As of today, there are four more days til the Chase begins anew. 2009 will be the sixth season-ending playoff since Kurt Busch’s 2004 Championship-winning run. The anticipation is building to a fever pitch and with time to kill, we’ll present a countdown leading towards Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire.
Sizing up The Chase: Turn One
Starting now, Ranting and Raving via MattHaggard conducts a countdown, in reverse order, of who has top chances at grabbing the Cup. The countdown will conclude before Sunday’s race and start now with drivers 12th-to-10th.
Turn One can be found after the jump:
12. Greg Biffle, 0 Wins, 12 Top 10s, Average Finish: 14.5
No Chase driver has had as silent a season as Greg Biffle. He’s challenged for wins sporadically but is never around when it counts most. He began last year’s Chase with back-to-back wins but is unlikely to repeat feat this year. Instead, Biffle will do what he has done all year -- avoid the DNF and stay linked at the hip with the Top-15. The Biff finishes 12th.
11. Ryan Newman, 0 Wins, 10 Top 10s, Average Finish: 14.0
No one has had as silent a season as Greg Biffle....well, except Ryan Newman. Newman’s another driver who has consistently flirted with the top 10 but has failed to deliver every Sunday results. Newman gives Stewart-Haas Racing a good one-two punch in the Chase but expect Smoke to be the driver delivering knockout blows on Sunday. Newman stays to the path and finishes 11th.
10. Kasey Kahne, 2 Wins, 10 Top 10s, Average Finish 13.9
If talent and expectation were wins then Kasey Kahne would be leading the charge towards the Cup. As it stands, Kasey instead has backed into the Chase with two suspect victories and finds himself in the middle of the championship pack. He’ll finish much worse than that. Kasey can’t buy a clutch win when he needs it most and that trend will continue throughout the final ten. Kasey finishes 10th.
Tomorrow: Turn 2 and positions 9-7.
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