Four races are history and six remain to determine the 2009 Champion.  The top three in the Chase are the three I predicted would be the front runners all the way to Homestead, and although it is looking more and more like that could  be the case, anything can happen to change it.

Proof in point are Denny Hamlin's wreck and Tony Stewart's mishaps.  While Smoke was able to rebound from his  pit road speeding penalty, Denny crashed into the pit road retaining wall and was, for all intents and purposes, done for the day.  Tony had some things go the right way for him, and Smoke finished in the

The standings did shake up a bit, with Jimmie taking over the top spot from his teammate, Mark Martin.  Mark is now 12 points behind Jimmie with Juan hanging out in 3rd, 58 points back.

Jeff finished second in the race, for the second straight race, in fact, and sits fourth in the standings.  Yes, fourth.  Juan Pablo Montoya had his 4th straight top five finish, the only one of the Chasers to do so, yet he sits third.  And what about Mark?  Yes, he just lost the points lead and that's with an average 3.5 finish so far in the  Chase.

What exactly do these drivers have to do to actually move up on "The Legend of the Fall" Jimmie Johnson?  The simple answer is, there is likely nothing they can do.

Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson seem like a well oiled machine.   I know it's a cliche, but it fits.  Rick Hendrick was a genius when he matched the two up.  Looking at them reminds one of the dominance of Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon of the 90's.  Back then, the two seemed unbeatable and indestructable.  Is it a coincidence that they both came from the HMS stables?  I don't think so.  Even Jeff Gordon, who is a teammate and part owner of the 48 car, says the 48 group is in a class all their own:

"They're in another category.  We've got to find out what we're missing. The only thing I felt bad about was that we finished second, and we're in a second-class category. We're good, but we're not good enough. We're doing everything we can to be good enough, but it's just not there. We've got to search and find something. We've got to be better than that."

Well, Jeff, it might be the attitude.  Jimmie has three championships, in a row, that is, yet his attitude isn't that of a past champion who just has to show up and he'll win again.  Maybe part of it is the calming influence of Mark Martin, but I think it's just the personality Jimmie himself possesses.  Duriing the red flag near the very end of the race, Jimmie was so quiet, Chad thought he was sleeping.  That isn't the first time.  Chad asked Jimmie if he was taking a nap, and Jimmie responded that he was "thinking".  Some drivers joke with their crew, others brainstorm.  Jimmie thinks.  Chad asked him if he was thinking about the trophy, but Jimmie said he hadn't gotten that far yet.  Speaking about the restarts, Jimmie said,

"I was doing it wrong, and finally on that last restart, I got it right. We had such a good car that, if somebody did pass me, I could get back by them in a couple of laps."

Of course, Jimmie did win the race, his second of the Chase and became the first driver to do so.

So back to the question, what can the other drivers trying to hunt him down do?  They keep on doing what they are doing, and hope the 48 team makes a mistake.  Somehow, that doesn't seem likely, because even the mistakes the 48 team does make seem fixable, while other teams errors of the same kind are insurmountable.

Am I handing Jimmie that 4th Championship?  No, not yet.  All I'm saying is that I believe the 48 team has to make the mistake in order for one of the other top notch teams to be declared the winner.

Mark is doing everything exactly right.  So are Juan and Jeff.  Tony had a stumble on Sunday, but as he is fond of saying, his team never gives up.  They want this championship bad.  Kurt Busch, too, seems almost possessed in his desire to win, but he is struggling.  He seemed to be into the wall more than off it on Sunday, at one point that bounce off the wall resulted in him getting into both Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne.  Both got their cars fixed and came back out, but Kasey was pure victim in the wreck at the very end of the race, caused when Elliott Sadler got into the back of Dale Jr.

So, who's out? Who has no hope in hell of becoming the 2009 champion?  In my opinion, anyone behind Kurt Busch is out.  That means Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers are simpy racing for bragging rights.  Don't count them out of the individual races, any one of them can win a race, but their championship hopes are dead. 

And just because I can, I really want to bring attention to Kevin Harvick, Casey Mears, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr.  All of them are showing they are not giving up.  They have all improved since the Chase cut-off and that is an inspiring thing to see.  If they continue the efforts they and their teams are putting into their races, 2010 will be a comeback year for all of them. 

It's on to Charlotte, another track where Jimmie is known to dominate.  After that, we have Martinsville, another track where the 48 team wins constantly.  The crap shoot will be Talladega.  It's interesting timing to put it in the 7th race of the Chase, a brilliant move on NASCAR's part.  Talladega is truly the wild card, the race where the Chase ranking could be really shaken up, and with only three races after 'dega, we could honestly get right to Homestead before the 2009 Champion is crowned.