ESPN Sprint Cup

As NASCAR takes a schedule break for Easter, Jamie McMurray and the No. 26 Ford team will try to figure out why they've laid an egg through the first five races.

McMurray failed to make the top 35, so now he has to qualify on speed at each race until he moves up unless a points swap happens. It's a huge blow to the Roush Fenway Racing team that finished 17th in the standings last year, and even that was a disappointment.

McMurray has finished 22nd or worse in each of the first five events this year, including 40th or worse in the past two.

"It's hard to believe we are in the position we are," McMurray said. "But we'll have to figure out where we are going wrong. We'll take this off weekend and look at everything and come back for Martinsville and hopefully have a better run."

McMurray has only one top-10 finish in the past 13 races, dating back to last season. His last top-5 was his victory at Daytona last July, McMurray's first win since his 2002 victory in his second Cup start.

McMurray came to Jack Roush's team in 2006 with high hopes of becoming a championship contender. He had finished on the cusp of the Chase in 2004 (11th) and 2005 (12th) when only 10 drivers made the playoff. And he was 13th in the standings as a rookie in 2003.

But things never have clicked since he made the move to the Roush organization. Time is running out. RFR has to trim down from five teams to four by 2010.

McMurray might not make it to 2009 if things don't improve. David Ragan is the other RFR driver who isn't running with the leaders, but Ragan is 22. McMurray turns 32 in June.

Ragan, who ranks 21st in the standings, may have more upside potential. The No. 6 Ford Ragan drives is losing AAA as the sponsor after this season. Crown Royal has a long-term deal with RFR in McMurray's ride, but who says Crown Royal wouldn't move to Ragan's car?

All those things are a long way from being determined, but one thing is clear: McMurray needs to show dramatic improvement to keep his ride secure.

TMS tire talk
Goodyear officials say the tire the NASCAR teams will use at Texas Motor Speedway next month is different from the controversial tires used at Atlanta two weeks ago, but it's not exactly the same as the one used at TMS last season.

Since Texas is a similar 1.5-mile oval to Atlanta, and TMS is the next race on a fast intermediate high-banked track, no one wanted to see the Atlanta tire in the Samsung 500.

But the tires aren't identical to the ones that produced two exciting finishes at TMS last year. Here are the details from Goodyear spokesman Mike Siberini:

• Left side tires -- The compound is the same as 2007, but the construction is slightly altered to try to make the tire more responsive.

• Right side tires -- The construction is the same, but the compound is slightly harder to adjust for additional aging of the TMS asphalt.

Siberini also said that Goodyear never planned to use the Atlanta tire at TMS.

"Despite the similarities in track size and shape, the Texas tire setup -- posted by us to teams before the season started -- has always been different than Atlanta's."

A point of order
A few Cup teams may petition to swap owner's points before the March 30 race at Martinsville, but NASCAR officials should put an end to this.

Asking to swap points with a teammate before the season starts is one thing. Asking to do it five races into the schedule is entirely different.

This is another flaw of the top-35 rule. Teams can flip-flop, as Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish Jr. did to start this year, and Busch can use his past champion's provisional. Hornish and the No. 77 Dodge rank 35th at the moment, so Penske Racing doesn't need to swap again for now.

But Petty Enterprises could make the change between Bobby Labonte and Kyle Petty.

Once the season starts, drivers and team owners should have to go with what they've got. No switching points in the middle of the season.

Helio picks Kristi
IndyCar Series driver Helio Castroneves, the defending "Dancing With The Stars" champ, is picking figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi to win the 2008 spring edition of the TV show. He said he believes the 1992 Olympic gold medalist will benefit from her ice-skating skills.

"Right now, the early favorite is Kristi," Castroneves said. "She has the experience ice-skating that might give her an advantage. But remember, it's not only about dancing. It's the whole package."

Castroneves will be a dance competition color analyst as a regular contributor to "Entertainment Tonight," watching some of the shows with the DWTS studio audience.

Castroneves recently gave some advice to Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor, who is paired with Edyta Sliwinska.

"You think your training camp is hard?" Castroneves told Taylor. "But I told him, 'Just have fun and don't be too competitive. Just relax.'"

Almirola shines in rare shot
Dale Earnhardt Inc. may have picked the wrong guy to give the full-time seat among its young drivers. It's just one race, but Aric Almirola opened some eyes with his performance at Bristol in his 2008 debut.

Almirola finished eighth in the No. 8 Chevy, leaving some people to wonder if he should have the full-time ride this season at DEI instead of Regan Smith.

Almirola is sharing the No. 8 Impala with veteran Mark Martin. Sunday was Almirola's seventh Cup start and his first top-10.

Smith is racing every week in the No. 01 Chevy. Well, he was racing every week. Smith didn't get it done in the first five races, so now he has to qualify on time each week because he's outside the top 35.

Smith hasn't posted a top-25 showing and finished 31st or worse in the first four races this year. That leaves the 01 Chevy 39th in owner's points, losing the top-35 guaranteed spot from last season.

Almirola is scheduled to run only 12 Cup races this season. If he has a couple more outings like Sunday, look for that number to increase, possibly at Smith's expense.

The age-old question
Ryan Newman had an interesting take recently on the old (and usually tired) question of whether race car drivers are athletes.

"Are poker players athletes? Yeah, they are," Newman said. "It is a sport. Not just poker players, but anything that requires physical and mental characteristics to beat your competitors.

"If you're shooting a basketball through a hoop or driving a golf ball down a fairway, it's athleticism and therefore defines it as a sport and makes its competitors athletes. I don't think there is any sport out there that doesn't have athletes competing in it."

Newman doesn't compare himself to a marathon runner or an NBA player, but he does think driving a car at 200 mph requires athletic skill.

"Obviously, some athletes are better than others," he said. "But what we do mentally and physically behind a wheel is true athleticism. Am I in the same tip-top shape as Tiger Woods or Tom Brady? Probably not, but we are for what we do. I think it would take those guys some training to do our job just as much as we would theirs."

Let's hear it for Bourdais
Surprising stat of the week: Four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais finished ahead of defending Formula One champ Kimi Raikkonen in the F1 season opener.

Bourdais had a respectable debut, running fourth in Australia before an engine failure. He still earned two points for a seventh-place finish (one spot ahead of Raikkonen) after Rubens Barrichello was disqualified.

Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.