Cross' Words: Loudon (cont'd)

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

• Jeff Gordon -- Hendrick stable takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.

• Jimmie Johnson -- Ditto.

• Denny Hamlin -- Finally, the No. 11 team solved the Car of Tomorrow. He and Tony Stewart will make for a formidable duo in the Chase (five of the final 10 races feature the COT).

• Kyle Busch -- NASCAR said that the No. 5 was too low in post-race inspection but that it wasn't considered tampering with the Car of Tomorrow. It's more of a "competition infraction." ... Uh, OK.

• Jeff Green and Johnny Sauter -- Both Haas CNC cars finish in the top 15 for the second time (Phoenix), leading advocates to again proclaim the COT as the greatest thing since power steering.

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

• Jeremy Mayfield -- Six starts, one lead-lap finish, 33.3 average finish ... his average race winnings is a paltry $76,649.

• Scott Riggs -- He has failed to qualify for the past two races and the No. 10 now sits 182 points outside a guaranteed top-35 qualifying position.

• Michael Waltrip -- After qualifying for two of three races between Dover and Michigan, he also has missed the past two races.

• Dale Jarrett -- He has made two starts in the past five races. If he makes the field at Daytona, chances are he'll have a decent run: four wins, nine top-five finishes and 17 top-10s in 40 starts.

• Joe Nemechek -- The first-year No. 13 team crashed-out at Loudon and fell three spots in owners' points after its third consecutive 30th-or-worse finish.

• David Gilliland -- Two top-10 finishes this year. Yep, you guessed it: in the two restrictor-plate races. Hello, Daytona!

And finally

Congrats to the Lithia Springs Tigers, who won the AABC 13U State Tournament on Saturday. The team went 6-0 and now advances to the World Series in Battle Creek, Mich. Seeing those 12 players pile up in the middle of the field was enough to make grown men cry (and we did, the tears of joy and relief ... and pride).

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.