The Chase
Tonight's Busch race, as good as it is on its own merits, is just a warm-up act for Saturday's main event.
Dustin set up the Chase in today's paper. He'll have more, of course, in Saturday's N&R. And here is the handy chart that ran with today's story:
IN THE CHASE
Drivers competing for the final spots for the championship chase this weekend at Richmond International Raceway:
Rank, Driver Points From 10th Did you know?
7. Jeremy Mayfield 3,073 +144 Clinches a spot by finishing 39th or better Saturday.
8. Carl Edwards 3,014 +85 Clinches with 19th or better; average short track finish is 27.3.
9. Matt Kenseth 2,939 +10 One top-10 in the first 12 races; nine top-10s in the last 13.
10. Jamie McMurray 2,929 -- Has led one lap all year, which has cost him bonus points.
11. Ryan Newman 2,928 -1 Has one top-15 finish in last five races.
12. Jeff Gordon 2,899 -30 Six DNFs are most races he's failed to finish since 1999.
13. Elliott Sadler 2,877 -52 Has outscored every driver on short tracks this year.
14. Dale Jarrett 2,812 -117 Winless in last 95 starts.
And now for the question that's on all of your minds is ... who do I think is going to make it?
I think it'll shake out like this:
Mayfield's in. Even if he finishes 42nd, there'll be too much nuttiness going on behind him to knock him out.
Edwards? I don't like his chances after watching him take out half the field at Bristol. But Backflip Boy will probably make it.
Kenseth? Yep. He was terrible early on, but he's on a short list of one for Comeback of the Year. I've been really impressed by his late-season rally.
And the last guy in is ... Jeff Gordon.
Why? Because he's four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, and if anyone can do something spectacular under pressure, it's him.
If I ever own a Cup car that needs qualifying, I'm going to call Ryan Newman. But his M.O this year has been to start out front and slide back through the field. There's not much clean air at Richmond (and it's not just because of the grease from all the grills at the Fairgrounds), so he's not going to make it.
Sorry, Jamie McMurray, but you're forever going to be known as Mr. 11th place.
Sadler and Jarrett have too many drivers between them and 10th place.
So that's it. Expect those picks to look stupid on Sunday morning, but, hey, I'm blogging with the equipment that I brought to the Internet this morning. (Whatever that means - it sounds profound somehow.)
Elsewhere:
The Scotsman is an agnostic at this point. Diecast Dude seems to think Gordon can beat McMurray. (I definitely agree with him that Richmond is the "perfect track.") Jaynelle at Track Talk is peeved at Gordon, her guy.
P.S. Marc at Full Throttle has lap-by-lap coverage of last night's IROC race. I missed the race, so thanks for the report.
Comments (2)
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I don't doubt Kenseth's bid, I'd say it's in the bag... McMurray probably isn't, Newman or Gordon. toss a blanket over them and call me when the beatings stop.. the survivor... I'll say Newman..Sadler's going to golf course with his teammate, and Nemechek's, like Harvick..out .... and this at 7:00 PM Saturday before racetime.
Posted on September 10, 2005 6:56 PM
Well, I obviously blew it with Gordon. He was terrible again all Saturday night in a way that was more Robby Gordon than Jeff Gordon.
I was absolutely right about McMurray. The worst part about it, Benny Parsons has just learned to pronounce his name. A shame he won't be in the chase just for that reason.
So I guess I'll call the whole pick-'em thing even.
Posted on September 11, 2005 11:46 AM