Good starts lead to good finishes

In all sports, a solid start is always better than the alternative, and NASCAR is no different. But, is a strong start in NASCAR absolutely critical to a team's chances of being successful over the whole season?

Statistics from the past two years paint a mixed picture, as both times five drivers in the top 12 in Cup standings after the first three events failed to make that year's Chase. It's impossible to predict which drivers will remain and which will slip out of the coveted spots by September, when the Chase field is set, but it is interesting to look at both sides of the coin, so to speak.

So far, this year's top 12 certainly offer some surprises. David Reutimann, Bobby Labonte and Micheal Waltrip are all out of the gate strong. But for me, it's Clint Bowyer who really stands out.

On the flip side are drivers outside of the top 20 who most expected to make the Chase but now have a deficit to make up in the coming months. The two most notable would be Dale Earnhardt Jr. (29th) and Mark Martin (34th).

Early-season performance affects everyone on a team – positively or negatively – be it the driver, crew chief or the guy changing the lug nuts. And as I've said many times before, any win in NASCAR is typically a product of an entire team performing nearly perfectly on a particular day.

Matt Kenseth's win in the second race of the season is a great example. Yes he arrived with a strong engine, yes his crew chief gave him a great car, yes he drove well and yes his crew had perfect pit stops. But what made the difference was having one of those four exceed all others when it mattered most, and Kenseth's pit crew came up huge. I think the added confidence gained by winning the previous week in the Daytona 500 had something to do with that.

This is the same feeling, albeit to a lesser degree, that Clint Bowyer's team members are experiencing as they sit second in the points. When a driver performs well, it carries from the crew on pit road all the way back home to the team building the cars and the engines, even as far as administration responsible for helping sell sponsorship for that particular program. After just three races, the 33 team has to be confident knowing they can compete with the best of their competitors.

I don't want to over emphasize the value a strong start has to team psychology, but in Bowyer's case it might have a multiplied affect because of his off-season transition. This young man left an established team that had earned a spot in the Chase in each of the last two seasons and headed into 2009 with a new crew chief, new team and new car number and sponsor. I guarantee there were 60 days of curiosity, anxiety, stress and emotion leading up to the season opener for this driver and team.

Much of that has abated as a result of the remarkable start by Bowyer. No longer is the concern focused on Clint and his new crew chief hitting it off, understanding one another and showing the type of leadership required to jump start a new program. Simply due to a strong start, the focus can shift to strengthening that driver/crew chief chemistry, improving an already strong crew and focusing on what it would take for this team to improve from Chase qualifier to title contender.

Mark Martin, on the other hand, has not had the start he had hoped for when he decided to join Hendrick Motorsports. He certainly didn't expect to suffer two expired engines in the first three races. And even though he has clearly run well enough to be solidly inside the top 10 in the standings if not for the engine issues, that brings little comfort to this group heading to Atlanta 34th in points.

Unlike Bowyer, the focus of Martin and the entire 5 team heading to Atlanta has to be on finishing, because 50-, 60-, 70-point days aren't going to help their cause. They need 140- and 150-point days.

Notice I didn't say 190-point days, because the focus, again, is on finishing, not winning.

I know that Mark might dispute that, and I won't suggest that he won't win or even go for it. But it's not just about Mark. It's about the guy hitting the lug nuts; the guy jacking car; it's about everybody trying so hard to be perfect and that can potentially lead to mistakes.

When you're in the position that Clint Bowyer is in and his team is in, they're going over the wall hitting five lug nuts and not even thinking about it, which is a lot easier than trying to be perfect.

Bowyer and Co. have that margin for error. They can afford to have that swing-for-the-fence attitude which, mind you, can get you in trouble, but they have the cushion to do it and even the confidence. Martin and Co. do not have that cushion.

The good news for the 5 team is they have a driver who is up for the challenge.

We won't know until the completion of race No. 26 who is in or out of this year's Chase, and we may never know if a strong start or a poor start to the season meant the difference between making and missing the postseason.

But you can bank on the fact that how you start plays a role in the pressure each individual on a team feels – whether he is steering the car, changing the tires or building the engines. It's the difference between expecting a good finish and needing a good finish. The latter always makes you feel just a little bit uneasy.