Five Things We Learned: Richmond

Kyle Busch claimed a series-high eight races this year and enters the Chase as the No. 1 seed (ahead of Edwards and Johnson). Tom Whitmore/Icon SMI

RICHMOND, Va. -- Five things we learned on Sunday at Richmond, the final race before the start of the Chase.

1. It's starting to look like 2006 and '07 all over again. Last year Jimmie Johnson won the final two races of the regular season and went on to capture his second-straight championship. Well, Johnson is doing it again. On Sunday he took the checkered flag for the second-straight week, and he now enters the Chase looking as strong as he has all season.

What's been the key to Johnson's recent emergence? One word: testing. Over the last three months, no other team has tested as much as the No. 48 crew. They've constantly made mid-week trips to tracks around the country to try to find speed, and clearly their work has paid off. Johnson has won three of the last seven races, and most people in the garage will tell you he's the title favorite. I still think Kyle Busch, who's won a series-high eight races this year, is the driver to beat, but the gap between Busch and Johnson has all but closed.

For a story that will appear in SI this week, I talked to Johnson recently about his driving style and what skills he considers to be most important behind the wheel. He pointed to two things: Patience and consistency. Johnson then compared driving to a golf swing, saying that navigating through each corner was like making a swing; in both cases, he said, you want to be consistent and do the same thing over and over. This analogy was revealing because Johnson is, arguably, the most consistent driver in NASCAR. The mistakes he makes are few and far between and he only takes chances late in the race -- a mark of a seasoned driver. "There's nothing herky-jerky about Jimmie," Busch told me recently. "He's just so smooth out there."

Indeed he is. And if Busch wants to win his first title, he'll have to figure out a way to get past the two-time defending champ, who once again is coming on at the perfect time.

2. Kasey Kahne and David Ragan couldn't make the Chase. Heading into Richmond, Ragan was 13th in the standings and Kahne was 14th. They both were gunning for Clint Bowyer, who was in 12th, for the final spot that advances to the Chase, but neither driver could pull it off. Ragan wrecked and finished 32nd, while Kahne struggled all afternoon with a poor-handling car and wound up 19th.

Of all the drivers who failed to make the Chase, Ragan has the best chance to win a race over the next 10 weeks. The second-year driver has steadily improved this season, and he enters the Chase as the favorite to win the points title among the non-Chase drivers.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. got some payback in the May race at Richmond. Kyle Busch nudged the back of Junior's Chevy and pushed him into the wall while Earnhardt was in the lead. On Sunday Earnhardt exacted revenge as he wrecked Busch while Busch was leading the race. Earnhardt claimed it wasn't intentional -- "If I wreck somebody, I ain't going to leave him in good enough shape to come back and get me in the same race," Earnhardt said -- but he clearly sent the message to Busch that he doesn't forget about slights in the past.

This, in fact, could be Busch's biggest problem over the next 10 weeks. He's easily the least popular driver in the sport, and his aggression on the track has ruined more than a few racecars this season. Though it often takes weeks, or even months, drivers almost always get revenge. So it wouldn't be surprising if someone, even a non-Chase driver, takes out Busch in one or two of these next 10 races. This is how racing justice is meted out, and it could end up costing Busch the championship.

4. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are still winless. For the first time in their careers, Gordon and Stewart will enter the Chase without a single victory during the regular season. Stewart almost snapped his winless streak on Sunday -- he finished second behind Johnson -- but now Gordon and Stewart are a combined 0-for-52 this year.

Of the two, Stewart has the better chance to contend for the title. In the last six weeks, after all, Stewart has finished second in three races. He's heating up at the right time, and he could very well zoom up the standings next weekend in Loudon, N.H. Stewart has finished third or better in four of his last seven starts there.

5. Denny Hamlin is also coming on. After finishing 39th at Michigan three weeks ago, Hamlin said his team didn't deserve to make the Chase. It looked as if Hamlin's team was imploding, but he's ripped off three impressive performances since then. He came in third in each of the last three races, and he appears primed for a championship run.

But right now, it sure looks like this Chase will come down to a three-way battle between Busch, Johnson and Carl Edwards. It would be an upset if one of those three isn't hoisting the trophy at Homestead in 10 weeks.