Chase Update

By Adam Ruggiero
Love of Sports Correspondent

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

It took just one race - the first race of the Sprint Cup Chase to the Championship - to wipe clean Kyle Busch’s unbelievable season of dominance, one in which he won nearly a quarter of the races.

Busch led the Top 12 into the Chase with an 80-point lead, a result of 10 bonus points for each of his eight wins. But within the first 18 laps of the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he’d fallen from his rain-begotten pole position all the way down to ninth. He reported to his crew that something was broken on his sway-bar and it was visible on the telecast; Busch’s Camry was yawing like a jet banking into a turn.

From then on, Busch was simply fighting to salvage whatever menial points his team could manage, ultimately 66 of them thansk to a 34th-place finish.

Rowdy’s karmic misfortune, the result of a season’s worth of whining, finger-pointing and fan-taunting, was appropriately Greg Biffle’s long-awaited good fortune.

Biffle and the rest of the No.16 Roush-Fenway team have struggled weekly against mechanical breakdowns and crew miscues that have taken them out of races in which they were otherwise competitive. At Loudon, everything finally came together and the No. 16 Team closed the deal on their first win of the year, a week shy of going one full year since their previous win (Kansas).

The race itself held true to New Hampshire form - long, green-flag runs, some dicey four and five-wide racing on a track that can barely fit three, and pit strategies designed to improve track position more than the car itself.

Not an action-fest race, but definitely a quality one, with competitive racing that showed who’s in the driver’s seat for the final nine.

Here’s a rundown of the points and how each Chaser looked.

Race for the Chase Standings

1. Carl Edwards (5,220 points)

Edwards did what he had to do to capitalize on Busch’s blunders, nabbing third and showing he can points-race as well as win. The best way to end this cute little feud he and Busch have is to put the kid in the rearview and step on it.

2. Jimmie Johnson (5,220)

It’s official, Johnson’s right there with Edwards as the favorite to win this thing. He’s got all the motivation in the world: He’s racing to become the first three-peat NASCAR Cup champion since Cale Yarborough did it in the ‘70s. Johnson scooted to a second-place finish at this one-miler, and he’s got a similar track this weekend at the Monster Mile in Dover.

3. Greg Biffle (5,190)

Not much more to say here. This win was especially huge, because it proves this team is both serious and capable when it comes to winning this championship.

4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (5,170)

Junior led 79 laps early on, and it looked as though the sport’s most popular driver might start the Chase with a bang. That didn’t happen, as the No. 88 Impala fell away from Little E at the midpoint, and from there he was simply pedaling to stay up front. Still, a Top 5 is excellent, and it’s exactly what this team must continue to do if they want a shot at the Cup. I don’t think it’s enough without a win or two, though.

5. Jeff Burton (5,170)

I’m not ready to eat my words yet when it comes to Steady-B not being a serious contender for this championship, but he made one hell of a case for himself on Sunday. Burton finished fourth, one spot ahead of Earnhardt, and he did it by nudging, pushing and finally muscling the younger driver’s lesser Chevy out of the way. That’s the kind of gusto the No. 31 team lacked all year, so it’s great to see. If he keeps that up, watch out.

6. Denny Hamlin (5,148)

A nice Top 10, a nice thank you to the crew and team and a nice unmarked car brought home at the end of the day. Overall, just a really nice performance. “Nice” doesn’t win anyone anything in this game, however. In the words of Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather, Jr., “Step your game up!”

7. Tony Stewart (5,147)

Tony ran hard and ran clean, and unlike his previously ultra-dominant teammate Kyle Busch, his car didn’t break, so that’s good. Smoke and company are still missing that predatory bite that got them two championships with Gibbs Racing. I’ll continue to hold out hope this team will win no matter how they perform week to week; they’ve earned that level of respect.

8.  Kyle Busch (5,146)

Imagine my utter lack of surprise at not seeing Busch on any postrace interviews after his brash attitude had drawn reporters to his window net all year like flies to horse sh--. Well, it’s a NASCAR saying. No doubt the kid’s pretty mad after his remarkable, albeit reckless, driving pushed the entire team to the top of the mountain. Well, what goes up must come down, and Busch has done just that. Now he’s got to work for it like hasn’t had to all year.

9. Clint Bowyer (5,137)

Bowyer rolled home in 12th, neither good nor terribly bad. What do I make of his chances? I would put near one-to-one odds that he won’t win the Chase, which is why I’m a writer and not a bookie.

10. Kevin Harvick (5,134)

He finished at the bottom end of the Top 10, and in doing so basically held true to form as he has all year. It’s consistent clean finishes that got him into the thick of this Chase, but it’s those same finishes that’ll keep him back in the thick of it rather than on top of it.

11. Jeff Gordon (5,121)

Gordon may as well be a national bank, because his failures this year have wrecked thousands of hopes and damaged long-held and hard-won trust. Unfortunately, unlike banks today, he won’t be broken apart and sold off for his component parts so no one ever has to worry about his antics ever again. Oh, he finished 14th and he won’t win the Chase.

12. Matt Kenseth (5,043)

Kenseth and crew have struggled to keep their heads above water all year long, and they fought valiantly in clawing their way into the Chase. However, the No. 17 team finished 40th after being collected in a late-race wipeout. While it wasn’t his fault, his car was bad enough that he was mired among the also-ran entries who always wreck. I wasn’t even at the race and I led as many laps as he did, and my car doesn’t have a scratch on it, either. As for this Chase, Kenseth’s done.