Hot 20

With a ten race dash to decide a champion, it pretty much makes sense that the best over the final ten events will claim the crown. That certainly was the case once again in 2012 as Brad Keselowski left the field behind, thanks to a rough patch or two for his closest competitors late in the season.

When all is said and done at Homestead, the guy who is the hottest over the final ten events could very likely be our champion. How to become that man is not so simple. Winning is good, but not everything.

Be it 29 races or the past ten, the cream still rises to the top. Brad Keselowski has been hot over the past ten races, picking up a couple of wins and finishing in the Top Ten in nine of them. Only a 30th place result in Bristol keeps him among the mere mortals.

Three races to go before the Chase deadline. Some like it hot, but over the course of the season find themselves needing wins, not just points, to make the cut. Some have been good over the season, but could last about 5 minutes as legitimate contenders for the title based on how they have performed lately.

Eight races to go before the dozen contenders for the 2012 championship are determined. The top ten look solid to stay there, barring some very bad luck, leaving just the two wildcard spots for those holding the most wins.

NASCAR boring? Say it isn't so. More and more we are seeing opinion pieces that say the product has become a snoozefest, that the racing has become cautious. The big tracks have delivered, as both Daytona and Talladega kept one glued to the screen. Bristol, to my surprise, was not. Fontana? Almost never.

If you were tuning in to NASCAR as of late for the excitement, for the thrills, and the spills, you would had better results finding all that by trying to barbecue in the nude. For fans who closely follow the sport, it was more than a bunch of guys turning left, but for those who are not...that pretty much sums it up.

He isn't on this list, but after Martinsville just about everyone was a little hot at David Reutimann for his keeping his dying car on the track and forcing a caution rather than hitting the pits.

Taking Tony Stewart as part of your fantasy team usually doesn't pay off too much this time of year. Apparently, Tony just decided that March is the new June, to add two wins in five events to the five in ten he chalked up in the fall.

With the roar of the engines having returned to Daytona, a new season is about to dawn upon us. We have a new, albeit recycled, champion, more Danica to watch for, a return of the kid to defend his Daytona title in a few weeks, and the results of a musical chair silly season.