NASCAR: Tracking The Race to The Chase With Two Races To Go

August 26, 2010

Following Bristol, the Chase is looking towards being set in stone with the top 12 drivers.

Currently, the battle looks as follows:

Pos	Name	Total Points	Points Separation
8.	No. 17 Matt Kenseth	3095	+175
9.	No. 48 Jimmie Johnson	3077	+157
10.	No. 2 Kurt Busch	3073	+153
11.	No. 16 Greg Biffle	3055	+135
12.	No. 33 Clint Bowyer	2920	+100
13.	No. 1 Jamie McMurray	2820	-100
14.	No. 5 Mark Martin	2819	-101
15.	No. 39 Ryan Newman	2802	-118
16.	No. 9 Kasey Kahne	2784	-136
17.	No. 00 David Reuitmann	2765	-155
18.	No. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.	2750	-170
19.	No. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya	2728	-192
20.	No. 56 Martin Truex Jr.	2660	-260

All the drivers can still either fall out or jump in as in two races, a 360 point swing is possible. So who will be in and who will be out?

A way to predict could be based off of past track performance, as shown through average finish.

Pos	Name	Avg. Finish Atlanta	Avg. Finish Richmond
10.	No. 2 Kurt Busch	18.7	17.8
11.	No. 16 Greg Biffle	15	16
12.	No. 33 Clint Bowyer	16.4	10.2
13.	No. 1 Jamie McMurray	20.9	25.2
14.	No. 5 Mark Martin	17.3	12
15.	No. 39 Ryan Newman	17.9	11.4
16.	No. 9 Kasey Kahne	16	18.2
17.	No. 00 David Reuitmann	27.3	19.4
18.	No. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.	12	13.2
19.	No. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya	18.3	23.4
20.	No. 56 Martin Truex Jr.	24.6	23.7

Based upon this, you can analyze who could possible get the most points.

Following Atlanta, Busch (+144) and Biffle (+135) would still be 10th and 11th, above Bowyer, who’d sit 12th. Behind him, Martin would be 13th, now 104 behind. After him, it’d go McMurray (-115), Newman (-139), Kahne (-136), and Earnhardt Jr. (-158). Montoya and Truex, meanwhile, would now be locked out.

Following Richmond, Busch (+230), Biffle (+230), and Bowyer (+110) would make the Chase. Behind Bowyer, it’d be Martin (-110), Newman (-127), McMurray (-160), Kahne (-160), and Earnhardt Jr. (-167).

This is obviously a guess as to what could happen as sometimes people can perform above average (win) or below (wreck) so anything and everything can happen. That is why we watch and what makes us fans.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com