Kasey Kahne is currently eighth in the Sprint Cup points standings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
There’s nothing quite like a morning spent in the pit area at Bristol Motor Speedway to get some lively debate going about all things NASCAR.
Early on a somewhat gray day, Mike Brown, the general manager of TRG Motorsports’ Sprint Cup effort, leaned against a stack of tires in the pit area at Bristol Motor Speedway and made an interesting point about the points standings.
He pointed out that despite what some might assume about the Chase contenders, they’re not necessarily the ones putting on the show every week.
He said that more often than not, they finish outside the top 10 in races.
Indeed, only four drivers in the Chase hunt – Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch – have finished in the top 10 more times than they haven’t so far this year.
Two, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman, are in the elite 12, but have finished in the top 10 in just nine of the 23 races run so far. Matt Kenseth has just eight top 10s.
Winning races hasn’t been a big help to Mark Martin (a league-leading four victories) or Kyle Busch (three). Martin is barely clinging to the 12th position; Busch is 15th, 70 points out of the elite group.
The 12th through 16th place drivers have accounted for nine wins this season, while fourth place through 11th has just five, which raises once again the old question of whether race winner should be awarded more points.
What else do the numbers say about how to succeed in the points contest? Most agree that they tell you that the key is not necessarily what you do on your good days but how much you can salvage from the bad ones.
Brian Vickers explained it best: “Everybody is going to have a bad day and an off car,” he said. “But it’s how you make the most of that day, more so than the day you have a winning car.”
