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Long Live The 'Chase' Spoilers

An Opinion


October 20, 2010

By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams



























Jimmie Johnson did not win at Charlotte. He merely came in third again. Which extends his lead, little by little, over the rest of the drivers chasing him to Homestead. Jamie McMurray on the other had, had a great race and stole the limelight from the Chase teams. All in all, that is not a bad thing.

With declining TV viewership and track attendance, maybe seeing a bunch of non-Chase drivers start winning will be the thing to stem the decline. Or maybe not. But at the least it could make things interesting.

As the Cup series returns to Martinsville for the last short track race of the season (albeit Phoenix drives like a short track), playing spoiler may be tough for the non-Chase drivers. Hamlin, Gordon and Johnson are all past winners here and this trio has teamed up to win 11 of the past 12 races here. Put that in fantasy pipe and smoke it.

Go a little deeper into the history mailbag and you can count them for 13 of the last 15.

Weather can always be a factor.

Three of the past four qualifying efforts have been rained out which means the field starts by points. Which means that Johnson and Hamlin start on the pole. Good luck with track position that day sister.

But all that aside, the distance between Johnson and the posers has been extended. Jeff Gordon and Stewart had issues that ruined their days.

The No. 14 team never really found the handle on the car and had some pit road issues. Gordon also had pit issues after his car lost all electrical power and it took him several seconds to switch to his secondary power source. By that time, he was a lap down. Gordon fell to 156 markers behind leader Johnson and Stewart fell into a tie with Kyle Busch.

A late phantom caution (OK, we saw the debris and it looked like a paper cup in the lower racing groove) brought the field together while Kyle Busch was leading.

The normally strong Busch lost the restart to McMurray who drove away leaving Kyle to fend off Johnson for second place. That finish vaulted to Kyle up four positions to fifth place - and 177 points behind Johnson. Greg Biffle had a decent race and moved up two places to eighth -- and still 225 behind Johnson. Contrast that with Johnson spinning out earlier in the race, avoiding the wall and climbing back up into contention to challenge for the win the rest of the night. What does that say about the 48 team?

That is overcoming adversity and plain old racing luck. I have been accused recently of being a big Johnson promoter. But I am just telling it the way it is folks, and a lot of you don't want to hear it.

And I can't say I blame you. But with the Chase set up the way it is, things just seem to be falling Johnson's way. He has a 108.5 driver rating at Martinsville. Jeff Gordon is second at 102.4. Hamlin is fifth at 94.9 .

This could be a long race for anyone but the 48 fans.

Let me know your thoughts.

Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.








Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at Insider Racing News.
You Can Read Other Articles By Chuck Abrams

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.

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