What a difference four races can make. You can pick any four, and they will make a difference, but the first four in the Chase for the Nextel Cup always seem to underscore the value of consistency and the penalty for performing poorly.

In the beginning of the season, there is the constant jockeying for position, and with the points so few and the margin between drivers so small, the first few weeks of a new season can see huge moves in the standings. It's fun to watch then, it can be nauseating to watch now, especially if your favorite driver is in the Chase. Let alone being on one of the 12 teams competing for the championship.

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I have always looked at Charlotte as the end of the first round of the playoff races. We've seen who has good pitching, who has good hitting, who has been able to score and who has not. You find out who can deliver in a "short" series, and who is a threat to win it all.

You have to decide who still has a chance, and who doesn't have a prayer. Does the cutoff come after Tony Stewart, 154 points off the lead? Or is Stewart too far back with too few to go. I don't think so.

What about Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch? Is 202 points still close enough to make a run in the six remaining races? Is 215 too far back? And if you say Kyle Busch still has a shot from 260 back, then you have to include Denny Hamlin, too, don't you? He is 262 back, but ninth place means there are a lot of guys standing between Hamlin and home plate.

Maybe it is all in how you approach things. For example, in his weekly press release, Kurt Busch made no mention of the Chase, even though he is in it. Busch has had just one top-10 finish in the four Chase races, and that was this past Sunday in Talladega where he finished seventh. That's his best finish since he was sixth at Bristol the week after winning in Michigan. Maybe Busch used up all his pitching. Still, he wants to hit a home run at Charlotte.

"We want to put together a complete race where we are competitive from the beginning until the end," Busch said.

"Over the last couple of years, it's been the case where we've had a really competitive car and led a ton of laps, only to see the handling go away during the race and end our chances for a win or a good finish.

"We've made tremendous progress on these intermediate, 1.5-mile tracks and we're hoping that the trend will continue Saturday night," Busch added. "Since Pat [Tryson] came aboard as our crew chief, one of his biggest priorities has been updating our cars and having the most competitive Miller Lite Dodges prepared for all the races. His hard work and the great team preparation have certainly paid off in that we've proven to be competitive everywhere we go."

Of course, Charlotte, Atlanta and Texas are all "similar" 1.5 mile tracks.

Busch has a good point, it would be nice to finish, even championship leader Jeff Gordon would have to agree with that. Gordon leads Jimmie Johnson by just nine points but Charlotte has not been very, very good to Gordon. In the last seven point paying races at Lowe's Motor Speedway, working back from May, Gordon has finished 41st, 24th, 36th, 38th, 30th, seventh (in the fall of 2004) and 30th in the spring of 2004. In those races he has had a lot of hits, and has been shutout.

"I just want to get to the finish of a race here -- it's been a long time since we've done that," Gordon said.

"The cars have performed well, it's just been one thing or another that has kept us from getting the good finish.

"I expect the guys in the Chase to have strong performances, but the guys not in it have nothing to lose and can gamble on setup or fuel mileage. Jimmie runs very well here, and I thought Tony [Stewart] was strong here in May, too.

"But we won't focus on the competition. We'll focus on making the No. 24 car the best it can possibly be.

"And making it to the end of the race." (Continued)