Week 4: Chase Standings Tighten As Series Heads West
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings started with drivers bunched closely together points-wise. Three races into the Chase, little has changed.
Going into Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway, the man everyone is trying to catch continues to be Mark Martin (No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet), as he is 18 points ahead of second-place, Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet), the three-time defending series champion. Martin has posted a series-leading and career-high seven poles plus five victories.
But don’t be fooled, the rest of the top 12 are not letting Martin just walk away with the title.
A total of 190 points separate first place to 11th in the Chase standings, and only 99 points separate first to sixth – the closest points margin after the first three races of the Chase since the format’s inception in 2004.
And to boot, three different Chase contenders have won the first three races of the Chase – (Martin, New Hampshire; Johnson, Dover; and Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet), Kansas).
“It just shows that you’re going to have to be on for 10 weeks to win this thing, and if you have a bad day, there’s going to be guys that are going to capitalize on it,” said Stewart.
This weekend, Auto Club Speedway welcomes its inaugural Chase race, and returning race winner Johnson could benefit. Johnson is tied with Gordon and Matt Kenseth (No. 17 R&L Carriers Ford) for a series-high three wins at ACS.
Stewart Working Two Jobs And Climbing The Standings
Of all the top 12 Chase contenders this season one of them has had a little more on his plate than the rest. Tony Stewart co-owns Stewart-Haas Racing and also drives the No. 14, and has been able to do both while competing for this season’s championship.
Stewart heads to California this week coming off a win at Kansas Speedway that moved him up one spot in the Chase standings to fourth and closed the points gap behind Mark Martin to 67-points. Stewart has posted four wins, 14 top fives and 20 top 10s this season with the help of his crew chief Darian Grubb.
“We knew going into the Chase it was a must win situation,” said Grubb. “You’re going to have to win races against these competitors (top 12 contenders).”
Stewart heads to Auto Club Speedway this weekend having posted three top fives and eight top 10s. He has yet to win at the 2-mile track, but Stewart and Grubb are much more optimistic this time around at Auto Club Speedway,
“We were still just learning each other going into California in the spring,” said Stewart. “We’ve had time to make mistakes and make decisions that worked for me, and that’s something that will help us definitely. I’m anticipating California a lot more this time than in the spring.”
Loop Data Says: Montoya Remains In Thick Of Title Contention
The career year, as far as NASCAR is concerned, continues for Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Target Chevrolet).
Last Sunday at Kansas, Montoya scored a fourth-place finish, his career-best at the 1.5-mile track. That made Kansas the 14th track at which Montoya has posted a career-best finish in 2009.
In other words, past statistics for this weekend’s race at Auto Club Speedway might not be the best analysis tool. Prior to this season, Montoya struggled at the track.
In February, Montoya finished 11th, his best career Auto Club finish in five races. Prior to that, he averaged a 24.8.
His overall Auto Club numbers aren’t less than impressive: Driver Rating of 68.4 (23rd-best), Average Running Position of 20.1 (21st), one Fastest Lap Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 41.4%.
But his February run might be more indicative of how he’ll run this Sunday in the Pepsi 500. That race, Montoya had a Driver Rating of 90.5, an Average Running Position of 10.8 and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 98.4%.
Montoya, third in points, owns some of the top statistics over the first three races, suggesting that his 51-point deficit to leader Mark Martin might vanish sooner than later. Over the first three races, Montoya is the only driver to notch three top fives. Over that span, he has an average finish of 3.7 (second-best), a Driver Rating of 122.2 (second), an Average Running Position of 4.6 (second) and a series-best Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 99.4%.
On the other side of the “career year” coin is Carl Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford). Edwards, though enjoying a solid season, has fallen far off from winning a series-high nine races in 2008.
Edwards is still looking for his first victory, but Auto Club Speedway seems like the perfect spot. For one, his Roush Fenway Racing team has won at least one race in Fontana in each of the last five seasons (the outfit prolonged the streak earlier this season with Matt Kenseth’s victory).
Secondly, Edwards is strong there. In his 10 career races at Auto Club Speedway, Edwards has finished in the top 10 nine times. Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Edwards has outstanding statistics: a Driver Rating of 105.0, an Average Running Position of 10.8, 139 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 79.1%.
Edwards won there in last season’s spring race, notching a Driver Rating of 135.4, his best at Auto Club Speedway.
Montoya’s Making Mark In NASCAR
Juan Pablo Montoya has scored a career-best finish at 14 different tracks this season, including Auto Club Speedway, site of this Sunday’s Pepsi 500. Below are those finishes:
Date Track Finish 9/6/2009 Atlanta 3 2/22/2009 Auto Club 11 3/22/2009 Bristol 9 7/11/2009 Chicago 10 5/9/2009 Darlington 20 7/4/2009 Daytona 9 9/27/2009 Dover 4 10/4/2009 Kansas 4 5/25/2009 Lowe's 8 6/14/2009 Michigan 6 8/3/2009 Pocono 2 9/20/2009 New Hampshire 3 5/2/2009 Richmond 10 4/5/2009 Texas 7
On The Rebound: Biffle And Gordon Continue To Dig
Slow starts in racing can lead to finishing last. This season Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford) and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) started off slow in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, but have spent the last three weeks building momentum and climbing back into contention.
Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon finished second at Kansas to move up into seventh in the points standings 103-points behind the standings leader Mark Martin.
Gordon has posted one win (Texas) and 13 top fives this season, and is tied with Tony Stewart for a series leading 20 top-10 finishes.
“Right now we’ve got to focus on our team and our program and our finishes,” said Gordon. “We got a little bit behind in New Hampshire, and now we’ve got to make sure that’s the worst finish that we have in the Chase. That’s the only chance that we have, and that’s asking a lot, but that’s now our goal. It’s the position we put ourselves in,“ said Gordon.
Gordon heads to Auto Club Speedway tied with Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth for the series most wins at the 2-mile track with three (1997, 1999, 2004), and has posted nine top fives, nine top 10s and two poles in 18 starts.
Biffle has had the tallest ladder to climb this season, after being seeded 12th coming into the Chase, and climbed he has.
Biffle is eighth in the Chase standings 114-points behind Martin. He has posted nine top fives and fourteen top 10s this season.
In the first three races of the Chase, Biffle has finished in the top-10 twice.
“We’re sure excited to be running good again and especially going to some tracks we like, like California,” said Biffle. “I’m having the time of my life, I know that.”
Biffle won at Auto Club Speedway in 2005, and has also posted four top fives, and four top 10s in 13 starts.
Matt Kenseth Has Opportunity To Pull Off Career First Sweep At Auto Club Speedway
Leaving Fontana, California this season back in the spring most people had named Matt Kenseth and Drew Blickensderfer as the hottest driver/crew chief duo in the garage after having started the season off 2-0. But the dream of being on top was short lived, especially when the team failed to make the Chase at Richmond International Raceway.
But all is not lost, Kenseth and Blickensderfer have a chance to sweep Auto Club Speedway’s two races this season.
Kenseth tied Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson for a series high most wins at Auto Club Speedway with three after his win there earlier this season.
If Kenseth does win, he would be the first driver not in the Chase this season to win a Chase race which would make him the “The Spoiler.”
Besides Kenseth’s three wins, he has posted seven top fives and eleven top 10s in 15 starts.
If Kenseth is able to win this weekend it will be his first sweep at a track in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition.
Kenseth is currently 14th in the standings having posted two wins, five top fives and 10 top 10s this season.
