I’m not real sure that what we saw at Richmond International Raceway is a good indication of what we are going to see in our 10 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup races, which begin this weekend.
I know the fans a few weeks ago were really up in arms about the lack of beating and banging in the race at Bristol Motor Speedway, a type of racing we have come to expect. I think what we saw at Richmond Saturday night officially took over for what some viewed Bristol as lacking.
If you remember, it wasn’t that long ago that we were talking about what a hole Richard Childress Racing had dug for itself. Going back to Bristol again, the top RCR finish in that race was Jeff Burton in 15th. Until last Saturday night, Kevin Harvick hadn’t had a top-five finish since June.
While teammates Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard both had really rough nights at Richmond, Harvick was the class of the field. He led the most laps. He got his fourth win of the season. That tied him for most wins with Kyle Busch during the regular season. RCR has four teams, but Harvick is the only one who qualified for the 2011 Chase. If you wanted one team in your stable to get hot, it would definitely be that No. 29 car.
What a marked turnaround from where that team was just a few weeks ago.
There are some guys starting the Chase who simply have no momentum. Tony Stewart recovered nicely Saturday night and brought home a seventh-place finish. But, in all honesty, he is still not running well. If it weren’t for the free pass he received a few times at Richmond, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wouldn’t even be in this year's Chase. So those teams need to find something and find it quickly.
Denny Hamlin came home ninth at Richmond, but that No. 11 car still has a lot of work to do. Remember, this was a team that had eight wins last year but has been able to win only one time this year. So, in my book, Hamlin, Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. have a long way to go and a short time to get there.
The good news from these guys who are starting in the rear of the Chase field, at least all the scenarios, the what-ifs, the hanging onto position to make the Chase is finally over. Now it is simply about going out and racing to win. As Jimmie Johnson has taught everyone these past five years, winning in the Chase is the key to winning the Chase. The days of top-10 finishes simply being enough are gone.
Factors to watch
To me, this feud between Johnson and Kurt Busch, which was highlighted by a pair of incidents Saturday night, just doesn’t seem to want to go away. It bears watching because it’s my belief that if one of these guys gets behind in the Chase and is pretty much out of it, there is a really good chance the other one will not win the championship. I say that with a lot of confidence because this feud between Jimmie and Kurt is not even close to being over.
I don’t know of anyone, with the exception of Brad Keselowski, who is starting this year's Chase with more momentum than Jeff Gordon. Obviously, Gordon won two races ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Saturday night at Richmond, he got another top-five finish. He has three wins during the regular season, which puts him in third spot to start the Chase after adding his bonus points. His team is as solid as a rock right now week, in and week out.
Carl Edwards is another driver who had a good run at Richmond and, quite honestly, needed it. He and his Roush Fenway Racing team had a top-five run in Atlanta and then they backed up with a top-five at Richmond. So, like Harvick, Edwards also ends the regular season and begins the Chase on a pretty high note.
I also want to tip my hat to David Ragan and that No. 6 Roush Fenway team. As most folks know, it was announced that their sponsor, UPS, is not only cutting back its sponsorship dollars but also moving to a partial sponsorship on Carl Edwards' car.
Ragan and his team didn’t let that news affect them. They fought hard all night and went down swinging at Richmond. David made Hamlin really nervous Saturday night as he challenged for the final wild-card spot in the Chase, but he could finish only fourth.
Why was Hamlin nervous? If the stars had lined up and Ragan won the race, it would have been his second win of the season and would have bumped Hamlin out of the Chase.
