Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards favourites for the Chase? – NASCAR
1 down, 9 to go. The Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway has thrown the formbook out as the entire table is reshuffled and the race for the Cup has been thrown wide open.
The new points scoring system introduced by NASCAR means that drivers who do well in the early stages of the playoff have a great chance of taking the prize whereas drivers who fail leave themselves a mountain to climb in the closing stages.
We take a close look at the top 3 drivers who are now favourites to win the Championship.
Kevin Harvick currently leads the table with 2,054 points. He started the race tied on points with Kyle Busch but with Busch ending up in a miserable 22nd position, Harvick’s
2nd place ensured that he remained on top of the table.
Harvick put in a good performance at Geico and kept eventual winner Tony Stewart on his toes until the final lap with a surprising burst of pace. He did well to conserve fuel during the race and managed to avoid the fuel disaster faced by his fellow title
challengers.
Harvick has turned his full focus on winning the Cup in 2011 after announcing that he is shutting down his truck team. Harvick said that the Cup is what they are after and without the Cup cars being successful, the rest of the teams will not exist.
This move could prove to be the differentiating factor for Harvick near the end of the Chase as he has always been there and thereabout but never posed a sustainable challenge. This could be his year and only a brave man would bet against him, given his
form.
Harvick will be confident going into next weekend’s race, the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire. He looks happy with his car and has a team fully committed to the Cup. He has only won one race at the track, back in 2006 and his highest finish since then has
been 4th in 2010. If he can post a win at New Hampshire, he will undoubtedly be the odds on favourite to win the Cup this year.
Tony Stewart has made a great leap in the championship after securing first position in the Geico 400. The win moves him from 9th to 2nd place
in the rankings, just 7 points behind overall leader Kevin Harvick.
Stewart, as he has all year, appeared nonchalant and dismissive of his Championship chances and felt a lot of work still needed to be done if he was to continue this run of form.
“I'm proud of what Darian [Crew Chief] did; I'm proud of our guys. But we've got nine more hard weeks,” Stewart said. “So there's a lot that can happen and a lot that has to happen.”
While he may be discounting his chances, other drivers will not be taking him as lightly. Stewart has experience on his side, being the only other person to have won the Chase in this format apart from Jimmie Johnson.
His performances in the Sylvania 300 have also been very steady, finishing 2nd there twice in the last 3 years and almost won it in 2010 before his car ran out of fuel on the last lap. Another good finish will put him right at the top and then
even he would have to admit that he stands a great chance of winning this year.
Carl Edwards finds himself third on the list after a steady performance in Chicagoland, finishing 4th in the race. He trails Harvick by 10 points in the overall Cup table.
Edwards has seen a steady run of form this season and although he only has one win to his name, he has the most top 5 and top 10 finishes, alongside Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson respectively. Given that the new point scoring system favours consistency more
than victory, Carl Edwards just may have what it takes to win this time around.
His best finish in the Cup was 2nd in 2008 when NASCAR deducted 110 points of him for violation of NASCAR rules at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway which eventually saw him losing out to Jimmie Johnson by 69 points. Edwards will be
looking for better luck this time around as he aims to win his first Chase Cup.
New Hampshire has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for Edwards as he has never won a chase race at the track. In fact, he has never even finished in the top 10 at the track. Edwards will be looking to set things right this time around and a win in
New Hampshire will put him in pole position to carry on from there for the rest of the season.
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