TNQC and TNRC after Lowe's

Jeff Gordon's been heading in the right direction from last post (ninth to fifth) while Kurt Busch appears to be in freefall (fourth to eighth) at the moment. After storming to his fourth pole position last week at Fontana, Jamie McMurray nips past his teammate at the top of the table while the only guy to win this title is seemingly lurking back in fourth with five rounds to go.

Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch get the nod over Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman respectively by dint of having more pole positions.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase field after 5 rounds:
1 - Jamie McMurray, 65 points
2 - Juan Montoya, 63 points
=3 - Kasey Kahne, 55 points
=3 - Jimmie Johnson, 55 points
5 - Jeff Gordon, 51 points
=6 - Kyle Busch, 48 points
=6 - Mark Martin, 48 points
=8 - Kurt Busch, 43 points
=8 - Ryan Newman, 43 points
10 - Tony Stewart, 38 points
11 - Clint Bowyer, 37 points
12 - David Reutimann, 27 points

The EGR duo are still the ones to beat at this stage.

With his front row effort at Lowe's, Carl Edwards sneaks out a bit of a lead over Martin Truex Jr for 13th while only AJ Allmendiger, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano seem to be the only other drivers capable of spoiling Carl's party.

To the RC then where, with back-to-back third place finishes, Jimmie Johnson extends his lead over Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. The biggest movers though are the last two winners as Tony Stewart jumps up from 11th to sixth while Jamie McMurray now sits fourth. Again, like in the QC, Kurt Busch has dropped back from last time (from fifth to ninth).

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - Chase field after 5 rounds:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 85.5 points
2 - Kevin Harvick, 68 points
3 - Denny Hamlin, 67 points
4 - Jamie McMurray, 53 points
5 - Kyle Busch, 45 points
6 - Tony Stewart, 43 points
7 - Greg Biffle, 40.5 points
8 - Clint Bowyer, 36 points
9 - Kurt Busch, 34.5 points
10 - Carl Edwards, 32 points
11 - Jeff Gordon, 31 points
12 - Jeff Burton, 28 points

Vader's got the inside line over the rest, headed up by Happy.

Matt Kenseth is still more than a race ahead of Juan Montoya for 13th but he needs to look behind him as Mark Martin and Joey Logano are closing in on the Columbian.

With five weekends left, both titles are still up for grabs...although the other guys better figure out a way to beat Jimmie in the RC if they want it to stay that way.