by Jeff Hammond

Jeff Hammond: Hoorah to you and all of your fellow comrades in arms over there in Iraq. We appreciate that you are race fans and watch races, but more importantly, we appreciate you for defending America. The most important thing to me is knowing that we have men and women like you over there allowing us to enjoy what we do over here.

With four cars in the top 10 in the point standings after the first two races, Roush Racing's teams have their gamefaces on, and they know what they're trying to do. (If Bobby Knight heard me say "gameface", he'd say, "What's a gameface?" But I hope you get my point.)

They're executing, and they've been prepared. They're able to adjust during the course of the race, which is the key. When track temperatures and conditions change, especially when we have little or no practice on impound weekends, you've got to have a race car and a race car driver that will allow you to be off a little bit but keep you in the hunt until you get the car right. The Roush teams have it going on.

Charging to the front

It's been a pleasant surprise to see the competitive nature of guys like Sterling Marlin and Rusty Wallace. They've had a good showing so far in the new Dodge Charger. They haven't really been forces to reckon with, but the Dodge teams are having a harder time than any other brand. They've got a new nose which changes the balance of the race car, and it's going to take them a couple of races to sort through it.

In addition to the new Charger, those teams also had to adjust to NASCAR's new aero package and qualifying procedure at California. They ran really respectably last Sunday, and they will get better. Between now and next week's race at Las Vegas, they will improve tremendously as they understand what it's going to take to make their cars more competitive. Marlin. Wallace, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman were in the hunt at different times, making solid runs.

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It's good to see Marlin and Wallace back in the top 10 in points. Even though it's early in the season, it's always nice to see the veterans giving the young guns something to think about.

Chevy struggles

Since we saw more Chevrolet problems than any other manufacturer on Sunday, it might be a General Motors issue, not just an issue for individual teams. If you look across the board, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. have all experienced engine failures this year. If I had to point my finger at what's going on, the new gear rule may have put them back into an rpm range in which the engine does not like to run. At a place like California Speedway with a long straightaway and sweeping corners, you carry a lot of consistent and sustained rpm around the track. Working in that power range may have hit a weak part of the engine in the valve train area, and it's rearing its ugly head.

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FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.

For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's new book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.

For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.