The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series officially launches the 2009 Chase For The Championship this Sunday, at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway,with the running of the Sylvania 300. This is the race where we’re going to get a major inkling regarding which teams are already Chase ready and who will have some work to do in the weeks ahead.
THE CHASE BREAKDOWN
The 2009 edition of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase For The Championship will feature ten races with 12 eligible teams running a total of 3,152 laps and 4,095.48 miles.
This year marks the sixth edition of the Chase. Of the 22 drivers from previous years only Jimmie Johnson has been in all six and, as we all know, he’s won three of them. In fact, it’s evident that Johnson, and his Hendrick Motorsports team, virtually owns the stats from the previous 50 Chase races. Johnson has chart leading stats that include 14 wins, 36 top ten finishes, an average finish ratio of 8.7 and a driver rating of 100.8.
This is not to imply that Johnson is going to have an easy time with his quest of winning a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR championship. There is nothing easy about winning these titles. It’s safe to assume that the likes of Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin aren’t just going to simply move aside and let Johnson pass. All of these Chase drivers will be planning on making a strong opening statement Sunday in New Hampshire and the results could turn out to be exciting.
THERE COULD ALSO BE SOME NON CHASE SPOILERS.
Chief among them will be, without question, the presence of Kyle Busch. By now it’s likely that Busch has come to terms with not being in the Chase line up. It’s also likely that he will now focus on winning more races than any driver on the Sprint Cup roster. After all there’s that other quest on his racing agenda: winning 200 plus races in NASCAR’s big three national touring series.
Yet another possible spoiler could come from a seemingly rejuvenated Richard Childress Racing. RCR recently underwent some management changes within their competition department recently and they’re already seeing early bird results. This is especially true of runs that we’ve witnessed from drivers Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer. We also need to remember that Harvick absolutely shines on a flat track like New Hampshire.
But the one RCR driver that could turn out to be a surprise spoiler is Jeff Burton who has an outstanding record at New Hampshire. Jeff Burton leads all active Sprint Cup drivers in wins with four. Burton also holds the New Hampshire record for the most laps led by a race winner. In the fall of 2000 he pulled off a feat that is extremely difficult to do. He led all 300 laps of the race. He also holds the track record for the fewest amount of laps led by a race winner. In the summer of 1999 he only needed two laps to win the race.
THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The Sylvania 300 is 300 laps/317.4 miles around the New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s 1.058 mile oval.
The race has 45 entries vying for the 43 starting berths. Ten of those entries are on the “go or go home list” meaning they are not guaranteed an automatic starting berth because they are outside of the top 35 in NASCAR’s owner’s points.
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