| Racing Ruminations |
| Any hack columnist can predict the top five Sharpie 500 finishers. I predict the top five and the guy who will finish 17th! |
| LAST WEEK Top five: 3/5 17th: 0–1 |
| SEASON Top five: 40/115 17th: 0–23 |
| 1. Kurt Busch |
| 2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. |
| 3. Matt Kenseth |
| 4. Jeff Gordon |
| 5. Jeff Burton |
| 17. Jimmie Johnson |
NASCAR finally revealed its schedule on Thursday and, to be honest, I haven't been this disappointed since I learned that Jojo from KC and Jojo did not have a sex change operation and become teen pop queen JoJo.
All 10 races in the Chase are exactly the same. All the same tracks are hosting the same number of races with minor tweaks to the order. (Pocono is now after Indy, not before. I think I just pissed myself in excitement.)
If France is serious about making changes to the Chase, the schedule was the place to start. In general I think messing with the points is unnecessary and expanding the playoffs is pointless. However, other than adding a road course and more short tracks to the playoffs, Mark Zeske at SI.com has the only other interesting change. He wants to expand the Chase to the top 10 drivers plus anyone who has won a race and is within 750 points of the leader. That would certainly make these last several races interesting as a guy like Carl Edwards battles to win a race and earn a spot.
Anything less dramatic than a change like Zeske's suggestion would be largely unnoticed by most fans and would add little to the sport for the 2007 season.