NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Chase Report Card
Three races in, the Chase results are wildly mixed…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted October 04, 2011   Charlotte, NC
Kevin Harvick has finished no worse than 12th in three Chase races. (Photo: Getty Images)
The Chase for the Sprint Cup is 30 percent in the books, and what do we know?

We know that Jimmie Johnson, despite rumors to the contrary, is not dead.

We know that Kevin Harvick is sneakily consistent.

We know that Denny Hamlin also is consistent – consistently bad.

We know that Kurt Busch can act like he just lost a prom date one week and be on top of the world the next.

And we know that everything is a long way from being decided. And that’s a good thing.

A look at the Not-So-Dirty Dozen with seven races to go:

Kevin Harvick – Happy hasn’t knocked anybody’s socks off in the Chase, and he’s been mostly quiet and low-key. That’s when he’s the biggest threat. He has finishes of second, 12th and 10th and can win his first championship with more of those.

Carl Edwards – Edwards threw away an almost-certain victory Sunday at Dover with a rare pit-road speeding penalty, but the bigger story is that he’s the only driver in the Chase group with top-10 finishes in all three races. The point system loves that consistency.

Tony Stewart – It makes little sense that Stewart could run so well at Chicago and Loudon and then fall on his sometimes-shaven face at Dover, finishing 25th. But it underlines the fact that the Chase is made up of a wild diversity of tracks and that teams must be prepared for fast, slow, banked and flat.

Kurt Busch – Busch hadn’t won on a roundy-round track all season until he scored big Sunday at Dover, a sign that the Penske Racing team has its program together – if it can keep good cars under Busch and keep his temper in the control zone.

Jimmie Johnson – Remember this guy? Won the past five championships. Finished a strong second Sunday after mediocre – at least for him – runs at Chicago and Loudon. Doubters should doubt themselves.

Brad Keselowski – Beyond Tony Stewart, Special K was the darling of the Chase the first two weeks with runs of fifth and second, but he was hammered by mechanical gremlins and a car that wasn’t quite up to snuff Sunday at Dover. Still, he’s in the running to complete what would be a dream season, standing only 14 points out of first.

Matt Kenseth – Kenseth seems haunted by his extreme misfortune in Race One, an event he ran brilliantly only to finish in tatters in the mayhem of a fuel-mileage test. But he has shown strength every week and figures to remain a solid championship threat.

Kyle Busch – The mystery of Shrub’s post-seasons continues. Everybody figures he’ll use the strength of the regular season to storm through the Chase, but it hasn’t happened.

Jeff Gordon – Gordon’s Chase ride has been a rollercoaster. He needs a top five this week at Kansas to balance last week’s 12th-place finish.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Junior ran third at Chicagoland to fire up Junior Nation, but he’s been very quiet in the past two weeks.

Ryan Newman – The Rocketman is dangerously close to becoming a non-entity in the Chase after finishes of 25th and 23rd the past two weeks.

Denny Hamlin – Through three races, the worst finishes by Chase drivers are 29th and 31st. Hamlin owns both.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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