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    No More Talking, It's Time To Race

    An Opinion


    November 17, 2010

    By Chuck Abrams

    Chuck Abrams



























    It's put up or shut up time.

    After all the hype, Homestead should actually be a good race on Sunday, if anyone cares to tune in.

    After the No. 11 team trash talked the No. 48 and No. 29 last week, it looked like they were going to back up all that smack with a dominating win. But then there is this thing called racing that happened.

    After leading the most laps, and I mean the most, Mike Ford ordered Hamlin into the pits with 14 to go -- for GAS.

    Hamlin's reaction was "What the..."?

    While the others were saving gas (Johnson) or had just enough to finish (Harvick), Hamlin and Ford decided this was not the time to gamble on fuel mileage. Everyone remembers the gamble Stewart made that took him out of contention early in the Chase.

    So Hamlin gave the win to Carl Edwards while he managed to just barely hold onto the points lead heading to Miami.

    Harvick has been hanging tough every race but he has been finishing behind the other guys. Kinda hard to make up a lot of points when they finish in front of you. I think Harvick will look back on his points lead at the end of the regular season and wonder what might have been.

    In the meantime, it will be put up or shut up at Miami. No more bragging about what you did last week. This may boil down to a winner take all context -- except for Harvick. He will have to win and beat the other two pretty badly to walk away with the big prize.

    That's possible, but highly unlikely.

    But the race between Hamlin and Johnson could allow Harvick to be the king maker. If it comes down to just a few points, as both Johnson and Hamlin run well at Miami, inserting himself between the two could wind up being the difference. So really, who does Harvick dislike more, Johnson or Hamlin?

    And if anyone cares, the race for 13th place is still up for grabs.

    Mark Martin leads McMurray by 24 points for that spot. Newman is 93 back so it would be a tough row-to-hoe for him. Martin has run pretty well in the past at Miami, so you might think he is the favorite. But if anyone has shown that he can't be counted out, it is McMurray.

    Barring any major wrecks, or malfunctions the rest of the Chase looks like this:

    1st place. Denny Hamlin. He'll need every one of those 15 points though.
    2nd place. Jimmie Johnson
    3rd place. Kevin Harvick
    4th place. Carl Edwards pretty much has it sewn up.
    5th place. Jeff Gordon. Kenseth is not quite a lock for 5th. He, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch will be running for that. Only 38 points separates 4 drivers.
    6th place. Greg Biffle has 3 wins at Miami. Spolier?
    7th place. Kyle Busch
    8th place. Of the four, I like Kenseth's chances the least. 9th place. Stewart is not great at Miami but he just needs to beat Kurt Busch.
    10th place. Kurt Busch is JUST ahead of Bowyer and I think he will stay there.
    11th place. Bowyer. Sorry Jeff Burton.
    12th place. I did not see Jeff Burton here in my wildest dreams.

    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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