Each week SI.com's Tom Bowles has evaluated and ranked the 10 best drivers in NASCAR. For the Chase, the list expands to 12.
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Winning titles under the Chase format is as much about making the most of bad races as it is about running up front, and that's what elevates Stewart to the top spot after Dover. For most of Sunday's race, the No. 20 Chevrolet was out to lunch; but Stewart steered the car away from trouble and used a series of late-race wrecks to position himself toward a ninth-place finish, one lap off the pace. Heading to Kansas -- where Stewart is the defending champ -- don't be surprised to see him take over the top spot in the standings; Sunday's finish left him second in points, just two off the lead. |
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With DuPont's headquarters a stone's throw away in Delaware, you would think Gordon would have had a stronger race at Dover. But the No. 24 car was out to lunch most of the day, failing to lead a lap as the Hendrick Chevy got looser with each pit stop. Finishing 11th, Gordon did retain the points lead, a moral victory for a team that dominated the regular season. But after winning four of the first 14 races to start the year, Gordon's been shutout in the last 14, raising questions as to whether he's got what it takes to step it up a notch once the Chase reaches its crucial stages. |
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To put it simply, Johnson just had a bad day at Dover. A flat right rear tire put him two laps off the pace, and he was never able to make up ground en route to a 14th place finish. However, if there's a silver lining, this year's defending Nextel Cup champ has been down a far more difficult road before, so one small problem isn't going to derail his championship chances. "I'm glad I'm in the position I'm in of having my championship and working on the second one," he said after the race. "I'm more relaxed. I know there's going to be a lot of pressure on a lot of guys." |
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Edwards made as much news off the track this week as on it; he was penalized 25 points after his car failed post-race inspection at Dover for being 3/8 of an inch too low. At least Cousin Carl got to take home a trophy; he led 95 laps, in perfect position to capitalize and take home the win once teammate Matt Kenseth blew his engine. Now, Edwards must take his lumps and look on the bright side; three of his seven career wins have come at tracks 1.5-miles in length ... the same size as Kansas. |
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While teammates Gordon and Johnson continue to steal the majority of the headlines, Busch is quietly slipping under the radar as an underdog title contender. Although Busch was lucky to finish fifth at Dover (teammate Casey Mears all but pulled over with one lap left to give him the spot), it left the youngster just ten away from taking over the points lead. Collecting three top-five finishes in his last four events, Busch now heads to the track where he led 64 laps last Fall. It's a longshot, but don't be surprised if the No. 5 is No. 1 in points after Sunday. |
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One week removed from his first win, it didn't take long for Bowyer to fall back towards NASCAR reality -- a slipup in Friday qualifying left him starting 42nd at Dover. To his credit, though, the driver of the No. 07 Chevrolet hung tough, surviving a wreck and handling woes to finish the race in 12th, one lap off the pace. And there's no one else more excited to head to Kansas than Bowyer -- it's the hometown track for the nearby Emporia native, giving him a strong emotional boost as he tries to keep his Chase momentum going. |
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For someone who had a dominating car at Dover, you have to hand it to Kenseth -- he took the engine failure of his No. 17 Ford as well as could be expected. Leading 192 of 400 laps, Kenseth was looking good to end his streak of 31 career Chase races without a victory; now, he can only hope that the strength the team showed on Sunday can carry over to Kansas and beyond.
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After dominating the Dover race in June, it was hard for Truex not to leave the fall event at least a little disappointed. Never a factor up front all day, a late-race wreck left his car limping to the finish line, eventually sliding down to 13th in the final running order. While it's a tough pill to swallow, Truex still remains just 46 markers out of the point lead -- and with tracks like Talladega and Homestead still on the schedule, he should appear in Victory Lane at least one more time before the year is out. |
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The 2006 winner of the fall race at Dover, Burton was hardly close to the front on Sunday. Still, this team had to consider it a moral victory to finish the race 7th, being the first car one lap down; at one point, the No. 31 car was handling so badly it was questionable whether it would even finish in the top 30. It's been tough sledding for this team as of late -- Burton's led a total of four laps since the beginning of April -- but he did have a strong run at Kansas last year (5th place), giving the team hope it can turn things around even more this Sunday.
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Just because Junior isn't in the Chase doesn't mean he still can't make some noise the rest of the season. Now that his sponsor and car number have been revealed for 2008, a sigh of relief has come over Junior at the track, and he can simply focus on what he does best -- winning races and running well with DEI before parting ways with the team in November. He did just that at Dover. A rash of late cautions got the No. 8 back on the lead lap, and Junior suddenly got pretty racy. At one point, it seemed he even had an outside shot at the win before settling back to a third place finish. With three top-five finishes in the last five races, don't be surprised if Junior comes knocking on the door of Victory Lane before long.
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It's been a second straight subpar year for The Biff, as the 2005 championship runner-up has struggled throughout the course of the season. But over the past month, things appear to be looking up; a second place finish at Dover marked the sixth top-20 in the last seven races for Biffle, who still has an outside shot for finishing as high as 13th in points. Heading to Kansas -- where he's finished in the top three twice in his last three starts -- don't be surprised if the No. 16 tries to play Chase spoiler once again. |
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Considering the way Harvick's run in the first two Chase races, it'd be tough to label him a serious contender. A 20th-place finish at Dover -- four laps off the pace -- added to a slump that's seen him finish outside the top 10 in seven of the last eight events. It seems that since making contact with Tony Stewart at Indianapolis -- costing him any shot at a Brickyard 400 win -- Harvick just hasn't been the same, and neither has his team. He's a top-15 finisher virtually every race ... and that's not going to win you a title.
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Dropped out: Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin.
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