We'll see how it works out.

First car to the finish is what wins races, and that doesn't mean the fastest car. Tortoise and the hare, my friend.

And what did Martin have to say about it?

"The Wood Brothers, to see there stuff out front like it was in the '70s, that means something to me," Martin said. "That means more to me than a championship and is probably something only the gray haired fans can appreciate."

Who else would just roll with it like that? That's why Martin is the nicest guy in the garage area. But nice guys don't always win championships.

Even if he couldn't get past Kenseth, a second place finish after winning Daytona would have been a nice start to the year. Instead he ended up 17th. Doh. Sucks to be you.

It's fun to see a veteran having the time of his life and setting an amazing example of sportsmanship. When NASCAR neglected to throw the yellow at the end of the Daytona 500 and denied Martin his first Daytona victory, Martin simply said "Nobody wants to see a grown man cry. That's what it is, and I'm not going to cry about it."

As a lifetime Mark Martin fan it should come as no surprise that I was bummed about Sunday's finish. There was much screaming and yelling as the cars started spinning, passing and flipping, but what's done is done. A last lap wreck while Martin was leading, but NASCAR didn't throw the caution which would have given Martin his first ever Daytona 500 win, and Kevin Harvick comes out of nowhere to beat Martin to the line by a few feet.

Doh.

My only beef is that I wish NASCAR would be consistent. The practice of freezing the field when the caution comes out was for driver safety. No racing to the line so we can get the emergency crews out there quicker. It's a good safety measure. But it only makes sense if you enforce it consistently. When cars wreck and flip over, that's pretty much a guaranteed caution. Safety is on the line. But NASCAR didn't do it. They wanted a green flag finish, which was exciting and fun. But it completely contradicts their supposed commitment to safety.

If that was any lap but the last one it would have been a caution. Last lap wrecks have killed drivers, which is something we've seen before at Daytona, but apparently that's not important anymore.

I'm bummed for Martin, but he's a swell guy and took it like a veteran. But NASCAR's actions prove that they don't really care about safety. What they really care about is an exciting finish that boosts ratings and business. That really shouldn't come as any surprise, but there it is.

And it would have been so fun to see Roush kick himself for not finding some way to keep Martin.

Martin, a self-described pessimist who has come agonizingly close to winning championships in the past, said he fully expects to wreck at Talladega Superspeedway next weekend.

But if that doesn't happen, he says, who knows?

"So far, I haven't had a disaster -- so let's go see what happens," Martin said.

What a race indeed. Jeff Burton's looking pretty good about now.

"This Chase thing needs a lot of work, and it's not a matter of how many cars make the Chase,'' Stewart said. "It goes a lot deeper than that.

"The guys that have an opportunity to win the Chase are guys that just don't have bad luck. That's all there is to it. It's not about anything else. Kasey can go out and win the rest of the races and not win the championship still.''

Sorry, Stewart, but it's not just about avoiding bad luck. It's about being consistently good. Having bad luck and screwing up is not being good and that's not good enough for a championship. Finish 38th a few times in a year and you're just not going to have much of a shot at a championship. It was true before the Chase and it's true now. Why should we handicap it to help out those who have bad luck? Racing is racing. Kahne's 16th place finish last week certainly didn't help him. You have to be consistently good to win, and Kahne--like Stewart--just doesn't have it this year.

Frankly, Kahne made it into the Chase and that should be reason enough to celebrate.

And interesting shuffle in the championship standings. Not a good day for a lot of people. Except maybe the Jeffs. Jeff Burton is leading the championship standings for the first time since 1999 and Jeff Gordon is sitting in second.

Last week I also said you can never count out Jimmie Johnson, but with his 39th place finish maybe you can count him out. Kyle Busch also had a bad day and could be on the outs. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon, however, had great days, finishing 4th and 3rd respectively, and moving up to 2nd and 4th in the standings. Jeff Burton came home with 7th, but more importantly managed to get a decent finish--not in the top five like he ran much of the day, but at least a top 10. Kenseth, Martin, Earnhardt and Kahne (10th, 11th, 13th and 16th), however, need to have stronger finishes.

11th is OK, but it may not be enough. But you have to give Mark Martin props for the move he made on Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman towards the end of the race, going three wide to pass both of them. Stealing two positions like that in the closing laps of a race is what you have to do. 11th may not be enough, but it's certainly better than 13th.

It doesn't have to be the driver blogging. How about a crew member? How about a truck driver? How about an insider somewhere? There has to be an enterprising person out there who realizes the attention a blog could draw. It seems like a no-brainer, especially for the teams at the bottom, those struggling to get attention and languishing outside the top 35.

Getting attention seems to be the only way some of these teams are still out there. Like Kyle Petty. It's not like he's going to win a race. But he still manages to get the sponsors and keep on doing what he's doing. It's not because he's successful on the track. It's because he can get the sponsors the attention they pay for. I think a blog could deliver the same thing.

Don't give me a journalist blogging. Don't give me another fan blogging (like myself). Give me a voice in the garage. Someone biased. Someone with something on the line. Someone who know's what's going on under the hood. Someone the networks will likely never cover. That's a blog I'd read.

Wow. With a scenario where one guys is out and eight guys are in I had no idea that of all the guys Tony Stewart would be out. I was thinking maybe Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton--but not Stewart. I have to say with a bit of biased glee that I'm pleased. I'm hardly a Tony Stewart fan. Stewart is amazing, but I'm fine with not having him in the mix for the championship.

The end of tonight's race was amazing with all of the guys who I thought might be in danger running well, and all the guys I thought would be safe were having problems. Stewart was back in the pack, Denny Hamlin had engine problems, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had brake problems. Any one of them could have been out.

So who's going to win the championship this year? Let's take a look at the contenders:

Matt Kenseth - He's got the momentum, he's go the car, he's got the team, he's got the skills. Could it be championship #3 for Jack Roush? Quite possibly.

Jimmie Johnson - Despite his pathetic performance tonight, you can't count Johnson out. Every year he's been in contention. It's only a matter of time before he wins one. With his big wins this year (Daytona, Talladega, Indy) it'd be a nice year to bring it home. However, he also hasn't won it the past several years. After leading all year he's given up the top spot to Kenseth. Is it choke time already?

Kevin Harvick - This guy is on fire. He seems to be coming out of nowhere, just like he did to win the race tonight. Paired with his momentum from the Busch series I think Harvick will be a force.

Kyle Busch - Impressive run for this youngster, but I don't think he has what it takes. Much like Edwards last year, Busch just isn't as consistent. He's done well enough to be fourth in the standings, but I don't think he runs up front enough like Johnson and Kenseth to make it.

Denny Hamlin - Even more impressive run for this guy. Again, I don't think he has the experience.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Making the chase was a win for him. He's been so much better this year, but I think he's lacking the consistency. He may be in every other TV commercial, but he doesn't run up front enough.

Mark Martin - Ah, my favorite driver, the old-timer veteran in the Chase, again. As much as I love Martin, and as much as I love his four-time runner-up status, I'm not sure he's good enough this year. He isn't running well enough. Where are the wins? He'll come close, like he always does, but unless he really turns it up I think he'll end his Nextel career without a championship.

Jeff Burton - It is so good to see him running better. It's been a while and it's nice to see him back. Again, he's lacking the consistent, good finishes and he's lacking the win. I hope to see Burton get a win before the year is out, but he needs to work on closing before he can think about a championship.

Jeff Gordon - Like Earnhardt, getting back in the Chase this year is a win. I sound like a broken record, but Gordon isn't consistent enough this year. Not sure what happened, he used to be unstoppable.

Kasey Kahne - After the start of this year it would have been a shame to not see Kahne in the Chase. Well he made it, barely. If he can manage to be as consistent as he was in the beginning of the year, I think he'll do well. Maybe not win it, but he could end up in the top 5.

So in case you can't tell, I think consistency's the key. You've got to run well every single race. You've got to run up front and finish up front. My pick for the championship? That's never easy. I'm going to say Kenseth, which means I'll probably be wrong.

And I'm going to go out on a limb and say Tony Stewart comes back on a tear. You'll have people complaining that the Chase format kept him out of the championship.

As the final laps closed a number of cars ran out of gas, including Biffle and Mark Martin. Biffle ran strong and up front all night but his car faded near the end of a long run and running out of gas was a nail in his coffin, leaving him with an 16th place finish. Biffle just can't seem to close the deal this year. Martin had a let down of a night with an incredibly strong car. A bad pit stop put him back in the pack and then he ran into the back of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and managed to squeeze his car through a closing gap. He had battled back to the top 5 and was fighting Mat Kenseth and Tony Stewart for second when he ran out of gas and had to settle for 11th.

Tony Stewart continues to show his dominance as he went from deadlast to first. He didn't hold the lead for long, but he had the patience and the muscle to do it and finished strong in second. Matt Kenseth was quiet all day and managed a third place finish, enough to push him past points leader and 7th place finisher Jimmie Johnson and into the points lead.

And look who rounded out the top 10: Jeff Gordon. Gordon was nowhere all night long, but he managed a strong finish. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., wasn't so lucky with a battered racecar and a 23rd place finish. Though they're sitting in 6th and 7th place in points, which must feel a whole lot better than last year.

Kyle Busch, who made headlines last week for getting a traffic violation, started on the front row but got shuffled back after speeding on pit road and then ran a little too hard with Casey Mears and spun out and hit the wall. Kyle showed that typical Busch attitude by running his flattened car into Mears during the red flag, and action that later cost him five laps and a trip to the NASCAR hauler for a little chat.

The team has only one motor and it has a short track manifold. Thanks to the fine, the team won't be running the next few races. Marty Smith suggests NASCAR should only fine points, since the cash fines don't hurt big teams like Roush or Hendrick, yet they cripple teams like Cope's.

Smith explores some interesting history, including the punishment Cope's lone motor has endured, while a Roush motor would have the valve springs replaced just in case. It's a difference of economy and scale, a difference of cash. Cope doesn't have any, as evidenced by the fact that a $50,000 fine seriously set them back.

With cash in that short of supply, I think Cope should explore blogging. Other racers have turned to eBay to sell sponsorship, I think it'd be interesting to develop a blog following for such a down on your luck, penny-pinching story. I'd follow it.