Circle the fall race at Richmond on the schedule. That's where the field for the Chase for the Championship will become final and all but the teams in the top 10--and those within 400 points of the leader--will start planning for next year.

Crew chiefs and team managers started plotting strategy before the season to prevent a shutout from the shootout. When to test, when not to test? Teams off to slow starts must use tests early because there probably won't be any point to using them during Chase races.

Ganassi Racing team manager Andy Graves says it Hill be easier to take chances once a team is locked into the top 10. But for now teams are racing with what they know. This isn't the time to test research and development cars on the track.

Currently, there are 18 teams within 400 points of first, and the top 10 is separated by 203 points. As the Richmond race, scheduled for the second Saturday in September, draws near, teams that have fallen behind Hill be desperate to close the gap.

Teams will try to make adjustments on and off the track, but nothing that surprising. When one veteran manager from a multicar organization was asked what his strategy would be if his team were just outside the bubble at Richmond, his answer was simple: "Wreck anyone else in the top 10 or at least hold them up from getting there with another teammate."

He added, "This is a whole different set of circumstances than we've ever had before, and it becomes a question of whoever adapts the fastest."

Survival of the fittest. But in the garage, winning has more to do with supply and demand than natural selection. Right now, the demand for fabricators and athletes going over the wall is higher than it ever has been. Managers have to prove to the sponsor that every effort was made to build the best cars and best possible squads for pit road.

If you think Nextel Cup teams spent an outrageous amount of money for personnel in the past, hold on to your checkbook. The price for pit crews and fabricators is going up. The top 20 cars and drivers are fairly equal, so the staff will make the difference.

This season, many organizations have tried out anyone they thought could upgrade a pit position in their search for perfect chemistry. Changes among teams in the top 10 in the last week include former N.C. State linebacker Britt Goodrich moving from the No. 01 (Joe Nemechek) to the No. 12 team to be the jackman for Ryan Newman. Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team added Shane Parsnow as its temporary rear tire changer until a full-time replacement is found.

The pit crew scramble is far from over.

"Wait until you see the recruitment phase through the garage before the final 10 (races)," Graves says. "There's nothing they (NASCAR) can do to control it"

NASCAR doesn't address hiring crews in its rulebook. There's nothing about one team borrowing another team's player. If a crew member wants to leave, it's usually better to let him go instead of hanging on to a disgruntled employee. Crew chiefs and engineers, who usually have contracts, can buy them out and move on. So personnel can jump to another team at almost any point of the season.

That doesn't happen in other sports. In baseball, for example, the non-waiver trade deadline is July 31. After that date, a club can add players only through its minor league system or in deals in which the players have been made available to all other teams on waivers. In addition, players must be on the big-league roster by August 31 to be eligible for the playoffs, though some exceptions are made for injuries.

But NASCAR teams are sure to make a run on pit crew personnel because of the Chase, and the parameters on how they do that have not been addressed by NASCAR. There never has been mention of salary caps or injured reserve. And what's to stop a large organization from putting together an in-house all-star team, drawing from all of its teams, for a driver who has secured a spot in the Chase?

"Nothing," says Dale Earnhardt Inc. technical director Steve Hmiel. "Who are the best tire guys? Who is the best jackman? You have to put all your eggs together because at that point there's only one basket."

Others in management see merit in a different approach, the idea that any change would bring dissension and spoil the team's cohesiveness. As Don Miller, a co-owner at Penske South, says: "You stick with the girl you brought to the dance."

Certainly, team members can move about within many scenarios throughout a season. NASCAR needs to set guidelines on personnel, or the bidding for bodies will lead to the demise of some teams.