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*Who ... gets my shout-out of the race?* This week I salute Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who brought home a sixth-place finish at Texas and moved up one spot to third in the standings. Junior was not only battling strep throat, joint aches, nausea and heartburn during the race, but also had to deal with the effects of carbon monoxide after hitting the wall on lap 166, knocking out the crush panels and allowing the noxious gas to seep into the car.

Speculation on what changes NASCAR Chairman Brian France and his NASCAR "braintrust" will decide to make in the Chase to the Nextel Cup for the coming year gained momentum this past week when France spoke publicly about possible modifications to the championship format. Supposedly, any such modifications will be put off until the offseason, with an official announcement of any changes to come sometime in January 2007. Well, I have my own recommendation to give to Brian France; leave the Chase alone! Despite thoughts to the contrary, the way NASCAR has chosen to decide the championship is a system that simply isn't broken.

Sunday's Dickies 500 blew through the 2006 Chase standings like a Texas tornado; when the dust settled, no position in the Top 10 went unchanged. Who saw their title bid blown off course, and who was left standing after weathering the storm? Read this week's Who's Hot/Who's Not in the Chase to find out.

By now, you probably know that I'm into the history of racing, big time. I love the stories and the idiosyncrasies that pepper the years and only make the whole thing better. And so I worry that as time marches on, people will forget the Terry Labontes, the Rusty Wallaces and Ricky Rudds and Dale Jarretts. I worry that even the names of Petty and Earnhardt will be dusted off only by nostalgics like me.

*0.272* Tony Stewart's margin of victory over Jimmie Johnson at Texas. (in seconds) *2* Career Cup Championships for The Iceman, Terry Labonte, who retired on Sunday. (1984 and 1996)

Jimmie Johnson has no business leading the Nextel Cup point standings. None at all.

*To the Point*: Late race wrecks. Pit road penalties. A fourth point leader in eight playoff races. Yeah, just another typical week in this year's Chase for the championship. And through it all, it's the defending champ with no chance of repeating that keeps stealing the spotlight.

This week's results in the Top 35 did everything they could to deliver those fans as much excitement as possible, with a final results sheet that looked almost as jumbled as the Chase itself. With the action heating up as the season winds down, who is taking advantage of some late season momentum to surge into a "locked in" spot in owner points? Read this week's edition of the Top 35 Report to find out.

*In A Nutshell:* The Busch Series title already squared away, Kevin Harvick is now attempting the challenge of figuring out how many different ways he can win a Busch Series race this season. This time, it was his fuel mileage that held up, as Harvick posted his ninth Busch Series victory of the season at Texas Motor Speedway.