Post-New Hampshire - Gas Pains, Points Hits, And "The Punisher"

New Hampshire's Lenox 300 proved several things by the end of its 300 laps - and one of the things it proved is that adding eight more laps via green-white-checkered finish can change a lot. One thing it didn't change, though, was "The Punisher," the chassis Kyle Busch drove to victory. "That's a mean machine right there," crew chief Alan Gustafson boasted. "That car won two races and gotten six top fives. We're looking forward to bringing that one back for The Chase." Gustafson "told me last night to come up here because we were going to win the race," Rick Hendrick said. Hendrick was obviously glad he did, having witnessed his sixth NHIS win as a team owner.

Kyle Busch, though, had to overcome some less-than-stellar restarts and also gas pains. "I was wondering if we had enough fuel to get to the end if there was overtime," Kyle Busch said. "Alan told me it was fine, but I didn't know what to think."

Kyle Busch certainly had enough, and didn;t have to worry about gas pains. Bobby Labonte gagged on the final restart due to apparant fuel pick-up problems, while Jeremy Mayfield, Reed Sorenson, and Elliott Sadler all ran out of gas late in the race - in Sorenson's case it came just as the field completed Lap 300 out of third place, while Sadler ran out on the green-white-checker restart. "All they had to do was run one more lap and we wouldn't have had a green-white-checker finish," Sadler stewed afterward. We just can't catch the right breaks or the right cautions."

That Sadler was anywhere near the top five was a minor miracle given his disappointing season and also given how badly he ran for a sizable portion of the race. "My guys executed a good plan," Sadler said. "When we got in clean air my car was a lot better."

Kyle Busch rocketed to fourth in points; a few years back being 334 points out of the lead would mean no realistic chance at a title. Not anymore, though it also means that the onus now becomes just staying in the top ten.

Even that, though, has become an issue for drivers like Tony Stewart, suddenly eleven points out of the top ten and 58 out of the 400-point Chase cutoff, this despite having more wins than six of the top ten in points, and tied in wins with Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon for good measure.

Tony's mouth roared after the Modified Tour 100 and it was even louder after wreckin while leading in the New England 300. "There are guys who are really good at give-and-take. Ryan Newman just takes. He's really good at taking, not at giving. He's not going to make the Chase so he's not worried about the guys who are trying to make it there themselves.

"I like Ryan, he's a great guy and a good friend, but he needs to learn a bit more on the give-and-take side of things."

Newman for his part was in no mood for blame-acceptance. "Tony didn't live up to what he preaches, move over and let a faster car go," Newman said. "He sure didn't live up to what he preaches. We went three wide and he didn't give any getting in the corner. Eight tires are better than four, I guess he forgot that."

Newman was more upset at Michael Waltrip, who was all over the track and hit everything but the pacecar, even - or I should say especially - under the final yellow. "We didn't get wrecked hard enough to get out and throw a helmet at him like usually happens here," Newman quipped.

Given how NHIS has kicked off the Chase format, it's fitting that it also helped set up who would be in that Chase.

Ah, p-p-p-playoffs?!?!? Don't talk about....playoffs?? You kidding me? Playoffs?

Nope, we aren't kidding you, Jim Mora. And NHIS proved a turning point preparing for NASCAR's playoffs.