With Chase just now in full swing, who will play ball? (cont'd)

And that's when all the math begins, at the end.

Johnson pretty much owns this place. Lowe's car at the Lowe's track. Funny how that seems to work out. There is no way you can take anything away from this driver and this team at this track. Johnson has 11 consecutive top-10 finishes at Charlotte -- only one of those is worse than seventh (he was 10th at Charlotte in May) -- and five of those finishes are wins. Sandwiched between four consecutive victories and his most recent 10th-place result are back-to-back runner-up finishes. That puts Johnson in the cleanup spot.

"It's a track that regardless of the surface and the design of the track we run well, so I [feel] a lot of excitement looking forward at that race," Johnson said.

"When we get to the track and we're off a little bit, sometimes it creeps into our heads 'well it's not working out, something's changed' and we put a little bit more pressure on ourselves than if we're having a tough practice. But leading into it we're typically excited about it and I am this year. I think it's a good opportunity for us to possibility get a win and score some more points in the Chase."

Ya think?

This is the home field for Johnson, and while he has been putting up some numbers, his teammate Gordon is still the man to beat.

"There are still a lot of races left. But, as things unfold here it could be a situation where we are racing one another. In some ways that is what we would hope for and in other ways it's going to be difficult. I am so proud of Hendrick Motorsports for putting three cars in the "Chase." If it does come down to the two of us it would be a good and bad problem all at the same time."

And just to help keep things straight, the fourth Hendrick Motorsports car won the Charlotte race in May, driven by Casey Mears. In your scorebook that's a win for Mears in May, and three drivers in the Chase. A grand slam.

While Johnson is chasing his second championship, Stewart is after his third. Stewart hasn't had a top-five finish in Charlotte since he won there in the fall of 2003. He was sixth there in May, and in the seven races since his last win he has had three top-10s and three finishes of 24th or worse.

It looks like its time for the Home Depot boys to hammer one.

"All we can do is just do our job," Stewart said.

"Even if we win the race for the next seven weeks in a row, there is still no guarantee that we could close the gap. It really takes the pressure off of us. All we can do is go for broke, now. It's been done. Jimmie Johnson did it last year. So for us, it's just a matter of not worrying about what everybody else is doing. We just need to go out and worry about winning races now and hope we are where we need to be at the end of the day."

Or at the end of the night. So what's the scouting report for the coming weeks?

"If you win races, the points will take care of themselves," Stewart said.

"But if you can't win, you can't just throw it away trying to win the race. You've got to be smart and finish as high as you can and not take too many unnecessary chances that can give you the opportunity for having a bad day."

Don't get thrown out trying to steal third, when you can easily score from second.

I think these are the most critical 500 miles in the Chase. For the guys at the back of the pack, there is no reason to hold back; swing for the fences, hope you hit a home run and the other guys get picked off.

For the drivers, and their teams, at or near the top of the standings, the pressure builds, beginning with the moment the garage opens. Then on race day, you send your best guy out there with one thought in mind, shut out the competition.

Have you checked the schedule? It's the playoffs, and this week it's a night game on Saturday. Man, I love October.