The top 10
In Dustin Long's story yesterday about Jimmie Johnson, he included a fact that really jumped out at me: Johnson has 2,011 points after 13 races, the most since Ernie Irvan's 2,130 in 1994.
No doubt that Johnson has been smokin' this season: He has 3 wins, 7 top 5s and 10 top 10s. And he has led laps in six races - that's another 30 points right there (and nearly half of his margin back to Matt Kenseth in second).
Johnson's fast start highlights something else: The Chase field has been down to the minimum 10 since after the Darlington race. And that's too bad.
More after the jump ...
Last year, there were still 13 chase-eligible drivers after 13 races. The Cup guys needed 18 races (until after Chicagoland) to get it down to 10. In 2004, Junior started fast, and the chase group got down to 10 after 13 races. But a couple of more guys eligible-ized themselves (yep, that there is a made-up word) after the Michigan race when JJ passed Junior in the standings.
This season, I don't see anyone climbing to within 400 points of Johnson, especially since he has a couple month's worth of races to put the field in his rear view mirror before he goes into his annual August slide.
That's a shame. I dig the Chase and thought the 400-point rule would help keep things close. As it turns out -- and assuming there's no embrace of NFL-style parity -- there seems to be no way a driver can get to race 26 and be within 400 points of the leader and be outside of the top 10.
So: Should NASCAR consider expanding the 400-point window to 500 or even 600 (or more points)? Or should NASCAR drop the 400-point rule so it will no longer give false hope to its drivers and especially me? Or is everyone cool with where it stands now?
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