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Don’t expect any drama at the Sprint Cup race this weekend at Richmond, which will set the field for the Chase for the championship.
The mostly meaningless part of the NASCAR season will come to an end Saturday when the select 12 drivers will battle for the championship. Except for wins during the first 26 races of the year, the remainder of the season is thrown out for the 12 drivers in the Chase.
No matter what NASCAR tries in terms of generating excitement over the final 10 weeks of the season, it won’t matter. The casual fan already has tuned out racing in favor of college and pro football.
Ten drivers are guaranteed a spot in the Chase, no matter what happens at Richmond. When the points are reset Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin are locked in.
There will be lots of hype on how drivers can battle their way into the Chase field at Richmond. It’s not going to happen.
Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer could be knocked out of a Chase position, but it is not likely to happen. Ryan Newman trails Bowyer by 117 points, Jamie McMurray is 128 points back and Mark Martin is 147 markers behind.
If Newman were to win at Richmond and lead the most laps, Bowyer still would only have to finish 28th to ensure a spot in the Chase.
NASCAR is talking about making changes in the Chase format for 2011, maybe increasing the field to 16. They might as well expand the Chase field to 43 and throw out all the points for the first 26 races.
The reality is if a team doesn’t make the Chase, it had a dismal season. Take the case of McMurray. He wins the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, but when looking back at the 2010 season it will be noted that he failed to qualify for the Chase. His winning the two biggest races of the year will be noted when NASCAR returns for those events next year.
Stewart broke a 31-race losing streak at Atlanta Motor Speedway and is now being called the front-runner for the championship by some in the national media.
“Smoke” has one win compared to five for Johnson and Hamlin. So when the points are reset he will no longer be sitting in the fourth spot, but somewhere south of that.
Johnson has won four consecutive NASCAR titles and admittedly has struggled at times this season. But the Lowe’s team is masterful when it comes to the Chase, and the fact that most races are contested on 1.5-mile tracks plays into its advantage.
The Lowe’s team still has to be considered the favorite to repeat followed by Harvick and Kyle Busch.
