You've seen the wreck.  Kyle Busch goes low, Tony Stewart goes high.  Kyle goes high, Tony goes nowhere, Kyle bounced into the wall, Tony goes on to win.  But that's not what I found most interesting.

After Kyle hit the wall, Kasey Kahne slammed into him, literally propelling Kyle across the start/finish line.  Why is that important?  Kyle officialy finished 14th.  I don't think it is any kind of stretch to say that if Kyle hadn't gotten blasted by Kasey he would've been classified the last car on the lead lap, which would have been 28th.

WITH those 42 points (the difference between 14th and 28th), Kyle is EIGHTH in points, in the Chase by 133 points.

WITHOUT those 42 ponts, Kyle would be ELEVENTH in points, in the Chase by only 91 points.

If Kyle makes the Chase by less than 42 points, he owes Kasey Kahne a big thank you card, especially if Kasey ends up the odd man out.

So, a couple things...

First, thanks to Joey Logano and Greg Zipadelli for winning at Loudon, making Joey the third first-time winner of the season and buggering my Jack Ingram Cup spreadsheet to the point where I had to go back through each of the first 16 Nationwide races to reset the points.  I like David Ragan OK enough but since he's really the only Cup guy who hasn't won a Cup race yet while running a bunch of Nationwide races, I'll be fine if he doesn't win until 2010.

Second, I haven't seen anyone mention this, but if Kyle Busch hadn't wrecked the whole field on that restart, there wouldn't have been a red flag which means they would have been able to run at least the few more laps for pit stops to cycle through, which means Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch would've been racing for the win, which means since Kurt was about to pass Jeff when the rain came...that Kyle cost Kurt the win.  Probably.

Third, I like Juan Pablo Montoya, but there is NO reason he should be anywhere near Mark Martin and Kyle Busch in points.  Mark and Kyle have three wins each.  WINS.  JPM's next top-five finish will be his first of the season.  JPM has finished 14th or better eleven times, while Mark's top eleven finishes of the season are all 17th or better, and Kyle's are aren't quite as good but his top ten finishes are all 18th or better.  The only reason JPM is even in the Chase conversation is that he hasn't finished worse than 31st in any race - Tony Stewart is the oly other driver who can say that.

Since I went through all that hassle to fix my spreadsheets, here are the points going into Daytona.  For me, it's a three-man race, and everyone else is far behind.

SPRINT CUP (DRIVERS)
Rank                         Points
 1 Tony Stewart                 164
 2 Jeff Gordon                  159
 3 Jimmie Johnson               150
 4 Mark Martin                  111
 5 Kyle Busch                   107
 6 Kurt Busch                   104
 7 Ryan Newman                   93
 8 Greg Biffle                   90
 9 Denny Hamlin                  86
10 Carl Edwards                  82
11 Matt Kenseth                  79
12 David Reutimann               74
13 Kasey Kahne                   61
14 Clint Bowyer                  59
15 Juan Pablo Montoya            48
16 Jeff Burton                   47
   Brian Vickers                 47
18 Marcos Ambrose                39
19 Joey Logano                   37
20 Brad Keselowski               35

Hendrick Motorsports and Hendrick Lite (sorry, Stewart-Haas) are continuing to dominate the team points.  The most surprising development of the season, to me, are the apparent demise of the Richard Childress Racing cars.  Of the multi-car teams in NASCAR, RCR stands with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, Red Bull Racing, and Yates Racing as the only ones winless in 2009.  Surely not the company they were looking to keep through the first half of the year.

SPRINT CUP (TEAMS)
Rank                           Points
 1 Hendrick Motorsports           271
 2 Stewart-Haas Racing            206
 3 Joe Gibbs Racing               184
 4 Roush Fenway Racing            176
 5 Penske Racing                  114
 6 Michael Waltrip Racing         110
 7 Richard Childress Racing       104
 8 Richard Petty Motorsports       88
 9 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing        72
10 Red Bull Racing Team            53
11 Phoenix Racing                  29
12 Yates Racing                    18
13 Robby Gordon Motorsports        12
14 Front Row Motorsports            2
   NEMCO Motorsports                2
   Prism Motorsports                2
   Mayfield Motorsports             2
18 Germain Racing                   1
   TRG Motorsports                  1
   Tommy Baldwin Racing             1

Kyle Busch and his five Nationwide Series wins are way out in front of my Nationwode points.  The most amazing stat of the year is that Kyle has led the most laps ELEVEN times out of sixteen races.  (Second most?  Brad Keselowski finishing third six times already.)

NATIONWIDE SERIES (DRIVERS)
Rank                         Points
 1 Kyle Busch                   227
 2 Carl Edwards                 173
 3 Brad Keselowski              151
 4 Joey Logano                  149
 5 Jason Leffler                107
 6 Mike Bliss                    76
 7 Kevin Harvick                 72
 8 David Ragan                   69
 9 Greg Biffle                   64
10 Matt Kenseth                  62
11 Brian Vickers                 59
12 Brendan Gaughan               50
13 Justin Allgaier               48
14 Clint Bowyer                  47
15 Erik Darnell                  38
   Tony Stewart                  38
17 Steve Wallace                 32
18 Jeff Burton                   27
   Dale Earnhardt Jr.            27
20 Ryan Newman                   26

NATIONWIDE SERIES (TEAMS)
Rank  Car#  Owner                         Points
 1    18    Joe Gibbs Racing                 227
            Driver:  Ky. Busch (16 starts)
 2    60    Roush Fenway Racing              173
            Driver:  C. Edwards (16 starts)
 3    20    Joe Gibbs Racing                 154
            Drivers:  J. Logano (13 starts), B. Coleman (2), D. Hamlin (1)
 4    88    JR Motorsports                   151
            Driver:  Brad Keselowski (16 starts)
 5    16    Roush Fenway Racing              137
            Drivers:  G. Biffle (7 starts), M. Kenseth (5), R. Stenhouse Jr. (4)
 6    33    Kevin Harvick Inc.               134
            Drivers:  K. Harvick (9 starts), R. Newman (2), K. Bires (2), C. Gale (1), T. Stewart (1), R. Hornaday (1)
 7    38    Braun Racing                     107
            Driver:  J. Leffler (16 starts)
       6    Roush Fenway Racing              107
            Drivers:  D. Ragan (10 starts), E. Darnell (6)
 9    29    Richard Childress Racing          90
            Drivers:  J. Burton (7 starts), C. Bowyer (5), S. Leicht (4)
10     1    Phoenix Racing                    76
            Driver: M. Bliss (16 starts)
11    32    Braun Racing                      64
            Drivers:  B. Vickers (8 starts), B. Lamar (8)
12    62    Rusty Wallace Inc.                50
            Driver: B. Gaughan (16 starts)
13    12    Penske Racing                     48
            Driver:  J. Allgaier (16 starts)
14     5    JR Motorsports                    37
            Drivers:  D. Earnhardt Jr. (5 starts), S. Wimer (2), M. Martin (1), R. Newman (1)
15    66    Rusty Wallace Inc.                32
            Driver:  S. Wallace (16 starts)

Just a refresher on the Jack Ingram points.  I think it would make sense to have a separate Nationwide championship for drivers who have never won a Cup-level race - the true AAA-level drivers.  (Thanks again to Joey Logano for eliminating himself from this, btw.)  Basically, I take out the Kenseths and the Busches and reset the finishing order, so in this weekend's race Mike Bliss was the "winner" of the Jack Ingram division.

NATIONWIDE SERIES POINTS RESET ELIMINATING SPRINT CUP RACE WINNERS
Rank                         Points
 1 Jason Leffler               2617
 2 Mike Bliss                  2289
 3 Michael McDowell            2254
 4 Justin Allgaier             2227
 5 Brendan Gaughan             2218
   Steve Wallace               2218
 7 Jason Keller                2157
 8 Scott Lagasse Jr.           2080
 9 Kenny Wallace               1920
10 Tony Raines                 1907
11 Michael Annett              1884
12 Danny O'Quinn Jr.           1723
13 Eric McClure                1697
14 Brandon Whitt               1608
15 David Ragan                 1584

This is the Jack Ingram points using the vastly superior JJD method.  Jason Leffler is way out front here because after the reset, he's got 13 top-four finishes in 16 races.

OFFICIAL JACK INGRAM CUP PRESENTED BY JJD STANDINGS
Rank                         Points
 1 Jason Leffler                218
 2 Mike Bliss                   147
 3 David Ragan                  128
 4 Justin Allgaier              124
 5 Brendan Gaughan              114
 6 Steve Wallace                112
 7 Michael McDowell             101
 8 Jason Keller                  84
 9 Erik Darnell                  76
10 Scott Lagasse Jr.             69
11 Scott Speed                   67
12 Paul Menard                   52
13 Kenny Wallace                 41
14 Michael Annett                37
15 Stephen Leicht                31

[NOTE: I originally posted this on the ThatsRacin.com forum, and I got a request to post it here, so there you go. All comments welcome, of course.] Let me start with this: I really have no problem with the "fairness" of the NASCAR points system. All of the guys play by the same rules, so throw "fairness" into the discussion clouds the issue. What the NASCAR points system ISN'T is sensible. A point system is only as good as it is in the MOST ridiculous of circumstances. Did you know that (in a non-Chase-world) a guy could lead EVERY lap of 24 races and finish last in the other 12, and he would LOSE the title by over 100 points to a guy who just rode around and finshed eighth in every race? That's CRAZY. I think we can ALL agree on some key points: - Winning a Nextel Cup racing is friggin' hard in this age of so many top teams and overall series depth, and it's about to get harder with the Toyota teams coming in. - When there is a "big one" on a superspeedway, there really isn't any difference in the finishing positions of the guys who got wrecked and are 32nd through, say, 38th. However, in NASCAR's current world that's an 18-point difference settled over basically semantics, and since they've had a title decided by eight points, to have the potential of a title decided because one car got wrecked a little bit worse in a big one than another, makes little sense. - A guy who rides around in 20th all day doesn't deserve more points than a guy who ran 3rd all day but got wrecked with two laps to go. I think these are some legitimate beefs that you may or may not agree with: - NASCAR currently punishes teams for bad finishes more than they reward teams for good ones. Don't think so? Before the California race Matt Kenseth had as many wins as JJ (4), more seconds (3-2), more thirds (3-1), and more top 5s (13-8). How could JJ be ahead of Matt in points? Well, the answer is that Matt's worst finish is 38th and JJ's worst is 32nd. If you take that 18 point difference away Matt is ahead. Shouldn't the guys' 23 (out of 24) BEST finishes count more than their ONE worst finish? - There was a time when a guy like David Pearson would show up at half of the races and with seven or eight of them, so I can see why this "reward all of the competitors and punish the guys who cherry-pick"-mentality came from, but that's hardly the case anymore. Every guy going for the title shows up at EVERY race, barring injury, and even injured they make silly starts to collect points. When Tony Stewart was hurt last year, shouldn't he have had the chance to heal up for a couple of weeks out of the car instead of risking further injury to get the points for 25th-place? - Kasey Kahne has five wins out of 25 races. If he wins tonight and doesn't make the Chase, and wins a couple of the races in the Chase he'd have, say, NINE wins with NO chance to win the title. You might be able to rationalize that to another NASCAR fan, but that's a hard concept to explain to a non-NASCAR fan. Here's what I'd like to see: A points-system that rewards guys for winning and finishing up front. Period. And, just coincidentally, I have an idea for one. (One that ditches the Chase, becuase it's just not necessary.) - Award points to the top 12 finishers. 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. Why the top 12? Well, guys like Michael Waltrip, Dave Blaney, Travis Kvapil, and Scott Wimmer have a combined ZERO top-12 finishes. Joe Nemechek's finish? 13th. Jeremy Mayfield's? 13th. TODAY with NASCAR's math, a win and a bad luck 40th finish give you NINETY less points than two fifths. Not bad, right? Well, in twelve races you could win six and finish 40th six, and be a whopping 540 points behind the guy with twelve fifths. That is nonsense, and I think this a fair balance, rewarding wins and consistency. - Bonus points: one for winning the pole, one for leading a lap, and two for leading the most laps. Why a point for the pole? Well, it IS competitive and someone "wins" the pole. This gives a guy who wins the pole and leads the most laps four bonus points, so if he breaks or gets wrecked he would receive as many points as a guy who finishes a ride-around-all-day ninth. Seems fair to me, and better than the first guy getting eighty points less than the second. - I didn't think this up because of the Chase, either. How's this scenario? Right now, say Dale Jr. won all eleven remaining races and led EVERY lap for the rest of the year (in a non-Chase world where the points are NOT reset). All Matt Kenseth would have to do is finish FIFTH in every race to keep a points-lead large enough to win the title. (5343-5326, btw.) You want to live in a world where a guy wins ONE-THIRD of the races and doesn't win the title over a guy who won four? Just because it happened before doesn't make it right. I've tracked the points using my system all year. Here are the top-15. Matt Kenseth - 236 Jimmie Johnson - 212 Tony Stewart - 198 Kasey Kahne - 184 Jeff Gordon - 177 Kevin Harvick - 171 Kyle Busch - 160 Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 155 Carl Edwards - 145 Greg Biffle - 133 Denny Hamlin - 132 Jeff Burton - 126 Kurt Busch - 113 Mark Martin - 109 Ryan Newman - 73 Edwards and Biffle ahead of Hamlin? Hamlin's got two wins to Biffle's one and Edwards' zero, yes. But Edwards has finished second twice, third twice, and fourth three times, while Biffle has only five finished fourth or better and Hamlin has four. Hamlin sits high in points right now because he's got a whopping TEN finishes between ninth and twelfth. The best part of this system is with 24 points maximum each weekend, can you guess how many guys are mathematically eliminated from the Championship as of right now? ZERO. David Gilliland could win every pole and lead every lap for the rest of the year and he'd have 264 points, and if none of the guys on the list had a top-12 finish for the rest of the year, he'd be the Nextel Cup Champion. Ridiculous? Yes, but a guy with eleven wins losing to guys who have five or less is also ridiculous. Since a guy who wins the pole and leads every lap scores 24 points and the guy who finishes second scores 16, any driver can make up eight points on the field in any given week, so right now anyone 88 points back or closer (right now Junior is 81 back) would control his own destiny, and would win the title by leading every lap for the rest of the season. Right now, Kasey Kahne couldn't even do that if he's not lucky enough to make the Chase. I really think this is a foolproof way to go. You can punch SO many holes in NASCAR's current system that it makes it hard for the non-NASCAR fan to understand the logic. I've run this back through every season since 1960, and it's easy to argue for every champion that I got. Now, I know what you're thinking, namely, "1960?! What are you some kind of huge geek?" Yes, but that's beside the point. I started doing past seasons to see if Mark Martin would get his ever-elusive championship my way. Answer: No, and he only ended up with one second-place instead of four. I also ended up with EVERY actual NASCAR champion (except for good ol' BP, God bless him, who basically won in 1973 because he ran every race, only winning one, while David Pearson won eleven that year and Yarborough and Petty won ten between them) in the top three and usually the top-two until 2004, when Kenseth (the real champ) finished fifth. (A lot of guys won either way, but not too many.) Some other oddities (while noting that circumstances aren't taken into account like, for example, 2004 when Kenseth clinched before the last race and wound his motor too tight and blew in the meaningless final race that year): - In the Chase era, Tony Stewart still would've won the 2005 title, but Jimmie Johnson (eight wins) would've won the 2004 title over Jeff Gordon (who actuall scored the most points that year but lost to Kurt Busch). - Jeff Gordon would have five championships, including four straight from '95-'98, taking the '96 title away from Terry Labonte who won two races that year to Gordon's ten. - Dale Earnhardt keeps five championships, losing the '80 crown to Cale Yarborough (who had one more win, three more top-fours and 14 poles to Dale's zero) and the '93 crown to Rusty Wallace, who won ten races to Earnhardt's six. - Incidentally, that fact is why I kept going back, thanks to racing-reference.info, so I could see how many titles the King would've had compared to the Intimidator. The King would've had six championships, losing his '64 and '72 titles but picking up the '63 title, a year in which he won 14 races and the actual champion (Joe Weatherly) won only three. This would be the list of champions since 1963, which would've been Petty's first title my way. Still a decent list in the grand scheme of things. SIX - Richard Petty FIVE - Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Clae Yarborough THREE - Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip, David Pearson TWO - Tony Stewart, Ned Jarrett ONE - Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman (over Kenseth), Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Davey Allison (over Kulwicki), Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte, Bobby Allison, Bobby Isaac [NOTE 2: Here's the update after Richmond, or "Bristol" if your name is Bill Weber. The number after the points is where they ranked last week.] 1 Matt Kenseth 242 1 2 Jimmie Johnson 213 2 3 Kasey Kahne 199 4 4 Tony Stewart 198 3 5 Kevin Harvick 192 6 6 Kyle Busch 179 7 7 Jeff Gordon 177 5 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 155 8 9 Carl Edwards 145 9 10 Greg Biffle 141 10 11 Denny Hamlin 134 11 12 Jeff Burton 131 12 13 Mark Martin 119 14 14 Kurt Busch 113 13 15 Ryan Newman 73 15