Trouble in Turn2

Chase this, Chase that. What about the other 72% of the field? What are they, David Gilliland’s occasional sponsor Pedigree brand chopped liver?

• 3. Reed Sorenson: Sorenson ran in the top most of the day and kept inching forward. By the end he was positioned in the top five to capitalize on the frenzied finish.

• 9. Kasey Kahne: After qualifying 4th, it looked like he might go backwards quickly, but he stayed in the top ten all day.

• 10. Brian Vickers: Avoided the carnage to score his fifth top ten. Imagine if he could make more than 60% of the races.

• 11. Michael Waltrip: Mikey is getting the last laugh this year. In the last four races he has a pole, a top ten and an average finish of 16.

• 12. Casey Mears: He could finish 43rd every week and his stock would probably still rise in the eyes of incoming crew chief Alan Gustafson. Compared to the exiting Kyle Busch, Mears looks pretty rosy.

• 13. Kyle Petty: Petty has finished in the top 20 in three of the last four Atlanta races. Leading a lap also helped build a little cushion on the other cars near the top 35 mark.

• 14. Elliott Sadler: The progress is slower than the #9 car, but the team is coming around. I think Sadler will win the pole at Texas. No reason, but why not?

• 16. AJ Allmendinger: As the rookie with the steepest challenge entering 2007, Allmendinger has come a long way. Not only did he score his third lead lap finish, but he also led the first lap of his career.

• 17. Ricky Rudd: I don’t think his car was on camera all day, but in typical, anonymous, workmanlike fashion, Rudd finished on the lead lap.

• 18. Bill Elliott: Elliott has done a good job to stretch his past champion provisionals to last the whole year. He has three left, ensuring the Wood Brothers will make the remaining races in 2007.

• 19. Dale Jarrett: Best qualifying effort (3rd) leads to his best finish in 2007. It took 33 races to score his first top 20. That means he’s on pace to win a race sometime in 2010.

• 21. Robby Gordon: Padding works better when it stays inside the car.

• 22. Greg Biffle: Biffle radioed on lap 28 that they were done, implying a blown engine. It was obviously something else (water in the fuel was one theory) as he stayed on the lead lap until the end .

• 23. Tony Raines: It’s DLP, it’s the mirrors. For Raines, JJ Yeley is in the mirror, and come Homestead probably his Cup career too.

• 25. Jr’s car sputtered at the drop of the green flag, setting the table for a long strange race. Going from the front to the back three times is hard work; he made 91 passes under green.

• 26. Imaginary radio chatter on lap 8: “We haven’t been great today, but we could steal a top ten by taking two tires.” Imaginary radio chatter on lap 7, “Nevermind”. McMurray is very similar to Truex in that they have a knack for catching other people’s misery.

• 27. Paul Menard: The only DEI car coming home in one piece. At least he’ll be popular with the body shop guys.

• 28. John Andretti: John Andretti raced? (come on, you were thinking it too.)

• 29. Scott Riggs: Lost a lap, got it back. Got a vibration, lost two laps. Oh how his season has gone.

• 32. Johnny Sauter: Who knew he had the power to single-handedly change the entire complexion of a race?

• 33. David Ragan: Every time I think he’s going to have a good race he cuts a tire, wrecks or in the case of Atlanta, both. For next week I think he will finish 43rd after he hits the kill switch during the pace laps. Right, David?

• 34. Juan Pablo Montoya: Murphy’s Law: As soon as the announcers marveled at how well Montoya conserved his tires in the spring Atlanta race, he blew a tire.

• 35. JJ Yeley: The common belief on Yeley is that sometime he will put it all together and run really well. What if he never does? After 75 Cup starts in top equipment I thought he would be further along.

• 36. Joe Nemechek: The finishes will never be great with Furniture Row, but at least Nemechek is getting the car in the field almost every week. He has made 7 of the last 9 races.

• 37. Ryan Newman: DEI-RCR has received plenty of attention for the massive engine failures this year, but what has happened to Penske? Ryan Newman suffered his fifth blown engine of the season at Atlanta. Prior to 2007, Penske hadn’t lost an engine since 2004.

• 38. Dave Blaney: Water in the fuel system sinks his top 35 hopes.

• 39. David Stremme: Two spins and a blown tire. Curious to know if Stremme and Montoya had similar setups that caused the failures.

• 40. Jeremy Mayfield: Jeff Green must have been watching the race, see Mayfield spin and wreck, and think, “I can do that.”

• 41. Bobby Labonte: It seems like the same story every week: Labonte runs well and cuts a tire or gets caught in a wreck. Texas and Phoenix still offer the chance of a top ten for Labonte.

• 42. David Gilliland: Ran really well until his wreck. Of course he wrecked which counts against him.

• 43. Mark Martin: Q-THAT WAS A VICIOUS HIT. HOW MUCH OF THAT DID YOUR BODY ABSORB? A-”I don’t know. What kind of question is that? (laughs)”