NASCAR NNCS (CHARLOTTE) - Cup Series News & Notes

• Gordon Averaging 181 Points Per Race Over Last 6 Races

• Gordon Made ‘Left Turn’ To Stock Car Racing

• Legends Combine: Bill Elliott Driving for Wood Brothers

• Kasey Kahne Wants to Start Rebound – Now

• Loop Data Explains Johnson’s Dominance at Lowe’s Motor Speedway

Gordon Piling Up The Points

En route to taking control of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series points lead, Jeff Gordon has averaged an incredible 181 points per race over the last six races. During that time, he has never finished lower than fourth, doing so twice and both times earning 170 points.

Gordon has placed a recent punctuation on an overall surge by Hendrick Motorsports. HMS has had at least one car in the top 10 for the last 40 races; the last outside-the-top-10 event for HMS was April 9, 2006 at Texas – Jimmie Johnson finished 11th and Kyle Busch 15th.

The last time HMS didn’t have at least one top-15 finish? That was 67 races ago, June 26, 2005 at Infineon Raceway.

Storyline I: Open-Wheel Dreams, NASCAR Reality

Born in California, Jeff Gordon was raised in Indiana, which led to the inevitable dreams of driving open-wheel machines and winning the Indianapolis 500. Somewhere along the line dreams took a left turn – a bunch of them actually – and he switched to stock cars. That career path has worked out fine.

Gordon has four NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championships and has even won four times at what could be called his “adopted” home-state track, the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Growing up, Gordon envisioned himself being at the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend. Instead, he finds himself heading into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, atop NASCAR’s world.

Chase ‘Seeding’ Watch, Week 12: Johnson, Gordon 1-2

In the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series points, Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont/Dept. of Defense Chevrolet) and Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s/Power of Pride Chevrolet) are 1-2. But as far as their potential “seedings” go for the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, those positions are reversed – for now.

Starting this season, the 12 Chase qualifiers get 10 bonus points for each victory during the 26-race span leading up to the Chase, which consists of the last 10 races. Drivers qualifying for the Chase have their point totals “reset” to 5,000, whereupon bonus points are added, in effect creating “seedings” to start the Chase.

Johnson’s four victories thus far will be worth 40 bonus points, provided he doesn’t falter dramatically and not qualify for the Chase. Gordon’s three victories have him assured of 30 bonus points.

This bigger-than-ever emphasis on winning could end up helping a driver’s Chase chances greatly, and make up for a so-so overall season coming into the last 10 events.

Example: Kyle Busch (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet) is 11th in the standings this week. But because he is one of four drivers with one victory this season, in the prospective Chase start-up standings this week, he’s tied for third behind Johnson and Gordon with a potential total of 5,010 points.

The Rest Of The Stories: Johnson And Kahne Dominate, Elliott-McSwain Make Combo Return

Some additional storylines to consider, coming into the Coca-Cola 600 weekend:

• Jimmie Johnson should top anyone’s list of favorites for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Over the last four years at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, he has never finished lower than third. During that eight-race span he has five victories, including a memorable four-in-a-row run covering 2004-05. Last year he was the runner-up in both series races at LMS.

• If Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) is going to start a rally, Lowe’s Motor Speedway would seem like the likely place. Kahne, trolling at 30th place in the series standings, has yet to win this year. Contrast that to last season when he won a series-high six times – including a season sweep of the two LMS races. Heading into the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Kahne has managed only one top-10 finish – a seventh in the season-opening Daytona 500. But there have been signs of life; Kahne has climbed from 36th to 30th over the last seven weeks.

• The “semi-retired” Bill Elliott is back, driving one of the sport’s most recognizable entries – the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 U.S. Air Force Ford. Elliott will drive on a race-by-race basis beginning with Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. The 1988 series champion, Elliott has 44 wins, 175 top-five and 320 top-10 finishes in 756 career starts. He cut back to a partial schedule following the ’04 season. Elliott comes in at a nice time for the Wood Brothers. The No. 21 team is 39th in car owner points; only the top 35 teams in those standings get guaranteed starting berths – unless you have a driver who is a past series champion. A team can exercise the “past champion provisional” up to six teams during the season. With another former titlist, Dale Jarrett (No. 44 UPS Toyota), having used up his allotment, Elliott will have that provisional to fall back on – that is, if he needs it. Joining this rejuvenated effort will be veteran crew chief Michael “Fatback” McSwain, who has been serving as the Wood Brothers’ competition director. * To view the complete rundown of storylines for this week’s Coca-Cola 600, go to NASCARMedia.com.

On The Line: Kasey Kahne

Kasey Kahne was the lead-off guest Tuesday, in the weekly NASCAR Teleconference. Kahne comes into this weekend 30th in series points, struggling to find his form of 2006.

Following are some of the highlights of Kahne’s conversation with media from across the country.

Q: Is this a good time to return to Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where you won twice last year?

Kahne: “We’re working hard to get back where we were [last year]. Hopefully, sooner than later, we’ll start figuring things out. We’ve made gains every week for the last month. I think we’ll be better this weekend and hopefully we’ll have a shot at a top 15 at the end of the night.”

Q: Right now, are you trying to just find consistency?

Kahne: “More than anything, it is the consistency [we need]. Yeah, we want to win races but you don’t come from finishing 20th or 25th to suddenly winning races again. It seems like you have to make your way [back] up there. You want to figure things out as quickly as you can but it takes time. I just want to start getting back in the top 10, top 15. Once you start doing that, you’ll have your opportunities of races unfolding and working out for you.”

Q: Is there a sense of urgency on your team?

Kahne: “Yeah … people can get frustrated, or they can get focused and do the best jobs they can and not get down. I was feeling like I was getting down a little bit a few weeks back. “But now I feel like I’m where I need to be. I’m just trying to keep our guys motivated and working on things we need to work on. If we keep doing that, it’ll get better for sure.”

Q: What are some of the specific problems your team has been having this year?

Kahne: “We’re just missing on set-ups. That’s all there is to it. We have lots of power. I think we have really good race cars. It’s just a matter of set-up and getting the car to work around the tires we’re running. “Last year we had it figured out. This year we haven’t.”

Q: Is it too late to still think you can make the Chase?

Kahne: “It’s getting further and further away but it’s still something we can shoot for, if we get on a big roll. If we can get on a streak with a bunch of top 10s, some consistent finishes in a row, lead laps, there’s still definitely a shot to get in there.”

For the complete transcript of this week’s NASCAR Teleconference – which also included Jimmie Johnson and NASCAR Grand National Division driver Joey Logano – go to NASCARMedia.com.

Times Are Tough: Former Series Champions Among Those Outside Top 35

A vivid illustration of just how deep – and how competitive – the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series has become is provided by this week’s car owner point standings. Two former series champions’ teams are outside the top 35 this week.

The rest of that story: One of those former champs, Dale Jarrett, has already used up his allotment of six “past champion provisionals” which got him into races if he didn’t qualify well enough to make a race based on speed – a requirement for teams outside the top 35 in owner points each week.

The other former series champion, though, is Bill Elliott, who has joined the Glen Wood-owned No. 21 Motorcraft Ford team. Elliott, who is “semi-retired,” has used none of his provisionals this year.

As for the “bubble,” this week finds Casey Mears, in the Mary Hendrick-owned No. 25 National Guard/GMAC American Heroes Chevrolet, holding the precious 35th spot. He’s got a little breathing room, too, 75 points ahead of the No. 22 Caterpillar Toyota owned by Bill Davis and driven by Dave Blaney.

2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Owner Points – After 11 Races

Position Points Team Owner Driver

30th 904 No. 9 Dodge Ray Evernham Kasey Kahne 31st 900 No. 45 Dodge Kyle Petty Kyle Petty 32nd 895 No. 7 Ford Robby Gordon Robby Gordon 33rd 874 No. 70 Chevrolet Gene Haas Johnny Sauter 34th 848 No. 88 Ford Robert Yates Ricky Rudd

35th 830 No. 25 Chevrolet Mary Hendrick Casey Mears

36th 755 No. 22 Toyota Bill Davis Dave Blaney 37th 745 No. 10 Dodge James Rocco Scott Riggs 38th 734 No. 15 Chevrolet Teresa Earnhardt Paul Menard 39th 667 No. 21 Ford Glen Wood Bill Elliott 40th 629 No. 44 Toyota Michael Waltrip Dale Jarrett

In The Loop: Johnson Looks As Good On Paper As He Does On LMS’ Oval

Even when Jimmie Johnson doesn’t win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, he comes awful close.

He proved it in last Saturday’s NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, with a near-pass of Kevin Harvick on the final lap. He also proved it in both LMS races last year, where Kasey Kahne and Johnson finished 1-2 in each race.

Prior to 2006, Johnson had won four in a row at LMS and five out of six.

Even with Kahne’s 2006 LMS dominance, Johnson still holds the advantage in nearly every Loop Data statistic. Johnson earned first-place marks in each of the following categories:

• Average Running Position (7.899) • Driver Rating (121.0) • Green Flag Speed • Laps in the Top 15 (1,321/possible 1,470) • Quality Passes – Passes of cars in the top 15 under green (228) • Speed in Traffic • Closer – Positions improved in the last 10% of laps in each race – 41 positions improved, twice that of Greg Biffle’s (No. 16 DISH Network Ford) 20.

Also, Johnson has 104 Fastest Laps Run over the past two years, second to Kahne (159).

Kahne, though sitting in 30th place in standings, has to be optimistic. In sweeping the 2006 LMS races, Kahne improved his LMS statistics.

Over the last two years, Kahne has an Average Running Position of 10.423 (second), Driver Rating of 107.2 (second), 308 Green Flag Passes (tied for sixth), fifth-fastest Green Flag Speed, and 1,041 Laps in the Top 15 (fourth).

Four others have excelled at LMS the last two years: Biffle, Mark Martin (No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet), Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford).

Biffle has the third-best Driver Rating at 100.9, the fourth-best Average Running Position at 13.340 and 64 Fastest Laps Run (fifth-most).

Martin, whose stats have all been accumulated in a Roush Fenway Ford, has the third-best Average Running Position at 11.488 and the fourth-best Driver Rating (96.5).

Busch has the fifth-best Driver Rating (91.3) and the third-most Fastest Laps Run (70).

Edwards, who has finished in the top 10 in each of his four LMS starts, has more Green Flag Passes than any driver at 354. His Driver Rating, 88.6, is sixth-best.

We Have A Battle: Heavy Favorite Montoya Clinging To Rookie Points Lead

When word arrived that the legendary Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) was coming to the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, it was only natural to assume he would easily win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.

Eleven races into the season Montoya has a battle on his hands. He comes into the Coca-Cola 600 with a slim four-point lead over David Ragan (No. 6 AAA Ford). … The latest Manufacturers Championship standings show on-a-roll Chevrolet with a 35-point spread over second-place Ford.

Rookie Pts Juan Pablo Montoya 120 David Ragan 116 Paul Menard 82 David Reutimann 72 AJ Allmendinger 38

NNCS, Etc. …

The “NASCAR: Back to the Future” exhibit returns to Lowe’s Motor Speedway this weekend. Located outside the track at the corner of Highway 29 and Morehead, it traces the Car of Tomorrow’s safety, competition and cost-management innovations back to earlier eras.

Several Car of Tomorrow “ancestors” are featured, including a 1972 Dodge Charger driven by Richard Petty, a 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Darrell Waltrip and a 1987 Chevrolet driven by Terry Labonte. The exhibit also includes an informative video detailing the evolution of a stock car, plus a template inspection grid.

Hours are 2-6 p.m., on Thursday, 12-7 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m., on Sunday.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet) is one of eight NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers who will run a special paint scheme saluting a military entity this weekend. Others include Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Ward Burton (No. 4 State Water Heaters Chevrolet), Greg Biffle (No. 16 Ameriquest Ford), Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet), Casey Mears (No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet) and Mark Martin (No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet).

NASCAR Busch Series drivers Shane Huffman and Jon Wood also will run special military paint schemes in Saturday night’s CARQUEST Auto Parts 300.

In honor of the Memorial Day weekend, the teams’ participation is called the American Heroes Memorial Day Tribute. It’s a joint effort with branches of the United States military to raise funds for four major military support organizations, U.S. soldiers and their families.

Several personalities from the military, political and entertainment worlds will attend the Coca-Cola 600. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, will be on hand. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen will serve as Grand Marshal. Arizona Sen. John McCain will serve as Honorary Starter. And singer LeAnn Rimes will perform the national anthem.

NASCAR Podcasts

Every week NASCAR produces Podcasts available through NASCARMedia.com and iTunes.

• Mondays feature a race recap from the previous event and includes driver interview post-race audio.

• Tuesdays we look ahead to the next race with a preview featuring NASCAR’s Manager of Statistics, Writing and Production, Mike Forde.

• NASCAR Director of Cost Research Brett Bodine joins us Wednesdays for a look at the upcoming venue, providing insight and analysis.

• In addition, this Thursday (May 24) we will feature a media profile Podcast with award-winning writer David Poole of the Charlotte Observer for an insider’s view of the week-to-week NASCAR beat. Poole is the veteran auto racing beat writer for the track’s hometown newspaper and also hosts a NASCAR show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio

To subscribe to the official NASCAR Podcast, login to NASCARMedia.com and click on the Podcast link on the right side of the page.

The Race: Coca-Cola 600 The Place: Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C. The Date: Sunday, May 27 The Time: 5:30 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX, 5 p.m. (ET) The Track: 1.5 mile oval The Distance: 600 miles; 400 laps The Purse: $6,569,628 2006 Winner: Kasey Kahne 2006 Pole: Scott Riggs Series Standings Pos. Driver Pts. 1 Gordon 1,881 2 Johnson 1,650 3 Kenseth 1,582 4 Hamlin 1,539 5 Burton 1,486 6 Stewart 1,375 7 Kurt Busch 1,325 8 Harvick 1,315 9 Bowyer 1,302 10 Edwards 1,291 11 Kyle Busch 1,281 12 McMurray 1,214 Pre-Race Schedule (local/ET time): Thursday—Practice, 3-4:30 p.m. Qualifying—7:10 p.m. Saturday—Practice, 3-3:50 p.m. and 6:20-7:20 p.m.