Next two weeks could make or break the season

The NASCAR Nextel Cup season is just three races old, but the next two races can really make, or break your season. The early weeks have focused on big names buried in the points, trying to race out of that Daytona-deep hole they slipped into a month ago, and that single name at the top of the championship standings.

Atlanta has always seemed to be a turning point on the schedule. Certainly there have been outstanding races and stand-up-on-your-seat finishes, but in the big picture -- the Nextel Cup championship picture -- here is where the point race starts to show some personality. Bullying some of the boys, while others continue to enjoy piling up the points.

Bill Weber

Have you taken a good look at the standings since Sunday night? The possibilities for change are endless. Do you like to marvel at the pleasant surprises or focus on those that have fallen short in just three quick races?

And when it comes to listening to interviews this weekend, and next, or reading quotes from various drivers, sometimes you really have to listen to what they mean to understand what they say. Each week, every team would love to win, but for the next two weeks the mission is to gain points, and positions. It is not the perfect formula for motivating that desperate driver to make that daring late race pass, but it has worked for 50 plus years.

Jeff Gordon has gotten off to a solid start. He is second in the standings with finishes of 11th, eighth and then second last Sunday in Las Vegas. Gordon got out of the gate quickly in his championship season of 2001 as well. He marched into Atlanta second in the standings which led to his fourth championship season. Gordon has a knack for saying all the right things at the right time. He has shown leadership in the sport and leadership for his team. When Gordon is confident, you can hear it in his words. I can hear it.

"It is a great start to the season," Gordon said. "I feel like we are a much different team than we were last year at this time and even the team we had in 2005. I am excited about what we have in store for ourselves.

"We are bringing great racecars, having a lot of fun no matter where we start in the field. [Crew chief] Steve Letarte really stepped up as a leader. It is making it a lot of fun for me as a driver."

Gordon is confident and having fun. That means some of the other guys in the garage may not be having as much fun.

Having Dale Earnhardt Jr. 28th in points after the first three races is a little like picking a 15-seed to win the NCAA tournament. Gutsy, but before the action begins, nobody is going to believe you. Earnhardt cost himself some big points at Vegas by pitting while pit road was closed. Those are points you cannot recapture, and they are the kind that you really miss after Atlanta because unless you do something amazing Sunday, people are still going to be talking about the points that got away.

While teams and fans are always concerned about gobbling up points in the race to the Chase, you really should take some time to have fun with this part of the season. The swings can be huge.

Take, for example, Joe Nemechek. Fighting his way into the field the first three weeks because he must make the race on his speed, and then coming to Las Vegas seventh in points. Problem is, on Lap 17 his strong start to the season ended in a wreck, and a fall to 20th in points. Did I mention Joe drives a car with the number "13" on the side? In Vegas, that's gutsy. Nemechek is a guy who needs two more weeks with strong performances, first in qualifying, then in the race.

"The good news is that we had a strong car and will have another one in Atlanta this weekend," Nemechek said. "Once again, we have to take it one step at a time. Our main focus on Friday will be qualifying. The draw is going to be important since we qualify in the evening. The conditions will be more ripe to click off a fast lap late in the session."

"We've had good cars at every race this year and I look for another strong performance by our No. 13 Chevrolet in Atlanta."

There's that number "13" again, looking for a little luck!

Tony Stewart missed the 2006 Chase by just 16 points. He started the first race of the 2007 season by finishing last. Now that's a deep hole. Heading to Atlanta he is lucky 13th in the championship standings after finishing seventh at Las Vegas in the same car he plans to race in Atlanta.

In case you missed it, the "new" Las Vegas Motor Speedway is not one of Tony's favorite tracks, but Atlanta should be. He has two wins there, including last October. See ya Las Vegas!

"I'm glad to have this one behind me and even happier knowing what's ahead of us," said Stewart. "The car we ran [at Las Vegas] is the car we ran last year at Atlanta, and we wanted to make sure we had it for our return trip."

Tony Stewart took a gamble in Las Vegas and came out ahead. He gained ground in the points -- 8 positions -- and he didn't need a can opener to get the car back on the transporter.

By the way, Tony Stewart finished 43rd in the 2007 Daytona 500. Tony Stewart finished 43rd in the 2002 Daytona 500 ... and won the series championship.

2004 Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch is 23rd in points. 23rd! He has just one finish in the top 25, a seventh place run in California. He has competed in 12 races at Atlanta, earning one top-five and three top-ten finishes, including a win in October of 2002. If you would like to break that down even further, in his six starts in the "spring" race at Atlanta his best finish is 10th, in March of 2001. This week he hopes to get a little help driving car number "2" from a former number "1". He will be driving the car named "Rusty" that Busch took to Victory Lane in the Snow Angel derby last spring at Bristol.

We could go through the entire list but let's end at the beginning with Mark Martin. Four-times a runner-up in the championship standings, now number one in a season where the plan was to run a few races, take some time off, run a few races, take some time off, run a few races, etc. Now Mark Martin is in a car with "01" on the side and Chevrolet on the nose, driving for Bobby Ginn and not, ah, Jack, is off to the best start in his career. THE BEST! Used to be around this point Mark would be talking about the sky-falling. Instead, he is sky-high.

"When we made the announcement in Talladega in October I saw a lot of headlines like 'Why Mark, Why?' I believed this was the place for me and I am really happy I made the move," Martin said.

"This is a fantastic organization. It isn't as good as it's going to get. We're going to keep working. I think they want me to hang around for a long time and I like that because I love racing and I love the fans and I'm having the time of my life."

Martin finished 36th in Atlanta last October. In the four races prior to that, four finishes of fourth, or better. He has started 620 consecutive races. The last one he missed Ben Hur was the winner. But the plan put in place for 2007 was that Mark would only run a limited schedule. Late last season he said the first race he would probably skip could be Bristol, which is next week, or Martinsville.

So, naturally a good reporter would ask this question:

"Mark will you race at Bristol?"

"No change yet," replied Martin.

"We made this deal, they made the deal and Bobby Ginn told me a deal was a deal."

"Hey Mark, before you go, one last question from the guy in the back of the room with the shaved head carrying the silver case with the number "1" on it. What's your question, Howie?"

"Mark Martin. Deal? Or no deal?"

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.