A lot at stake for those outside Chase

While the focus will be on the 12 drivers competing for the championship, beginning this weekend at New Hampshire, there's quite a number of things at stake for those outside the top 12. Consider:

# Dale Earnhardt Jr. He's almost in a Chase on his own. This has been a difficult year and could be the worst he's had in Cup. A Hendrick official told me last week at Richmond that Lance McGrew will remain as Earnhardt's crew chief the rest of the season. This is significant. Recall that when McGrew was first introduced, it was as interim crew chief. Also, recall that when Jeff Gordon failed to make the Chase in 2005, Hendrick switched Steve Letarte for Robbie Loomis at the beginning of the Chase to give Gordon and Letrate 10 races to work together before the next season. That Hendrick isn't going to be doing that with Earnhardt, suggests that McGrew is the man for Dale Jr. unless something happens. While Dale Jr. has had some decent runs of late, there's still the inconsistency. Plus, Richmond was baffling. At a track he has three wins, he was not competitive much of the night. What's at stake here is to get things fixed, to give Dale Jr. more time with McGrew and use the remaining 10 races to get ready for 2010 becuase Earnhardt and the organization can't afford another season like this.

# Kyle Busch. It's all about regaining his sanity. He's confused with why they can't make the car better, what more he can do. One of the knocks against Dale Jr. is how he has gotten too upset in the car at times and doens't give good feedback.  Dale Jr. is getting better at that, but Kyle is facing the same challenges. When things go wrong, he tends to shut down and not give feedback. So if crew chief Steve Addington doesn't get feedback, how is he expected to make the car better? The key for the next 10 races is work through the issues with the car and for Kyle not to be such a drama queen on the radio. Yes, it's tough to be driving a car that isn't running well and you're racing alongside guys that aren't the most trustworthy, but that's when a driver has to be at his best. That's when a driver has to do everything he can to help his crew chief so they can make the right decisions. Kyle's got talent. No one questions that. Now, let's see where he goes with his mental abilities.

# Richard Childress Racing. No RCR cars in the Chase. And this a year after three of them finished in the top six. There haven't been many times that an RCR car was even challenging for a win -- RCR cars have combined to lead 188 of the 7,336 laps run this season (2.6 percent). That was the issue with RCR last year, how it didn't have the speed to lead races and it led only 4.9 percent of all laps run last year. Thus, RCR has gotten worse in a category is was well behind others in. That's a reason _ although not the only one _ why RCR has not won a race this season and is winless in the last 31 races, dating back to last season. It's also why RCR recently had its second major change of the season. In the spring, Childress flip-flopped crews for Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears. Recently, Childress announced a reorganization among executives in their duties and moving Jeff Burton's crew chief, Scott Miller, into a role to help guide the teams. Miller won't be Burton's crew chief after this season, so it will be interesting to see if Childress moves in Burton's replacement before the end of the year to help them start to work together.

# Sam Hornish Jr. He is 26th in the points heading into this weekend's race at New Hampshire in his second full season of Cup after making the move from Indy cars. Penske Racing officials have high expectations for Hornish. They use Juan Pablo Montoya as a guide to where they want Hornish to be. Montoya, in his third full season, is in the Chase. Last year, Montoya finished 25th in the points. So, Penske officials are looking at that and thinking that Hornish could make the Chase next year. Hornish's success next year could be key to the team. Unless Dodge picks up another team _ and even if it did it likely will be a small team that isn't as strong as Penske _ the only Dodge team next year will be Penske. Thus, there won't be other teams to help gather information for Dodge that it can share among its teams. Penske will be on an island in that sense. Kurt Busch is a former champion and in the Chase, so you know what he can do, but what kind of help will he have next year? Hornish and rookie Brad Keselowski will be his teammates. While Keselowski won the Cup race at Talladega in the spring, he'll still have a lot to learn and rookies don't typically provide a ton of information for veterans. Hornish will be looked upon to step up his game to improve his performance and help Busch. One key in these final 10 races is if Hornish shows improvement at tracks each tiime he's there another time. For example, this weekend. Hornish has never qualified better than 20th at New Hampshire. Does he improve upon that this time? He finished 8th in the June rain-shortened race. Can he score another top 10? Those are things that will be watched closely by Penske officials during the Chase.

#  Ford. It's new motor is scheduled to make its debut at Charlotte in October in a car not in the Chase, think Jamie McMurray, David Ragan and/or Matt Kenseth. What is done here could help for next season. Of course, not everyone is going to automatically switch to the new motors next season because of the invenatory they have. Changing out would cost teams millions of dollars. Still, much can be gained during the Chase. Recall how Kurt Busch was running the new Dodge engine late in the season a year ago and look at how he's made the Chase this year. The engine played a key role in his team's surger. No matter how good a driver you are as a driver, if you are getting beat down the straightaway, there's only so much you can do. This is a time for Ford to see how its engine will do in race conditions and if any tweaking needs to be done to it before next season.

# David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose. These two out of the Michael Waltrip Racing shop (although Ambrose is technically JTG Racing) are 16th (Reutimann) and 17th (Ambrose) heading to New Hampshire. A few more better races and they would have been challenging for a Chase spot. These last 10 races can be used to strengthen both teams for next year so they can make a run at the Chase next year.

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