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A NASCAR BLOG BY Rea White
Interesting mixture of objectives in Cup garage
After this weekend's showdown at Talladega Superspeedway, a track eyed cautiously by all involved in Sunday's Amp Energy 500, it will be interesting to see what happens with those teams that aren't contending for the championship - both those in the Chase For The Sprint Cup but deep in points and those immediately outside of it.
Announcements concerning changes in crew chiefs, or in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s case the signing of a crew chief, have already begun to pop up across high-profile teams. Some of Richard Childress Racing's teams are working with new crew chiefs this weekend, Kyle Busch and Dave Rogers unite following the race. Penske Racing's Pat Tryson has already announced he'll be moving on next season. Brad Keselowski is joining Penske Racing and his crew chief has yet to be named. Will there be more?
It's an interesting time of the season. A handful of teams will spend the next few weeks focusing on trying to catch the points leader and win the title. The rest will be concentrating on simply winning as many races as they can - and preparing for a better 2010. Some are already trying to figure out a way to bump up a position or two and make the Chase next season. Some are running with engines that are being tested for reliability, with incremental changes that will be used full time next year when they have been tested more completely.
Some will be willing to sacrifice the rest of this season as a test for next year. It creates an interesting mixture of objectives at the track for the last few races of the season - and lays the groundwork for an even more competitive opening to the 2010 season.
Rea White
Rea White has been covering NASCAR full time since 1998. She has been an associate editor at NASCAR Scene since 2002.
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