RBR announced earlier this season that they would not be returning to NASCAR in 2012.  The team’s future is still uncertain, just seven days before the end of the 2011 season.  It is expected that the team will shut down at season’s end, unless owner Dietrich Mateschitz can find a buyer for the operation.

Championship Rundown

The Championship battle is now a two man show between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.  Edwards remains the point’s leader, with a three-point advantage over Stewart.  Both drivers had fast cars at Phoenix, but they were no match for Kahne.  Edwards and Stewart finished the race in second and third position, respectively.  Stewart led a race-high 160 laps.

Going into Homestead, Edwards seems to have an advantage over Stewart.  Edwards has won two of the last three races at Homestead, with an average finish of 5.7.  Stewart also has two wins at Homestead, back in 1999 and 2000.  However, Edwards has a better average finish  than Stewart, who has an average finish of 12.4.

For the first time in the past eight seasons for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Jimmie Johnson will not be eligible for the championship going into Homestead.   He finished in 14th position in Phoenix, his fifth finish outside the top-10 in nine races.  Johnson will try to keep a 10-season streak of finishing in the top five in points alive.  He is currently fifth position in points, just two points ahead of Matt Kenseth.

Rough Day for Busch and Kenseth

Kyle Busch, after being parked at Texas Motor Speedway, stepped back into Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 car at Phoenix.  He raced this weekend without his primary sponsor M&M’s after the organization decided that they did not want to be on the car for the remainder of the season.  During the first practice, Busch blew a motor, forcing him to start at the rear of the field.  To add insult to injury, as Busch was racing for third position on lap 188, he announced to the team that the engine was blowing up.  This resulted in a 36th place finish.

On the other side of the track, Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth had fans thinking we were back at Martinsville Speedway.  Late in the race, Vickers slammed into straight Kenseth’s rear bumper going down the backstretch, causing major damage to Kenseth’s racecar.  Vickers claimed over the radio that Kenseth had slowed up, causing Vickers to slam into him.  Kenseth’s comments after the incident backed up that statement.

“I was out of brakes, and I was up on everybody,” he said. “I saw [Vickers] coming and I lifted at least 10 car lengths before where I would normally lift. And he drove in there at 165 miles per hour and cleaned us out.”  Kenseth finished the race in 34th position, Vickers in 23rd.

Martin has experienced a ton of misfortune to start this season. He was running fourth in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he ran over a piece of debris, cutting a tire and severly damaging his No. 5 Kelloggs/Carquest Chevy. He finished 31st.

During the previous two races, the Shelby 427 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Auto Club 500 from Auto Club Speedway (Fontana), he experienced engine failures that gave him a pair of 40th place finishes. 

His 16th-place finish in the Daytona 500 looks pretty good right now, compared to his finishes in the last three races.

Crew cheif Alan Gustafson was expected to meet with Martin to discuss how the team can save its season. The problem is, it hasn’t been mistakes as much as it has been bad luck.

The Daytona 500 was called early due to rain. If it hadn’t been, Martin may have finished better than 16th. He won the pole at Atlanta and was running in the top 5 when his tire blew.

He didn’t have winning cars at Las Vegas or Fontana, but he certainly could have finished better than 40th.

As a result of the misfortune, Martin is changing his focus from the Chase and championship to winning races. He is mathematically still in contention, but he knows that making up points on one person is easier than making up points on 34 people.

So, for now, Martin is concentrating on winning his first race since 2005.

As a result, several cars were pinned one or two laps down because the field was in the middle of green flag pit stops.

Watts was suspended for the remainder of the race.

On Tuesday, NASCAR added four races to the penatly under the rule that crewmembers must not go on the track for any reason while the cars are running under green, or red flag conditions unless directed by a NASCAR official.

Watts also received probation for the rest of the year.

Crew chief Frank Kerr has also been placed on probation until the end of the year under the NASCAR rule that states that a crew cheif assumes responsibility for actions of the team.

JTG Daughtery indicated that it will not appeal the suspension, and is looking to put the whole incident behind it.

The Old spice/Office Depot driver has finished on the lead lap in all four races, posting three top 10 finishes. In the one race he didn’t finish in the top 10, he was running in the top 5 most of the day, before a problem caused him to finish 26th.

He sits sixth in points, comfortably in a guaranteed starting spot for each race. Not that he really needed to worry, considering that he has a few championship provisionals to fall back on.

Following the third race of the season, Stewart was quoted as saying:

I think from the physical pieces and parts standpoint, we knew we had what we needed. It was just a matter of how long was it going to take for the package to gel. I think we’re all pleasantly surprised at how quick that’s come.

Now that Stewart has established that he is consistently competitive, the focus must be on improving his teammate, Ryan Newman’s performance.

Newman has yet to finish on the lead lap this season. His best finish came in the Kobalt Tools 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he finished 22nd.

Newman sits 32nd in points, 48 points out of 36th place, where he would have to qualify based on time. Not that qualifying on time would really be a problem considering that Newman has 43 poles to his credit.

While it is still early in the season, Stewart’s got to be pleased with his team’s performance thus far.

The infield grass is a prohibited area, thus NASCAR threw the caution, pinning all but six cars a lap down because the incident came during green flag pit stops. The caution would have been thrown had Watts not run onto the grass, as the tire was approaching the racing surface, but NASCAR may have waited until grenn flag stops had cycled through.

Watts was suspended for the remainder of the event. He said:

I saw the tire going away and it was a reaction — the wrong one.

Watts hopes to be back at the Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway, but he is waiting for word from NASCAR of whether or not they will assess any more penalties.

Top 10: Busch, Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick,  Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Martin Truex Jr.

Notables: Dale Earnhardt Jr (11th), Matt Kenseth (12th), Denny Hamlin (13th), Jeff Burton (14th), Kyle Busch (18th), Michael Waltrip (25th), Juan Pablo Montoya (27th), Mark Martin (31st), David Reutimann (32nd), and Greg Biffle (34th).

Following final practice, the decision was made for Truex to go to the emergency room based on how he felt in the car during practice.

At this time, he is expected to start the Kobalt Tools 500. No word on whether a driver will be on standby in case Truex needs to get out of the car, or who that driver would be.

Top 5: Martin, Busch, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Greg Biffle.

Rounding out the top 10 starters are Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Joe Nemechek, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick, respectively.

Notables: Tony Stewart (11th), Ryan Newman (12th), Jeff Burton (15th), Jeff Gordon (16th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (20th), Carl Edwards (29th), and Matt Kenseth (30th). 

Did Not Qualify: Todd Bodine, Scott Riggs, Jeremy Mayfield, and Geoff Bodine.

Originally, the team planned to debut this weekend with driver Boris Said. But, upon further thought, the team decided it would be better to debut at a track where they felt like they had a legitimate chance of winning.

The team now plans to debut at the Toyota/SaveMart 350 from Infineon Raceway in June. Said has been a NASCAR regular on road courses the past few years, and is referred to as a “road course ringer.” His familiarity with the track, no doubt, has played a part in the decision.

No word on who will sponsor the team when it debuts, but it will most likely be No Fear, which has sponsored Said in the past.

Earlier this year, Said attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500 in the No. 08 of EM Motorsports. James Hilton was slated to attempt the Daytona 500 in NFR’s No. 60, but because he did not practice, he was not able to qualify.