the Chase Update – Week 8

1 – Jeff Burton (n/c) – No matter where he starts the race from, this guy continues to put up decent finish after decent finish … it’s like he’s taken a page out of Kenseth’s book and has become the new “Weasel” of the field. Seriously, though, eight races into it and he still doesn’t have a finish worse than 13th and he’s got six straight top-ten’s. The field may have caught a break with Talladega next on the schedule – a track that Burton has only 3 top-ten’s in his last 11 appearances at – but, with the way that RCR has kicked up their program, I’m thinking that Burton could be tough to beat no matter where the circuit goes.

2 – Kyle Busch (+1) – He remains a factor in nearly every race, but it’s almost as though he’s chosen to leave his recklessness to the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series. His car got away from him late in the race at Phoenix, but he was able to hang on for a 10th place finish and gain a spot in the standings. ‘Dega is a track that hasn’t been kind to him thus far in his young career with no top-ten’s in six tries, but some of that good ol’ Toyota horsepower and a new outlook with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008 could very well change that.

3 – Dale Earnhardt Jr (+1) – Yet again, Junior Nation had to watch on as Earnhardt went from a car looking as though it could possibly win to settling for just another top-ten finish. Now that Hendrick Motorsports has their first win of the season behind them, that’s one less thing that Junior has to worry about … now he just needs to get himself into Victory Lane. Earnhardt fans everywhere will be looking for a possible mark in the win column when the series returns in two weeks, though, because we’re heading to Talladega, and with five wins there, Junior has well established himself as one of the best when it comes to restrictor plate racing.

4 – Jimmie Johnson (+2) – Jimmie Jo has undoubtedly put a silence to all of his critics from earlier in the season by finishing 4th, 2nd, and 1st in the last three Cup races. When he was down, the 48 Lowe’s team persevered by testing at every possible opportunity, and now it’s paying off. Johnson is a former winner at Talladega and finished runner-up in both events last year, and his team will no doubt be looking to keep the momentum rolling next week.

5 – Kevin Harvick (-3) – In an ironic twist of fate, Harvick ran one of his better races of the season last week, but it translated into his worst finish of ’08 due to his team choosing to pit one lap too late on the final stop. Alas, one finish outside of the top-15 in eight races ain’t bad, and though he’s never won a race at Talladega, he’s been one of the more consistent restrictor plate drivers in the series. This team should still be in good condition after ‘Dega.

6 – Denny Hamlin (+1) – The no. 11 Fed-Ex team ran a solid race and turned in a quiet third place effort to continue moving Denny up through the standings, and he’s now put together a string of four consecutive finishes of 6th or better. Talladega was a little rough through his first three starts there, resulting in zero finishes inside the top-20, but a 6th place run there last Fall should give this team something to build on.

7 – Tony Stewart (-2) – He’d run near the top-ten all night in Phoenix, but a small hiccup on their final pit stop cost them a few spots and they were only able to finish 14th. Smoke has still run very consistent so far this year, and should be pretty stoked about a return to Talladega. He’s never won a race there, but he does have six runner-up finishes, the last of which came in the Spring of 2006.

8 – Clint Bowyer (+3) – After going virtually unnoticed the entire race, the 07 team used a little fuel strategy of their own and made Clint the “other” guy that didn’t pit, and it netted him a 2nd place finish. He now has five straight top-ten finishes and continues to climb the standings each week. Next week could be trouble for this team, though. In Bowyer’s four runs at Talladega, he’s finished 35th or worse in all except for his 11th place run last Fall.

9 – Carl Edwards (n/c) – No win last weekend. No penalty last weekend. Yet, Edwards still has generated plenty of talk with his rebound from being a lap down midway through the race to finishing fourth by the time the checkers dropped. This team has proven they’ve gotten the mile-and-a-half track’s down, and now we know they can hang at a mile long track, but now they head to a place where Carl has only three top-ten’s in seven races. A strong finish here could go a long way in showing us who might be competing for the big trophy at Homestead.

10 – Greg Biffle (-2) – The team finally got their first top-ten finish since Bristol, but they still somehow managed to drop two more spots in the standings. This team has got a ton of work to do in this off week if they want to keep Greg hanging around the top-12 much longer. There’s a bunch of hungry teams closing in on the Chase field, and Greg continues to drop spots. Now they’ve got their biggest challenge of all ahead at Talladega. Biffle’s best finish in ten races here is 13th. Last year he finished 29th and 23rd.

11 – Kasey Kahne (+1) – He finished 36th after smacking the wall at Phoenix, but thanks to the no. 12 team blowing up, Kahne still managed to pick up a spot in the standings … and, he’ll need it. After such a strong start to their season, this team just continues to get worse and worse every week. Now they head to Talladega, where Kahne has only one top-ten in eight races. With Gordon, Truex, Kenseth, and Busch all on that outside and within a hundred points of these last two spots, I truly wouldn’t expect to see Kahne in this column after race number nine.

12 – Ryan Newman (-1) – As he’s done so many times in the past, Newman started the day up front only to finish up in the back. Engine failures relegated him to a 43rd place finish, and he now sits just 8 points ahead of four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. Newman’s had some very positive days at Talladega, but he’s also had some awful ones. He scored top-ten’s in both events last year, and will need another this time around if he wants to fend off the oncoming chargers.