NASCAR Talladega preview: Crew chiefs feeling Chase playoff pressure

Designed like a gauntlet to test not only a team’s capability in building fast cars, the Sprint Cup playoff format -- where drivers are eliminated every three races -- also challenges one’s capacity to withstand the mental aggravation while pursuing a championship.

That makes sleep, an already precious commodity anytime of the year when you’re a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier division, even more so during the final 10 races of the year. Apprehension substantially amplified by Talladega Superspeedway, the site of Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500, serving as the second-round elimination race where the 12 drivers remaining in the Chase are whittled to eight.

”You always have sleepless nights, as you’re always thinking about what you can do and how you can be better, said Cole Pearn, the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. “But this week has probably the highest. Eventually you get to a point where it becomes relaxing because you know that you can’t control what happens. It kinda is what it is.”

Truex provisionally holds the final transfer position, a mere six points over Kyle Busch. That margin can be easily erased at Talladega where multi-car wrecks are commonplace and drivers and crew chiefs alike feel they have little control over the events affecting them.

“It’s intense,” Pearn said. “There is no real room for error or mistakes of any kind and that puts a lot of pressure on everybody. Really, it’s an impossible task to manage Talladega. You can be in the front or all the way in the back, but either way at some point you’re going to have to be in the middle and that’s definitely the danger zone you don’t want anything to do with.”

Mistakes have thus far defined the 2015 Chase. Defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick nearly didn’t make it out of the first round after consecutive mishaps required he win the Dover elimination race, which he ultimately accomplished. During that same race, Jimmie Johnson, a four-time winner during the regular season, broke a suspension piece and was surprisingly cut from the playoffs.

In the second round, title contender Matt Kenseth stumbled in consecutive weeks at Charlotte and Kansas and finds himself in a similar position as Harvick dealt with last bracket -- anything short of a win Sunday results in elimination. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is essentially facing the same scenario and will need to repeat his May Talladega victory to move on.

“We just need to go out there and be as aggressive as possible,” said Jason Ratcliff, Kenseth’s crew chief. “We’re just going to go out there and try to run up front and lead every lap on Sunday.”

Ratcliff will be employing the same strategy on Sunday that Rodney Childers, the crew chief for Harvick’s No. 4 team, utilizes every week regardless of the circumstances. Childers is a believer that the best approach throughout the Chase is to treat all 10 races as if they are must-wins.

Such a game plan has paid dividends with Harvick winning three of the final six races en route to last year’s title, while this postseason the No. 4 car has consistently been among the fastest. And although Harvick thus far has just one Chase win, he’s been competitive in every week and is the favorite to repeat.

“We try and keep it simple and just go race,” Childers said. “Our mind set is to do the same thing every race and not worry about the points part of it. Even as a kid, I never liked points racing -- I like to go out trying to win races. If you look at it like that and try not to think about it, you’ll be better off.”

Of the dozen drivers still left in the Chase, only Joey Logano has secured a berth in the third round, doing so by sweeping the first two races preceding Talladega.

But for the other 11 fighting to maintain championship eligibility, Talladega is 500-miles of sheer anxiety and nowhere is that uneasiness more evident than atop the pit box.

Standing on pit road immediately following last week’s race at Kansas Speedway, Kurt Busch was feeling good having recorded fifth- and sixth-place finishes to begin the second round. And with Talladega looming, he figured he must have built up a useful point cushion.

Not so. An NBC Sports reporter informed Busch he was a mere 13 points above threshold to advance and as he heard the news his face became almost ashen.

“It’s stressful,” said Tony Gibson, Busch’s crew chief. “You saw with Jimmie Johnson in the first round. He had a 33-point lead and something stupid knocks him out. One race can pretty much take you right out of everything -- especially come here to Talladega where anything can happen. You just hold your breath.

“Other tracks if something happens you can do different things strategy-wise to gain track position. Here, it’s all or nothing. That’s the nerve-wracking part.”