Whoa, hey, howdy doooooo and welcome to another Chase race wrap up. Talladega saw a 5 timers dream of 6 get shut down, the Busch Brothers got whacked, no date for the Dega prom, a nose out of joint, Ford gives orders to let a Chaser hang out to dry and 72 lead changes that let Talladega deliver an action packed, white knuckle edge of your seat ride. Being a points race we had drivers play it safe and drop to the back at the drop of the green flag to avoid trouble but this strategy bit them in the end. Some worse than others. With cautions falling where they did there wasn't enough time to get to the front. Pit stops were confusing because drivers actually waited for their tandem partners. Craziest pit road jockeying I've ever seen. The points take another shaking up and here we go.

STARTING POSITION - Edwards 9th - Harvick 13th - Kenseth 11th - Ky Busch 34 - Stewart 12th - Keselowski 16th - Ku Busch 14th - Johnson 2nd - Earnhardt Jr 6th - Newman 10th - Gordon 5th - Hamlin 31st

DENNY HAMLIN - This guy was a victim from start to finish. He practiced with Ryan Newman as his Partner because Tony Stewart said he wanted to find some one to hang in the back during the race. When he couldn't find one then Newman became Tony's partner effectively leaving Denny with no date to the Dega prom. By lap 21 Denny goes down a lap because he can't keep up with the pack without a dance partner. His description of the race......The best I can describe it is, we were stuck without a date for the prom, so I was just hitting on everyone's mom. A debris caution on lap 24 gives Denny the Lucky Dog Pass to the lead lap. Still no partner but he's side drafting off other cars to stay in the lead lap. Joey Logano spins out trying to make a green flag pit stop and misses pit road. His tire goes flat and tears up the fender bringing out the caution on lap 68. Kyle Busch says if Joey's car can be saved he still wants to be his partner even if he's laps down. Kyle and Denny end up together but there's communication issues. Kyle can talk to Denny but Denny can't talk back. On lap 96 the Kyle/Denny tandem take the lead for a lap. Lap 104 AJ Allmendinger loses control spinning down the track. Takes out Kyle and Denny is partnerless again. Denny asks AJ's partner Marcos Ambrose if he'll be his partner. Nope. Ford has given orders that Fords will only draft with Fords. He hooks up with Joey Logano for a bit and then Newman later on but finishes the race by himself in 8th. If he doesn't have a nobody loves me and I'm gonna eat some worms mentality by now I'd be surprised. Bonus...he's not last any more. He's 11th in the points and he finished 11th in the race. 

JEFF GORDON - His tandem partner is Mark Martin who got the pole for the race so at the green flag Martin and Gordon hook up and slowly drop to the back for safety reasons. The Martin/ Gordon Tandem make their way to the front a couple times to collect leading a lap bonus points and just to practice how they'll go about it at the end of the race. All is well Until lap 181 when Gordon has to check up to avoid Paul Menards bumper on the 10 to go restart. Martin loses control and goes into Regan Smith. Now Gordon is without a dance partner. He calls Trevor Bayne on the radio and talks about being dance partners. Trevor says yes and lines up on Gordons bumper for the restart with 3 laps to go. They worked together at Daytona and thought this would be a great chance to be together again. Imagine Gordons surprise when Trevor dumps him and goes with Matt Kenseth. Trevor Tweeted after the race that.....he'd rather pull over and finish last then be strong armed into bailing. So my question is....Why didn't he? Gordon finishes 27th because Ford gave Trevor orders to hang the Chevy driver out to dry. He stays in 10th in the points.

RYAN NEWMAN - Newman and Stewart hook up and Newman talks Stewart into staying up front to race. They're practicing dropping back and going forward. On lap 42 they get to the front and Newman moves over to give Stewart the chance to lead a lap for that all important bonus point. Doesn't quite work and they drop like a stone. On lap 46 they try it again. No dice and Clint Bowyer takes the lead with his tandem partner Jeff Burton. Again on lap 64 they try again and this time they time it right for Stewarts leading a lap bonus point. On lap 80 Newman gets a side draft off of David Reutimann that pushes him down onto the flat apron and then the grass. The grass tears up his front splitter. Stewart is now without a dance partner. He's now multiple laps down in 39th. He hooks up with Logano and Hamlin on different occasions. Finishes 38th and 17 laps down. Now he has the 12th spot in the standings.

TONY STEWART - Like stated above Stewart and Newman became tandem partners when Stewart couldn't find a partner to hang out in the back with him. This turned out to be a good thing for him. Stewart says he's to blame for Newmans spin but Reutimann was still way too close to Newmans door causing the side draft disturbance that sent him to the grass. Joey Logano is asked to be his partner and Stewart is now being pushed by a damaged left front fenderless Home Depot car. They do very well. With 88 laps to go they lead a few laps. With 52 laps to go they lead again and still out front with 32 to go. With 20 laps to go Stewart is separated from Logano and he winds up with Paul Menard who was Kevin Harvicks partner. With 13 laps to go the Stewart/ Menard tandem is in the lead. With 8 laps to go Regan Smith is in the wall and we are set up for a green/white checker. On the restart Brian Vickers launches into Bowyer who pushes his partner Burton out front. They take off and leave every one in the dust. Stewart brings it home in 7th with a bonus point for leading the most laps and one for leading a lap. He's up one spot to 4th in the standings 19 points from the lead.

DALE EARNHARDT JR and JIMMIE JOHNSON - It's the Johnson/Earbhardt tandem. They hook up and drop to the back for safety reason. Jr wants to be up front but defers to Johnson to decide what they'll do. After all he pushed Johnson to a victory at the spring Dega race so why would it be any different this time? On lap 78 Johnson pushes Jr into the lead and the crowd goes wild. They hang around the teens at mid pack for awhile and then drop to the 20's. On lap 163 Andy Lally spins out and hits Johnson's right side door. Minimal damage. Just needs tires and a grill cleaning. The Jr/ Johnson tandem is still in tact. They're in 13th and 15th with 20 laps to go. With 15 laps to go Bobby Labonte spins out, Kurt Busch hits him and bring out the caution. Jr and Johnson are in to get tires because they ran over some of the debris. Johnson is 25th and Jr is 27th. They're having over heating issues because of the debris on their grills. With 8 laps to go Regan Smith is in the wall and Jr and Johnson again must pit for tires because they ran through debris. Jr is 16th and Johnson 19th. On the green/white checker restart they get shuffled back to 25th and 26th because they had to switch places for the over heating issue. This created drag and sucked them back. Not a good day. The plan was a bust. Jr stays at 9th in the standings. Johnson stays in 7th.

KURT BUSCH - His tandem partner is Regan Smith. They have as quiet a day you can have at Dega as you can get hanging around 15th thru 20th. They worked extremely well together even getting to lead a lap for a bonus point. That is until with 15 laps to go Bobby Labonte spins out and Kurt has no where to go but into Bobby's car. Heavy front end damage puts him in the hauler in 36th place 15 laps down. He loses a spot and goes to 8th in the standings.

KYLE BUSCH - His dance partner is team mate Joey Logano. Kyle leads lap 34 for that bonus point. Things are going smoothly till lap 67 when trying to go into the pits under green flag conditions, Trevor Bayne clips Logano sending him spinning. He misses the pit road commitment cone and now must go around the track again. On the way his right front tire blows out tearing up his fender and bringing out the debris caution on lap 68. Kyle wants them to fix it best they can because he wants to work with Logano. Logano is in the pits for 3 laps and comes out in 39th so he ends up partnering with Hamlin. They have radio issues. Kyle can talk to Denny but Denny can't talk to Kyle. On lap 96 Kyle leadsa lap with Denny pushing. On lap 104 Allmendinger goes for a spin. Takes out Kyle. To the garage we go for repairs. He's back on the track in 38th and 11 laps down with 81 laps to go. He ends his day 33 and 13 laps down. He loses 2 spots and drops to 6th in the standings.

KEVIN HARVICK - Decided on team mate Paul Menard as tandem partner. He leads some laps and puts Hamlin down a lap on lap 21. The Harvick/Menard tandem hang out around 10th most of the day till disaster strikes on lap 104 when Allmendinger spins out taking Harvick out. Heavy front end damage. Harvick limps back to the pits. He's in and out for repairs and ends up 36th and 2 laps down at lap 110. With 64 laps to go Harvick is complaining of smoke in the car. With 62 laps to go NASCAR is encouraging them to fix the smoking 29 car. With 61 to go Harvick is black flagged and told he will come in to fix the car now. He's off to the garage where all team members from the RCR stable are all over the car trying to fix the front end damage and replace the broken oil cooler. He's back on the track at 37th and 7 laps down. For the rest of the race he just rides the apron but at speed so as not to be black flagged again. Comes in 32 and 9 laps down. Drops from 2nd to 5th in the standings.

BRAD KESELOWSKI - Hooked up with Dave Blaney as his tandem partner. They too had a quiet day hanging in the back most of the day. With 71 laps to go they're hanging around the top 10. They slide back to the 20's and with 25 to go they're in the top 10 again. With 20 to go they're leading and just that quick with 13 to go they're in 18th and 19th. On the last restart they're 14th and 15th. They bring it home 3rd and 4th giving Keselowski a 3 spot jump in the standings to 3rd.

MATT KENSETH - His pick for tandem is team mate David Ragan. They lead lap number 4 for that bonus point. They hang out in the top 10 most of the day. With 71 laps to go they're in the lead. With 20 to go they're 5th and 6th. With the restart at 3 laps to go they're 12th and 13th. Some how they get separated and Kenseth is picked up by Bayne. He comes home in 18th. Moves up one spot to 2nd in the points.

CARL EDWARDS - Tandem partner was Greg Biffle. These guys hung out in the back but waited too long to make their way to the front. The wrecks caused them to have to pit for tires because they ran over debris. At 13 laps to go they're 23rd and 26th. At the last restart with 3 laps to go they're still there. Edwards manages to get an 11th place finish. He keeps his points lead.

POINTS STANDINGS - Edwards 2237 - Kenseth 2223 - Keselowski 2219 - Stewart 2218 - Harvick 2211 - Ky Busch 2197 - Johnson 2187 - Ku Busch 2185 - Earnhardt Jr 2163 - Gordon 2155 - Hamlin 2153 - Newman 2149

As it stands right now realistically there are 5 guys in this Chase that could take it. Harvick in 5th place and 26 points down is the last guy in my opinion. Any thing can happen but Ky Busch is next at 40 points down and it only gets worse from there. Johnson is 50 points back and I really think he's done. No number 6 on the horizon for the 48 team. Martinsville is the next oval on the list. It's a tough track and not one of Edward's of Kenseth's best. So possibly We could see a big change in the points. Like I keep saying about this year, it's just so crazy and unpredictable. Talladega hit some of the drivers hard just like we knew it would. When the dust settled we have 5 realistic contenders. Or do we?

You all have a great week.....