Vickers, Busch Remain Amongst Perrenial Chase Contenders

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With only eight races remaining until NASCAR sets the field for their Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2008, only 223 points separates 8th place Kasey Kahne from 18th place Kurt Busch in the points standings. While that may seem like a lot and perhaps too much to overcome for some, keep in mind that at this time last year, those two positions were separated by 416 points, and 18th place at that point time was consumed by Mark Martin, who was running a part-time schedule and had already missed five races. Something else to keep in mind, though, is that the only driver that sat outside the top-12 in points following the Pepsi 400 at Daytona last year and still went onto make the Chase was Kurt Busch, who then ranked 15th and sat 121 points behind then 12th place, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Now, after a very rocky start to his season, Busch is 18th in the standings and lags 191 points behind Tony Stewart for that 12th spot in the Chase. The bright side? Three weeks ago, Kurt left Sonoma in 23rd, but has since managed to put together a mini-rally for himself with a win at New Hampshire and then a fourth-place effort last week at Daytona. Now, the schedule appears to be headed in Kurt’s favor. Next week, the series will make a stop in Chicago where he has 5 top-ten’s in the seven races run at the track. Kurt also finished 11th or better last year in each of the seven races on the schedule following Chicago, picking up wins at Pocono and Michigan in the process.

Despite currently being “stuck” in 16th place, Brian Vickers is another driver on the move. Ever since the disappointing ending to his strong run at Lowe’s back in May when the wheel fell off of his car, Brian has put together a string of six consecutive finishes of 16th or better. Included in that span of races were 2 top-five finishes at Pocono and Michigan – both races that he had a shot to win late in the race – and, Chicago ranks as one of his better tracks. He has an average finish of 10.3 in three trips to Chicagoland, though he did fail to make the show here last year.

Both Busch and Vickers could be in an excellent position to capitalize on the misfortune of quite a few drivers ahead of them. Though Martin Truex Jr. currently sits 14th in the standings, his team is awaiting word from NASCAR this week as to the severity of the penalty that they will incur for the infractions that occurred prior the race in Daytona. Should Truex be hit with a penalty of 150 points or more – as many suspect he will be – that would immediately drop him down in 18th in the standings, giving him a very long road of recovery.

Just as encouraging for Busch and Vickers fans is the recent slump of Ryan Newman (17th) and Kevin Harvick (13th). Newman has picked up only one top-ten in the last 8 points races, and Harvick’s last top-ten came at Richmond all the way back on May 3rd, a big reason why both drivers have slipped outside of the top-12 in points in recent weeks. David Ragan (15th) could potentially be a threat in hindering either driver’s march towards the Chase, but many people feel that his inexperience is shown with the inconsistency of his finishes, and that will ultimately give the advantage to the other drivers looking to lock onto that spot.

There’s also opportunity for Vickers and Busch with some of the cars that currently reside in the Chase transfer spots. While Greg Biffle (11th) and Tony Stewart (12th) have been two of the most dominant cars on the track this season, they’ve also had arguably the worst luck of any of the drivers in the garage, and there teams could be ready to switch to survival mode at any moment now.

Clint Bowyer (10th) and Kasey Kahne (8th) could also be two of the wildcards in the race for the Chase. After a strong run through the first leg of the season, Bowyer’s progress got hindered somewhere along the way and he’s plummeted through the rankings. After winning at Richmond, he then hit a six-race skid where he failed to finish in the top-ten before rebounding in the past three weeks with a 4th at Infineon and then a 9th last week at Daytona. Meanwhile, Kasey Kahne has managed to save his season with 2 wins, 3 top-five’s, and 4 top-ten’s in the last 7 races, but he also finished 30th or worse in the other three events, proving that the inconsistency of his race team has not gone away completely.

In fact, the only driver currently 8th or worse in the standings that seems to be an inevitable lock for the Chase is the no. 17 team of Matt Kenseth, who is currently in 9th. Ten races into the season, Matt was all the way back in 22nd, and few people were giving him a legitimate shot at rebounding to make the Chase. Now, with 7 top-ten’s in the last 8 races, Matt has gained 14 spots in the standings and has the look of a bonafide championship contender.

But, the good news for Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers is that they don’t need ALL of the other drivers from 8th to 18th to hit a rough patch and hand their points over to them … but, it would certainly help.