2014 NASCAR standings: Big names in danger of Chase elimination

Far earlier than expected, some of NASCAR’s top stars and most popular drivers are on the brink of being eliminated from the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

With one race remaining in the Contender Round, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson are the four facing elimination Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. The Geico 500 will whittle the Chase field from 12 to eight drivers.

Trailing eighth-place Kasey Kahne by a point, Kenseth owns the best odds of transferring to Round 3 -- be it climbing into the top eight in the standings or winning Talladega outright.

For Keselowski, Earnhardt and Johnson, the only realistic means of advancement is winning, a challenging prospect on a track where the draft levels the field, surprising winners are common and multi-car wrecks are a regular occurrence.

That the bottom four drivers in points find themselves on the wrong side of the Chase cutline comes from the various issues each encountered Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Keselowski and Kenseth engaged in a late scrap, which caused Keselowski to finish 16th, Kenseth 19th. Though running in the top five prior to the green-white-checkered finish, Johnson fell to 17th after a gamble to a pit for tires. And Earnhardt placed 20th due to a broken gear shifter, which hampered him throughout the night.

Johnson is the defending Sprint Cup champion, having won a sixth series title last year. Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, finished runner-up.

The troubles of Kenseth, Keselowski, Earnhardt and Johnson have raised the possibility that a couple of unlikely drivers could advance to Round 3.

Before the playoffs began, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards were thought to be among those eliminated in the first or second rounds. However, Newman and Edwards are fourth and fifth in the standings, respectively, with a comfortable points margin over ninth-place Kenseth.

Newman and Edwards finished seventh and eighth, respectively, at Charlotte.

“We’ve got 20 points on ninth-place so it went pretty well for us,” Edwards said. “We’ll go have some fun at Talladega and hopefully make the next round.”