This doesn’t make much sense, but: Two of NASCAR’s most talked about and most thought about drivers – Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. – entered the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with little discussion, and mostly as afterthoughts.
They were the only two Chase drivers without a win – as such, they were seeded ninth and 10th in the 12-driver Chase (per rule, 11th and 12th seeds went to the two Wild Cards, regardless of win total).
Despite a top 10 regular season finish, there were stretches where both Stewart (a two-time series champion) and Earnhardt (eight-time Most Popular Driver) looked like they would vanish from Chase consideration.
But they didn’t. And now, after the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway, both seem like legitimate championship threats. A run down for both…
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last top-five finish came in early June, over three months ago. Entering the Chase, seven of his previous nine finishes were outside the top 20.
As they ran in Richmond, there were laps where Earnhardt held just a three point advantage over 11th. The possibility of missing the Chase altogether was very real.
So his third-place finish at Chicagoland surprised many. It was his best finish in a Chase race since a runner-up at Martinsville in 2008. As far as Chase openers go, it was his best finish since 2004, when he also started with a third-place finish. He finished the season fifth in points.
Earnhardt now sits fifth in points – up from 10th – just 13 points off the lead.
Count on continued immediate success for Earnhardt. He ranks fifth in pre-race Driver Rating at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (97.1) and has two top 10s in the last three races there. He finished 15th in July’s stop at NHMS.
Tony Stewart
Stewart had never won the opening Chase race, but successful starts are the norm for Smoke. In four of the previous seven Chases, Stewart finished in the top 10. In three, he finished in the top three – including two runner-ups (one in 2005, his second championship season).
His Monday win at Chicagoland (his third at the track) drummed up a number of notable bullets…
- It catapulted him from ninth to second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. He’s now just seven points behind leader Kevin Harvick.
- He now has at least one victory in 13 consecutive seasons. Richard Petty owns the record for most consecutive seasons with a win, at 18.
- He is the 16th different winner this season, most through 27 races since 2003, and three short of the all-time record of 19.
Like Earnhardt, Stewart likely won’t slow his roll. He owns a series-best pre-race Driver Rating of 114.0 at NHMS, has two wins, and runner-up finishes in two of the last three NHMS races. He came within a couple of miles of winning last year’s New Hampshire race, only to run out of the gas with two laps remaining – while in the lead.
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