Cross' Words: Phoenix

For those fans affectionately known as Hendrick Haters, this has not been a banner year. Hendrick's three-car stable -- face it, Casey Mears' season is officially R&D at this point -- has five wins in eight races, including a sweep of the COT starts, and looks to be unstoppable.

To boot, Jeff Gordon went to Phoenix and snatched that 0-fer monkey right off his back, out-maneuvering Tony Stewart en route to the checkered flag and into a tie with Dale Earnhardt for sixth place on the all-time victories list.

• Send Duane your thoughts

How much longer before the buzz from the Ford and / or Dodge camps becomes a full-throat roar, wanting a change here or a tweak there to help even the competition?

The Ford camp remains all Roush all the time. Matt Kenseth (third in points), Carl Edwards (eighth) and Jamie McMurray (12th) are off to good starts, while Greg Biffle (14th) continues to gather momentum.

The Dodge folks must be wondering if they'll catch a break before it's too late. Penske's Kurt Busch (13th) and Ryan Newman (26th) have had several potentially great runs turn sour, while Evernham's Kasey Kahne (33rd) is approaching also-ran status.

Stewart has led a series-best 584 laps but never the most important one. His frustration has led from talking retirement (after Texas) to not talking (after Phoenix). The fact he knows victories have slipped through his fingers this season -- including Saturday night at Phoenix -- is no excuse for shunning the post-race interviews at PIR.

Don't be too quick to throw him under the bus. Maybe his anger management is silent; better to say nothing rather than explode in a public tirade. But he knows the Gibbs cars can compete with Hendrick's. Ditto Kenseth and the Penske bunch. As for the rest of the competition, there's work to be done.

So how good are the Hendrick cars? In a season dominated by Chevrolet, Hendrick's top three are clearly the class of the field:

Random ruminations after Phoenix ...

• There were four green-flag passes for the lead Saturday night:
1. Lap 29: Denny Hamlin passed Jeff Gordon
2. Lap 155: Tony Stewart passed Kevin Harvick
3. Lap 299: Stewart passed Gordon
4. Lap 300: Gordon passed Stewart

Kyle Petty, Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek all led during cautions; Harvick took the lead when Hamlin was penalized.

• I can see both sides of the argument:

Jeff Gordon will never be Dale Earnhardt, so why wave the "3" flag and stoke the embers?

Gordon paid a solemn tribute to a fellow competitor and friend.

Either way, it was a good move by Dale Jr. to take the time to publicly congratulate No. 24. (Classy act -- and you know who you are -- throwing water bottles and trash during the victory lap; English soccer fans in training, I assume.)

• Mark Martin's magic carpet ride continues: finishes 12th (his worst run of the year) and still moves up to 10th in points. And good move skipping Talladega; a bad finish would hurt his Chase chances.

It's been 10 years since Martin last won at 'Dega. His average finish in the past 19 races at the superspeedway: 20.2 with seven top-10s and seven finishes of 30th or worse.

• Matt Kenseth came home fifth at Phoenix. His average finish since Daytona: 5.1. And the guy gets less air time than Millard Fillmore.

• Congrats, Ricky Rudd. Saturday night's race was his 883rd Cup start, tied with Dave Marcis for second on the all-time list. Richard Petty tops the chart with 1,185. Among active drivers, the closest to Rudd is Kyle Petty (793, sixth on the all-time list).

Rudd made his series debut on March 2, 1975, at Rockingham.

Say what?

"We checked it after the very first run and we were 2.2 miles an hour to the good, came back in the second run with the same exact rpm, no exaggeration, no lie, and I was speeding. I don't know. I was tonight's entertainment, I guess."
-- Denny Hamlin, on the penalty that put the No. 11 team in a hole from which it never fully recovered

Figuratively Speaking

7 -- Consecutive races in which Michael Waltrip has failed to qualify. Waltrip Racing's three drivers -- Mikey, Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann -- have combined to make 14 starts with zero top-five or top-10 finishes. In fact, the team's average finish is 32.3. Even worse: The team has one lead-lap finish (DJ at Daytona). Worst of all: Jarrett has used five of his six past champion provisionals.

Up Next

Aaron's 499 | Talladega | 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday, FOX
Race No. 9 of 36 | Get your tickets | Book your travel

• Defending race winner: Jimmie Johnson
• Most victories at the track: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (5)
• Best average finish (minimum five starts): Kurt Busch (10.8 in 12 starts)
Active drivers only

Mailbag

From Tim ...
Wondered what your thoughts would be on limiting the use of the Top 35 rule. My problem is that if you are in the top 35 in [owner] points, you have the possibility to never qualify well and always make the race simply because you are "backing into races" and getting points for simply finishing. I personally believe there would be more racing for the top 35 if more guys were closer to the cut off line. There are several guys below the top 35 that could be in striking distance if they could only start a race. And that begs the question: Is it OK to suck at qualifying just because you are in the top 35?

What if we give the top 35 only six chances to fall back on the rule, like we give the past champions only six chances to use that provisional? This would still give a racer a good number of second chances and not let his team suck overall.

It would be a bookkeeping nightmare for NASCAR Scoring, but your suggestion does have some validity. Certainly sponsors wouldn't take issue with a more level qualifying procedure.

From Darlene ...
Did you by any chance see Mr. Montoya flip the finger to the camera on Thursday night during practice for the Busch race? SPEED had one camera showing Mr. Montoya sitting in his car when he looked directly at the camera and flipped the finger. It didn't appear to be an accident as it was obvious that he knew the camera was there, and he looked right in the camera and did the deed. I wonder if he'll be called into the NASCAR hauler to explain what happened?

I couldn't believe that Juan didn't hit the camera; he's rubbed everything else at the track the wrong way the past couple months. ... And there has been no official word from the Big Yellow Phone Booth. Yet.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their thoughts on the Virginia Tech tragedy. I received more than 1,000 e-mails on the subject and read many amazing heart-wrenching stories from people who have ties to Blacksburg.

Six of one ...
Drivers with momentum heading to Talladega:

• Tony Stewart -- Yep, he again led a bunch of laps but doesn't have much to show for it. It's a marathon, Smoke; keep your eye on the big prize.

• Kevin Harvick -- He finished 10th at Phoenix, his third top-10 of the season and fourth in 10 starts at PIR.

• Bobby Labonte -- An eighth-place run in the COT, his first top-10 in the pat 12 races, was a nice bounce-back after his 43rd-place showing at Martinsville.

• Haas teammates Jeff Green and Johnny Sauter -- Might the COT do as NASCAR had hoped: level the playing field? Both finished in the top 10 at Phoenix (Green sixth; Sauter ninth), and Green is among the top 20 points producers in the past six races.

• Tony Raines -- Three consecutive top-20 runs ... and the backstory to the DLP commercial from fan Richard Sayre via the DLP Call Center:

The elephant and the girl were chosen to represent the magic of the mirrors and to introduce consumers, in a friendly and approachable way, to the amazement and wonder of these tiny mirrors inside DLP chips that power leading brands of HDTVs available in stores right now. The elephant is a gentle representative and symbolic of prosperity and hope.

Half a dozen of the other ...
And six drivers who need a jump start:

• Jamie McMurray -- Entered Phoenix riding a streak of five consecutive top-15 finishes, including three top-10s in a row. Then he qualified second. And he finished 23rd. Time to get back on the beam.

• Juan Montoya -- Two thirtysomething finishes in the past four races, including a season-worst 33rd-place finish at PIR. But now it's on to 'Dega, where he can mash the gas and enjoy 500 miles of chasing the checkers.

• David Stremme -- It's been a stretch of highs and lows for Stremme: three consecutive top-20s, a 35th, a 10th and now a 43rd at Phoenix.

• J.J. Yeley -- It's been six races since he finished on the lead lap, and his 21st-place run in the desert was his best finish since Las Vegas (18th).

• Ryan Newman -- Did you know: He has as many DNFs (2) as he does laps led? Lady Luck isn't on his side, either -- or teammate Kurt Busch's.

• David Ragan -- There was reason for optimism after his fast start. Now that he's settling in, the realities of life in the fast lane are rearing. And now, welcome to Talladega. This should be, ummm ... interesting.

Feel the power
Three names you'll see in the Power Rankings' top 10 on Wednesday:

1. Jeff Gordon -- Lead dog for the Bowtie Brigade and poised to surpass Dale Earnhardt on the all-time victories list at the track Big E held the deed to.

3. Matt Kenseth -- For a guy who isn't considered the "face" of Roush Racing, he's doing one heckuva impersonation.

5. Denny Hamlin -- Question: Which would you rather have -- Hamlin's future or any other current driver's past?

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.