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The NASCAR championship playoffs will be on what most of the race teams consider as their “home” field this weekend in Charlotte. The 500-mile run will also mark the last Saturday night event for the Nextel Cup drivers this season.

When the checkered flag waves at the end of the Charlotte event it will mark the halftime for the ten-race Chase for the Cup. Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Miami will be the five destinations left in the NASCAR battle of bragging rights for 2007.

The flip-flopping of the top position on the playoff scoreboard continued following Talladega. Jeff Gordon has a nine-point lead over his teammate Jimmie Johnson this week. The two drivers have swapped the top spot back and forth each week since the beginning of the Chase races at New Hampshire.

Clint Bowyer advanced into third place in the Chase after Talladega and knocked Tony Stewart down to fourth. Stewart has fallen 154 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

The first three positions are separated by less than 100 points, but the last three are now 300 or more points behind.

Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton are on the bottom of the Chase list now and they need Gordon, Johnson and Bowyer to experience some bad luck soon or the chance for the Chase will be over for them early.

Jeff Gordon’s rise to the top has been helped by the bonus points he has accumulated. Gordon has earned 130 bonus markers for leading laps in 20 of the 30 events this season. He has also led the most laps in six of those events.

Tony Stewart has 120 bonus points for leading laps. He and Kurt Busch are the only drivers with more than 100 bonus points. Busch has collected 110 points for leading laps in 17 events.

The old-style racecar will be featured in the Saturday night race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. There are only two Car of Tomorrow races left on the schedule. The new cars will run at Martinsville and Phoenix this year and then be mandated for all events in 2008.

Jimmie Johnson has the best marks among active drivers at the 1.5-mile speedway at Charlotte. Johnson has won five of the last nine races there. He swept both Charlotte races in 2004 and 2005.

Johnson’s teammate, Jeff Gordon, has four Charlotte wins. Gordon’s victories were in 1999, 1998, 1997 and 1994.

Mark Martin has also accumulated four wins at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Martin’s checkered flags were in 2002, 1998, 1995 and 1992.

Dale Jarrett has registered three Charlotte wins in 1994, 1996 and 1997.

The two-time winners at Charlotte include Jeff Burton, Bill Elliott, Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte.

Casey Mears (2007), Tony Stewart (2003), Jamie McMurray (2002), Sterling Marlin (2001), Matt Kenseth (2000), Ken Schrader (1989) and Kyle Petty (1987) are the one-time winners at Charlotte.

The top-five finishers of the May Coca-Cola World 600 were Casey Mears, J.J. Yeley, Kyle Petty, Reed Sorenson and Brian Vickers.

Fifteen drivers traded the lead 30 times during the 400-lap run. Saturday night’s race will be 334 laps.

Kurt Busch collected the bonus points for leading the most laps in the May race. The No. 2 was scored leader 107 times before he crashed and finished 32nd.

Jimmie Johnson led 83 laps on his way to collecting tenth-place pay and Brian Vickers was out front for 76 laps in the event.

The only other drivers leading more than five laps of the May race were Tony Stewart (55), Matt Kenseth (50), Ryan Newman (10) and race-winner Casey Mears (6).

There were 13 caution flag incidents at Charlotte in May. Last year’s 400-mile race had ten yellow flags thrown and took just over three hours and 47 minutes to complete.

Scott Riggs was the pole winner for the May race with a qualifying lap of 191.469 miles-an-hour. The time trials for Saturday’s race will be held Thursday night with the ESPN2 network providing live coverage at 7:00 p.m.

The Busch Series race is scheduled for Friday night in Charlotte.

Georgia Boys: Peachtree City’s Reed Sorenson continued his hot streak of top-ten finishes at Talladega. Reed registered his fifth top-ten finish of the season in Alabama last weekend. He started 28th and finished tenth in the Talladega race. He is ranked 23rd in the Nextel Cup point standings.

Reed would lose 25 of the points he earned in Talladega after a post-race inspection showed the No. 41 did not meet front end height requirements. His crew chief was also fined $25,000 for the infraction.

The mix of the Car of Tomorrow and Talladega didn’t work out so well for David Ragan. The Unadilla driver started 42nd and finished 34th, following a crash on lap 146. Ragan is still 23rd on the point chart with just six events left in his rookie season.

The two Georgia drivers in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega finished bumper-to-bumper. Fayette County’s Joey Clanton finished 19th and Shane Sieg, of Tucker, crossed the line right behind in 20th.

Saturday’s WSB 120 racing program will air from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Newstalk 750 WSB Radio and www.wsbradio.com. For more race information visit our Fastcar Newsdesk at www.captainherb.net.