FanHouse 3M Performance 400

There are just three races left on the road to the Chase for the Nextel Cup and the Chase picture is starting to come into focus--and NASCAR's most popular driver isn't in it.

Standings following the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway:

7. -1 Jeff Burton
8. -- Kyle Busch
9. -- Clint Bowyer
10. -- Kevin Harvick
11. -- Martin Truex Jr.
12. -- Kurt Busch

13. +1 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
14. -1 Ryan Newman
15. -- Greg Biffle
16. -- Casey Mears
17. -- Jamie McMurray

Biggest Winners
Race winner Kurt Busch. I'm going to hate being right about him pushing a DEI driver out. Jimmie Johnson also pulled himself back up to 6th, improving his seed position.

Biggest Loser
Dale Earnhardt Jr. His chase hopes started to slip away last week and this week he completely lost his footing, gaining a spot but increasing the gap.

The outlook is looking more bleak for Junior and Ryan Newman, but they're not mathematically locked out. Yet. With only two drivers are locked into the Chase at this point, anything can happen. But it won't take just anything, it's got to be something big and tragic. Something like three consecutive DNFs for one of the others in the top 12. Now, where did I put those voodoo dolls cars ... ?

After suffering through two straight days of rain at Michigan, it wouldn't have surprised anybody to see an empty grandstand at Michigan International Speedway on Tuesday.

I, after all, wasn't expecting much of a crowd at MIS after seeing no less than three RV's emblazoned with NASCAR logos heading south through Indianapolis on I-69, the same interstate that runs near MIS.

People needed to get back to work and most employers don't give a hoot if the race was postponed or not.

Instead, a lot of folks seemed to call in sick and show up in Brooklyn, Mich. for the race. While the grandstands weren't close to being full, the crowd on hand was larger than many expectations.

Even race winner Kurt Busch was "astonished" at the size of the crowd:

"I was completely astonished. Some of them might not have a job tomorrow morning [...]," said Busch. "That just shows the heart that NASCAR fans have. To seem them here at the track was incredible and the fans definitely got their monies worth."

You can bet a lot of the RV fans that are regular NASCAR travelers, though, weren't still in attendance Sunday for a very good reason. Bristol Motor Speedway opened their campgrounds this week and to get a spot, those folks needed to be there.

Rough life that would be, huh?

Kurt Busch found victory lane for the second time in three races in the special Tuesday version of the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The race, originally scheduled for Sunday, suffered through two straight complete washout days and a 45-minute fog delay Tuesday.

Martin Truex Jr. ran second while Jimmie Johnson came home third.

Series point leader Jeff Gordon faded late after not taking tires on a late pit stop, leaving the No. 24 loose. He slid into a charging Matt Kenseth and looped the car on the frontstretch before getting stuck in the mud -- finishing 27th, one lap down.

Busch helped to solidify his entry into this year's Chase for the Nextel Cup with the victory. He still sits 12th in the standings -- the cutoff point -- but has increased his lead to 163 points over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 13th with just 3 races until the cutoff at Richmond.

This rain is for the birds!

Not only was the race postponed again, but so was DEI testing at Iowa Speedway tomorrow and Wednesday. Surely, that isn't a big deal to most, but for the past week I've been listening to my 10-year-old my niece visiting from my home state talking about how she finally gets to meet her aunt's favorite driver on Tuesday after she's back from her Socal vacation.

Now Dale Earnhardt Jr., et. al. are stuck in Michigan and next week when they finally do make it to Iowa, my niece will be in school and unable to attend. Total bummer.

Total bummer for the fans in Michigan, too, who are floating away or, gasp, had to skip town already to get back to work without even getting to see the race. How's that for an anti-climatic race weekend?

And what if they don't get it in at all this week? Is it time for NASCAR to start scheduling snow rain days?

Belated Thanks
Huge thanks to Geoffrey Miller for holding down the NASCAR Fanhouse while I was riding Space Mountain at Disneyland, California Screamin' and Soarin' at California Adventure, hiking off the beaten path in Griffith Park, lounging at Zuma Beach, walking the boardwalk and collecting sea shells in Redondo Beach and doing other Hollywood touristy things with the family. It was nice not to have to think about the Fanhouse for a bit.

Meanwhile, we could use a little rain here in Southern California. How 'bout it, Ma Nature?

We've gotten to that point again in the NASCAR season.

Some people just need an extended weekend -- so the rain and weather in Michigan is obliging.

Sunday's 3M Performance 400 was postponed to Monday, and things aren't looking good for that option either, according to the National Weather Service.

As the graphic shows, (yeah, just call me Sunny Clouds, your FanHouse weather expert), Michigan International Speedway is expecting a 70% chance of rain Monday. Unfortunately, the track isn't going to be dry before that point either because torrential rains will continue to fall in the overnight hours.

Here's a great shot to make that extended weekend worth it.

Dale Jarrett hasn't had the best of years -- by far.

That, though, doesn't mean the Cup Champ is going to step out of the driver seat of the No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota before his contract is up at the end of 2008.

"I'm very fortunate to have a sponsor that's very committed to our program, and I'm fortunate as a driver that they built their marketing program around me, and so that's very good," he said. "Do they want to do better? Sure. We all do. They're no different than anyone else, but never has there been anything said about making a change or doing anything different."

UPS really should be given a pat on the back for their support of Jarrett. Can the man still wheel a race car? Definitely. Can he make hilarious commercials? He can act in them, I suppose.

And they realize that Toyota will make some nice strides in 2008 with the Car of Tomorrow.

Rudd One and Done

As for Jarrett's old car and teammate, Ricky Rudd has deciding to hang it up again next year.

Though contemplating full retirement, Rudd hasn't taken his name away from anything, other than saying he won't be back at Yates and that he is tired of the daily grind.

Isn't that we he left the sport for a year ago?

I picked a good week to step away from the internet for a family vacation. All-in-all, I didn't miss too much in the way of NASCAR news.

There were your standard non-surprises:

• Kyle Busch signed with Joe Gibbs Racing.
• Richard Childress Racing resigned with Chevrolet.
• TGOM pulled ahead in the Blaniac Challenge when Dave Blaney found himself outside the top 35 yet again.

And for the most part things didn't change too much:

• Juan Pablo Montoya is still wrecking 'em.
• Buschwhackers are still dominating.
• Teresa Earnhardt is still a ridiculously spiteful b*tch who has drivers tripping over themselves to drive her #8 car--ousted Furniture Row driver Kenny Wallace being the latest to throw his name in the hat.

Jeff Gordon's No. 24 team welcomed back an old friend Friday at Michigan. And that old friend put the Hendrick Motorsports entry on the pole for Sunday's 3M Performance 400.

Crew chief Steve Letarte returned to normal duty in the garage area at Michigan after completing a six-week suspension for infractions on the road course at Sonoma.

Meanwhile, there was a bit of redemption for Gordon, who went out last among the 48 cars making qualifying runs and ran 189.026 mph in his No. 24 Chevrolet to win his sixth pole of the year. He's also started first three times when qualifying was rained out.

Gordon was leading with two laps to go last week when he ran off the course in Turn 1 and handed the lead to eventual winner Tony Stewart.

Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus also returned to the No. 48 entry after serving the same penalty.

For Gordon, the pole was career number 62 and his fifth at MIS.