CHASE OF FIVE IS BARELY ALIVE.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK MOTOR SPORTS

Roush Racing did what many believed was impossible when it qualified all five of its drivers in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Chase for the Championship in 2005.

It doesn't look like history will repeat itself.

Most teams in the Cup Series have two cars, some three. Hendrick Motorsports has four. Roush Racing is the only team with five. To qualify all of them, and take half the Chase field, was an accomplishment that might never be duplicated again.

With the new mega-team rule implemented by NASCAR, limiting teams to four cars, it appears as though no other team will ever get the chance.

But duplicating its own remarkable feat has been a challenge for Roush Racing.

Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin look like locks to make the Chase this year. Greg Biffle sits precariously in 10th place. Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray are running out of time to make the Chase as the Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway for Sunday's Pennsylvania 500.

Edwards is 13th and McMurray is 17th in points. Both face the prospect of being left out of the Chase. There was talk of the two teams swapping crew chiefs in an attempt to make a late run to get all the Roush Racing teams in the Chase again. The teams did just that after slow starts this season -- Bob Osbourne went to McMurray's team and Wally Brown to Edwards'.

But Edwards said the teams are going to stay the way they are -- at least for the Pocono race.

``Either guy would be great, but right now, change for either of us may set us back farther than any long term benefits to the change,'' said Edwards.

Edwards said he wasn't a big fan of the switch when it happened in April. But now that he has had time to work with Brown, he said the team is improving.

``We've worked really hard and ... Wally hasn't made any mistakes,'' Edwards said. ``He's done a great job and it just doesn't seem like changing back just to change back is the right thing to do.''

Edwards won at Pocono a year ago.

Edwards doesn't exactly need a win at Pocono, but a good showing would get him in contention for a Chase spot.

With only seven races to go before the Chase begins, Edwards and McMurray have a lot of work to do if they want to continue the Roush Racing history of getting every driver in the Chase.

Not winning is working for Michels

Rip Michels has led three races this year and won the pole for the most recent race on the NASCAR Elite Division, Southwest Series, race.

It has been enough to put him in the lead in the Southwest Series standings, but he is still seeking the first win of his career.

``I think we could have won two or three races,'' Michels said. ``I think it's just a matter of timing. It's better than being second in points and not winning a race.''

Michels (No. 12 below) led the races at Shasta Raceway Park, Colorado National Speedway and Altamont Motorsports Park. He won the pole for Saturday night's race at Stockton 99 Speedway, but an inverted start put him eighth and he never got to the front.

Michels finished fourth at the track he considers the worst for him on the Southwest Series schedule.

``It's my weakest track out of all of them,'' said Michels, who lives in Mission Hills. ``The pole was a big deal for us.''

The next race on the Southwest Series schedule is Aug. 12 at Irwindale Speedway, where Michels is the winningest driver in track history. But all of his wins at

Irwindale came in the NASCAR Grand American Modified and Super Late Model divisions.

Michels' team is preparing a new car to debut at the Irwindale race and he said his team is doing everything it can to give him another winning car at Irwindale.

``The team's motivated,'' Michels said. ``I don't think this team -- if they're going to get beat, they're going to get beat swinging.''

NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series: The last time the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series, was at Irwindale Speedway, Andrew Myers won the second-closest race in track history.

Myers beat Eric Holmes by 0.016 seconds when the West Series made its first visit of the season to Irwindale Speedway in May.

Myers and Holmes are expected to return to Irwindale for Saturday night's King Taco 200, the seventh race of the 12-race West Series schedule.

``That was the most disappointed I've ever been,'' said Holems, a 31-year-old driver from Escalon. ``I was really upset. I thought I had him. I actually thought there was one more lap to go when we came to the white (flag). I just ran out of time. I was very, very disappointed, knowing I had a good car at the end of that race and to come up six or eight inches short.''

Qualifying for the King Taco 200 starts at 4:30 p.m. The race starts at 8p.m.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1) Nextel Cup series driver Carl Edwards will work for crew chief Wally Brown for at least one more week, but might end up switching back to Bob Osbourne, with whom he started the season, in an effort to improve his standings in the points race.

Joel Page/Associated Press

(2) MICHELS

(3) no caption (No. 12 car)

Box:

(1) THIS WEEK

(2) Etc.