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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: No Clear Favorite To Win It All?
Six drivers are separated by 99 points atop the Sprint Cup points standings...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 10, 2009   Fontana, CA
Jimmie Johnson won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway last fall. (Photo: Getty Images)

Mark Martin has led the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standing for all three weeks of the 2009 edition of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Jimmie Johnson, the three-time series champion, is a close second. Yet the contenders for this year’s championship said Friday that there still is no clear favorite — not yet, anyway.

Nevertheless, the very slight bobbles last week at Kansas Speedway by Hendrick Motorsports teammates Martin and Johnson have given their fellow Chasers some encouragement that the title race is wide open.

Martin opened NASCAR’s playoff round with a victory and a second-place finish, but slipped to seventh at Kansas, two spots ahead of Johnson.

Heading into Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway, Martin leads Johnson by 18 points, Juan Pablo Montoya by 55 and Tony Stewart by 67. Kurt Busch and
Denny Hamlin are also within 100 points of Martin.

Two-time series champion Tony Stewart, last week’s winner at Kansas, said he’s concerned about Johnson — and several others, too.

“It’s hard to take away anything from those three guys in front of us and a couple of guys behind us,” said Stewart. “I don’t feel like that’s the only guy (Johnson) we’re worrying about. I feel like we’ve got to worry about Mark just as much and Juan just as much. Right now we’ve got a bunch of guys that are consistent every week. You can’t just narrow it down to one right now.”

Greg Biffle , who had an excellent third-place run last week at Kansas, agreed with Stewart’s assessment. “I think there’s four or five cars that everybody’s kind of watching,” Biffle said. “It doesn’t matter where we go, those four or five cars are consistently good.”

Curiously, the only driver to post top-five finishes in all three Chase races is Montoya, who remains winless on the season and had just two top-five in finishes in NASCAR’s 26-race regular season. More than anyone, Montoya is the driver who seems to have most stepped things up in the Chase.


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