GM FastLane:Another Win, But Only Two Races In

[Bruce Nunnally]

Alba Colon

By Alba Colon

GM Racing Program Manager, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series

Chevrolet race cars won the first two races of the Chase for the Nextel Cup and we're happy with the way the start of this championship battle is going. While all of our teams in the Chase are strong — they had to be strong to get where they are now — people can't help but notice Richard Childress Racing. Their drivers won both of those first two races for Chevy and they are really riding their success wave.

Jeff Burton and Richard Childress

They had a really high note the last couple of weeks with (Kevin) Harvick last week and to finally get a win with Jeff Burton last weekend must be great for them; that team has improved so much and they have worked so hard to win with that car — it really is a great feeling.

It's still too early to tell what's going to happen. The top four drivers are only 18 points within each other so it's anybody's game. To ensure Chevy's success we have to step up our game. Our biggest worry is Matt Kenseth; he has been really good at these mile-and-a-half tracks. We're headed to Kansas and, like Dover, it's a track where he does really well. It's similar to Chicago and if you remember, he dominated the Chicago race. Fortunately Jeff Gordon was the other driver who had the edge there. He's also very successful at those types of tracks. So it's going to be an interesting weekend in Kansas — with Gordon second in points and Kenseth in third, we should see something out of both of those guys.

GM teams have not typically been strong in the past at mile-and-a-half tracks but Hendrick Motorsports seems to have put some emphasis on these lately and we expect to see them be strong for us. Also, RCR has been riding momentum for the last several weeks and that will probably continue.

Typically the team that wins the championship, like Tony Stewart last year, for example, usually makes it through all ten races without any major problems. That's why I feel for Kyle Busch. His chances for Chase success don't look very promising right now — he's had bad luck the last two races and the way the points system is done pretty much puts him out of contention. But miracles happen and he's a very talented young driver. Nothing is for sure. Like all the drivers say, we just move ahead to the next event and try our best.

http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives/2006/...er_win_but.html