The duels
Anyone know exactly what today's races mean?
Yeah, me neither.
Two races. 150 miles (60 laps) each. All to see if (lemme get this straight) Kevin LePage or Larry Foyt can make Sunday's race.
Oooookay ...
Who's in and who's on the bubble after the jump ...
Who's in the 500, according to NASCAR:
*The top 35 in owner points from last season
*The fastest 4 not in the first group from Sunday's qualifying; past champions who get a pass into the 500 count in this group
*The top 2 finishers not in the first group in each of today's two qualifying races
So ... (thanks to this newspaper's site; I can't find this list anywhere else, and it seems accurate:
Top 35 in 2005 owner points (they're in): Greg Biffle, Dave Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Green, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Sterling Marlin, Mark Martin, Jeremy Mayfield, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Joe Nemechek, Ryan Newman, Kyle Petty, Elliott Sadler, Ken Schrader, Brent Sherman, Reed Sorenson, Tony Stewart, David Stremme, Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers, Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley.
Three fastest Sunday qualifiers (they're in): Bill Elliott (9th in Sunday's qualifying), Travis Kvapil (18th), Hermie Sadler (19th).
Past champion (he's in): Terry Labonte (he had a little carburetor problem and ended up DQ'd and last in qualifying)
That's 39. That means there are four spots left to be decided today.
Here are your candidates:
Race 1 (top 2 in this group qualify): Andy Belmont, Chad Chaffin, Derrike Cope, Larry Foyt, Larry Gunselman, Randy LaJoie, Kevin Lepage, Paul Menard, Mike Skinner
Race 2 (top 2 in this group qualify): Stanton Barrett, Chad Blount, Robby Gordon, Carl Long, Scott Riggs, Kirk Shelmerdine, Morgan Shepard, Kenny Wallace, Mike Wallace, Scott Wimmer
Tell you what: I'd hate to be in the second race. Robby Gordon and Scott Riggs will run over something to qualify (Robby knows what it means to miss the 500 - it's a year of misery and frustration.) And Stanton Barrett will run over something because he's, well, Stanton Barrett.
More at Jayski, who makes his annual (and ultimately futile) attempt to explain who might make the race.
Comments (3)
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Rooting for Elliott, Hermie, Kvapil, Terry & Robby. I'm gonna throw up.
Posted on February 16, 2006 2:43 PM
It's definitely not a good day to be a fan of anybody who's trying to race his way in today.
Posted on February 16, 2006 2:48 PM
Hi, my name is Carrie and I am Bill Elliott's newest fan.
Posted on February 16, 2006 4:59 PM