The Chase is on in NASCAR circles and the most exciting part of the season is underway for race car fans all across the country. After the first 26 races were in the books, the field was filtered down to the top 10 drivers in the point standings plus two wild card spots… you have to have wild cards, right?
And then there is Jeff Gordon who will be participating in the Chase this year as a 13th driver thanks to a decision by NASCAR officials based on the raw deal that ended up knocking Gordon out of the top ten during the final laps at Richmond.
The Chase has never had 13 drivers involved before but there is a first time for everything and Jeff Gordon got some degree of justification at Chicagoland when he came back from being a lap down to finish in the top 10. As a matter of fact, the number 24 car finished 6th.
Even with a fifth place finish at Chicagoland, Jimmie Johnson, in the number 48 car, remains the favorite to take the Sprint Cup once again. Actually, finishing 5th was a big improvement over Johnson’s previous 4 races where his best finish was 28th place. But Jimmie is always a favorite with bettors… as he has been for years.
The second race of the final 10 race series takes place up in New England at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH. Known as the “Magic Mile”, the oval track is 1.058 miles around. Speedway Motorsports now owns and operates the track which is only one of eight major NASCAR tracks in their stable.
Jeff Gordon in particular has had pretty good luck at New Hampshire with 14 top 5 finishes and 18 top 10’s. He also leads in Most Laps Completed at 9254 and Most Laps Led at 1207… but Jimmie Johnson is still the favorite this year at 9-to-2 for the Sylvania 300 on Sunday.
Leading the Chase competition going into New Hampshire is young Matt Kenseth with 2063 points who is closely followed by Kyle Bush with 2055, Jimmie Johnson with 2052 and Kevin Harvick with 2048.
In the middle we find Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch tied with 2040 points with Jeff Gordon sniffing at their heels with 2039 followed by Ryan Newman with 2035.
Rounding out the field are Clint Bowyer with 2035 points and a tie at 2032 points between Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle. Next comes Joey Logano with 2011 and the ever popular Dale Earnhardt Jr. bringing up the rear with 2010 points… so far.
