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BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Car owner Richard Childress admits this has been a tough season with only one of his drivers in the top 15 in points a year after three of them finished in the top six. One way to improve that, he says, is that his teams need to be more aggressive with their race strategy.

Kevin Harvick placed fourth in the points last year with Clint Bowyer fifth and Jeff Burton sixth.

This year, Harvick enters today's race at Michigan International Speedway 26th with Bowyer 16th and Jeff Burton 10th. Casey Mears, who joined the team before this year when it expanded to four teams, is 21st.

"They've been running good," Childress says. "A lot of it has just been making some choices on track position. Track position is so big today, and you've got to gamble. We've always been a pretty conservative company, and I think that we're just going to have to gamble a little more for track positions."

He also says not being able to test has played a role in the team's struggles. Simulation testing can show what will happen on a track but it's still not like being there and that's something some teams have struggled with at times.

"We did everything we could this winter &ellipses; to try to come back and beat everybody," Childress said.

Already this season, Childress has swapped crew chiefs and crew members between Harvick and Mears.

"I think before the year is over, you'll see our cars right back where they belong," Childress said.

HEAVILY PENALIZED: A study of NASCAR's penalty reports, issued after each race, shows that Robby Gordon has been penalized a series-high 17 times this season.

Many of the penalties Gordon has had -- and other drivers also -- is for pitting before pit road is open. That's common because drivers in incidents often will pit when pit road is closed to begin repairs. Have problems early in a race and a driver might enter the pits early several times, incurring a penalty that forces him to restart at the tail end of the longest line of cars on the track each time.

Behind Gordon in receiving the most penalties are: Aric Almirola (11 penalties), Sam Hornish Jr. (10), David Reutimann (10), David Stremme (10), Michael Waltrip (10) and Kevin Harvick (10).

Among other drivers: Jimmie Johnson has been penalized seven times, Dale Earnhardt Jr. six times, Carl Edwards six times, Denny Hamlin six times, Kyle Busch five times, Jeff Gordon three times, Mark Martin twice and Tony Stewart once.

Another area where drivers are often penalized is for speeding on pit road. Sometimes drivers speed to reach the exit of pit road before the pace car reaches that point on the track to stay on the lead lap. Other times, drivers are just caught going too fast.

Busch, Reed Sorenson and John Andretti have each been penalized a series-high four times for speeding on pit road.

Hornish, Harvick and Bobby Labonte are next with three speeding penalties.

PIT STOPS: Mark Martin was the fastest in the final practice session with a lap of 185.257 mph. He was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (185.042 mph), pole-sitter Brian Vickers (184.985), Greg Biffle (184.686) and Clint Bowyer (184.639).

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com