A collective roar could be heard across the nation last Sunday when the Toyota of Kyle Busch started billowing smoke. All the haters and losers rejoiced as they believed that, the man they love to hate, Kyle Busch had just seen his title dreams go up in that same smoke.

Did those dreams evaporate? 210 points behind with eight races to go is not insurmountable, if he was only behind one or two other drivers, but, thanks to the Chase, he's behind 11 other drivers.

He would have to win 7 or 8 of the final 8 races to win the championship. Not gonna happen. If he could win 4 or 5 he would probably only finish in the top-3 in points. There are just too many 'points racers' ahead of him to overcome. He needs to reset his goals to just being the highest finishing JGR car, and making the final top-5 in points.

The dream season went to hell in the blink of an eye. Most fans had been squawking all year about his 'luck running out.' Then it actually happened, at the worst possible time. If the mechanical failures had occurred in the two races previous to the Chase he probably would have still been no lower than the third seed, and within 30 points of the leader.

Busch sounded as if he had already given up on any title hopes during his in-race interviews last week. The one thing he can't do is wallow in self pity. He needs to suck it up, go out and try like hell to win every race, and prove the naysayers wrong. He needs to show everyone that he has the heart of a champion, and act like a champion.