Kyle Busch
After finishing 35th in Fontana and dropping two spots in points to ninth, Kyle Busch said he was out of Chase contention, being 187 points out of first. When asked about the possibility of coming out and dominating the last six weeks of this year’s ten race playoff, Rowdy responded by saying “the only guy that’s capable of doing that is the (No.) 48 car.”
In 13 starts at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Busch has failed to enter Victory Lane (though he has blank Nationwide wins at the track), has suffered three DNFs (the last in 2006) and has an average finish of 17.8. However, there is a glimmer of hope for the Busch fans out there- the last time the series was here in May, Busch led 36 laps and came home third.
Jeff Burton
Sitting 177 points behind Jimmie Johnson, and may well be out of the Chase. However, Burton can still make some noise in this Chase- specifically because his teammate, Kevin Harvick, is still very much in this championship hunt.
Coming up on this Saturday’s race in Charlotte (where he has an average finish of 15th), Burton has a combined nine DNFs compared to four wins. Burton is on a 71 race winless streak coming into the Bank of America 500; can he end his winless streak and make some noise in this year’s Chase, or will he continue to be the silent RCR car in the top 12?
Matt Kenseth
Matt Kenseth was part of the Roush brigade to have a rough California outing, suffering from mechanical issues which sent him to a 30th place finish and out of Chase contention.
“We’ve been hoping every week that things will turn around. It seems like our car has been performing a little bit better here the last three weeks or so, and hopefully we can have our cars perform this week like they did last week and Kansas, where we got to the end and got a good finish.” He’s 11th in points, 241 out of the lead and just six out of 12th.
Kenseth has been keeping a diary about his Chase run, and you can read his latest entry here. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/2010-10-14-matt-kenseth-driver-diary_N.htm
Kevin Harvick
Through four races, Kevin Harvick has an average finish in this year’s Chase of 7.5 (the best of all 12 Chasers), but has a 20th place average at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Normally, that would cause a driver to worry, but not Harvick- his average finishes in the first four Chase races prior this season was 16th.
“Consistency has been a strong point, and there’s not reason we shouldn’t lean on that. If it doesn’t work in the end, then it doesn’t work,” Harvick said during his media availability on Friday.
Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards spent the first three races of the Chase proving he and his No. 99 Aflac crew rightfully deserved to be in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup; he finished 11th in Loudon, followed by a top five in Dover and a top ten in Kansas.
And then came last week’s Pepsi Max 400 at the Auto Club Speedway, all that momentum that Cousin Carl
For the first few “If we can win a couple and get a couple of top fives and Jimmie can have some trouble, I think it’s still anybody’s race,” Edwards said.
Denny Hamlin
Remember when the Sprint Cup Series rolled into the Dover International Speedway, and all then points leader Denny Hamlin hoped to do was survive? Well he did just that, finishing fifth, but now that he’s lost the points lead (he’s 36 points behind Johnson) he’s going to have to do more than survive in Charlotte.
The last time the series was in NASCAR’s backyard in May, Hamlin finished 18th, matching his average finish at the track, and the driver of the No. 11 has never finished in the top five there in ten career starts. To reclaim the points lead- at a track that Johnson has six wins- Hamlin is going to have to find Johnson’s horseshoe and put that luck to good use.
Thanks to Sporting News, Racing Reference, Motorsport.com, and NASCAR.com for the statistics, quotes and information used in this piece. To read Patti Rodisch’s Cup Previews, click here.
Written by:
