Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup – Week 3
THE RACE: LifeLock 400 at Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, Kansas)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 30
TV: ABC, 1 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, Sirius Satellite Radio
DRIVERS QUALIFIED FOR THE CHASE: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer.
DEFENDING SERIES CHAMPION: Jimmie Johnson
DEFENDING LIFELOCK 400 CHAMPION: Tony Stewart
CHASE FACTS:
The last 10 races of the 36-race NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season.
12 drivers in the Chase field.
The top 12 drivers in the series standings after the season’s 26th race (at Richmond on Sept. 8) qualified for the Chase. Those 12 had their point totals reset at 5,000; they then got 10 bonus points for each race victory prior to the Chase. The bonus points created the Chase “seedings.”
Jimmie Johnson started the Chase as the top seed with 5,060 points, via his six wins pre-Chase.
THIS WEEK’S STORIES:
Jeff Gordon comes into the LifeLock 400 leading the Chase standings – barely. Only 10 points separate Gordon from fifth-place Kyle Busch.
Carl Edwards, who considers Kansas Speedway is “home track” of sorts as he’s from nearly Columbia, Mo., comes into Week 3 of the Chase in third place in the standings after his Week 2 victory at Dover. Edwards also leads the NASCAR Busch Series standings and is thus trying for an unprecedented same-season sweep of NASCAR’s top two championships.
Jeff Gordon won the very first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race held at Kansas Speedway, in 2001. That victory enabled Gordon to pad his somewhat-tenuous grip on the series point standings; he left Kansas with a 222-point lead over second-place Ricky Rudd. Gordon went on to capture his fourth series title. Coming into next Sunday’s race at Kansas, Gordon has shifted his “Drive for 5” into high gear.
Clint Bowyer definitely can claim Kansas Speedway as his home track. He’s the only NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver who comes from Kansas; his hometown of Emporia is approximately 100 miles from Kansas City. Bowyer is sixth in the Chase points; he got his career-first win at New Hampshire Sept. 16 to open the Chase.
Two-time series champion Tony Stewart is the defending race champion at Kansas. That victory was one of three Stewart wins during the 2006 Chase. Stewart, who failed to qualify for the ’06 Chase, rode those wins to an 11th-place finish in the final standings. He comes into Kansas this year second in points.
THE CHASE SCHEDULE (track sizes in parentheses)
Sept. 16—New Hampshire (1.058 miles); Sept. 23—Dover (1 mile); Sept. 30—Kansas (1.5 miles);
Oct. 7—Talladega (2.66 miles); Oct. 13—Charlotte (1.5 miles); Oct. 21—Martinsville (.526 mile); Oct. 28—Atlanta (1.54 miles); Nov. 4—Texas (1.5 miles); Nov. 11—Phoenix (1 mile); Nov. 18—Homestead (1.5 miles).
