Smack: Some rough Cup seasons could get rougher

1. We're halfway to the Chase, and right now Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick are all outside of the top 12. Do any of those drivers stand a chance of getting in?

David Caraviello: Well, if Richard Petty Motorsports can work some magic with the new Dodge engine, Kahne might be able to sneak in. But the rest of those guys? I'm not optimistic. Too many of them have spent too much time heading in the wrong direction.

Raygan Swan: I like Clint Bowyer for this question, even though he has had some bad luck since his strong start to the season. Then again, Kahne is gaining ground and has three top-10s now. But I fear Kevin Harvick is out.

Joe Menzer: Of the four you mentioned, I think Kahne has the best shot of sneaking in. The Richard Childress Racing guys seem lost on the intermediate tracks that are so important, particularly Harvick after the crew swap with Casey Mears. And don't even get me started on Dale Jr. I think we all know his hopes for the Chase were all but extinguished last weekend in Charlotte.

David Caraviello: The Bowyer thing stumps me. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago -- OK, maybe it was longer than that -- when we were talking about what a great job he was doing with his new team? And suddenly they've taken a tumble. That seemed rather unexpected. But then again, maybe that's indicative of what's happened to the entire Richard Childress Racing stable, which seems struggling to just get one car into the playoff. This after two consecutive years of getting three cars in.

Joe Menzer: Kahne is showing signs of life, just as he did at about this point last season. If Sunday -- er, excuse me, Monday's race -- had gone the distance, it looked like it probably was going to come down to him and Kyle Busch.

Can still make it

As the halfway point to the Chase approaches and four drivers are within 100 points of 12th, Bill Kimm and Jason Schoellen debate which driver can still make the Chase.

• Head2Head: Chasing 12th
• Weigh in: Your thoughts

Raygan Swan: Kahne was in a position last season to make the Chase and didn't get it done in Richmond. But at least he produces enough to be in contention coming down to the end.

Joe Menzer: Bowyer has become a bit of a mystery, yes. But as you said David, no one at RCR is lighting it up right now. Not even Jeff Burton.

Raygan Swan: Kim Burton lit it up in the Pit Crew Challenge. Just saying.

Joe Menzer: Hey, you don't have to tell me about Kim Burton lighting it up in the Pit Crew Challenge. I was there. I saw with my own eyes. And her husband has been the best of the RCR bunch, but right now that isn't saying much. They are so far off it isn't funny -- and Burton said that if they didn't get it straightened out in Charlotte, it was going to be a big red flag of concern. Because they thought they had maybe found something.

David Caraviello: I agree with Raygan on Kahne -- he never seems to get buried, he either makes the Chase or just misses it. I wonder how much that has to do with the limitations of his manufacturer. Of course, Kurt Busch is showing that's not as much of an obstacle this year as it might have been in seasons past.

Raygan Swan: Yeah, Kurt is having a great season and winning races. Kahne will win a race, too. But you wonder how much the merger has affected him. Does he miss having Ray Evernham's support? That guy is no where to be found these days.

David Caraviello: Joe, on the RCR situation, you have to wonder -- is this all the result of expanding to a fourth team? Have resources and personnel so been stretched that performance as a whole is suffering? It doesn't seem purely coincidental, given the way they ran across the board the last two years, and the way they're running now.

Eury Jr. out

After one win in 48 races together at HMS, team owner Rick Hendrick decided a change was needed on the No. 88 team so Tony Eury Jr. has been removed as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief.

• Complete story
• Audio: New crew chief for Jr.
• Harvick, Mears swap chiefs

Raygan Swan: I agree David, four teams could mean resources are spread too thin. Especially when the economy is as soft as it is.

Joe Menzer: Ray Evernham is off shining things in his new personal museum, which is very impressive. And helping prepare a different kind of "car" for a record land speed run with drag racer Doug Herbert behind the wheel. That's the kind of power Kahne needs, but isn't getting on a consistent basis in his No. 9 Dodge. As for four-car teams struggling, even the top organizations struggle to keep all four -- or for this year, at least, five in the case of Roush Fenway -- consistently competitive. But they've usually got at least a couple that are dynamite. RCR doesn't even have that.

David Caraviello: I mean, granted, Burton is hanging in there. And Bowyer is coming off a bad finish that dropped him four spots, making him look further from Chase contention than he probably is. But to see Kevin Harvick in 23rd place, one spot higher than Reed Sorenson, is sort of shocking.

Joe Menzer: The thing is, even with Burton, they aren't even threatening to win races right now. This after they hung their hat on reliability and consistency the last two years, when wins were scarce enough with three for the entire organization in each season. Maybe their struggles with the "new car" are the greater than others as far as making the kinds of improvements in performance that we've see, say, with Jeff Gordon's team at Hendrick.

Raygan Swan: Could the team changes at RCR really be having the big of an effect? Was it too much change too soon between Kevin's crew chief and Bowyer swapping teams with Mears?

Joe Menzer: The thing is, they were struggling before that and they've continued to struggle after. But I'd have to think that for Harvick, that swap was especially unsettling. He had been with crew chief Todd Berrier for years and they seemed to have a certain chemistry that now is lacking on that No. 29 team.

David Caraviello: But still, it could be a very interesting Chase, with maybe Mark Martin, one of (or both) David Reutimann and Juan Montoya, and the Stewart-Haas guys. Lot of unknowns there. New things to write about. I'm ready for September! (Continued)