Roush suggests 'mulligan'

HAMPTON, GA. -- Jeff Burton climbed out of his dented and damaged No. 31 Chevrolet on Sunday and addressed what happened in the Pep Boys Auto 500.

He wasn't thinking about making up ground on points leader Jimmie Johnson during that race. He was just thinking about making the most of what looked to be a bad day.

Johnson extended his points lead from 149 to 183 by virtue of not just a furious rally to second place but also an 18th-place finish by Burton and a 10th-place finish by Greg Biffle. Biffle fell to third place, behind Carl Edwards, and Burton fell from third to fourth.

None of them has much hope of catching Johnson unless disaster were to befall his next two races, taking the drama out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

So what should NASCAR do?

Jack Roush has an idea.

"It would be my suggestion as NASCAR looks at how to make this more exciting, if every team had an opportunity to throw out one race and be able to just count nine of the 10. That means you could have a mulligan and you could be able to come back from it," Roush said after the No. 99 he owns won Sunday.

Roush has a habit of making waves in Atlanta. Earlier this year, after Edwards' No. 99 Roush Fenway car was caught with a loose oil tank lid and penalized the 10 Chase bonus points he was to receive for winning in Las Vegas, Roush held a media conference at the next stop in Atlanta to defend his team's honor. After the No. 99 Roush Fenway car dominated the field for a convincing victory this past Sunday, the team was frustrated it didn't do more to close the points gap.

"Days like this for teams like ours, that have the success we've had, that's what we want to go back and think about 2008 -- think about our championship run and what it meant," Roush said. "But unfortunately I think it will come down to thinking about the broken engine parts, the ignition and the other frustrations we've had."