by Larry McReynolds

I thought Brad Keselowski's run in his first Cup race was awesome. To come up with a 19th-place finish with a team that was basically thrown together by Hendrick Motorsports for that race — one which wasn't even able to test at the speedway — was just an incredible performance by the driver and the team. Keselowski isn't running in the Cup Series next season, but he looks race ready for sure.

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On the flip side, the three races that Joey Logano has run this year in a Cup car have not been very impressive — he barely qualified for this past weekend's race. That's kind of surprising to me, and I am sure he and Joe Gibbs Racing are scratching their heads as well. By contrast, if you look at Logano's performance Saturday in the Nationwide Series, it was awesome. I am anxious to see when they put him in the No. 20 Sprint Cup team next season.

Scott Speed was another rookie out there Sunday. While he hasn't set the world ablaze with his performances in his three races, he is doing what he needs to do and that's logging laps and finishing races. I still raise an eyebrow on why they take him from ARCA and the Truck series and stick him in a full-time Cup ride next season. I might be wrong but I sure think the Red Bull group missed a step there.

As is the case with each of these drivers, only time will tell.

Mixed fortunes

I am not really a gambling man, but if someone would have walked up to me prior to Sunday's race at Texas and said the No. 48 car was going to struggle, they are going to get lapped and only finish in the top 15, I probably would have said "OK, let's bet!" I don't think anybody saw that coming.

I know for sure, because I actually covered that team on DirecTV HotPass, that Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus didn't see it coming. I watched them in practice and talked to them Sunday morning and I have to tell you that that confidence was high. For some reason, when they started that race, the car was just junk.

I am a huge Knaus fan and having been up on that pit box myself, I understand why he did what he did during his first round of pit stops. They made major adjustments on that car. They had to do something. What I am not sure why it happened, but there was a caution six laps later and they came in to make major adjustments again. I just think they did too much that time. I think they possibly made a slight mistake with some air pressure stuff. It took them awhile to get it back to where they needed it because of the long green flag runs that then took place.

Trust me, I have been there because it just makes your life miserable. At the end of the day though, that team showed why they are a championship race team. They took about a 30th-place car that wouldn't turn in a 40 acre field and escaped Texas with a top-15 finish.

On the flip side, Carl Edwards and the No. 99 bunch showed Sunday that they are going to go down swinging. It became evident to me that with about 10 laps to go that the No. 99 was going to go for it and gamble on fuel. I said right there it was going to be a championship make or break call. If it's the wrong call and Carl runs out of gas, their run at the championship would have been over.

Using a football analogy, Carl and his crew chief Bob Osborne threw a Hail Mary pass with two seconds to go in the game and the receiver caught the ball in the end zone because they did make it on fuel. That No. 99 definitely stretched beyond a lot of folk's imagination how far you could go on fuel. Now they have put themselves in position where they could possibly pull off the upset and beat Jimmie for the championship.

Carl and his group will be tough these last two races. The same could be said though for the No. 48 regardless of stubbing their toe at Texas. They will come back with their guns blazing this weekend at Phoenix. The exciting thing is we have a points race now. Carl made up 70 some points Sunday, leaving him roughly 100 points out with two races to go.

These teams have to focus on continuing to do what got them to this point. I speak from experience because that's what cost us the 1992 championship with Davey Allison. We basically raced the system and it beat us. Had we stuck with had gotten us five wins and the points lead and not tried to race the system we might have won that championship. We got off our game plan but having talked to Knaus, I know they are going to keep doing what got them here.

You also can't count out Greg Biffle in this fight. I think it is the No. 48, No. 99 and the No. 16. Last Sunday eliminated five teams mathematically. So while technically there are still seven teams eligible, realistically there are only those three.

What if?

I wonder why more teams that had nothing to lose didn't follow the No. 99's example and go for it Sunday.

The No. 99 had a whole lot more to lose than the No. 26, No. 6 and honestly even the No. 17. I just wonder why more people didn't role the dice. On the flip side, you had the No. 88 try it and they didn't make it and finished 20th. That's two races the No. 26 lost because they either couldn't go the distance or they didn't attempt to do it.

Final thought

I still feel for Jamie McMurray and that No. 26 bunch. The only thing that kid needs is a little bit of luck. In a small way they are improving. The past few weeks they have been so impressive especially when you consider the fact that Larry Carter is a lame duck crew chief. Larry and everyone else already know that he is moving on at the end of the season.

FOX race analyst Larry McReynolds has more than 25 years of NASCAR experience as a mechanic, crew chief and broadcaster. He and his fellow Crew Chief Club members take you behind the wall at www.crewchiefclub.com.

"How to Become a Winning Crew Chief" is on bookstore shelves, or you may order your own autographed copy from www.DWStore.com.