Eight Races Remaining, ‘Wild Card’ Battle A Toss-Up

Eight Races Remaining, ‘Wild Card’ Battle A Toss-Up

Deadlock broken. Joey Logano’s fourth-place finish at Daytona, for now, has lifted the Pocono winner into the No. 2 "Wild Card" qualifying berth for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. For now, anyway.
Logano, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne entered the Coke Zero 400 with an identical number of points with Kahne holding the tiebreaker. Post-race it’s Logano by one point over Newman, three points over Kahne. Kyle Busch continues to claim the No. 1 "Wild Card" with a 12th-place points ranking.
There’s no guarantee any of the four will be "Wild Card" winners with eight races remaining before the Chase field is set. There’s also no certainty that a single win will earn a "Wild Card." Looking ahead, Logano, Newman and Busch have New Hampshire victories. Newman, a three-time winner, is defending last year’s LENOX Industrial Tools 301 title.
Then there’s Jeff Gordon. He has no wins but can be considered a serious "lurker." Gordon has three Loudon wins and is a four-time winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the July 29 Brickyard 400 follows New Hampshire. Back-to-back wins definitely would stir up the stew.
Defending Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard, with four top-10 finishes, also must be part of the discussion. He is 13th, nine points behind Busch.