Not quite time to crown Johnson the '09 champion (cont'd)

Ryan Newman (+1)

Making up 110 points for some might seem like a doable task. To make up 110 points for Newman and his team, though, might be a tough challenge. All Newman did last week at Dover was score his fifth consecutive top-10 finish, their consistency has been incredible. But sadly for the No. 39 team, the days of averaging an 8.3 finish in the Chase and winning a championship are gone. To make up 110 points, you have to posses the ability to win more than a race or two in the final eight of the season. I just don't see that happening for the No. 39 team. But like we pointed out last week, this team is still sneaky and could very well wind up in the top five when it is all over with at Homestead.

TIER FOUR

Greg Biffle (-1)

Dover was no doubt a disappointment for Biffle and his crew. You can't go to one of your best tracks, finish 13th (your first finish out of the top 10 at that track in four years) and expect to win a championship ... it's just not going to happen. Kansas though, might be Biffle's last shot to build some momentum. Biffle has finished first, second or third in four of his last five Kansas races. So the possibility still exists for this team, they must simply take advantage of race tracks where they run well.

Carl Edwards (-1)

See the above and then some. Where is the 2008 Carl Edwards? Yes the same one that made the daring wall-scraping-can-only-really-do-this-in-a-video-game move one year ago this week in trying to pass Jimmie Johnson for the win at Kansas on the last lap. Sadly, that team is nowhere to be found. The 2009 Carl Edwards is STRUGGLING. Just like his teammate Biffle, when Carl Edwards goes to Dover and cannot run in the top 10 and finishes 11th, you know it's not his year and guess what ... it's just not his year. The No. 99 team has now gone five consecutive races without a top-10, their longest top-10 drought of the season. They sure picked a bad time to have that happen.

Kasey Kahne (+1)

Dover was a strong race for the No. 9 team as expected and things may be a little brighter this week with Kansas on the horizon. The intermediate tracks have been a strong suit for the No. 9 team and Kahne throughout his career. Kahne finished third at Chicago and will be bringing that same car to Kansas. Still, there are too many distractions and too many points to make up for the team to be serious championship contenders. But if Kahne is going to make up some ground and get out of the Chase cellar, the next three races are his chance to do so.