NASCAR Cup Series

Chase for the Sprint Cup nears, but NASCAR teams have work to do

Published Aug. 18, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Jeff Hammond

As a crew chief, with the Chase for the Sprint Cup looming, I don’t care that we are getting late into the season because I am going to do whatever it takes to improve my team.

It is no different than any other sport that makes trades right up to the trading deadline. If I can get a tire changer because I am concerned about one of the ones I have, well I will do it. If I can find one, then I have to make that change.

The other thing you have to do as we head into the 2010 Chase is keep your people focused. This is naturally the time of year when folks get tired from the grind. Following the race at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night, there is an off weekend for the Cup teams. That is a perfect opportunity for teams to catch their breath. Give these guys some time off and get them out of the shop.

That way when they walk back into the shop that following Monday morning, they not only want to get those two remaining races done, they are also ready to fight for the championship in the Chase. The other component is preparation.

Do you have the right cars ready for the Chase races? I am not sure I would be rolling out new cars during the last 10 races. You need to have the confidence in the cars you have. So preparation will be critical for so many teams right now.

I liken it to the planning of the D-Day invasion. It wasn’t just put together on June 6, 1944. It was planned so far out to allow for training and coordination of all the moving parts and pieces. It’s the same way for the Chase. Your planning already has to be done

Don’t forget that as the Chase begins, it really is the summation of everyone's work that began last year after the checkered flag at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Sometimes you have to challenge and remind your folks that you haven’t come this far simply to falter now. This is when you tell your team it’s time for them to rise to the occasion and be perfect.

Look at Jimmie Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports team last year. They were as close to perfect as any race team ever. In 10 races, they had nine top-10 finishes and four wins. That’s the type of perfection that all these Chase teams are anticipating it will take this year. The No. 48 set the standard last year and so everyone knows what they need to try and accomplish.

Right now, Johnson’s team is not doing that. The pit crew is sloppy. The same can be said for Jeff Burton’s Richard Childress Racing pit crew. They are sloppy. That has to change.

Improvements have to be made in the remaining three races before the Chase starts. If they aren’t, then it will dramatically effect any chance the team might have in winning the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

Kevin Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing bunch, on the other hand, look to be peaking at just the right time. We saw it two years ago with Kyle Busch and last year with Tony Stewart in the Chase where it just didn’t happen.

Trust me folks, the mental game of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase is getting ready to begin.

The pressure once the Chase starts is immense. It brings out a different animal on each and every team. Yes, it brings out the good, the bad and the ugly.

Like Stewart’s team last year, Brian Vickers’ Red Bull Racing team looked like they had some momentum going into the Chase. Both faltered and neither was ever really a factor in the 2009 Chase. On the flip side, when Johnson’s team entered last year’s Chase, it did so pretty quietly but once the Chase started, those guys rose to the occasion and were hitting on all eight cylinders. They never looked back and never looked up.

The Chase is just so unpredictable.

We’ve learned, as I mentioned, from Kyle and Tony, that sometimes the favorites don’t have it as figured out as we assumed. There is only one team these last four years that has been able to figure it out and that is the No. 48 of Johnson.

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