Chasers should accept what's past is prologue (cont'd)

In case you missed it ...

Date	Track	Time	TV
Sept. 14	Loudon	1 p.m.	ABC
Sept. 21	Dover	1 p.m.	ABC
Sept. 28	Kansas	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 5	Talladega	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 11	Charlotte	7 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 19	Martinsville	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 26	Atlanta	1 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 2	Texas	3 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 9	Phoenix	3 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 16	Homestead	3 p.m.	ABC

All times ET

• There has been a Jamie McMurray sighting! He finished fifth at Charlotte, his first top-five since winning at Daytona on July 7, 2007.

• Kurt Busch finished third, Kyle Busch finished fourth. Which was more surprising?

• Mark Martin's average finish is 13.0 in 21 races this year. It was 14.5 in 24 starts last year. ... Maybe it's not so much DEI's equipment.

• Moreover, DEI's Martin Truex Jr. has three top-five finishes, eight top-10s, 13 top-15s and 22 top-20s in 31 races. ... DEI is not that far off, folks.

• Reed Sorenson cracked the top 15 for the first time since June 29 at Loudon. Seems a lot longer ago ...

• Bobby Labonte's 17th-place finish was his worst at Charlotte since May 28, 2006 (17th). In 32 races at the track, he's finished outside the top 20 only six times (four via DNFs) and has an average finish of 12.8.

• Scott Riggs does not have a DNF in 29 starts. He averaged 5.5 in his first four seasons.

• That whole "Ford. Drive one." sponsorship isn't living up to its billing for David Gilliland. In those six races, it's been "Ford. Drive 28.1," with a best finish of 19th at Dover.

Moving on to Martinsville

Tired of reading about Jimmie Johnson? Well, you might want to skip this section:

• Jeff Gordon (7) and Johnson (4) have combined for more wins than the rest of the field at Martinsville.

• Johnson has won three of the past four races at Martinsville. In 13 starts he has 12 consecutive top-10 finishes, and he hasn't finished outside the top four since April 10, 2005.

• Johnson's average finish (6.0) is the all-time mark at Martinsville. Gordon is second (7.0).

• The points leader with five races remaining has failed to win the championship in each of the past two seasons. In 2006, Johnson was in seventh place, 146 points behind leader Jeff Burton. Last year, Johnson was in second, 68 points behind Gordon. ... This year, call it getting a jump on the competition.

In Memoriam

T. Taylor Warren, a NASCAR contract photographer since 1952, captured some of the most notable moments in the sport's history. Known to friends as "T," he got into photography at the age of 10, continued shooting in high school and honed his craft at the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology.

Warren was the first photographer to win the International Motorsports Hall of Fame's Henry T. McLemore Award for achievement in journalism, an honor presented to him in 2006. He passed away Oct. 8.

Warren captured the final moments of the 1959 Daytona 500 as Joe Weatherly, Lee Petty (42) and Johnny Beauchamp (73) raced to the finish line. With Weatherly two laps down, Petty beat Beauchamp for the historic win, but Beauchamp was initially awarded the victory.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.