified induced.

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	AROUND 35th
30	-1	#7	Robby Gordon	1141	65
31	1	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1120	44
32	-1	#41	Chip Ganassi	1118	42
33	1	#00	Rob Kauffman	1105	29
34	2	#66	Joe Custer	1086	10
35	-2	#77	Roger Penske	1076	0
36	-1	#55	Michael Waltrip	1064	-12
37	2	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	936	-140
38	-1	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	901	-175
39	-1	#40	Felix Sabates	888	-188
40	--	#78	Barney Visser	752	-324

Standings and Owners Points for 6-5-08

Last weekends junk yard fest on lap 19 at Dover may have involved some of the top 12 in points standings, but no one dropped out of the top 12 because of it, but Bowyer, Hamlin, Harvick and Stewart did give up spots from the altercation:

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND
1	--	Kyle Busch	2050	Leader
2	--	Jeff Burton	1908	-142
3	--	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	1779	-271
4	2	Carl Edwards	1713	-337
5	6	Greg Biffle	1658	-392
6	4	Jeff Gordon	1646	-404
7	2	Jimmie Johnson	1644	-406
8	-3	Clint Bowyer	1633	-417
9	-5	Denny Hamlin	1630	-420
10	-3	Kevin Harvick	1566	-484
11	-3	Tony Stewart	1551	-499
12	--	Kasey Kahne	1524	-526

As far as Owners Points go at the Bubble, 30th to 36th is where the action is these days as Michael Watrip is the man on that bubble spot, replacing last years perennial bubble guy, Kyle Petty and Ganassi, Kauffman and Custer have that sinking feeling this week.

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS	Pts from 35th
30	2	#22	Bill Davis	1079	67
31	-1	#41	Chip Ganassi	1054	42
32	1	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1041	29
33	3	#77	Roger Penske	1039	27
34	-3	#00	Rob Kauffman	1023	11
35	--	#55	Michael Waltrip	1012	0
36	-2	#66	Joe Custer	981	-31
37	--	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	870	-142
38	--	#40	Felix Sabates	848	-164
39	--	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	809	-203
40	1	#78	Barney Visser	676	-336