With four races left, some drivers need fan support

This is the time of year when a driver wants to stop and think, "What happened? Where did we go wrong?"

While the emphasis in the Chase for the Nextel Cup is on the top three drivers, the rest of the field is torn between delight and disgust, between accomplishment and disappointment. We don't know who will win the championship, but we know who will not win it. That's the uncomfortable issue with this "playoff"-- everyone is still playing, but the biggest prize is out of reach.

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We have experienced it in baseball. So many teams are eliminated by the all-star break but they still must continue to play. High-priced superstars on a team that might struggle against your softball team yet must continue to deliver.

I thought Robbie Reiser had the best quote coming out of last Sunday's race:

"If you would've told me going into the Chase that six races into it, our best finish would be at Martinsville, I would've laughed at you," Reiser said.

It's all about expectation and execution.

"Martinsville was definitely the kind of finish we needed," Reiser continued. "Our guys did a good job; Matt did a great job all day and we were able to hang on for a real good finish."

Kenseth and Company are 12th in the Chase, out of, yeah, 12 teams. Too bad. I had him ranked with Jeff Gordon as the two to beat in the Chase. Kenseth has just two top-10 finishes in the Chase -- the other four finishes are 26th or worse. I can't believe it, and I know Robbie can't either. But there is no quit in this bunch, not on a Robbie Reiser-led team.

"We've still got four more chances to get a win this season and that's what we'll be trying to do," he said. "Nothing's changed as far as our weekly routine. We're still trying to get the best finish we can each week at the track, but the fact that we're out of the championship hunt and we really don't have anything to lose, that does allow you to gamble a little bit with pit strategy and fuel mileage and some things that maybe you wouldn't have done before."

That is a plus with the Chase -- once you're out of it, you can really go for it. And nobody likes winning races more that Reiser and his bunch. This team is old school, and old school is cool.

"We're bringing our most consistent piece to Atlanta this weekend," Reiser said. "We've used this car more than any other the past two years and it's done real well. The last time out it was wrecked at Kansas, but not too bad. It was probably a top-five to top-10 car before the wreck."

There are a million other stories out there this week. OK, not a million, but at least 43, right? There are plenty of teams to root for in the closing weeks. And while you can still cheer for your favorite driver, here are a few guys that could use your support, too.

Only in NASCAR would you find people trying to hype a battle for 13th. Who cares? Well, as it looks right now, I can think of four guys.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Casey Mears would all like that 13th spot, and any one of them could grab it. But what these guys would really like is a win. Earnhardt and Newman haven't won this year. Biffle and Mears have just one win each. At this point in the season, close really doesn't count for much, the driver wants the win, the team wants the win, the sponsor wants the win, and the fans want their guy to win.

And speaking of winning, how about some of the other guys that have not won this year. In addition to Earnhardt and Newman, they include Kasey Kahne, who is 20th in points with just one -- that's ONE -- top-five finish. That's amazing. Mark Martin has started 11 fewer races than Kahne, 21 to 32, and Martin has five top-fives, but no wins. If you see them go by on Sunday, cheer them on for a few laps. It couldn't hurt.

Dale Jarrett is on the winless list, too. What a season for Jarrett. Twenty-one starts, 41st in points and his best finish is 22nd, at Daytona, in February. That's a long time ago. This certainly is not the way Jarrett fans wanted to see the former champion go out. Hey, he's got four more races this year and a few in the spring. If you're heading to the track over the next four weeks, give DJ the thumbs-up; a little extra encouragement is a good thing.

Ricky Rudd is a guy who has had a disappointing year. He is 33rd in points, just one top-10, got hurt, missed some races and now heads to Atlanta where he admits, the two just can't seem to get along.

"Atlanta's always been a tough track for me," Rudd said. "I won there about 20 years ago, but it's just one of those tracks that I haven't had much luck at. We're going to Atlanta this weekend with a brand-new car. From my understanding it's a car that is similar to the one David [Gilliland] ran the other weekend at Charlotte, which turned out to be a pretty good car. We'll see what happens this weekend but it's encouraging to see that the guys at the shop are trying out some new things they've learned throughout the season and putting it together in our car for this weekend."

No quit here, either.

Rudd is accurate with his racing history. His only win in Atlanta did come 20 years ago. He won in the spring of 1987. It was the fourth race of the season. Do you know who finished second? Benny Parsons! By less than half a second (.41). Man, I'll bet BP was fired-up! I can hear him telling the story now.

Jeff Burton is another guy that could use a little extra support from the stands. He is ninth in points and has not had much luck in the Chase. But Jeff Burton does have one thing going for him, the date. Doing my weekly research it looks to me that in the modern era (1972-present), the Nextel Cup Series has raced on Oct. 28 just one time. It was at Phoenix in 2001. The winner that day was Jeff Burton. And as long as we're on the topic, 45 years ago this Sunday, Oct. 28, 1962, the NASCAR "Nextel Cup" Series ran the season finale. They were in Atlanta. It was the 53rd race of the year. The winner was Rex White. He started fifth, in car No. 4, and led three laps.

Less than half of the 44-car starting field finished that day. Joe Weatherly came home second and Marvin Panch was third. They were the only three cars on the lead lap. Richard Petty was fourth. White won by 12 seconds. Fireball Roberts led 144 laps but finished five laps down.

It was a star-studded race. In the field were Lorenzen, Buck and Buddy Baker, Pearson, Langley, Ralph Earnhardt, Tiny Lund, Cale Yarborough, Junior Johnson, 1961 series champion Ned Jarrett and many, many more.

Weatherly won the championship in 1962, The King was second in points and Ned was third. No one ran all 53 races that year but those three guys were the only drivers that competed in 52 of the 53. How did they ever do that?

What a season 1962 must have been. And it all ended on Oct. 28 in Atlanta.

At the end of the year there is so much to watch for and so many guys to root for, in addition to your favorite driver. I have always tried to enjoy the final few races of the season as much as possible, tell as many stories as time allows, get as many guys on the air as we could. Why? In just four weeks the racing hibernation begins. Got to stock up while we can, right? And besides, 45 years from now, someone might be writing about the great race they had in Atlanta on Oct. 28, 2007.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.