Notebook: Truex's finish sets tone for run at Cup

LOUDON, N.H. -- Martin Truex Jr. and his Dale Earnhardt Inc. crew chief, Kevin "Bono" Manion, know the difference between Nextel Cup and the Busch Series. But after the pair -- who posted consecutive Busch championships in 2004-2005 -- posted a fifth-place finish in their first Chase for the Nextel Cup start on Sunday, they know they're a good fit in this playoff.

"We have a legitimate shot, just like 11 other folks out there," Manion said. "Back in the [Busch] championship days, each year we were racing one team -- Kyle [Busch] and Lance [McGrew, crew chief] and then Clint [Bowyer] and Gil [Martin, crew chief]. So you've got 11 other teams to play attention to here.

Lap-by-Lap

Clint Bowyer started from the pole at NHIS, relinquished the lead at only brief intervals and cruised to his first Nextel Cup victory in the Sylvania 300.

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"It's just fun, it's exciting, it's nerve-wracking -- you don't sleep, you don't eat, you eat too much, you get sick. It's endless nights and you get all kind of emotions. But there isn't a place I'd rather be than racing at the racetrack with this group of guys and this team -- except maybe a deer stand somewhere hunting.

"It's a great team and a great place to work and I'm really looking forward to the nine [races] we have left. Getting in [to the Chase] was a relief, but I guess getting the first race in and getting a top-five is pretty damned big for us. We worked hard all day and lost our track position early and often, but we worked on the car and got it back as good as it was [in the summer, when Truex finished third].

"So I was excited that we got the racecar back to a drivable condition, that Martin enjoyed to drive, and he could pass cars. Going up and passing that 48 [Jimmie Johnson] with a handful of laps left -- that 48, he's one of the best, so passing him was pretty cool for us, and Martin."

Manion echoed Truex's comments on Friday, when the driver commented on the advice his friend and DEI teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., had given about competing in the Chase.

"He just told me to enjoy it and have fun -- you've worked all your life for it and to just make sure you have a good time," Truex said. "I don't think that's going to be a problem for us and our bunch. We love racing and enjoy coming to the racetrack -- this is what we love to do.

"We just feel blessed to be in the Chase and to have all the success we've had this year. We just hope to keep it going and have a great last 10 races."

"I'm really happy for our team, but even moreso I'm happy for [race winner] Clint [Bowyer] and the 07 guys," Manion said. "They edged us out for the pole and we raced them guys for a [Busch] championship and they're a good group of racers and a good group of guys -- and I'm really happy for 'em."

Tough customers
Tony Stewart must've had one of those looks on his face when he was asked what he thought about being beaten Sunday by two other Chase contenders.

"That's why they got in the Chase," Stewart said. "It doesn't take much rocket science to figure out why they're all there. The top seven [finishing] drivers are all Chase drivers. It doesn't take much to figure out why and how they all got here."

Tough customers, Part II
NASCAR history was made Sunday, according to sanctioning body officials, when all 43 cars in the starting field were running at the conclusion of the Sylvania 300 -- the first time it's happened, they said, since 43-car fields came into weekly use in 1998.

Setzer to race for Schrader
Perennial Craftsman Truck Series championship contender Dennis Setzer, who was suddenly released last week by Spears Motorsports on the eve of the New Hampshire 200, will stand in for Nextel Cup regular Ken Schrader this weekend in Bobby Hamilton Racing's No. 18 Dodge, in the Smith's Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Schrader, who has split this season in BHR's Ram and the No. 21 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Ford in Nextel Cup, is scheduled to race in the Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover, after improving that car's position in the vital car owner standings last weekend with a 30th-place finish at NHIS.

"I'm pretty satisfied that we were able to stay ahead of the 22 [Dave Blaney] and the 45 [Kyle Petty, the cars right behind and right in front of the Woods in the owner standings]. That's our focus for right now. We just have to keep building on it as we go on week to week."

After Saturday's New Hampshire 200, Setzer visited the No. 18's garage stall for an impromptu seat fitting, and Monday he was officially in the truck.

It's my Chase, too
Elliott Sadler has a little different spin on Chase for the Nextel Cup drivers racing non-Chasers -- and vice versa -- in the final 10 races of the season, when a multi-million dollar championship is on the line for a select field of 12.

"I've been on that side of the fence before, when you're a Chase guy," said Sadler, who was in the inaugural 2004 Chase. "If I'm a Chase guy it's my responsibility to know who to race and who not to race. I was more worried about it when I was a Chase guy.

"You know out here as a driver who to race and who not to race, who's going to race you fair and who's going to try to use you up. As a Chase driver that's more my responsibility than the other guy. I know that [other] guy has nothing to lose -- I know he wants to win the race no matter what."

Kyle's dead horse
Again at New Hampshire, Kyle Busch piled up another top finish in the Car of Tomorrow -- fourth place, which was his eighth top-10 in 12 COT races and fourth top-five -- and continued to beat up the design, which is difficult to drive on a good day.

"I still don't like it, but it's what it is and I'm going to be driving it so that's just part of it," Busch said. "It's just a work in progress -- we're working on it trying to make it better and I'm sure the car of today, which is now the old car, wasn't that much fun in the beginning of it. Some of the veteran guys are maybe getting a remembrance course in dealing with this [COT]."

Busch was asked about his continued sideways corner exits at New Hampshire, Sunday.

"That's just the COT -- they're always evil," Busch said. "We were still trying to make it better. I guess it just doesn't fit my driving style or whatever. But I'm trying to get accustomed to it and we're trying to get it accustomed to me. To come out of here with a fourth-place effort [Sunday] definitely means a lot to these guys and this team and myself."