Chasers have a lot on their plates as Talladega calls (cont'd)

TIER 2

Montoya

Stewart

Gordon

Juan Pablo Montoya (No Change)
As has become the norm so far in the 2009 Chase, Juan Pablo Montoya was beyond impressive at Martinsville. After his 3rd place finish last week, Montoya now has scored career best finishes at five of the six tracks so far in the Chase, pretty incredible. There is also a better than average chance he will be able to make it six out of seven this week at Talladega.

JPM has always been an underrated drafter. It's a skill that he picked up very early in his stock car career. Add that to the fact that the Earnhardt/Childress engine group is probably producing the most raw horsepower right now, as evidenced by JPM winning the pole at Talladega in the spring, and you have a pretty solid combination for this weekend.

On a side note, the reason Earnhardt/Childress outfit is putting out the most power right now? Ritchie Gilmore is back doing what he loves by overseeing engines and not having the burden of overseeing the entire organization. The result has this group back on top in the restrictor plate game, right where they were a few years ago. All of this means that JPM will be fast this weekend and at Talladega, speed and being in the right place at the right time are really all that matter.

Tony Stewart (No Change)
Martinsville was just plain frustrating for Tony Stewart. I spent some time with him this week and he made the point that it just seemed like they could never seem to get up front and really run with the leaders. I'm willing to bet that will not be the case this weekend at Talladega.

At Daytona in July, Stewart was dominant. But Daytona and Talladega are totally different. Granted, even tough they are both plate races Daytona is all about the handling and Talladega is all about the speed, Stewart will have plenty of speed this weekend. But like everybody else, Stewart has mixed results over the last few races at Talladega. In his last six 'Dega races, he has just two top-10 finishes but one of those was a win in this race last year.

Jeff Gordon (No Change)
For Jeff Gordon, Martinsville had to be somewhat of a disappointment. Despite his teammate's success there, Martinsville might have been one of the few chances for Gordon to gain ground on Johnson, since Gordon is so good there. But instead it turned out like most other weeks, with Gordon (and most everybody else in the field for that matter) losing points.

Talladega might be another opportunity for Gordon to get some points back. No doubt Gordon has a better career record at Talladega than Johnson but again, Gordon is Exhibit C to prove just how hit and miss Talladega can be. Just like Stewart, in his last six Talladega races, Gordon has just two top-10 finishes, but oddly enough both of those top tens were wins. Talladega is probably one of two real opportunities left for Gordon to outrun his teammate Johnson. This race and Texas are his best chances; Phoenix and Homestead likely will be tracks where Johnson will have the edge. (Continued)