Mark Martin is smiling after completing all but three laps in the second half. Credit: Autostock

Chase Line: Talladega

NASCAR.COM's Ryan Smithson gets inside the numbers of the Chase for the Nextel Cup every Wednesday.

Engine failures in the Roush Racing camp used to be commonplace.

They occurred so often that its drivers were prone to making negative remarks about them in the media.

Race Line: Talladega Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3-1  Jeff Gordon 5-1  Jimmie Johnson 12-1  Tony Stewart 12-1  Matt Kenseth 15-1  Mark Martin 15-1  Kurt Busch 15-1  Ryan Newman 15-1  Jeremy Mayfield 25-1  Elliott Sadler 25-1

Stuff kept breaking on its cars. When Matt Kenseth won the title in 2003, his success at completing laps was in stark contrast to some of his teammates.

Roush Racing merged its engine program with Robert Yates Racing over the off-season. It took awhile for the partnership to take off, but since July, their combination of reliability and horsepower have been startling.

Kurt Busch, who lost four engines in 2003, hasn't lost a single one in 2004. Mark Martin also had four failures last year, but this year, he's had only two, and both of those came in the first half.

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Others have fared better as well. Greg Biffle has one engine failure in the last 20 races, and Jeff Burton had only one in his last 19 races with Roush. Matt Kenseth has lost only one engine all year.

Collectively, the six Roush drivers have lost only eight motors during points races this year, and four of those have come at either a plate track or at Pocono (arguably the toughest track when it comes to motors).

In 2003, Roush Racing lost one motor for every 12 points races they ran. In 2004, that number is up to 17.5, an efficiency improvement of over 30 percent.

Robert Yates Racing's two drivers have been even more impressive, as Elliott Sadler hasn't had a DNF all season, while Dale Jarrett has had two engine failures.

There are five other engine programs in the Chase (Hendrick, DEI, Gibbs, Penske and Evernham).

Let's start with Dale Earnhardt Inc. (31 races per engine failure). They have ran 62 races in 2004 with four different drivers, and the only two engine failures they've had were both suffered by Michael Waltrip.

Hendrick Motorsports (12.7 races per engine failure) has nine engine failures among five drivers. Kyle Busch ran three races without a problem, and Brian Vickers hasn't had one go bad this year. But Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte have three each.

To be fair, one of Johnson's failures came when he missed a shift at Watkins Glen, blowing the transmission.

Tony Stewart: One DNF in 2004 Credit: Autostock

Penske Racing (14 races per engine failure) has run 84 races this year with six engine failures, three of which were suffered by Brendan Gaughan.

Like Roush, Penske's engine failures come where it happens easiest. One of Ryan Newman's engine failures came with 10 laps to go in the Coca-Cola 600. Two Penske motors failed in the same race at Michigan, and one came at Pocono.

Evernham Motorsports (30.5 races per engine failure) has had just two problems all year, both by Kasey Kahne, including one at Dover.

Jeremy Mayfield has just one DNF all year, and it wasn't engine related. Bill Elliott hasn't had a problem in five races.

Joe Gibbs Racing hasn't had an engine failure all year in 59 races -- a remarkable improvement over 2003, when they blew six in 72 races.

Elliott Sadler

Elliott Sadler's history at Talladega is appalling -- we all know what happened to him in the 2003 EA Sports 500, but look for him to snap out of it.

Sadler's second-worst finish of 2004 came this spring at Talladega, but he won the Bud Pole there in the fall of 2003. He was also third there in the spring race in 2003.

Crew chief Todd Parrott is not taking the same car the team ran this spring.

Instead, they will use the chassis they ran in the Budweiser Shootout.