‘Race To The Chase’ Opens Crucial Summer Stretch

‘Race To The Chase’ Opens Crucial Summer Stretch

Saturday night’s second Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway opens the Race to the Chase, the season’s second-most crucial 10-lap segment.
Competitors vying for this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ face the challenge of retaining a top-10 ranking or utilizing the remainder of summer to wedge their way into the post season.
The top 10 in points plus two "Wild Card" qualifiers from 11th through 20th as ranked by wins make the Chase following the Sept. 8 event at Richmond International Raceway.
Some key events in the Race to the Chase include next week’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, the July 29 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the season’s second – and final – road race at Watkins Glen International on Aug. 12.
Using 2011 as a yardstick, just one driver among the top 10 following race No. 16 in Sonoma – Clint Bowyer – failed to qualify for the Chase. Ironically, Bowyer won last Sunday’s Sonoma event, his first on a road course.
Notably, eventual champion Tony Stewart was 12th entering last year’s Race to the Chase. Stewart, who questioned whether his team’s performance even rated a Chase spot, scratched his way to a No. 9 seed then won a record five of the final 10 races to edge Carl Edwards on a tiebreaker.
This season looks like more of the same.
Bowyer was the 12th different driver to win, the most through 16 races since the 2003 season.
•    Eight drivers among the current top 10 have victories
•    Drivers from seven different teams have won races
•    The "Wild Card" battle features four drivers with one win apiece
 The current top 10 includes former NASCAR Sprint Cup champions Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth. Each has at least one victory.
Perhaps more significant is the list of those who haven’t been able to crack Victory Lane through the season’s first 16 races. Top-10 drivers Kevin Harvick, third in final standings in each of the past two years, and Martin Truex Jr. are still looking for win No. 1.
Edwards and four-time champion Jeff Gordon likewise are winless.