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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Atlanta – Which Driver Needs It Most?
There is a good chance that fully half the field will be winless when the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins in two weeks...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted August 31, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Jeff Gordon is currently in eighth place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. (Photo LAT: Photographic)
Remarkably, there is a good chance that fully half the field will be winless when the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins in two weeks.

Depending on your perspective, this is either a tribute to or a condemnation of NASCAR’s point structure. The rewarding of consistency is most evident in the positions of No. 2 Jeff Gordon, winless but with 13 top 10s, and No. 4 Carl Edwards, winless but with a dozen top 10s.

Also carrying big zeroes in the victory column entering Sunday night’s Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway are Tony Stewart (sixth), Jeff Burton (seventh), Matt Kenseth (eighth) and Clint Bowyer (12th).

To a man, those asked if there would be a problem with the Sprint Cup champion having no victories responded in the negative. It’s about being the best under the system, they say.

Regardless, with two races left until the Chase begins (at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sept. 19), a half-dozen of the best drivers in NASCAR are still looking for the path to victory lane. Those who haven’t won could use a victory as a momentum boost into the 10-week run to the championship; those who have won can move higher in the Chase seedings with the additional bonus points.

Of the probable Chase 12 (mathematically, the qualifiers could change in the next two races, but the current 12 appear safe), perhaps no one would benefit from a victory more than Gordon.

A four-time champion (the last was in 2001), Gordon hasn’t won a race since April 2009 at Texas Motor Speedway. He has been painfully close this year, however, recording two seconds, four thirds and three fourths. In a five-race stretch this summer, he had two thirds, two fourths and a fifth.

Gordon’s failure to close the deal despite a strong season brings up questions about both the driver and the team – questions Gordon could answer by notching a solid “1” in the win column at Atlanta or Richmond.

Next on the “needs one” list might be Denny Hamlin, who is fifth in points and shares the lead in seasonal victories (with five) with Jimmie Johnson.
Denny Hamlin holds the fifth position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. (Photo LAT: Photographic)

A win Sunday not only would push Hamlin in front of Johnson for top Chase seeding (with 60 bonus points) but also would re-establish Hamlin, who had a super-strong spring, as one of the circuit’s top three drivers.

Hamlin won five of 10 races over a stretch from late March to mid-June but has been mostly average since that stretch, falling from a solid third in points to fifth.

And then there’s Kyle Busch. Currently the hottest driver in NASCAR racing, Busch is third in points and could tie Hamlin and Johnson at the top of the win column with victories at Atlanta and Richmond in the next two weeks. Considering his recent offensive performances at Bristol and Chicagoland, few doubt his ability to do just that.

Of the drivers in the Chase top 12, five – Greg Biffle, Burton, Bowyer, Kenseth and Hamlin – have never won at Atlanta.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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