2005 RACE TO THE CHASE:  WILL APRIL BE MOVING MONTH FOR JUNIOR?

Though he didn’t lead a single lap at the track he dominated last fall, DALE EARNHARDT JR. made a big move up at Bristol in The Race for The Chase, climbing nine spots in the standings with a fourth-place finish. With races at Martinsville, Texas and Talladega next, Junior could be sniffing the Top 10 by the end of April.

KEVIN HARVICK’S win at Bristol serves notice the #29 intends to make The Chase, moving him up 5 spots to 6^th place.  MATT KENSETH continues the long climb up, inching up another three spots with a tough-luck 16^th-place finish at Bristol.

Will CARL EDWARDS be a real contender all summer long for a spot in The Chase? The #99 scrapped their way to a 26-th place after a trouble-filled weekend at Thunder Valley.  Martinsville will be another test …   SCOTT RIGGS gets a 10^th at Bristol and moves to 14^th, 20 spots better than same time last year …   There are three NASCAR Golden Boys (drivers 45-up) in the Top 10 this week, the newest arrival being DALE JARRETT, there on the strength of a fifth at BMS.   The others are RUSTY WALLACE (9^th) and MARK MARTIN (10^th).

THE HEAT INDEX

(Last 3 Races, rankings among top 35 drivers)

RED HOT                                                                 ICE COLD

1—Jimmie Johnson            500                                          1—Bobby Labonte                               189

2—Greg Biffle                       468                                          2—Bobby Hamilton Jr.        225

3—Kevin Harvick                  415                                          3—Joe Nemechek                               228

4—Tony Stewart                  411                                          4—Jason Leffler                  234

5—Carl Edwards                  391                                          5—Ken Schrader                  240

6—Elliott Sadler                    385                                          6—Jeff Green                       254

7—Dave Blaney                     379                                          7—Scott Wimmer                                267

8—Kyle Busch                      376                                          8—Travis Kvapil                   273

9—Dale Jarrett                     363                                          9—Mike Bliss                       276

10—Michael Waltrip             357                                          10—Jeff Burton                    285

THE TURNAROUNDS

(Position in Race to the Chase Versus Last Year at this time, among top 35 drivers)

GOOD TURNS                                                                                         BAD TURNS

Rank-Driver                           05            04            Diff.                         Rank-Driver                           05            04            Diff.

1—Carl Edwards (99 car)    4              27            +23                          1—Matt Kenseth                  28            1              -27

2—Scott Riggs                      14            34            +20                          2—Bobby Labonte                               34            8              -26

3—Greg Biffle                       2              18            +16                          3—Kasey Kahne                   24            5              -19

4—Dale Jarrett                     8              22            +14                          4—Joe Nemechek                               31            14            -17

4—Rusty Wallace                 9              23            +14                          5—Earnhardt Jr.                   17            2              -15

6—Kyle Petty                        19            30            +11                          6—Jeremy Mayfield            18            7              -11

7—Michael Waltrip                               27            37            +10                          7—Scott Wimmer                                30            20            -10

8—Dave Blaney (30 car(      16            25            +9                            8—Casey Mears                  26            17            -9

9—Brian Vickers                  20            28            +8                            9—Mike Bliss (00 car)         21            15            -6

2005 RACE TO THE CHASE
After Race #5 of 26:  Bristol #1

Races Left to the Chase:  21 (81%)

05/LW/04                                Season  Out of     Out of     Out of     LastRce Gain        Last 3     Finishes                                Top         Top                Bottom Bonus-

Driver                     Pts.         1^st            10^th          11^th          Fin/Pts    11^th          Pts          1—2—3                   5s            10s          10s       Penalty Pts

1/1/6-Johnson       835          --            +226        +247        6/155       +36          500          1—2—0                   4              5              0              35-25

2/2/18-Biffle           741          -94           +132        +153        9/143       +24          468          1—0—1                   2              4              0              20-0

3/7/3-Stewart        679          -156         +70          +91          3/165       +46          411          0—0—1                   1              3              0              10-0

4/3/27-Edwards     678          -157         +69          +90          26/85       -34           391          1—0—0                   2              2              0              10-0

5/8/10-ESadler       657          -178         +48          +69          2/175       +56          385          0—1—0                   1              3              0              5-0

6/11/11-Harvick     654          -181         +45          +66          1/185       +66          415          1—0—0                   2              3              0              15-25

7/4/4-KBusch         635          -200         +26          +47          35/58       -61           295          0—1—2                   3              3              1              10-0

8/15/22-DJarrett    611          -224         +2            +22          5/155       +35          363          0—0—0                   1              1              0              5-0

9/9/23-RWallace     611          -224         +2            +22          13/134     +14          343          0—0—0                   0              2              0              10-0

10/5/12-MMartin    609          -226         --             +21          31/70       -49           308          0—0—0                   1              3              0              10-0

                                                                                                                Gain

                                                                                                                10th

11/6/9-Newman     588          -247         -21           --             30/73       -61           342          0—0—0                   0              2              0              15-0

12/12/13-JGordon 587          -248         -22           -1             15/123     -11           329          1—0—0                   2              2              1              10-0

13/16/16-Marlin     568          -267         -41           -20           11/130     -4             308          0—0—0                   0              1              1              5-0

14/18/34-Riggs      566          -269         -43           -22           10/134       E            342          0—0—0                   1              3              0              0-0

15/10/19-McMurry                566          -269         -43           -22           24/91       -43           339          0—0—0                   1              1              0              0-0

16/14/25-Blaney     561          -274         -48           -27           20/103     -31           379          0—0—0                   0              1              1              10-0

17/26/2-Junior       525          -310         -84           -63           4/160       +26          288          0—0—1                   2              2              1              5-0

18/21/7-Mayfield  522          -313         -87           -66           17/112     -22           339          0—0—0                   0              0              0              10-0

19/24/30-Ky Petty  521          -314         -88           -67           8/142       +8            290          0—0—0                   0              1              1              15-0

20/22/28-Vickers  516          -319         -93           -72           12/127     -7             311          0—0—0                   0              1              1              5-0

21/13/15-Bliss        512          -323         -97           -76           37/52       -82           276          0—0—0                   0              0              1              0-0

22/19/21-Ky Busch 499         -336         -110         -89           28/79       -55           376          0—1—0                   1              1              1              5-25

23/20/24-JBurton  472          -363         -137         -116         36/55       -79           285          0—0—0                   0              0              1              5-0

24/28/5-Kahne       470          -365         -139         -118         14/121     -13           330          0—0—0                   1              1              2              5-0

25/32/26-Kvapil      470          -365         -139         -118         7/146       +12          273          0—0—0                   0              1              2              5-0

26/17/17-Mears    468          -367         -141         -120         43/34       -100         286          0—0—0                   0              1              1              0-0

27/27/37-Waltrip    463          -372         -146         -125         19/111     -23           357          0—0—0                   0              1              2              10-0

28/31/1-Kenseth   459          -376         -150         -129         16/120     -14           332          0—0—0                   0              1              1              10-0

29/23/31-JGreen   456          -379         -153         -132         29/76       -58           254          0—0—0                   0              0              0              10-0

30/25/20-Wimmer 451          -384         -158         -136         27/82       -52           267          0—0—0                   0              0              0              5-0

31/29/14-Nemechek 413      -422         -196         -175         33/64       -70           228          0—0—0                   0              0              1              15-0

32/33/33-Schrader                407          -428         -202         -181         23/94       -40           240          0—0—0                   0              0              2              0-0

30/30/32-Ham Jr    386          -449         -223         -202         39/46       -88           225          0—0—0                   0              0              3              0-0

34/37/8-BLabonte 347          -488         -262         -241         22/97       -37           189          0—0—0                   0              0              3              0-0

35/34/NA-Leffler   341          -494         -268         -247         38/49       -85           234          0—0—0                   0              0              3              0-0

LEADER PACE

(The likelihood of the 400-point Wild Card will be determined by the pace set by the leader after 26 races. Here is the pace after four races)

2005                                        2004                                        2003                                        2002

1 J Johnson          835          1 Kenseth        743                                1 Kenseth    760                    1 Marlin                  825

10 M Martin           609          10 E Sadler      636                                10 E Sadler  575                    10 Earnhardt Jr.    621

30 teams within 400 pts     36 teams within 400            39 teams within 400            27 teams within 400