No, he didn’t get it carrying Dale Jr. this season. (ZINGER!) But, I’ve felt sore driving four hours to a family reunion. Imagine three times the speed and torque and add 36 races a year to the equation and you’ll get Gordon’s quote in May of this year.

"If my back were the way it was at Bristol this year, it definitely would shorten my career. I can't race like that forever, for long periods of time."

When the margin for error is nil, not being 100 percent is an issue, one that will keep Gordon from winning another title.

I suspect Johnson could get more than $4,500 for his ride, but his car has been a clunker on fuel mileage this year. Check out his comments after running out of petrol at the Michigan race.

"I'm certainly frustrated. We've won one race on fuel mileage ever – it is just not what we are good at. I think it is a little too risky for us to even try it. We got lucky once in Phoenix; outside of that, we always come up short.”

Even Achilles had an Achilles heel (and it wasn’t his hamstring in case you were wondering). We know fuel duels will happen. We just don’t know when. If they happen in the final eight races, the champ could turn chump.

What logical reason is there for Mark Martin to be a bridesmaid so often? There is none. Who loses Daytona the way Martin lost to Kevin Harvick? Heck, who loses at Bristol because they went to Victory Lane a lap early?

Somehow, nobody is winning the 2009 Chase. Not even the Hendrick boys.