Grading on a third

Looking back, Newman's 2003 is the top storyline

Well, we're two-thirds of the way through the season's all-star break, so what better time to take a look back at the first third of the season?

A few things jump out: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is really showing me something. At the Daytona 500 DEI folks kept talking about how he's matured since last year, and I've got to admit, I was a little skeptical. What else are they going to say? "Oh, no, Junior's drinking more Budweiser than ever. And we think he's now a devil worshipper." No, of course they're not going to say that. But it looks like the lip service is true.

Second, the whole Steve Park-Jeff Green thing was out of left field and pretty strange. In the middle of the 1960 baseball season, my beloved Indians and the Tigers traded managers: Joe Gordon for Jimmie Dykes. Couldn't trade all the players, so I suppose they did the next best thing. The result? Before the trade, Cleveland was fourth and Detroit was sixth. Cleveland finished the season fourth. Detroit finished the season sixth. I realize finding fresh blood is tough in midseason, but I also realize that the chance this move revitalizes either team is pretty slim.

The biggest story to me, though, has been the struggle endured by Ryan Newman. He's qualified in the top 8 nine times, so he can clearly figure out the quick way around a track. But he's spent more time hurtling down straightaways than celebrating. Wrecks, cut tires, broken gears -- you name it, Newman's had it happen. He's in 27th place and he's finished 38th or worse five times.

"You get your tail whipped and you've got to get back up and go," Newman said. "Some of the things that have happened to us are our fault and some of the things are totally racing gremlins or whatever you want to call them. You get knocked off the horse, you get back up."

He'll get back up, but can he get back in the points race, which he suggested he could if his luck changed? The answer, quite simply, is no. For starters, he's got to pass 26 drivers, which is not going to happen. He could easily make up the 588 points he is behind leader Matt Kenseth, assuming his luck changes and Kenseth's reverses as well. But the odds of 26 guys encountering similar bad luck? Not so good.

And then there are all those bad finishes. In the past 10 years, no champ has had more than three finishes of 38th or worse in a season. (I'm sure it goes back farther than that, but I quit checking.) In fact, the 10 champs have had a combined eight such finishes, and only two drivers -- Tony Stewart last year and Jeff Gordon the year before -- had as many as two. Just shows that winning the title is more about staying out of trouble than winning bunches of races.

Things have gotten so bad for Newman that he can't even wreck without getting dissed by another driver. (See the Feud Watch.) His luck will turn, but any title hopes he harbors are going to have to wait until next year.

Jimmie Johnson -- Any time you win a million bucks in one day, you've earned the little green flag. I would seriously consider committing a crime just to get my hands on the 17 grand and change he won on top of the million.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- The yellow flag represents the kinda good, kinda bad. Junior wrecked in the Winston, but found a silver lining. "This is the first car we've tore up this year," he said. "A lot of my Busch series buddies and Bobby Labonte have come to me for sheet metal for charities, and I ain't had none to give 'em. Now we got a whole car for 'em to cut up."

The Winston -- It got some serious backlash for being a wreckfest (Chip Ganassi said he might not come back because it's not worth it) and for its format, which requires two MIT grad students, a slide rule, two abaci and a working knowledge of Fermat's last theorem to comprehend.