The field is set for the next-to-last race to the Chase on Sunday night at California Speedway. Kurt Busch is on the pole, but he won't be eligible to run for the title. Kasey Kahne will start ninth, but he needs all kinds of help and needs to stay up front if he wants Richmond to mean something next Saturday.
But with the fourth through 11th spots up for grabs, math geeks are having a serious field day.

According to NASCAR, there are - believe it or not - 574,560 possibilities still remaining for the order of the nine drivers fighting to get into the Chase.
Huh? How did they come up with so many?
For those who value sanity with their racing, here's some simple, direct math. Kahne is 90 points behind Mark Martin, who sits in 10th. He is 138 points behind Jeff Burton in fourth. The maximum amount of points a driver can make up in a race is 156 (190 points goes to the winner of a race who leads the most laps and the 43rd-place driver gets 34 points).
Translation: Kahne will feel pretty confident heading to Richmond, especially if he can take the checkered flag on Sunday.
Knowing that, it's time to get strapped in and start the engines. The Chase, for all of its flaws and faults, can still produce necessary excitement.
But the 2007 Chase will be another story. I hope it will create a little more buzz than this year's version has.

Posted by Tom Zulewski at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

The good news is the weight is coming off. The bad news is that it is taking a long time. There is no quick fix for me. When those diet pill advertisements show an asterisk next to that skinny person who shed 30 pounds in only eight weeks, and in tiny print near the bottom it reads, “Results not typical” – they’re not kidding.

I have quit the carbonation, caffeine and my favorite treat of chocolate. It took about a month to lose one pound, and the last three came off this past week. So, four pounds lighter in nearly six weeks, all I’ve got to say is – I’m hungry! I want to eat all the time. I added weight training this past week and my body is sore, I’m not sleeping well at night and I have an insatiable appetite.

While all this sounds mundane and trivial, which one reader decided to tell me personally by e-mail instead of blogging it on this site so as not to humiliate me “publicly,” so to speak, let me say that weight loss is boring – and frustrating and psychologically maddening! I refuse to experience that alone.

And besides, not all blogs have to “stir the pot.” Mine is more like a journal entry. So, read on if you want to, and scroll through the past blogs to find something of interest to you if not. That’s the nifty thing about blogs; you get to choose what you want to read.

But while I’m on the topic of choice, which is an intellectual exercise that can play mind tricks on a person, that’s where I believe my hang-ups with weight loss really lie - in my head and my heart, not my body. It’s emotional and mind boggling. Yes, I’ve even cried.

While my husband can drop 10 pounds in two weeks, it takes me more than two months. Add that to living in a nation obsessed with dieting and physical appearance and the mixed messages are so confusing I want to reach for a chocolate glazed doughnut in surrender.

So while I’m in the dull drums of my weight loss saga, here are the top four struggles I deal with that insight from anyone out there would be much appreciated:

• Working out makes me hungrier. (Is this true or all in my head?)
• The slow results are making it hard to stay committed. (How do I hang in there?)
• I feel like I’m depriving myself. (Any chocolate substitute suggestions?)
• Will it really matter? (Besides the health benefits?)

Posted by Jennifer Weaver at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

It doesn't matter what you think about the president or his policies. Seeing Air Force One land in your state pulls at the heartstrings.

President George W. Bush landed between 8:45 and 9 p.m. Wednesday at Salt Lake City International Airport. He's in town to speak to the annual convention of the American Legion. The state capital has been the battleground the past few days between people who support the president and people who are very much against the war in Iraq.

But you wouldn't know it based on the greeting the president received Wednesday. A large crowd greeted him with shouts of encouragement, and some of them waved American flags. Granted, you wouldn't expect too many protesters at a late-evening landing. But it was still nice to see Bush receive a welcome worthy of the office.

He even spoke to the crowd and said how much he enjoyed coming to Utah. But the real story for me was seeing that plane land. It was a great sight. Call me a foolish patriot when it comes to those kinds of things. Maybe it's a pride thing.

But seeing that plane — with its history and prominence in the world — land in our state made for a good evening.

No matter what you think of the president, I think it's important to be a good host. Utah got off to a good start Wednesday.

Posted by Managing Editor Todd Seifert at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

So, Warren Jeffs, 50, was nabbed near mile marker 60 in Interstate 15 after dark, in the company of His brother Isaac, 32, and Naomi, 32. I'm not sure if that's her age or which wife number she is.

The cops are saying the Cadillac Escalade they were riding in was pulled over for having a temporary license plate that had "low visibility." I'm not sure what that means.

Or, maybe there's another reason.

Maybe somebody rolled over on Warren for the $100,000 reward.

What if that somebody — or sombodies — turns out to be Isaac and/or Naomi? Why else would the law let the two of them walk free? After all, they were, without question, aiding and abetting a man accused of several felonies.

And, I know that the spot where Jeffs was nabbed is isolated enough so a waiting team of cops could take him down without too much concern about being in the public eye or creating a hazard to the regular Joe's who were on the road at that time.

How's this scenario pan out: Church members got tired of the heat Warren was bringing down on them. Isaac, who may be a litle kinder and gentler, is promised the top spot if he helps eliminate the church problem (his brother). He gets Naomi thrown in as part of the deal, plus he gets to keep the $100,000 reward.

I'm thinking that by doing that, the FLDS church cleans up its act by cracking down on those who hook up with underage girls; it gets a new leader; it gets a new image; and the law backs off.

Everybody wins, except Warren, who must now explain to his new roommates why he thinks it's perfectly OK to have sex with underage girls.

I'd call that justice.

Posted by Ed Kociela at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

They got the dirtbag, finally.

I don't care that Warren Jeffs believes that multiple wives will give him a pass to heaven. If consenting adults buy that line, fine.

I don't care that he has a set of other beliefs that are outside the mainstream. Worship whoever or whatever you desire.

But, I do care that this guy and his followers preyed on innnocent little girls who knew/know no other way of life other than a sentence of abuse -- both sexual and emotional.

The bottom line here is that Jeffs and his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist sect based in Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz., did major damage to these kids who never had a chance to be kids, to learn, to grow, to mature, to make decisions based in their own hearts.

Jeffs preached that his followers should "bleed the beast" -- the federal government -- through welfare scams, which is why many of those children in this very closed society have no clue who their fathers really are. Meanwhile, you and I have supported them.

They mixed public and church funds. They played the system. They did permanent damage to young lives, both girls forced into submitting to pedophiles and boys tossed out of the community because, well, there were too many males in town.

And, now, he's sitting in a lonely jail cell in Las Vegas.

I hope he rots there.

Posted by Ed Kociela at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

As I watched the night race at Bristol unfold Saturday, a big batch of questions were pouring through my head after Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag.
Why was Jeff Gordon so unhappy?
Is Kenseth a favorite to win the Nextel Cup?
But the biggest one of all was blatantly obvious.
Where's the drama?

Let's start from the back and work up to the front, like Dale Earnhardt, Jr. did Saturday at Bristol, moving from 40th all the way to third.
With only two races to go until the Chase begins, there's no real hope of anyone else other than the current top 10 competing for the title. It wasn't like these guys were the only ones who were worthy of making the field, but let's review a trio of drivers who were strong in the early going and stunk down the stretch.
Carl Edwards was the darling of the Nextel Cup circuit after his third-place finish in 2005. Today, he's 13th, 261 points out of the Chase.
Edwards' season started with a 43rd-place finish at Daytona and didn't improve from there. He had only three top-5s and two top-10s in the season's first 10 races. After four wins in 2005, he doesn't have any in 2006.
If it wasn't for bad luck, Greg Biffle wouldn't have any luck at all. He's 12th in the standings, 251 points away from the Chase.
The driver of the No. 16 National Guard/Subway Ford Fusion had the strongest car at California in February, but blew an engine on lap 229 and finished 42nd.
After finishing seventh at Bristol in March, the bad luck returned. Biffle was wrecked by Kurt Busch at Texas and lost another engine at Talladega. His first ten races had only three top-10 finishes, including fourth at Richmond and eighth at Las Vegas.
Biffie found some momentum after Richmond with seven straight top-10s, but fell right back into the bad rut with only two more top-10s after that.
You can't make championship runs that way.
But one of the more disappointing ones has been Kahne, who looked so promising as recently as his win at Michigan in June. At that point, Kahne won his fourth race of the year, tied with Johnson and Kenseth for most in 2006, and was sitting third in points, only 244 off Johnson's lead.
Since then, Kahne has just two top-10s and now needs some major help to get in to the Chase. That, and a little luck.
Meahwhile, Kenseth is making noise as a serious contender for the title. He hasn't been any worse than third in points all season since winning at California in February. His worst finish was a 38th at Richmond, but his second-worst finish was 24th at Martinsville in April. Everything else has been solid - not quite as solid as Tony Stewart was a year ago, but it's momentum at the right time.
After he missed the Chase a year ago, Jeff Gordon has gotten back on his game and sits in fifth in the standings. As the 2006 season has unfolded, he's found too many reasons to complain about too many things too often.
Saturday night was the latest example as he got in the face of Scott Riggs, a non-Chaser who beat him out for fourth at Bristol on Saturday. He had the nerve to say on camera that Riggs needed to "relax" as they were racing for that position over the final laps.
Excuse me, but Mr. Four Championships didn't have any reason or right to gripe about what happened. Gordon didn't spin out, was able to hold his line, and barely missed passing Riggs, anyway.
If Gordon was so bothered by what happened Saturday, he needs to see a therapist. That other Bristol race, the one where he WAS spun out by Matt Kenseth and ended up in 21st, is long, long gone.
Let it go, Jeff. Let it go.
Let the real drama begin at New Hampshire on Sept. 17.

Posted by Tom Zulewski at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )