Cross' Words: Texas

If you haven't heard, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are battling it out for the Nextel Cup with only two races remaining. And stop me if you have heard this: They are teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, and Gordon is listed as the car owner for Johnson, who is the series' defending champion. ... Yawn, if you must.

• Send Duane your thoughts
• Visit BDC's Community page

While 68 drivers have started a Cup race this year, 98 percent of them already are looking ahead to 2008. It's a two-man Chase, frankly, and that doesn't bode well for TV ratings.

But there's more to the final two stops -- Phoenix and Homestead -- than Jimmie vs. Jeff.

• The top 35 in owner points has a good battle going on. Kyle Petty, currently 34th, is only 23 points ahead of Dave Blaney, while Bill Elliott is 127 points out of 35th. Whomever locks into the top 35 is guaranteed a spot in the first five races of 2008.

• Meanwhile in the top 12, only 10 drivers will have a seat on stage at the year-end awards banquet in New York. Matt Kenseth is 10th, one point behind Kurt Busch. However, 11th- and 12th-place is a dead heat between Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., both 70 points behind Kenseth.

• And then there's the Junior Tracker, a very unscientific look at Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s final season with DEI. His eight DNFs have been well documented, mostly focusing on six engine failures. But lost in the smoke has been a very racy season for Driver 8.

In 26 finishes Junior has seven top-five, 12 top-10s and 19 top-15s. Only twice has he finished off the lead lap -- Dover (two laps down) and Daytona (-26). Take away those two races and his average finish is 9.7.

Forget all the Junior Nation-hatin'. Nix the put-downs of Teresa Earnhardt, who couldn't have resigned Dale even if she'd really tried. Put aside the venom for Hendrick Motorsports, which lured away the face of DEI. The guy has put together a rock-solid season, when he's been on the lead lap.

In the end it comes down to consistency and performance. Unfortunately for the No. 8 team, performance has outweighed consistency too many times this season. It's easy to see why Junior is giddy when the talk turns to 2008; HMS' four drivers have nine DNFs combined. (Continued)