The field is set. The stakes are high. Ten races; 12 drivers competing for one prize: The 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship.
This year’s lineup for the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup could very well deliver the most wide open and competitive championship race in recent memory. Consider these top-line stories:
* Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) is the top seed in the Chase with 5,060 points. Johnson’s season-best sixth win came last Saturday night at Richmond and was also his second straight victory. Johnson took advantage of the revision to the Chase format with the additional emphasis on winning over the first 26 races, racking up 60 bonus points, or 10 points per win. Johnson attempts to become the first driver since Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet - 1997-98) to repeat as series champion.
* Gordon, the second seed in the Chase, seeks his fifth series championship. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt (both with seven) have won more series championships than Gordon. In a season that has seen him as a poster boy for consistency with four wins, 15 top fives, and 21 top 10s, Gordon led the point standings for 22 straight weeks this year. He is scheduled to start his 500th consecutive NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race on Sunday at New Hampshire, the longest active streak on the circuit. Gordon’s first career start came in the 1992 series finale at Atlanta (Richard Petty’s final race) and he hasn’t missed a race since.
* Four of the top-five seeds have won series championships, including Gordon (1995, ‘97-98, 2001); Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet – 2002, 05); Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge – 2004); and Johnson (2006). Stewart and Kurt Busch both return to the Chase field following a year’s absence in 2006.
* There are two first-year participants in the Chase – Martin Truex Jr. (No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet) and Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet). Truex won his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race earlier this year at Dover and his performance (one win, five top fives, 10 top 10s) has overshadowed that of his more recognizable DEI teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet), who is 13th in points and did not qualify for this year’s Chase. Bowyer is the lone Chase participant without a victory on the season, but he has been in the top 12 for 22 straight weeks and is the only Chase driver without a DNF through the first 26 races.
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