Spring Break
Chase For The Cup Heats Up
Nascar
Greg Sjovall
Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Sports
Two races into the Chase for the Nextel Cup and the competition for the title is about as close as it could possibly be. From first place, Jeff Gordon, to sixth place, Clint Bowyer, a mere 18 points stands in between them. Even tighter, from Gordon to fourth place Jimmie Johnson, there are only 4 points to separate the drivers.
This past Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway saw a second consecutive Chase driver win the race. Carl Edwards celebrated this week's win with his patented back flip jump from the winning car. Edwards currently occupies the third position in the Chase, however his car failed the post race inspection. While Edward's infraction is not considered a major infraction, it still could cost him up to 25 points in the standings.
Most of the other drivers in the Chase turned in solid finishes. Including Edwards, eight of the twelve Chase drivers turned in top 15 performances. So while outside of Edwards there weren't many drivers charging upwards in the standings, although a few drivers took big hits in the standings.
The Chase is similar to college football in the sense that if you are going to lose/have a bad race, you want to do it early enough to give yourself ample time to recover and maneuver back to the top. The drivers that are in this position right now are Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin. These drivers have not gotten off to the start they would have liked due to various problems on the track. Whether it has been a wreck, engine failure, or other car troubles, they have all put themselves into a deep hole. With eight races remaining, they are far from out of it, but they really need to be thinking Top 5's pretty much the rest of the way.
Next week's race at Kansas Speedways is where these drivers will have to begin their march back to the top of the pack. Unfortunately for them the top two drivers so far in the Chase standings, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, have had outstanding success in the past at Kansas. In NASCAR Nextel Cup's six year history at Kansas, Gordon and Stewart have a combined three Wins and nine Top 10s. While Gordon and Stewart have superb past results on any track on the circuit, at Kansas they both have done exceptionally well.
Aside from all the on track action going on this past week, perhaps the biggest story in NASCAR was Dale Earnhardt Jr. announcing his new sponsors and car number. Next season Junior will drive the #88 car and be sponsored by Mountain Dew Amp Energy drink and The National Guard.
Parting ways with the #8 Budweiser car and forming this new partnership only really has one certainty: merchandise sales will be up. Earnhardt Jr. was already NASCAR most marketable driver and sold the most driver apparel, now with a whole new line out you can expect him and Hendrick Motorsports to cash in. It will take some time and adjusting, but I think at the end of the day we'll get used to seeing the man behind the King of All Beers, start to 'Do the Dew'.
Greg Sjovall's NASCAR Colum Appears Every Tuesday. Contact
him at Gregory.Sjovall@UConn.edu.
This past Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway saw a second consecutive Chase driver win the race. Carl Edwards celebrated this week's win with his patented back flip jump from the winning car. Edwards currently occupies the third position in the Chase, however his car failed the post race inspection. While Edward's infraction is not considered a major infraction, it still could cost him up to 25 points in the standings.
Most of the other drivers in the Chase turned in solid finishes. Including Edwards, eight of the twelve Chase drivers turned in top 15 performances. So while outside of Edwards there weren't many drivers charging upwards in the standings, although a few drivers took big hits in the standings.
The Chase is similar to college football in the sense that if you are going to lose/have a bad race, you want to do it early enough to give yourself ample time to recover and maneuver back to the top. The drivers that are in this position right now are Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin. These drivers have not gotten off to the start they would have liked due to various problems on the track. Whether it has been a wreck, engine failure, or other car troubles, they have all put themselves into a deep hole. With eight races remaining, they are far from out of it, but they really need to be thinking Top 5's pretty much the rest of the way.
Next week's race at Kansas Speedways is where these drivers will have to begin their march back to the top of the pack. Unfortunately for them the top two drivers so far in the Chase standings, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, have had outstanding success in the past at Kansas. In NASCAR Nextel Cup's six year history at Kansas, Gordon and Stewart have a combined three Wins and nine Top 10s. While Gordon and Stewart have superb past results on any track on the circuit, at Kansas they both have done exceptionally well.
Aside from all the on track action going on this past week, perhaps the biggest story in NASCAR was Dale Earnhardt Jr. announcing his new sponsors and car number. Next season Junior will drive the #88 car and be sponsored by Mountain Dew Amp Energy drink and The National Guard.
Parting ways with the #8 Budweiser car and forming this new partnership only really has one certainty: merchandise sales will be up. Earnhardt Jr. was already NASCAR most marketable driver and sold the most driver apparel, now with a whole new line out you can expect him and Hendrick Motorsports to cash in. It will take some time and adjusting, but I think at the end of the day we'll get used to seeing the man behind the King of All Beers, start to 'Do the Dew'.
Greg Sjovall's NASCAR Colum Appears Every Tuesday. Contact
him at Gregory.Sjovall@UConn.edu.
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