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CUP: Make It Or Break It Time In Chase
Written by: Tom Jensen   
09/30/2009
Charlotte, NC
 
After two terrible finishes in the Chase so far, Greg Biffle hopes for a turn around this weekend in Kansas. (Photo: LAT Photographic) ยป More Photos

While the Chase for the Sprint Cup is just two races old, for the guys in the back of the pack, it’s already reached a critical juncture: After losing points to Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson at New Hampshire and Dover, they need to gain ground or face the reality that their title hopes are over for 2009.

One driver keenly aware of that is Greg Biffle, who nearly won a Cup championship in 2005, when he finished second to Tony Stewart, and ended last year third in points.

For most of this year, Biffle’s Roush Fenway Racing Fords have been slightly — but noticeably — behind the pace of the front-running Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets. Last year, Biffle won the first two races of the Chase; this year, he finished ninth at New Hampshire and 13th at Dover, putting him 138 points behind Martin and in ninth place.

In order to make up 138 points in a single race, Biffle would have to win that race, lead the most laps and hope Martin finished 38th or worse. And that doesn’t even figure in the guys in positions two through eight.

But Biffle does have some reason to hope heading into Sunday’s Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway: In four of the last five races at this track, he’s finished in the top three, including a victory here two years ago.

“It’s just a good race track for us,” Biffle said of the 1.5-mile oval. “ … Kansas (and) California are our best race tracks coming up in the Chase, and we’re really anxious for that. Why we run so good at Kansas, why we’re so competitive there – I really can’t answer that. You know, there are some race tracks that suit our cars and maybe my driving style, or whatnot, a little bit better than others. And, I’m glad they’re kind of stacked up in the Chase a little bit, and we’re in it. That’s a positive for us.”

Biffle isn’t the only one who knows he needs to pick it up. Ryan Newman opened the Chase with two top-10 finishes, yet is seventh in points, 110 behind Martin.

“Consistency is good, but it looks like it's going to take consistency with a stronger finishing average than we've had in the first two Chase races,” said Newman, who also has had some good runs in Kansas.

In eight career starts at Kansas Speedway, Newman has one win and three top fives. He finished second twice in Kansas, including a runner-up in 2001 — in only his sixth career Cup start.

“It would be nice to start our top-five or better
roll in Kansas,” said Newman. “I believe Jimmie (Johnson) had a 5.7 finishing average in the 10 Chase races last year and if that's what it's going to take to win the championship this year, then we have some work ahead of us. The way the 5 (Martin) and the 48 (Johnson) are currently running we all have to step it up or it's going to be a two-driver battle for the championship.”

And if that’s a frustrating scenario for Newman, who has five straight top 10s, imagine the plight of Kasey Kahne, who already is 189 points back of Martin, with 161 points being the most a driver can make up in a single race.

“If you have an issue, you lose points,” said Kahne, who had an engine failure at New Hampshire, dropping him to 38th. “If I didn’t have an issue (in New Hampshire), I think that I would have run in the top 10 in both races and these upcoming races we can do the same thing. We have great package for most of these tracks. I think we'll do it, we just need to keep pulling it together and get these points back. I think we have a shot at getting a lot of them back.”

But Newman neatly summed up the bottom line for everyone behind Martin and Johnson at the moment.

“We need to run better,” he said. “We need to be up there with the No. 5 (Martin) and the No. 48 (Johnson). I’m just going to do my best with each and every lap at Kansas. That’s no different in the last 10 races than the first 26.”

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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