chase for the cup Tag

Let the Racing Begin

Well that was quite a finish to the 2012 regular season last weekend at Richmond International Raceway.  Clint Bowyer and his crew put in a great effort that landed themselves the victory, but that was hardly the biggest story of the night.  There was little left to decide inside of the top 10 as the drivers started their engines for the annual night race at Richmond.  The real action was clearly going to be the battle for the final Chase spot.

Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch represented the 2 favorites for the final Chase position with Busch holding a 12 point advantage entering the night.  Marcos Ambrose, Joey Logano, & Ryan Newman all had a shot to make the Chase but they would have needed a victory to claim that final spot.  Paul Menard also had a very, very small chance but he too would have required a victory and, at best, for Gordon to finish worse than 20th and Busch to finish worse than 31st.

I'm sure if you asked Dale Earnhardt Jr. in June of '08 if he was going to enjoy his only win in the next four years...  He would probably look at you with the same dumbfounded look that he had after all 143 of those races where he failed to cross the finish line first.  Junior looks like he has finally found a groove for the first time in almost 10 years.  His seventh place finish in the 2011 standings gave him his first top 10 finish in the standings since 2006.

In 2003 Junior seemed to be coming into his own as one of the top driver's in NASCAR.  He competed for the championship throughout most of the season before falling off and eventually finishing third and 207 points off the lead.  The interesting thing about that season is who the competition was for Junior and eventual champion.  Current points leader Matt Kenseth led the standings for most of 2003 and his championship ways are what caused NASCAR to rethink the way the championship is won.

The 2011 NASCAR season prepares for night racing at Bristol this weekend and the field for The Chase is just about set.  This is an exciting time of the season for NASCAR fans everywhere.  This Saturday the Sprint Cup will pack 43 cars into Bristol Motor Speedway to race under the lights, and in just a few weeks the NASCAR "playoffs" will open up at Chicagoland Speedway (GEICO 400) for the track's first Chase appearance.