FanHouse Dale Earnhardt Jr

Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona will mark the official midway point of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Naturally, it's a great time to review what we've seen so far from the Cup boys, their teams, the series and the tracks. First, we'll start with the not-so-hot performers:

Motorsports FanHouse Grade: F

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - It's been easy to see why the season for driver No. 88 has earned a failing grade. He's been slowly -- very slowly -- improving of late, but still has no chance for the Chase in 2009 and has one track left with a great chance to win at -- Daytona.

It's that time of year again. Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway officially kicks off the "Race to the Chase," the 10-race stretch for a shot at the championship.

While there have been several surprises in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this year, one of the biggest shocks as we close in on the Chase for the Sprint Cup is the absence of a clear-cut favorite for the championship. Last year's dominant teams at this time of the season were the 99 and 18, and the 24 and 48 in 2007, but we really don't have one in 2009, which bodes well for the sport.

Sure, he didn't get the race win and he certainly didn't challenge for it. The No. 88 didn't finish in the Top-10 and it never led a lap.

But was Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway a rousing improvement for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s, uh, lackluster season? Can we really say a 12th-place finish is a good thing for a Hendrick Motorsports driver?

Well, in this situation, your darn right we can -- even though driver No. 88 may not exactly agree.

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- It wasn't Junior but his junior, Brad Keselowski, who seemingly came out of no where to survive a wreck-filled, spectacular last-lap crash and win his first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

Keselowski, who drives full time for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the triple-A Nationwide Series, was behind Carl Edwards about 100 yards from the checkered flag. As Edwards tried to block Keselowski's final push to win, the cars collided, launching Edwards' Ford airborne, which flipped wildly in the air. His car bounced off the hood of Ryan Newman's car and then rolled, roof up, hard into the catch fence along the front grandstand.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s performance -- or lack thereof -- in 2009 has become a contentious debate, last weekend's Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway lacked the pizazz we're used to at Bristol and a few drivers have struggled to put forth results that'll leave you scratching your head.

What, you ask yourself, does FanHouse's Holly Cain and Geoffrey Miller have to say on these issues?

Find out as FH's Wheel2Wheel takes a look at NASCAR's current stories and issues. Read on to see what we've got to say, and when you're done, tell us exactly how we're wrong. It'll be more fun than sneaking your family sedan on to Daytona's high banks for a late night joyride.

Well, almost.

During one of only four off-weeks all season, it's a good time to breathe and check out the early-season statistics. It's way to early to come to any conclusions, but it's been an interesting few weeks of haves and have-nots.

Here's a look at who's getting the thumbs-up or thumbs-down as we prepare for one of the best shows NASCAR has to offer -- 500 laps at the half-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway next Sunday afternoon.

FanHouse is posting the top five current athletes for America's top 25 cities with the following criteria: 1) Who would a Charlotte sports fan say is his/her favorite athlete? 2) Would the player's name (or face) be familiar to locals who don't follow sports?

Find your city's top five: ATL | BOS | CHA | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DC | DEN | DET | HOU | IND | LA | MIA | MIL | MIN | NO | NY | SF | PHI | PHO | PIT | SD | SEA | STL

Charlotte is a professional sports city in a college sports state. Ask the locals who their favorite teams are and "UNC" and "Duke" will fall out of more mouths than anything. Local sports are about the Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Bobcats and NASCAR ... which the Queen City is the capital.

5. Emeka Okafor: Okafor was/is the face of the young Bobcats franchise. He was their first pick ever and the best player on a team that is extremely wet behind the ears.

4. Steve Smith: One of the most exciting players in the NFL. He's fast, tough, personable and filled with character. He also held his own in those endzone celebration battles of a few years ago.
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Even though his team doesn't look to appealing this season, NASCAR owner Ray Evernham is still trying to get in on some of this free agent action.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he was leaving DEI, Evernham expressed his interest even though he knew it was a long shot:

"It's like trying to get a date with Jennifer Aniston -- if you see her, you've got to at least ask."

Now that Kyle Busch is available, Evernham is once again raising his hand:

"Quite honestly, I said [to Kyle], 'At least talk to us before you make a decision.' I did let it be known that I want to talk to him. All we can do is lay out the program compared to what else is available for him and see what he thinks of us. His driving ability is just unbelievable. I've worked with other drivers through that [age] period, and I'd like to have another shot to do it again."

While he's anxious to talk, Evernham isn't too keen on the evolution of silly season itself and how it's become a free-for-all:

"There will have to be more controls over who and when you can talk to the crew members and the drivers. If I have a contract with you, and you have two or three more years on your contract and you go and tell me that you've signed with somebody else when your contract is done, you've basically killed my program.

"So sooner or later, there'll be a lawsuit over something like that, and that'll start to change it."

Why is he so bitter?

Oh right ... Elliott Sadler became unhappy when I wasn't looking.

Former Cup champion Jeff Gordon had more than 10 laps to move his teammate out of the way for the win in Martinsville Sunday but couldn't get the job done.

Is Jimmie Johnson that good? Or did Gordon go soft on him?

The announcers intimate that Gordon took it easy on Johnson because he's his Hendrick Motorsports teammate--not to mention Gordon is also an owner in the #48 team.

Gordon's post-race tears quotes imply that if it had been anyone but a teammate out front that he would have put the driver in the wall and if any other driver besides Gordon had been in 2nd, he'd have also taken Johnson out.

But what was really going through Gordon's mind those last few laps were Talladega flashbacks:

"We're out here to win a championship and by wrecking him or myself or both of us trying to go for that win which Rick Hendrick has seen before and I've heard about those Monday morning meetings and I don't want to be a part of that."

Fair enough. But does anyone really believe that Gordon didn't do everything he could to win?

They're not the cream of the crop, but they have solid footing in the Top 35 heading to Martinsville. They don't have to worry about qualifying, but they need to make adjustments if they want to secure their spot in the Chase. Here are your teams in the middle of the road:

Chip Ganassi / Felix Sabates: Two teams solidly in the Top 35--the #40 in 11th and the #42 in 19th. Their third team, the #41 isn't faring quite as well in 29th, but they're inside for at least one more week.

The CGRFS cars have gained an average of 3.3 positions from the end of last season.

While the teams cars are on the rise, so is one of the team's stars. Juan Pablo Montoya's entry into NASCAR is one of the most talked about stories in all of auto racing--there's the F1 angle, the international angle, the diversity angle and the he'll push anyone and anything out of his way to win angle ...

Ganassi is also off to a good start in the Indy Racing League, which kicked off Saturday and saw the third one-two finish for Ganassi drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon.