Well, well, the pole man wins the race for the first time since round nine...but it wasn't as clear cut as that. Jimmie Johnson had to fight for the win as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr all had strong cars and, given the right circumstances, could have walked away with the race.

Alas, as has happened a few times this year, Jr (and Carl) saw his chances of victory go up in smkoe (no, not from Tony), while Denny had pit problems, Newman crashed, and Gordon and Stewart didn't have enough for Jimmie when it came to the crunch at the end...in fact, if David Ragan didn't have to start from as far back as he did, he could very easily have pulled off a win in his rookie season as he was the fastest car out there at the end.

With back-to-back wins, Jimmie is full of confidence going into the last 10 races

Anyway, with Jimmie's win and Gordon's fourth place, this leaves both men tied in points at the top of the standings. Johnny Sauter had a great run and scored his first points of the year with a fifth placed finish.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 26

=1 - Jimmie Johnson, 105 points (6 wins)
=1 - Jeff Gordon, 105* points (4 wins)
3 - Tony Stewart, 85* points (3 wins)
4 - Denny Hamlin, 69.5* points (1 win)
=5 - Carl Edwards, 55 points (1 win)
=5 - Matt Kenseth, 55 points (1 win)
7 - Jeff Burton, 53 points (1 win)
8 - Kyle Busch, 50.5* points (1 win)
9 - Kurt Busch, 44 points (2 wins)
10 - Martin Truex Jr, 44* points (1 win)
11 - Kevin Harvick, 40 points (1 win)
12 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 35 points
13 - Mark Martin, 28* points
14 - Ryan Newman, 26* points
15 - Juan Montoya, 23 points (1 win)
16 - Clint Bowyer, 22 points
17 - Casey Mears, 21.5* points (1 win)
18 - Jamie McMurray, 19 points (1 win)
19 - Greg Biffle, 17 points
20 - Kasey Kahne, 11 points
21 - David Ragan, 10 points
=22 - Jeff Green, 9 points
=22 - Reed Sorenson, 9 points
24 - JJ Yeley, 8 points
=25 - David Gilliland, 6 points
=25 - Kyle Petty, 6 points
=25 - Brian Vickers, 6 points
=28 - Ron Fellows, 5 points
=28 - Mike Wallace, 5 points
=30 - Robby Gordon, 4 points
=30 - Johnny Sauter, 4 points
=32 - David Blaney, 3 points
=32 - Elliot Sadler, 3 points
=34 - Bobby Labonte, 2 points
=34 - Ricky Rudd, 2 points
=36 - Scott Riggs, 1 point
=36 - David Stremme, 1 point

(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)

The HMS domination continues then...and I daresay that Jr would like my points system since he is in the top 12 in points with ten races to go. but, since this isn't going to be a Chase format (that's just for the qualifying one this year remember), the only race that matters will be the last one in Miami.

After a mad dash back across the USA, the NASCAR group arrived in Richmond for the final race before the Chase starts. Qualifying wasn't washed out so we had a battle royale going on for the last spot in my Chase. Martin Truex Jr had the inside running by dint of scoring that solitary point last week which broke the tie we had for 12th but it wasn't enough to lock him in as both Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart scored points this week.

It's an all-Hendrick Motorsports front row with Jimmie Johnson securing his first pole of the season while Jeff Gordon assured that he'd get the bonus points for leading the title as it heads into the final 10 races.

Jimmie will start where he left off last time at Richmond...in front

Strange thing that was his first pole actually since Jimmie is noted to be a reasonably strong qualifier...and equally as strange is that there is just one RCR car in the top 15 so, despite being quite good in race trim, they're pretty much crap in qualifying. Juan Montoya hangs on to make the Chase in his rookie season, a sterling effort from the Columbian.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Standings after round 26

1 - Jeff Gordon, 85 points (6 poles)
2 - Ryan Newman, 74 points (4 poles)
3 - Kasey Kahne, 71 points (2 poles)
4 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 54 points (1 pole)
5 - Jimmie Johnson, 52 points (1 pole)
6 - Denny Hamlin, 48 points (1 pole)
7 - Kurt Busch, 45 points (1 pole)
8 - Jamie McMurray, 43 points (1 pole)
=9 - Kyle Busch, 35 points
=9 - Elliot Sadler, 35 points
11 - Juan Montoya, 25 points
12 - Carl Edwards, 23 points
13 - Tony Stewart, 22 points
14 - Martin Truex Jr, 21 points
15 - Clint Bowyer, 19 points (1 pole)
=16 - David Gilliland, 18 points (1 pole)
=16 - Reed Sorenson, 18 points (1 pole)
=18 - Dave Blaney, 17 points (1 pole)
=18 - Greg Biffle, 17 points
=20 - Mark Martin, 16 points
=20 - Ricky Rudd, 16 points
22 - Scott Riggs, 15 points
=23 - JJ Yeley, 14 points (1 pole)
=23 - Bobby Labonte, 14 points
=25 - Casey Mears, 13 points (1 pole)
=25 - Jeff Burton, 13 points
=25 - David Stremme, 13 points
28 - Kevin Harvick, 11 points
29 - Robby Gordon, 8 points
=30 - Sterling Marlin, 6 points
=30 - David Ragan, 6 points
=30 - Ken Schrader, 6 points
=30 - Kenny Wallace, 6 points
=34 - Boris Said, 5 points
=34 - Johnny Sauter, 5 points
=36 - Matt Kenseth, 4 points
=36 - Joe Nemechek, 4 points
38 - Bill Elliot, 2 points

And now that the field has been set, here is the points for the Chase as it stands right now.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase for the Plate (can't have a 'Cup', right?)

1 - Jeff Gordon, 14 points
2 - Ryan Newman, 8 points
3 - Kasey Kahne, 4 points
=4 - Kurt Busch, 2 points
=4 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 2 points
=4 - Denny Hamlin, 2 points
=4 - Jimmie Johnson, 2 points
=4 - Jamie McMurray, 2 points
=9 - Kyle Busch, 0 points
=9 - Carl Edwards, 0 points
=9 - Juan Montoya, 0 points
=9 - Elliot Sadler, 0 points

And there we go, Tony misses out just like last year in the race Chase. If you have a problem with your driver missing out...tough, take it up with NASCAR for being wusses and having 3 qualifying sessions that were rained out which ruined a few drivers' chances. It's not my problem they can't reschedule.

Jeff Gordon sees his nine point lead over Ryan Newman cut to six as the Chase begins

Jeff Gordon will be hoping he can carry on the form he had over the first 26 races while the other 11 are all eager to be crowned the inaugural Qualifying King.

Hmm, well that was an interesting race actually. Quite a few cars seemes to be in contention until Jimmie Johnson got to the front. How exactly he managed to hold on and win is a mystery considering photogr and my luck at picking him in Williamwilman's trifecta but that isn't the point. The fact that he won and Jeff Gordon had some trouble meant that the gap is now just five points with 11 races to go (not doing a Chase format with this one remember).

Jimmie managed to get his first win since round 10 and closed the gap to Jeff at the top.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 25

1 - Jeff Gordon, 100* points (4 wins)
2 - Jimmie Johnson, 95 points (5 wins)
3 - Tony Stewart, 72* points (3 wins)
4 - Denny Hamlin, 66.5* points (1 win)
=5 - Carl Edwards, 55 points (1 win)
=5 - Matt Kenseth, 55 points (1 win)
7 - Jeff Burton, 53 points (1 win)
8 - Kyle Busch, 50.5* points (1 win)
9 - Kurt Busch, 44 points (2 wins)
10 - Martin Truex Jr, 44* points (1 win)
11 - Kevin Harvick, 38 points (1 win)
12 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 35 points
13 - Mark Martin, 28* points
14 - Ryan Newman, 26* points
15 - Juan Montoya, 23 points (1 win)
16 - Clint Bowyer, 22 points
17 - Casey Mears, 21.5* points (1 win)
18 - Jamie McMurray, 19 points (1 win)
19 - Greg Biffle, 17 points
20 - Kasey Kahne, 10 points
=21 - Jeff Green, 9 points
=21 - Reed Sorenson, 9 points
23 - JJ Yeley, 8 points
=24 - David Gilliland, 6 points
=24 - Kyle Petty, 6 points
=24 - Brian Vickers, 6 points
=27 - Ron Fellows, 5 points
=27 - Mike Wallace, 5 points
=29 - Robby Gordon, 4 points
=29 - David Ragan, 4 points
=31 - David Blaney, 3 points
=31 - Elliot Sadler, 3 points
=33 - Bobby Labonte, 2 points
=33 - Ricky Rudd, 2 points
=35 - Scott Riggs, 1 point
=35 - David Stremme, 1 point

(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)

So HMS have pulled away a bit from JGR over the last month, depsite Tony Stewart being in great form. However, like he has all season, Jeff Gordon still leads the standings...and the scary thing for the rest is that he's probably due for a few good results.