Tony Stewart won the Centurion Boats at the Glen (a solid "D+" for that race name, btw) for his third win in the last four Nextel Cup races.  The win was the 32nd on Stewart's Nextel Cup-career, tying him with Dale Jarrett for 11th on the wins-list for NASCAR's modern era.  Stewart claimed the victory after Jeff Gordon spun, untouched, in turn one with two laps remaining, losing the lead before rebounding to finish ninth.

Will Gordon's spin be the deciding factor in the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup?  Had Gordon held on to win at the Glen, it would have been his fifth win of the season, and Stewart would be thirty points behind Gordon at the start of the Chase.  Now, with Stewart winning for the third time, he is only ten bonus points behind Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with four races remaining in the Race to the Chase.  I criticize NASCAR a lot, but I give them credit where it is due, and while they are somewhat lucky with how the season has turned out, they HAVE created a situation where top drivers are going for the win.

OTOH, Tony's hot streak shows yet another real problem I have with NASCAR"s point-system.  After Daytona, Stewart was sitting seventh in points, 539 behind Gordon and 156 behind Matt Kenseth, who was in third.  Here are the three drivers results since Daytona.

Race #    19    20    21    22
Stewart   1st   1st   6th   1st
Gordon    9th   3rd   4th   9th
Kenseth   2nd   10th  14th  12th

When you look at that, it seems reasonable to assume that Tony has made a real impact on those other two guys, isn't it?  However, Stewart is STILL only FOURTH in the points, because he has only made up 143 points on MK, who has two fewer wins and SIX fewer top-8 finishes than Stewart.

Also, while Gordon has had a solid run of races with two top-5s and four top-10s, those results pale in comparison to Stewart's three wins.  The problem there is that Stewart has only made up 94 measly points in those four races to Gordon.  Can I put that into a little bit of perspective?  I have said repeatedly that the points system has to work in the most ridiculous of situations, right?  Well, what if you repeated those results over the season's last fourteen races.  You would have Stewart with FOURTEEN wins, Gordon still with FOUR wins, and Gordon with *116 more points than Stewart.*  Come ON.

(And here's ANOTHER problem, while we are at it.  The Mark Martin/Regan Smith-arrangement in the 01 car has been a pretty cool deal.  Martin is 18th in drivers points, despite missing the six races that Smith has driven.  Smith has had subpar results, with a best finish of 24th in his six starts, but if you add them to Martin's starts the car is 11th in the owners standings.

Wrap your brain around that for a second.  Martin is could have finished 24th, 25th, 26th, 30th, 32nd, and 37th in those races and he would be IN THE CHASE by adding those six bad-to-horrible results.)

The big news in JJD points is that Stewart's recent tear has moved him to second in points, and for the first time since Texas the Hendrick teammates are not 1-2 in the standings.

NEXTEL CUP (DRIVERS)
Rank                         Points   LW
 1 Jeff Gordon                  274    1
 2 Tony Stewart                 194    3
 3 Jimmie Johnson               190    2
 4 Denny Hamlin                 172    4
 5 Matt Kenseth                 145    5
 6 Kyle Busch                   128    7
 7 Jeff Burton                  124    6
 8 Kevin Harvick                105    8
 9 Carl Edwards                 104    9
10 Martin Truex Jr.             101   11
11 Kurt Busch                   100   10
12 Ryan Newman                   89   12
13 Dale Earnhardt Jr.            88   13
14 Mark Martin                   85   14
15 Clint Bowyer                  76   15
16 Casey Mears                   67   16
17 Jamie McMurray                61   17
18 Greg Biffle                   52   19
   Juan Pablo Montoya            52   18
20 Reed Sorenson                 32   20

With both Gordon and Carl Edwards spinning while gunning for the victory, the Joe Gibbs Racing-duo of Stewart and Denny Hamlin were able to finish 1-2, with Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in third.  JGR is now solidily in second place ahead of Roush Fenway Racing, while Martin Truex Jr's big weekend for Dale Earnhardt Incorpoated (finishing sixth, taking out Juan Pablo Montoya which lead to Richard Childress Racing-teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton being wrecked) moves DEI up to fifth, two points ahead of Penske Racing.

A couple of lower-level teams had bg results as well, with Hall of Fame Racing putting road course-ringer Ron Fellows in the car for a fourth-place finish, and Robby Gordon scoring by far his best finish of the year finishing fifth.

NEXTEL CUP (TEAMS)
Rank                               Points
 1 Hendrick Motorsports               374
 2 Joe Gibbs Racing                   287
 3 Roush Fenway Racing                242
 4 Richard Childress Racing           191
 5 Dale Earnhardt Incorporated        161
 6 Penske Racing                      159
 7 Chip Ganassi Racing                 78
 8 Ginn Racing                         76
 9 Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing    31
10 Haas CNC Racing                     27
11 Petty Enterprises                   26
12 Gillett Evernham Motorsports        25
13 Team Red Bull                       17
   Robby Gordon Motorsports            17
15 Bill Davis Racing                   14
   Hall of Fame Racing                 14
17 Phoenix Racing                      12
18 Valvoline Evernham Racing            8
19 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing             6
20 Michael Waltrip Racing               5
21 No Fear Racing                       5
   Furniture Row Racing                 2

Kevin Harvick's second consecutive Busch Series victory was the 31st of his career, tying him with Jack Ingram for second on the all-time Busch Series wins-list, behind only Mark Martin's 47 wins.  The win was the 44th of Harvick's career on all levels, so with six more wins he would become the 13th driver in NASCAR history to reach fifty victories.

Harvick pulled away from Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch, who battled for second-place, with Busch taking second then losing it when his fading brakes became a problem.  It was a good weekend for the guys who spend most of their time turning left only, as the highest finishing road course-ringer was Andy Lally, who finished tenth. 

Harvick's fifth win of the season leads the series, and combined with Carl Edwards' two consecutive poor finishes (30th and 32nd) Harvick has trimmed Edwards' enormous points-lead nearly in half in just two races. 

BUSCH SERIES
Rank                         Points   LW
 1 Carl Edwards                 249    1
 2 Kevin Harvick                202    2
 3 Jeff Burton                  155    5
   Matt Kenseth                 155    4
 5 Clint Bowyer                 151    3
 6 Kyle Busch                   133    6
 7 Denny Hamlin                 119    7
 8 Casey Mears                  113    8
 9 Scott Wimmer                 103    9
10 Jason Leffler                100   10
11 David Reutimann               80   11
12 Tony Stewart                  78   12
13 Greg Biffle                   76   13
14 Dave Blaney                   60   14
15 Brad Coleman                  50   19
16 David Ragan                   48   15
   Aric Almirola                 48   15
18 Regan Smith                   46   17
19 Stephen Leicht                44   18
20 Kasey Kahne                   40   19

Edwards now leads the points entirely due to the seven races he has run that Harvick chose to skip.  Edwards won two of those races, but now he is far behind Harvick in their head-to-head battle.   

"Happy Harvick vs. Cousin Carl" (17 races head-to-head)
NASCAR points:  Harvick leads Edwards by 280, 2743-2463
JJD points:  Harvick leads Edwards by 43, 202-159

 
With Edwards' struggles in the RFR #60 Ford, the two RCR Chevys have gained considerable ground in the teams' points over the last two races, with the #29 now only 24 points behind the #60.

BUSCH SERIES (TEAMS)
Rank  Car#  Owner                         Points
 1     60   Jack Roush                       249
        Driver:  C. Edwards (24 starts)
 2     29   Richard Childress                225
        Drivers:  S. Wimmer (12 starts), J. Burton (12 starts)
 3     21   Richard Childress                186
        Drivers:  K. Harvick (10 starts), T. Peters (7 starts),
                  S. Wimmer (3 starts), T. McCreadie (3 starts),
                  P.J. Jones (1 start)
 4     20   Joe Gibbs                        168
        Drivers:  D. Hamlin (13 starts), A. Almirola (9 starts),
                  T. Stewart (1 start), T. Kittleson (1 start)
 5     17   Jack Roush                       163
        Drivers:  M. Kenseth (14 starts), D. O'Quinn, Jr. (2 starts)
                  M. Jourdain (2 starts)
 6      5   Rick Hendrick                    158
        Drivers:  Ky. Busch (12 starts), M. Martin (1 start)
                  C. Mears (1 start), A. Fernandez (1 start)
 7      2   Richard Childress                151
        Drivers:  C. Bowyer (13 starts), K. Wallace (1 start)
 8     24   Rick Hendrick                    108
        Driver:  C. Mears (13 starts), L. Cassill (2 starts)
 9     38   Todd Braun                       100
        Driver:  J. Leffler (24 starts)
10     33   Kevin Harvick                     96
        Drivers:  T. Stewart (6 starts), C. Gale (6 starts),
                  T. Raines (5 starts), K. Harvick (4 starts),
                  R. Fellows (3 starts)
11     99   Michael Waltrip                   80
        Driver:  D. Reutimann (24 starts)
12     77   Kevin Harvick                     72
        Drivers:  B. Labonte (12 starts), K. Davis (5 starts),
                  R. Hornaday (4 starts), K. Harvick (3 starts)
13     41    Chip Ganassi                     70
        Drivers:  R. Sorenson (14 starts), D. Stremme (5 starts),
                  S. Pruett (3 starts), S. Lagasse, Jr. (2 start)
14     18   Joe Gibbs                         67
        Drivers:  B. Coleman (12 starts), A. Almirola (6 starts),
                  K. Conway (4 starts), T. Stewart (2 starts)
15      9   Ray Evernham                      58
        Drivers:  K. Kahne (10 starts), S. Riggs (4 starts),
                  C. Miller (4 starts), B. Said (4 starts),
                  E. Sadler (1 start), D. McCaskill (1 start)

Paul Menard and Brad Coleman had by far the best finishes among Jack Ingram Cup drivers, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.  Andy Lally was the only other eligible driver to finish in the top-eleven.

 1 Paul Menard        (4th)
 2 Brad Coleman       (5th)
 3 Andy Lally         (10th)
 4 Boris Said         (12th)
 5 Marcos Ambrose     (13th)
 6 Andy Pilgrim       (15th)
 7 David Gilliland    (16th)
 8 Stephen Leicht     (17th)
 9 Scott Pruett       (18th)
10 Patrick Carpentier (19th)
11 Todd Kluever       (20th)
12 David Ragan        (21st)

BUSCH SERIES POINTS RESET ELIMINATING NEXTEL CUP RACE WINNERS
Rank                         Points
 1 David Reutimann             3323
 2 Jason Leffler               3159
 3 David Ragan                 3157
 4 Bobby Hamilton Jr.          3030
 5 Stephen Leicht              2988
 6 Marcos Ambrose              2959
 7 Mike Wallace                2878
 8 Dave Blaney                 2723
 9 Steve Wallace               2622
10 Kyle Krisiloff              2584
11 J.J. Yeley                  2554
12 Brent Sherman               2492
13 Clint Bowyer                2300
14 Scott Wimmer                2292
15 Regan Smith                 2289

With eleven races remaining, the battle for the Jack Ingram Cup is largely going to depend on the race schedules of Clint Bowyer and Scott Wimmer.  When Bowyer has raced, he has been dominant, winning the class in nine of his thirteen starts, and Wimmer has eleven top-5 finishes in class in fifteen starts.  Full-time drivers David Reutimann and Jason Leffler each have a chance to win the title with strong finishes over the remainder of the season. 

OFFICIAL JACK INGRAM CUP PRESENTED BY JJD STANDINGS
Rank                         Points
 1 Clint Bowyer                 239
 2 Scott Wimmer                 176
 3 David Reutimann              165
 4 Jason Leffler                161
 5 Dave Blaney                  138
 6 David Ragan                  121
 7 Regan Smith                  110
 8 David Stremme                 91
 9 Stephen Leicht                86
10 Marcos Ambrose                82
11 Reed Sorenson                 79
12 Brad Coleman                  75
13 Aric Almirola                 71
14 Mike Bliss                    70
15 Bobby Hamilton Jr.            67

Travis Kvapil won his eighth career Craftsman Truck Series race, taking the victory in the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Saqturday.  (No doubt Jack Roush was über-pleased.)  The win was Kvapil's third of the season, and moves him past Todd Bodine for third in the JJD standings.  Johnny Benson was the week's big loser, finishing 30th after a crash, with the four drivers ahead of him in the standings all recording top-5 finishes.

The series points-leaders, Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday, finished third and second, while Skinner's lead in the NASCAR standings suffers because of his one 20th-place finish at IRP.  Skinner won his eighth pole and led the most laps at Nashville, and he is the only driver NASCAR's three divisions to lead in every race this season.  He has a 37-point lead in the JJD standings with ten races remaining.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
Rank                         Points   LW
 1 Mike Skinner                 224    1
 2 Ron Hornaday                 187    2
 3 Travis Kvapil                150    4
 4 Todd Bodine                  142    3
 5 Johnny Benson                111    5
 6 Rick Crawford                109    6
 7 Jack Sprague                  89    7
 8 Ted Musgrave                  83    8
 9 Erik Darnell                  47   10
10 Matt Crafton                  46    9