With the win at Daytona, Kyle Busch has a series-high six Sprint Cup victories this season. AP

Five thoughts on Saturday night's race at Daytona, which marked the midway point of the season:

1. Everyone is still chasing Kyle Busch.

In winning his series' best sixth race of the season, Busch showed once again that he can reach Victory Lane on every type of track. So far in '08 Busch has taken the checkers at two short tracks (Darlington and Dover), an intermediate track (Atlanta), a road course (Sonoma), and two superspeedways (Talladega and Daytona). Given his strong performance on Saturday and the fact that he won at Talladega in the spring, you've got to like his chances to reach Victory Lane in the fall at 'Dega, which is the fourth race in the Chase.

As of this moment, it's hard to imagine anyone catching Busch this season. He's built such a big lead in the standings (182 points over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who's in second place) that Busch can aggressively go for wins over the final eight races of the regular season and try to earn the 10 point bonus a driver receives at the start of the Chase for taking a checkered flag. This means Busch can take gambles where other driver's can't, such as taking two tires instead of four late in the race or trying to stretch a fuel run to steal a victory. How many more races can Busch win before the green flag falls on the Chase? Considering he's won exactly 33.3 percent of the events so far this season, it seems likely that he'll reach Victory Lane two or three more times before the Chase starts. If that happens, he'll have a sizeable lead over the rest of the field because of the bonus points he'll have earned.

2. Mark Martin will be a perfect fit at Hendrick Motorsports.

The formal announcement that Martin will join Hendrick next season was made this past weekend at Daytona, and there's not a single person in the garage who thinks this is a bad move -- either for Martin or for Rick Hendrick. For the first time in his 26 years of running a team in the Cup series, Hendrick will have four drivers next season that are all capable of winning the championship. In fact, Hendrick's driver lineup in '09 will be the most star-studded in the history of the sport. He'll have Earnhardt Jr., the most popular driver of the Chase era. He'll have Jimmie Johnson, the two-time defending champ who is the most successful driver of the Chase era. He'll have Jeff Gordon, the four-time champion who was the most successful driver of the 90s. And he'll have Martin, who four times in his career has finished second in the points but has never won the Cup.

Martin will be teamed with crew chief Alan Gustafson, and this pair should be formidable. Gustafson has struggled this season with Casey Mears behind the wheel, but Gustafson is still regarded in the garage as an elite crew chief and Martin excels at communicating what he's feeling inside the car and what needs to be done to find more speed. It would a minor upset if this pair didn't make the Chase next season. In fact, it would be a minor upset if all the Hendrick drivers didn't make the Chase in '09.

3. The economy is hitting NASCAR hard.

If you want to know how this depressed economy is affecting NASCAR, all you have to do is look around at the stands each week. At every race I've been to there have been sizeable swaths of empty seats. But it's not just the fans that are feeling the pinch. Last week Chip Ganassi suspended the operation of his No. 40 team, which meant that Dario Fanchitti, the 2007 Indy 500 winner and IndyCar champ, was suddenly without a ride. Also, only 45 cars attempted to make the 43-car field at Daytona -- by contrast, 53 cars tried to qualify for the Daytona 500 in February -- and it seems only a matter of time before there isn't a full field at a Cup race. Yes, NASCAR is hurting right now.

4. Robby Gordon had a nice night.

One of the best stories in NASCAR right now is how Gordon, who owns a single car team, is able to compete with the heavies in the sport. On Saturday Gordon expertly avoided the wrecks that knocked out several cars and came in sixth, which was his best finish of the season. Gordon has had trouble finding sponsors this year, but his tiny, under-funded team continues to press on, which is a testament both to Gordon's tenacity and his talent.

5. Ryan Newman had a forgettable evening.

On Saturday night Newman, the Daytona 500 winner, crashed three times and wound up 36th. How far has Newman fallen since his victory in the 500? Over the last two months he only has one top-10 finish and he's fallen to 17th in the points. Not surprisingly, it appears almost certain that he won't return to Penske Racing next season. According to garage scuttlebutt, Martin Truex Jr. will likely take Newman's place at Penske and Newman will move to Hass Racing, which could be co-owned by Tony Stewart in 2009.