Seven things we’ve learned in the first seven races of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup season:

1. It’s not the Charger

Kasey Kahne’s two victories, at Atlanta and Texas, have come at the kind of tracks where Dodge teams struggled in traffic in the first year of using the Charger as their racing model.

Casey Mears is also holding down a spot in the top 10 for Chip Ganassi Racing, which like Kahne’s Evernham Motorsports team has kept its focus on working to make their Chargers better rather than falling back on their 2004 Intrepids.

Dodge has finally decided to end the “experimentation” with the older cars, telling Penske South and Petty Enterprises that it’s time to get with the program.

Kahne has finished worse than 11th only once, and that was at Martinsville where he was running strong before losing an engine. More than anything else, that shows that a team can get the job done with a Charger.

2. Some things change …

Last year, Greg Biffle came firing out of the gate with two victories and five top-10 finishes, and he was never lower than sixth in the standings the rest of the way. Roush Racing teammate Carl Edwards wasn’t quite that hot early, but at no point was he outside the top 15 in the standings.

Kurt Busch, in no. 2, collides with Greg Biffle during the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

A lot has been said already this year about how the breaks have “evened out,” and that some of the things that went their way a year ago have gone against them this year. That’s true, but a big part of making the Chase for the Nextel Cup is salvaging decent finishes on days when things go against you.

It’s not too late for either or both to recover. Matt Kenseth made the Chase last year despite having nine finishes of 25th or worse in the first 26 races. Edwards and Biffle have four each so far.

3. … Some things don’t

Jimmie Johnson started the 2005 season with seven straight finishes of eighth or better, including a victory. This year, he had one misstep at Bristol, but he’s won twice and once again is atop the standings in the early going.

Johnson hasn’t been out of the top 10 since the Atlanta race in March 2004.

That’s consistency.

4. Busch rhymes with “boo”

That’s what Kurt Busch said after another victory at Bristol, where it doesn’t seem to matter much what car he’s in. After winning four times in five races there for Roush Racing, he came back this year to win in the Penske South Dodge.

Robby Gordon is 27th in the Nextel Cup points race.

Busch bumped Kenseth out of the groove en route to the lead in that race. He then rapped Jeff Burton in the rear at Martinsville and was involved in a crash that put Biffle in the garage at Texas.

That resume has allowed Kurt to supplant his younger brother, Kyle, as the No. 1 object of anger in the sport these days. Kyle started the season in that role, and frankly it got to a point where he was being blamed for things he really had very little to do with. Don’t be surprised if that starts happening to Kurt, too.

5. The Busch Series? What Busch Series?

Nextel Cup has the weekend off for Easter, but plenty of guys who make their main living in that series will be in action in the “stand-alone” Busch race at Nashville. Too many, in fact, for some who believe the second-tier series is now nothing more than “Cup Lite.”

What’s to be done? Track operators will tell you they need stars to sell tickets. But how can the Busch Series make its own stars if Cup drivers win all of its races? Where do young drivers go to learn how to win in stock cars these days? How do teams that want to run the Busch Series get sponsors when Cup teams gobble them all up?

We know only that these will be difficult questions to answer.

6. Tempers are raw

It’s not unusual for there to be a few incidents between drivers and/or crews after Nextel Cup races, like the shove Jeff Gordon gave Kenseth at Bristol.

This is a tough business, and the pressure to perform, especially early in the season, has been ramped up by the Chase. You’ve got to get the job done in 26 races or the final 10 are just glorified tests for next year.

But you know things are really getting tense when girlfriends (e.g. Biffle’s) and fiancees (e.g. Kurt Busch’s) square off.

7. Robby Gordon needs a good luck charm

Gordon has nearly twice as many points at this stage as he did last year, and this time he’s well inside the top 35 in the standings so unless the bottom falls out, he’s going to make the race each week – a guarantee he did not enjoy last season.

That having been said, Gordon would be in much better shape if caution flags didn’t keep coming out right after he makes a green-flag stop and if NASCAR officials hadn’t had rabbit ears and penalized him for criticizing them at Bristol.

Gordon’s fortunes have been so ill-timed that if the breaks even out, Gordon’s certainly in line for a run of good breaks.