Jamie McMurray managed to finish eighth in the spring Bristol race, but a rules infraction set his team back another 25 points. Says McMurray: "I know the guys in my fab shop are all kind of on suicide watch." Credit: Autostock

Close points race has drivers asking 'what if?'

RICHMOND, Va. -- Jamie McMurray sits 25 points out of the top 10, 25 points out of getting in the Chase for the Nextel Cup and having a shot at the 2004 championship.

Twenty-five points. Almost nothing.

Jamie McMurray

Do you want some irony? McMurray was penalized 25 points back in April for a rules violation at Bristol Motor Speedway. His No. 42 Dodge failed a diagonal measurement on the rear window, prompting NASCAR to dock the points and confiscate the car.

The violation likely would have mattered little, since the aerodynamic gain -- if any -- would have been minimal at a place like Bristol. It was a simple mistake, Chip Ganassi Racing said.

It might be a monumental mistake should McMurray finish 25 points or less out of 10th place.

"I know the guys in my fab shop are all kind of on suicide watch," McMurray said. "They all came up to me this week, kind of like, 'Please, if you can do anything, just get in.'"

McMurray will do all he can, of course, but he hardly lays the blame at his teammates' feet.

CHASE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP •   2004 Results •   Standings •   "Bubble" Standings •   "Clinch" Standings

"The 25 points we took away doesn't keep me from getting in," McMurray said. "I'm not mad at those guys. It was a mistake. We wouldn't be here right now if we'd finished all the races."

McMurray and the other four drivers outside the top 10 who are still eligible for the Chase can play the "what if?" game for the rest of 2004 if they wanted. McMurray has six DNFs but still can get a spot in the Chase.

"As far as the 25 points, we've blown up four or five engines, drove a hole in the oil pan in Daytona this year, didn't finish, got wrecked here," McMurray said. "So we wouldn't be in the position right now. We've run well enough to be in the top 10. But when you have six or seven DNFs, that's why we're here right now. We've run well enough. You can't reflect on just one thing."

Bobby Labonte

Twelfth-place Bobby Labonte has five top-five finishes this season, but a decision to change crew chiefs in July may have hurt his chances at getting in the Chase. Since Michael McSwain was let go in favor of Brandon Thomas, Labonte hasn't finished in the top 10.

"If we could have run good last weekend, for instance, we could have stayed in the top 10 possibly," Labonte said. "Well we didn't. Before that, we were still working the top 10, and if we had a bad race we could overcome that. Right now our business is we have to go out there and obviously win, finish in the top five to maybe have a chance at it.

"If we don't do that, then we don't deserve to do business there. Our business right now is different than it was last weekend. It's just the fact that we've been sliding down a slippery pole for a long time and we need to get back up there."

Dale Jarrett, who sits 13th in the points, can point to a slow start. After seven races, he was 20th in the Nextel Cup standings. And there's also the matter of two blown engines, Jarrett's only DNFs of the season.

Fourteenth-place Jeremy Mayfield recalls a broken transmission at Infineon Raceway that cost him a top-10 finish. He ended up 30th that day, his worst finish of an otherwise strong second half.

Dale Jarrett

"The one thing that sticks out in my mind is Sears Point when we were going to finish in the top 10 with seven or eight laps to go," Mayfield said. "I went over (a) hill and spun out and tore the transmission out and all that stuff and ended up 30-something.

"For me personally that sticks out in my mind, but there were a lot of little instances that happened throughout the year you look back on."

Kevin Harvick doesn't have to look far for any regrets. He was in the top 10 for 19 consecutive weeks until a poor 28th-place finish last week at California. Coming on the heels of a 24th-place result at Bristol, Harvick dropped from eighth to 15th.

This is no time for regret, not that any of the drivers trying to get in the Chase have any.

"You can't look back in this sport," Mayfield said. "You've got to look forward. It's a cumulative points system, and it starts in Daytona. You can't make it all up in one week, either. You can't look back. You've got to look forward and not worry about it."