Spoiler! Haggard Says Harvick Wins Title

Denny Hamlin’s victory at Richmond International raceway closed out NASCAR’s regular season and signaled the start of the Chase for the Championship.

The win also gave Hamlin ten additional bonus points, placing him at the top of NASCAR’s version of the playoffs, just ten points ahead of four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson.

With 12 drivers starting the playoffs within 60 points, wins are still a priority in NASCAR’s closest Chase format yet. Hamlin enters as the favorite but any of the other 11 still has to feel confident about their standing going into Homestead-Miami at the end of the season.

Your contenders can be found after the jump!

Denny Hamlin: The Midlothian, VA native led the Cup Series with six wins in the first 26 races and will lead the series entering New Hampshire. Mechanical failures and several accidents dropped Hamlin to seventh in the regular season standings and the Gibbs’ driver will have to overcome this type of problem if he wants to win his first championship. If Hamlin has any modicum of luck, he leaves Miami as a NASCAR champion.

Jimmie Johnson - The fourtime and defending champion has to enter the Chase as the favorite. The preseason media championship pick won five races in the first 26 and delivered an average finish of 14.9 (the worst of his career) and tassels with his teammate Jeff Gordon may have taken the luster off of “Four-Time”. But make no mistake, the Chase belongs to Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus and 2010 should be no different. The Chase runs through the 48 team this fall.

Kevin Harvick - The regualar season champion (we really need a bonus point for this feat) enters the Chase in third place and really finished the first 26 races strong. Harvick is powerful on superspeedways, the bulk of the Chase, and seems to have found right balance between winning races and consistency. It’s almost unfair to label Harvick as a dark horse but that’s exactly what he’s become against Johnson and Hamlin.

Jeff Gordon - Poor Jeff Gordon. Could you have ever imagined saying such a thing entering the start of the decade? After four championships from 1996-2001, Gordon has been absolutely robbed of two titles by the playoffs. Restarts haven’t been kind for Big Daddy. Neither in the standings or individual races. Gordon must overcomes both if he’s to finally end the Drive for Five with a title in November.

Kyle Busch - The Chase for the Championship was designed for a man like the younger Busch. The take off the gloves and go for broke will suit the brash Busch well over the final ten. Busch’s problems in the past has been making the Championship. With four series victories, Kyle has to be considered a strong favorite in ending Hendrick’s dominance or his teammate’s ambitions.

Kurt Busch - The elder Busch has been here before. In fact, he won the very first Chase for the Championship back in 2004. But times have changed. Busch won the Championship, winning only the opener in Loudon. He average an eighth-place finish and won what was easily the most compelling Chase format in history. But Busch has conceded that wins and a top-5 average is what it takes to win in 2010. Don’t count out Busch and owner Roger Penske as championships just come natural to the two.

Carl Edwards - Edwards has to have the most boring and consistent productive season in the history of auto racing. Leading only a handful of laps in 2010, Edwards still managed a fourth place regular season standings finish. But make no mistake, this won’t cut it over the final ten.

Tony Stewart - The final half of the season has been very good for Tony Stewart, as it has accounted for 11 of his race victories and both of his Cup Series Championships. It’ll take another of his patented late-season charges if he’s to win his third career title.

Matt Kenseth - The Chase for the Championship is often called the Matt Kenseth rule as the format was adopted after his mildly consistent, one-win, championship season. As such, the Chase has been mostly a dissapointment for Kenseth and the no. 17 team. It’ll take the one thing that most said he needed back in 2003 to win the championship in 2010 - wins.

Jeff Burton - It’s said that the mark of a champion is an athlete who manages to do most with very little. That’s Jeff Burton in a nutshell. Both Roush Racing and RCR has been guilty over the years of underwhelming the South Boston, Va. native with surrounding talent. Yet Burton keeps chugging on. Burton is no closer to a championship in 2010 then he has ever been. He’s a poor man’s Jeff Gordon in this Chase while a rich man’s Matt Kenseth. No buys.

Clint Bowyer - Oh Bowyer. Late Charger en route to the Chase and an early riser inside the playoffs. If this team can ever nail their timing and hit their stride, they’ll be real championship contenders. It just won’t be this year.

Greg Biffle - What’s to be said of Greg Biffle that hasn’t already been said. It’s an almost insulting line toward a driver that just doesn’t have much said of him already. Biffle is annoyingly consistent, racking up top-10s without winning or even contending for wins. It’s the type of career that has made him an owner’s favorite, a sponsor safe pick and a perrenial Championship non-contender. The affable Biffle is going to have to get tough if he’s going to make a run at his first Cup Championship.

So what is my take? How does the Chase for the Championship end after the dust has settled in Miami? Here’s a surprise: Kevin Harvick, the ‘Right Blend’ as I have dubbed him will do what he’s done all year long and drop consecutive top-fives and occasional wins right into the NASCAR history books. Harvick will edge Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon and etch his name as one of the all-time greats.

My final Chase for the Championship standings:

I know that these standings are likely jarring, even for those accustomed to reading the ridiculous all weekend long. That being said, I’m more than comfortable placing money, or at least a month’s supply of cat food on this.

Warning: My cat eats...a lot.

So much like Fearless Leader asked in his earlier post, what’s your take? Any grievances?

Matt Weaver is the Sports Editor for the Vanguard (USA) and can be reached at jmatthewweaver(at)aol.com