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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Chase Positions Still Wide Open
The Sprint Cup points race tightened up again at Bristol...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted August 23, 2009   Bristol, TN
Matt Kenseth is on the points bubble in 12th place in the Sprint Cup standings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Saturday night’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway did little to settle the points battle heading towards the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The top three drivers in the points — Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon — have clinched spots in the Chase already, while Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch are as good as in with two races to go before the Chase.

Behind them, though, things get much murkier. Seventh-place Ryan Newman is only 84 points ahead of Sharpie 500 winner Kyle Busch, who is 13th in points. Greg Biffle (+75 over 13th) is eighth in points now, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya (+64), Sharpie 500 runner-up Mark Martin (+60), Kasey Kahne (+52) and Matt Kenseth (+34).

Kyle Busch (-34 behind 12th place) still has an excellent shot at making the Chase, as does Brian Vickers, who is just 39 points out of 12th. But a late-race crash and 21st-place finish left Clint Bowyer 112 points behind and almost certainly out of the picture.

Bowyer’s finish was a particular blow for Richard Childress Racing. In 2007 and ’08, RCR put all three of its cars in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. This year, after expanding to four teams, RCR appears to be shut out of the Chase altogether.

Add it all up, and the gap from seventh-place Newman to 14th-place Vickers is a mere 89 points. That leaves eight drivers fighting for the final six Chase spots.

And those still fighting for position remain unsettled about their chances. Asked about moving from 10th to eighth-place in points after finishing fourth at Bristol, Biffle said it was cold comfort.

“Yeah, but I think we lost points to 13th place,” he said. “That’s what people have got to keep in mind. We’re trying to stay ahead of 13th. We’re going to have to wait and see. I know we gained on the 83 (Vickers), obviously, but the 18 (Kyle Busch) is who we’ve got to stay in front of, and he gained on us a little bit tonight.”

Kenseth, who finished 10th at Bristol and is on the points bubble in 12th, said his team will keep on with business as usual over the final two races of NASCAR’s regular season.

“Really, all we can do is run the best we can – if we get it running better and finishing better we won’t have to worry about it,” said Kenseth. “This was better, but we still – it’s 26 races from Daytona to Richmond and every race is important, you put forth your best effort every week. You do all you can do. You get down to crunch time, and it’s that close, but you had a chance to gain or lose points for the last 23 weeks, you know what I mean? So, you’ve just got to do the best you can every week, and where it ends up, it ends up.”

SHARPIE 500 RESULTS

SPRINT CUP SERIES DRIVER POINT STANDINGS

Photos: Bristol

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to



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