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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
VENTURINI: ‘Real Deal’ With The Chase Drivers
We headed to New York City’s London Hotel and sat down with many of the Chase drivers for this weeks 'Real Deal'...
Wendy Venturini  |  Posted September 28, 2009   Charlotte, NC
SPEED's Wendy Venturini. (Image: SPEED)

Wendy Venturini "Our three time champ Jimmie Johnson knows how to get the job done when it comes to the championship the last three years but the big question that everyone has been asking lately is it consistency or wins that will get you that championship. Things change from year to year. What’s going to happen in 2009? Can you have a bad finish and still win the championship? For answers to these questions we headed to New York City’s London Hotel and sat down with many of the Chase drivers to get their opinion. Check out this week's Real Deal. "

Wendy Venturini "What propelled these 12 drivers in the Chase seems to be the same thing they think will propel them to that Sprint Cup championship, consistency over wins. The first 26 races seemed to prove that and the next nine should be much of the same."

Jeff Gordon "Well, I like to win and I think who wins the championship is going to win at least one race, but certainly don’t have to."

Ryan Newman "Both, you go for your best performance, best finish periods no matter where you are at, what you are doing, whatever lap it is, first lap or last lap."

Brian Vickers "At the end of the day whoever collects the most amount of points wins the championship that is the bottom line. The top 12 guys that collect the most amount of points going into the Chase will make it and in the Chase the first person who collects most wins the championship."

Denny Hamlin "I think you reward the guy that runs and competes for wins each and every week. He may not get them but he runs top five and I think that’s what the 48 team has done. They have gotten their wins, maybe three in the Chase but they have consistency and that’s what wins championships."

Jeff Gordon "We are racing with a lot of guys that aren’t in the Chase as well so to me consistency is the most important thing."

Kasey Kahne "I think you are going to have to win. You have to win races and run up front and the bad races hurt so much with our point’s deal that you can’t have the bad one."

Wendy Venturini "Mark the bad one off Kasey Kahne’s list, now the wins he will need but if you ask four time champ Jeff Gordon and a few others a bad race or two is not the end all, be all, to your championship hopes. It’s more about the attitude."

Jeff Gordon "You have to be solid everywhere but you just can’t have a devastating day and even if you do, you can still come back from it but I think if you let the excitement get you caught up too much in it, you can ruin your whole Chase within one race."

Ryan Newman "When you look at the stats, last year it was a fifth or whatever it was Jimmie Johnson was on fire, but doesn’t mean it will be like that every year. You can have a big crash at Talladega that takes out a bunch of cars, you never know."


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Wendy Venturini

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