With a poor finish last week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it would be easy to look at the standings today -- as I see numerous of the so called "expert reporters" have -- and count Kyle Busch officially out of the race for the 2008 Sprint Cup Championship.

I'm here to tell you folks, that is very foolish.

Yes, Busch hit his opening drive way left and got his one and only "Mulligan," but don't count this kid out. If you haven't learned yet, he and his team thrive on this kind of adversity. We move into his "Wheel House" now with the next three events starting at Dover, where he won earlier this year; Kansas, a sister track to Chicagoland Speedway (where he also won this year); and Talladega, where, you guessed it, he won earlier this year too. He may be down after Week 1 of the Chase, but by Week 4 he could be back in the thick of it. Trust me, nobody in the garage is counting this kid out yet.

I agree, there is a lot to be said for the valued experience Jimmie Johnson and his boys have in running these 10 races and winning the "Crown Jewel" vs. Busch & Co. being a new team in the title Chase. I also have seen and know firsthand the intensity Busch brings to the table each week and trust me, he will be a force, if not the force, over these next three events. Add in the Week 4 "Fear Factor" of the Big One at Talladega and any one of your current top five can have the very same bad week the No. 18 M&M's team just had.

Nevertheless, it will be fun to watch.

If Busch and his team dance with the girl they came to the prom with, they will be just fine. They have to stay loose and trust their curveball as their curveball is what has struck out everyone all year.

Looking forward

The Nationwide Series has just 43 entries for their upcoming race this weekend at Dover International Speedway. By my count, 13 of these entries are what I call "Grocery Racers" or what others may call "Start and Parks." I am worried about the state of the series. Yes, it is normal to see car counts in this division dwindle as the year winds down and budgets thin, but pay attention to the race on Saturday and tell me how many cars have dropped out by lap 50. Too many Start and Parks.

Around the garage at New Hampshire ... 

Gotta love the attitude Bruton Smith is bringing to New Hampshire. They have numerous improvements planned for the facility before we roll back into the Magic Mile next June. I'd love to see them build a fan overpass just outside the only competitor vehicle exit tunnel and add an outside the track competitors parking lot ...

Looking back to this weekend, kudos to the track organizers for choosing to run the remainder of the modified race after the Craftsman Truck Series race Saturday afternoon. Thank you! New Hampshire is Modified Country and to have ended that race with still 38 laps remaining would have been a shame ...

And finally, from my vantage point up top, I have never seen so much three-wide and sometimes four-wide racing in New Hampshire. The intensity this race carried was thick and exciting throughout the entire field. One can argue that the old car was "The Deal" but the old car is gone and this race gave the sellout crowd of 101,000 fans 14 lead changes among 8 different drivers and some hard nose, smash mouth racing. Everybody got their money's worth.

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Eddie D'Hondt is the spotter for Bobby Labonte and the No. 43 Petty Enterprises team. He is also the owner and general manager of D'Hondt Motorsports, a team which fields cars in NASCAR's Nationwide Series and the ARCA Re/Max Series. To learn more about him and the team, check out their Web site.