On paper, the favorites seem apparent going into Saturday night’s Bank of America 500, as do the longshots. A have/have-not line of demarcation is drawn statistically.
• Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet) and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) have combined for nine victories at Lowe’s Motor Speedway;
• The other 10 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup have accumulated only four wins at the Concord, N.C. oval.
• Seven of the 12 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup have never won a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at LMS.
Of course, for those seven, this week can also be seen as a glass-half-full scenario, a prime-time race and a prime chance for a breakthrough at the most opportune of times.
And thus far in the 2007 Chase, the word breakthrough has been synonymous with Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet). Bowyer, still riding the momentum of his career-first victory at New Hampshire, an event that opened the Chase, comes to LMS third in the points, only 63 points behind Gordon, who took over the Chase points lead via his victory this past Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. Johnson, second at Talladega, likewise has dropped to second in the standings, nine points behind.
Bowyer is one of those seven “Chasers” seeking an initial Lowe’s Motor Speedway win. He has only three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup starts at the track, with his best finish a 19th.
“Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s not a race track where I’ve been particularly successful, ” Bowyer acknowledged. “We’ve always run well there – been up front and run in the top 10; we’ve just never finished like we’ve run. We’ve wrecked a lot there and gotten caught up in stuff.
“We just have to do better. If we can do what we’ve done everywhere else and improve on our finishes, we’ll be just fine. ”
Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford), also winless at LMS, has some encouraging history there. In five starts, he has four top-10 finishes, including two third-place efforts.
Less-than encouraging are the LMS records of Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) and Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge), who are fifth and seventh respectively in the Chase standings. Harvick is 0-for-13 at the track while Busch is 0-for-14. Harvick has led a total of two laps in those 13 races.
But in Harvick’s case, it might be worth noting, again, that all of these statistics are gleaned from points-paying series races at LMS. The annual NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge is excluded.
Here’s your footnote: Harvick won this year’s all-star race, in May.
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