Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup – Week 4
THE RACE: UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (Talladega, Alabama)
WHEN: Sunday, Oct. 7
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: Brian Vickers
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:
Three weeks into the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, fans are enjoying one of the closest championship battles in the history of NASCAR’s top series. Coming into next Sunday’s UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Jimmie Johnson leads the Chase standings by only six points over four-time champion Jeff Gordon. And third-place Clint Bowyer is only 14 points behind Johnson.
Talladega will mark the first time NASCAR’s new safety-oriented “Car of Tomorrow” will be used at a restrictor-plate race track. (Carburetor restrictor plates are mandated at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway, to reduce speeds in the interest of safety.) Many drivers are predicting the COT – which has produced extremely competitive racing this season – will make the inherently exciting 2.66-mile Talladega tri-oval even more so.
What a difference a year makes for Brian Vickers. Vickers comes into the UAW-Ford 500 as the defending race champion, but isn’t even guaranteed a starting spot. Last year Vickers drove for one of NASCAR’s premier teams, Hendrick Motorsports. This year he’s been part of the first-year effort by Toyota in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, driving for Team Red Bull. Vickers’ team is 38th in car owner point standings; only the top 35 are guaranteed starting spots. Teams outside the top 35 must rely on qualifying speeds to make the field.
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).
