NASCAR Cup Series

What happened to these Chase favorites?

Published Sep. 2, 2011 8:38 p.m. ET

foxsports

Unless they suddenly catch lightning in a bottle, a la Brad Keselowski, you will hear very little about these Sprint Cup drivers in the next 12 weeks:

Each of those drivers should be in the news right now as he battles for one of the 12 spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

They all were expected to be strong contenders to make the Chase this year. And some, like Martin, McMurray and Biffle, were expected to possibly contend for the title.

Instead, they are floundering in mediocrity.

They have all stunk for the most of the season. Their only hope of making the Chase for the past several weeks has been to win a race and, hopefully, earn one of NASCAR’s two wild-card spots.

Now, winless and with few prospects for winning, those hopes and dreams are nearly done.

While NASCAR’s 12 Chase drivers will share the spotlight over the final 10 weeks of the season, Biffle, McMurray, Kahne, Burton, Montoya and Martin will either hide in relative obscurity or do whatever they can do to garner a bit of attention and salvage a season gone awry.

What went wrong for these once-proud NASCAR stars?

What on-track or off-track issues derailed their championship hopes and left them mired in one of the most disappointing seasons of their careers?

Did Biffle become the forgotten man at Roush Fenway Racing as the organization desperately tried to re-sign Carl Edwards, its self-proclaimed “rock star?”

Did Biffle lose too much sleep worrying about the birth of his first child in July?

Or is the 41-year-old already suffering from the over-40 blues that eventually slow most NASCAR drivers?

All are doubtful.

Biffle and his former crew chief, Greg Erwin, simply lost the magic they captured near the end of 2010, when they won two races in the second half of the season.

Biffle’s pit crew also has done him no favors, making too many mistakes on pit road and costing him numerous opportunities to win or at least score solid finishes.

Biffle has been competitive and even dominant at times — he won the pole and led 86 laps at Michigan – but mistakes have cost him.

And what in the world happened to McMurray, the darling of NASCAR last year when he won three of the sport’s biggest races?

Did the floodgate of emotions that overwhelmed him in Victory Lane last year drain him of all the energy and enthusiasm that it takes to keep winning at NASCAR’s top level?

Or did he simply grow tired of answering so many questions about how it felt to win the Daytona 500? Or answering questions about which was sweeter, winning the Daytona 500 or the Brickyard 400?

Did he get so tired of answering those questions and others that he finally said, the heck with it, it’s not worth winning anymore?

Was the aggravation of so much attention, the hassles of dealing with all the media and sponsors just too much to handle?

McMurray is one of the biggest mysteries in the sport given his meteoric rise last season. His recent top-five finishes at Indy and Bristol show that he and crew chief Kevin Manion haven’t completely lost it.

The best guess is that Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has lost whatever technical or setup advantage it enjoyed last season and has been slow to adjust.

The two-car EGR team has a habit of being up one season and down the next, so it’s likely just in one of its typical lulls — the type of slump that keeps it from joining NASCAR’s elite.

And what about Montoya, McMurray’s teammate?

Is he still devastated that McMurray won three big oval-track races last year, while he won only a measly road-course race?

Has he been too caught up in contract negotiations with Ganassi, or looking for a new ride?

Or has he simply spent too much time flying remote-control planes and windsurfing?

Montoya has become one of NASCAR’s greatest enigmas. He is supremely talented behind the wheel of a race car — any race car — but has not adapted to the nuances of stock-car racing as quickly as most expected. And that has led to only moderate success.

Most expected him to have won multiple oval-track races by now. Instead, he has just two road-course wins.

Since qualifying for the Chase in 2009 and looking like a legitimate title contender, he has missed it two years in a row.

Is Montoya missing something at EGR (he switched crew chiefs again this season)? Or are we seeing him for what he is — an average Sprint Cup driver?

And what in the world is wrong with Martin?

Just two years ago, he was the talk of NASCAR, rejuvenated by Hendrick Motorsports and a surprising championship challenge at age 50?

Now the 52-year-old has gone nearly two years without a victory and is on the verge of missing the Chase again.

Has age finally caught up with the ageless wonder?

Is he tired and out of gas from countless hours of pumping iron and showing up virtually every physical-fitness guru in the country? Or is he secretly working on a rap album?

It’s more likely Martin got the short end of the stick when Hendrick Motorsports made its much ballyhooed crew-chief swaps during the offseason.

While Jeff Gordon got Alan Gustafson, who had led Martin to five wins in 2009, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. got Steve Letarte, who had helped Gordon to multiple wins, Martin got Lance McGrew, who has a grand total of one Sprint Cup victory (with Brian Vickers in 2006).

Junior suffered through two miserable seasons with McGrew. Now Martin appears to be experiencing the same fate.

It probably doesn’t help much that Martin is on the way out at Hendrick after this season, being replaced by Kasey Kahne, who was signed last year to replace him in 2012. Such a lame-duck situation is not exactly the best motivator for a driver or team.

Speaking of Kahne, what has happened to him?

Is he spending too much time primping for the ladies and all those starstruck female fans?

Or is his body chemistry all out of whack after switching sponsors, from Budweiser to Red Bull?

More likely, Kahne is spending too much time salivating over those Hendrick cars he will get to drive next season.

It’s no surprise he’s floundering with a struggling Red Bull team. There’s not a lot of incentive to win when you’re riding out a one-year contract and waiting to climb into superior equipment next year.

Next year. That’s about all these slumping NASCAR stars have to look forward to now.