No room for error at Charlotte for NASCAR's Chase bubble boys
Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be a critical race for 11 of the 12 drivers still in the title hunt in this year's edition of the Chase for the Sprint Cup -- all but Joey Logano, who is guaranteed to advance to the next round thanks to his victory last week in Kansas Speedway.
And for three of the sport's biggest names there is absolutely no margin for error whatsoever.
After bad runs last weekend at Kansas, 2012 Sprint Cup champ Brad Keselowski, perennial NASCAR Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and six-time champion Jimmie Johnson find themselves in deep points holes and in danger of falling out of championship contention.
Keselowski is 10th in points, 22 markers behind eighth-place Jeff Gordon. Earnhardt is 11th, three points behind Keselowski, and Johnson is 12th, two points in arrears of Earnhardt.
Saturday's race at Charlotte is the second of three races in what NASCAR calls its Contender Round of the Chase. Following the Oct. 19 race at Talladega Superspeedway, the top eight drivers in points will advance to the semifinal Eliminator Round, while drivers in points positions 9-12 will dropped from championship eligibility.
To make into the Eliminator Round, Keselowski, Earnhardt and Johnson will have to either win one of the next two races or be in the top eight in points following the conclusion of the Talladega race.
Based on three rounds of practice on Thursday and Friday, and Thursday night's qualifying, it ought to be an interesting and unpredictable battle on Saturday night.
Keselowski qualified 17th, but he won this race last year after qualifying 23rd and has finished 11th or better in four of the last five races at Charlotte. He was fast in the final Happy Hour practice, too, where he was fifth in his Team Penske Ford and he won Friday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Keselowski said he isn't worried about starting midpack.
"There have been races where we started up front and not finished up front and there's races where we start towards the back and raced to the front," said Keselowski. "It ebbs and flows. Everything that goes down will come back up, and you just have to ride it while you can."
Earnhardt qualified ninth, best of the Chase backmarkers, which is good. What's not good is that his last top-five finish here was in May 2008. In 11 Charlotte starts since then, Earnhardt has finished 15th or worse nine times.
Friday was Earnhardt's 40th birthday, which perhaps was the reason he's optimistic about winning Saturday night's race.
"I have been winless at Charlotte in a points paying race since I started my career, so it's bound to happen sooner or later," said Earnhardt, who was 12th in Happy Hour but second-fastest in 10 consecutive lap average speed. "I always win at the weirdest times in the oddest circumstances. So I feel like everything is lining up, and feel real good about this weekend."
The real wildcard on Saturday night might be Johnson, who qualified poorly (21st) but posted the fastest 15-consecutive-lap average during the final Happy Hour practice session Friday night.
Johnson has been erratic at Charlotte of late. In his last seven races here, he has one victory and three finishes of fourth or better, along with finishes of 11th, 22nd, 28th and 34th.
While Johnson's recent struggles -- he hasn't led a lap in the last seven races this year -- have been well-documented, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon said not to count out Johnson and the No. 48 team.
"I have just seen too many times these guys pull it out and do extraordinary things when they seem to be down and out," Gordon said. " ... Those guys are incredibly good and put up a heck of a fight. I won't be surprised if they still make it to the next round or are a major threat for this championship."
Johnson's chances looked like they took a big hit when he hit the Turn 3 wall with four minutes left in final practice. But afterward, Johnson insisted all was good.
"We were awesome the last two or three runs," said Johnson. "The car was really good. So we are very optimistic, especially now that things look okay with the car and there isn't any suspension or chassis damage. It looks like it's just cosmetic."
