October 6, 2010
By Chuck Abrams
Greg Biffle won at Kansas, but Jimmie Johnson took over the points lead.
Have ya seen this before?
In his drive for five, Jimmie Johnson may just mark Kansas as the race where he took over the Sprint Cup points lead and never looked back. The rest of the guys will have to win consistently to overtake Johnson. And when I say guys, I mean Hamlin, Harvick and Edwards.
While on paper it looks like one of the closest Chases ever, in reality only a few drivers can really pull this off.
Johnson is coming up on some awesome tracks for him. He is pretty darned good at Fontana -- having won the last two races there. He is also a six-time winner at Charlotte and Martinsville. Gulp. Sure there is Talladega to be dealt with, but this team has shown incredible resiliency.
Starting deep in the field at Kansas after a poor qualifying effort, the 48-team got it together when it mattered most -- to finish second. And don't forget, Johnson has the best driver rating over the ten-Chase races by far.
It will take a real disaster for him to not win his fifth title now.
Denny Hamlin once again looked just OK. And that is not going to get it done to beat out Jimmie and Chad. Running just outside the top ten, heck just in the top ten, will not be enough to dethrone the four-time champ. The No. 11 team really needs to put on its game face and start winning. That is the only way to defeat Johnson for sure.
Kevin Harvick rallied to a third place finish, but he needs to regain his early season success. He cannot count on top five finishes to beat Johnson unless they are coupled with a few wins. He is capable of doing it but time is running out.
Carl Edwards has surely been stronger in the second half of the season. But he has the same problem as Harvick. He needs multiple wins and he needs them now.
Jeff Gordon might as well give up the ghost. It is obvious that there are few racers as good as he is. But his team is lacking...something. Gordon's season is like a better version of Dale Jr's. Junior may run well and then fade or finish about where he started. Gordon has been doing the same thing, just closer to the front than Junior. A win would do wonders for the former Wonder Boy, but he will have to back that up with more than one win and a lot of top five finishes, not top ten. While only 53 behind, it might as well be 153.
The rest of the guys -- posers. Sorry, but it is true.
Kurt Busch can't get it together for some reason.
Kyle Busch is an amazing talent, but he tends to drive over folks and that is starting to get a little old. He may be ticked off that Reutimann retaliated during the Chase instead of waiting 'till 2011, but would Busch have waited? Of course not. Reutimann, and others, know that next year NASCAR may put the cuffs back on and the self-policing "have at it" attitude may not be around. Plus, retaliation at a different time is just asking for scrutiny. Heck, no one wants to have their car taken to the R&D center for further inspection now do they?
Greg Biffle? Nice run but probably cannot back it up.
Jeff Burton? Wondering what went wrong at Kansas -- and all the other tracks he could have won at.
Tony Stewart should be kicking himself for some really poor race decisions and if it weren't for Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth would be sitting at the bottom as I predicted at the beginning of the Chase.
There you go -- my contenders and posers. What have you got?
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at