Three to go, two let go

Gory details here.

photo finish and nstag8rs were cut the from the league for nonparticipation; the same fate looms on the horizon for CHK and Chevy's Redneck without quick attention.

DOUBLE ELIMINATION
Van's Bums outscored testcar 244-216 last week at Atlanta to defeat testcar 754-732 in the championship. Van's takes the title and goes undefeated in the competition. testcar, coming from the losers' bracket, needed to defeat Van's here to force a winner-take-all final over the last three races. Van's also defeated testcar, 820-721, in Round Seven.




SECOND HALF

FORDFUCUS had our only 300-plus-point score from Texas. Our average score of 191 was the second lowest of the season, only behind Talladega a month ago.

Cooter and Team Lester are within 78 points of Van's Bums for the overall lead, and KLA Sadler has pulled within 135 points of Van's.

CHASE

Van's Bums continues to hold a comfortable lead. BLOWINSMOKE, Cooter and No right turns are trying to make it interesting, but their prospects are worse here than in the Yahoo competition.

SINGLE ELIMINATION

Rolling Thunder leads Van's by 96 points in the championship, and Rev-A-Lusions holds a 60-point lead over TURBO in the third-place finale.

WORLD CUP

After the first race in the final round, Barrie Lang leads Cooter by 4 points in the championship, and RacingAngel leads Team Lester by 58 in the third-place matchup.

HEAD TO HEAD

After Atlanta, teams need 59 wins to stay alive for the title, leaving the top 10 teams in contention. Everyone else has been mathematically eliminated and is playing for second or worse.

Team Lester's lead is still four games, but TURBO and No right turns now share the No. 2 spot. Rolling Thunder is less than one game back, and after that the top 10 spreads out.

I found an easy equation to calculate Lester's magic number (often used in baseball to determine wins needed to secure the title): No. of games in a season +1, minus wins by leading team, minus losses by second-place team. So ... 99 (98 games plus 1)-69 (Leter's win total)-24 (No right turns' loss total)= 6. Lester needs six wins to clinch the title.

There are six matchups featuring two top-10 teams that will have big implications on who's eliminated and what the cutoff will be after Texas: Team Lester-TURBO, TURBO-Rolling Thunder, No right turns-KLA Sadler, Cooter-need4speed, yduck-Cooter, and 3WIDE-need4speed.

Team Lester has two other matchups this week, against RoadRage and gonzo.

An added bonus - two top-10 teams have matchups against the Yahoo leader (and the leader for most of our other competitions), Van's Bums: need4speed and yduck.

It looks like CHK and Chevy's updated their teams and avoided eviction, so we (hopefully) have our final field set for the rest of the season.

Standings

1. Team Lester 69-22-0

No right turns 65-24-0

TURBO 64-23-3

Rolling Thunder 64-24-1

yduck 62-24-1

KLA Sadler 61-26-2

BLOWINSMOKE 61-28-0

3WIDE 60-27-0

Cooter 59-26-3

need4speed 59-29-0

11. Rubbins Racin 58-26-3

Rev-A-Lusions 58-28-3

speedracer 58-20-3

reckhard 58-31-1
Team Parski 58-30-0

FORDFUCUS 55-31-4

Barrie Lang 55-31-2

Vans Bums 55-31-1

FC Newman 54-32-2

Sarges Squad 54-34-1

AFTER BURNER, RacingAngel 53-33-2
testcar 53-35-1

Black Bear 53-34-0

RAZN 53-37-0

Team Wyoming 52-36-2

AERO PUSH 52-36-0

CHK 51-37-0

hardbody 50-37-2
Dirt Runners 50-39-0
RoadRage 50-40-0

KitchenPass 49-38-1

gonzo 49-41-0

Smokin Aces 48-39-1

RugRatRacers 48-39-2

Gordon #1 48-41-1

Crash & Burn 47-40-1

Chevys Redneck 44-39-5

Longs Gap 43-44-3

Junior, Yabos, Canyon County, nstag8rs, DWI, asian assassins, photo finish, Hendrick Express, gordon hater, Beer Belly, Kntcky 0-78-20

Texas schedule (matchups involving top 10 teams in bold)

Beer Belly tied Kntcky

Barrie Lang v. Chevys Redneck

No. 8 3WIDE v. Smokin Aces

Black Bear v. AFTER BURNER

Vans Bums v. No. 10 need4speed

No. 5 yduck v. AERO PUSH

No. 9 Cooter v. RacingAngel

RAZN v. nstag8rs

RugRatRacers v. Gordon #1

RoadRage v. No. 1 Team Lester

testcar v. FORDFUCUS
No. 3 TURBO v. speedracer
Team Wyoming def Canyon County
Rolling Thunder def asian assassins
hardbody def gordon hater
reckhard def Yabos
KLA Sadler def Junior

Longs Gap v. Team Parski

No right turns def Hendrick Express
gonzo v. FC Newman
Rev-A-Lusions v. KitchenPass
BLOWINSMOKE def photo finish
Dirt Runners def DWI

Sarges Squad def Kntcky

CHK v. Chevys Redneck
Crash & Burn def Beer Belly
Barrie Lang v. Smokin Aces
Rubbins Racin v. AFTER BURNER
No. 8 3WIDE v. No. 10 need4speed
Black Bear v. AERO PUSH

Vans Bums v. RacingAngel

No. 5 yduck v. No. 9 Cooter

Longs Gap def nstag8rs

gonzo v. No. 1 Team Lester

RugRatRacers v. FORDFUCUS

RoadRage v. speedracer
testcar v. Team Wyoming
No. 3 TURBO v. No. 4 Rolling Thunder
Canyon County tied gordon hater
asian assassins tied Yabos
hardbody v. No. 6 KLA Sadler
reckhard v. Team Parski
Junior tied Hendrick Express

FC Newman v. Gordon #1

No. 2 No right turns v. KitchenPass
RAZN def photo finish
Rev-A-Lusions def DWI
BLOWINSMOKE def Kntcky
Dirt Runners v. Chevys Redneck
Sarges Squad v. Crash & Burn
CHK v. Smokin Aces
AFTER BURNER def Beer Belly
Barrie Lang v. No. 10 need4speed
RubbinsRacin v. AERO PUSH

No. 8 3WIDE v. RacingAngel

Black Bear v. No. 9 Cooter

Vans Bums v. No. 5 yduck

Sarges Squad def nstag8rs

testcar v. RugRatRacers
No. 3 TURBO v. gonzo

Gordon #1 def Canyon County

Team Lester def asian assassins
hardbody v. FORDFUCUS
reckhard v. speedracer

Team Wyoming def Junior

Longs Gap v. No. 4 Rolling Thunder
No right turns def gordon hater

RAZN def Yabos

Rev-A-Lusions v. No. 6 KLA Sadler

No. 7 BLOWINSMOKE v. Team Parski

Dirt Runners def Hendrick Express

RoadRage v. FC Newman
CHK v. KitchenPass
Beer Belly tied photo finish
Barrie Lang def DWI

Rubbins Racin def Kntcky

No. 8 3WIDE v. Chevys Redneck

Black Bear def Crash & Burn

Vans Bums v. Smokin Aces
No. 5 yduck v. AFTER BURNER
No. 9 Cooter v. No. 10 need4speed
RacingAngel v. AERO PUSH
BLOWINSMOKE def nstag8rs

RoadRage v. gonzo

testcar v. Gordon #1

No. 3 TURBO v. No. 1 Team Lester

FORDFUCUS def Canyon County

speedracer def asian assassins

hardbody v. Team Wyoming

reckhard v. No. 4 Rolling Thunder

Junior tied gordon hater

Longs Gap def Yabos

No. 2 No right turns v. No. 6 KLA Sadler

RAZN v. Team Parski

Rev-A-Lusions def Hendrick Express

FC Newman v. RugRatRacers

Dirt Runners v. KitchenPass

Sarges Squad def photo finish

CHK def DWI