WILD CARD

9: The number of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers who can occupy provisional wild-card positions in the Chase for the Sprint Cup after Sunday night’s Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Either Denny Hamlin (8^th in the standings with three wins) or Tony Stewart (10^th, with three wins) could tumble to 11^th with a bad night. Kasey Kahne (11^th, with two wins) and Kyle Busch (13^th, with one win) currently hold the first and second wild-card berths, respectively. Jeff Gordon (14^th), Ryan Newman (15^th), Marcos Ambrose (16^th) and Joey Logano (18^th) enter the Labor Day weekend with one victory each and could seize control of a wild card spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup by winning the race. In the cases of Gordon, Newman and Ambrose, a significant move in the standings to the top of the one-win drivers in positions 11-20 would also do the trick, provided a potential wild card with one victory doesn’t win the race. Though winless in 2012, Carl Edwards, 12^th in the standings, can likewise take over the second provisional wild-card berth by winning at Atlanta (where he has three victories and 10 top-10s in 14 starts) and keeping the one-win drivers behind him out of Victory Lane. Simple enough, right?