by Jeff Hammond

Around the track

Follow the action:

• Michigan schedule
• Michigan practices

Watch:

• Video Central

Picture perfect:

• Action at Watkins Glen

Read all about it:

• Dale Jr: Changes needed in NASCAR
• Vickers edges Martin for Cup pole

Analysis:

• White: Chasers feel the heat
• Spencer: Drivers to watch at Michigan

Jeff Hammond says: As far as I am concerned, Chad deserves to be making a speech come Friday night. I know when I won championships in year's past, I looked forward to getting up in front of everybody and speaking — even though I'm sure that what I delivered back then wasn't nearly as eloquent as what these guys deliver in today's banquets since they have teleprompters while guys from my generation talked from the heart and from notes written on napkins earlier in the day.

All jokes aside, Knaus deserves the honor of delivering a speech at the big awards banquet this Friday — especially after winning a record third straight Cup title as a crew chief. I really believe he has earned that right to share his feelings with the racing world as a whole.

It'll be interesting to see what NASCAR does about that.

And not to go off topic on this, but this question brings me back to another topic. This is a team sport, but the banquet is all about recognizing the driver in particular — maybe it is time we change up the format for the banquet. I don't think it should be all about the top 10; it should be about the champion and his team.

Should there be honorable mentions for the rest of the guys who finished in the top 10? Yeah. Roll a video highlight, let them walk across the stage, wave to the crowd and let them go. I don't see where they need to be speaking. I don't see anybody bringing up the New York Yankees to the stage when the Boston Red Sox are celebrating a championship. Last year, they didn't bring back the New England Patriots while the New York Giants were celebrating their Super Bowl win. I don't think anybody wants to hear from people who finished second and below.

Rodney A. from Salem, Va., asks: Have you any information about what car manufacturer Kasey Kahne and his Gillett Evernham Motorsports teammates will be driving next year?

Jeff Hammond says: As far as I know, everything is still normal. There hasn't been any kind of talk coming out of that camp as of late that they will be affected by the problems hurting Chrysler, Dodge's parent company.

Right now, with it appearing that the new Earnhardt Ganassi Racing outfit will be using Chevrolet's, it stands to reason that it helps Dodge give more support to their remaining teams — most notably GEM.

Gillett Evernham is really the foundation when it comes to Dodge in NASCAR, so I can't think of a reason why the partnership would break up at this point in time.

Lyndon from Charleston, S.C., asks: Jeff, how in the world can a driver like Carl Edwards go seven laps more on a tank of gas compared to his teammates when he is racing for the lead. Give me a break, that does not happen in today's NASCAR. I have been a fan of NASCAR for a long time and I cannot get over how the fastest car all day also gets the best gas mileage (it does not happen). I do not usually believe in conspiracies, but this one has me stumped, just like Matt (Kenseth), Greg (Biffle), David (Ragan) and Jamie (McMurray).

Jeff Hammond says: Lyndon, you are not the only one who thinks there's a big conspiracy in favor of Carl Edwards and a few others who always seem to extend their fuel mileage further than others.

Guess what? The answer comes down to each driver's driving style.

I remember back when I was working with DW, we always seemed to get better fuel mileage than our competition. So much of that has to do with how drivers let the car roll through the corners and keep the momentum of the car up — it's been proven that you can stretch your fuel mileage by small factors like that.

As hard as Edwards races others on the track, he manages to stay off the brakes more than others, so he has to use less fuel into the manifold to get up to speed compared to the rest of the field.

Now, I know some people will still yell, "He's cheating!" If everybody at Roush was getting better fuel mileage than the field, I would understand. But since it's only Edwards, I think it has to do with his driving style. It's not like back in the day when guys would try to sneak in bigger fuel cells — the NASCAR inspection process is too good for those types of tricks nowadays.

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 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.