Last year, Jeff Gordon dominated the regular season, only to fall short in the Chase. He hopes to do to Kyle Busch this season what Jimmie Johnson did to him last year. But to make that happen, Gordon will have to win races to pick up the valuable bonus points that are handed out when the field is reset following the 26th race.

Winless this year, Gordon has won at least one race every year since 1994, which gives him the longest active streak. (Actually, he has won at least two.) "If you just put us equal with everybody right now, I think we have a shot at the championship," Gordon says. "When you put us 20, 30, 70 points behind (Johnson, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch), that's tough to overcome."

Last weekend's Nationwide race in Montreal was run partially in the rain -- the first NASCAR event run on grooved rain tires. The sport would only consider running in the rain at a road course, and the Cup Series won't be doing that anytime soon.

There is more leeway in the Cup schedule anyway for a rainout because that series can run the following day. Nationwide races are usually on Saturday, so they would have to be rescheduled for two days later (on Monday) so as not to disrupt the Cup race.

NASCAR doesn't need to be worrying about whether Cup cars could run on rain tires, anyway. After the debacle at the Brickyard, NASCAR needs to talk about racing -- instead of tires -- for a while.

That doesn't mean tire talk will end. Goodyear is contemplating a totally new tire, bigger and taller than the current model and designed to handle the new car. But it will be at least two years before it's ready. Goodyear also will hold a tire test at Indy this fall and hope to use information gleaned there to create a better tire for next year's race at the Brickyard.

Memories are short in NASCAR, and all feuds can be forgotten. The new Stewart-Haas Racing alliance proves both. Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have had occasional flare-ups, including runins at the All-Star race in 2004 and New Hampshire in 2006.

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Yet Stewart reportedly has hired Newman to be his teammate next year. Stewart's feud with Carl Edwards, which stemmed from a 2006 incident at Pocono, was classic. Stewart called Edwards "Eddie

Haskell," and Edwards seriously considered introducing his fist to Stewart's face. "If it weren't for respect of the sport and the people watching and his team and everything, he'd be out there bleeding right now," Edwards said of Stewart in a live TV interview. His sponsor at the time: Office Depot. Stewart's sponsor next year: Office Depot.