12 drivers enter one will win, the NASCAR equivalent to baseball's World Series, The Chase begins with the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 20, 2009. World Series is seven games if competition is great, but the Chase is 10 races. Who will be champion maybe decided early, but the point system almost gives everyone chance.
Maximum points a driver can earn is 195 points and where they finish will determine the amount of points received. It should be noted for a lap and most laps led will give the driver 5 points for accomplishing each of the feats just named. 185 points is rewarded to the winner. The very minimum points that can be rewarded to the driver are 34 points, and the driver must finish no lower than the 43rd place.
The 12 NASCAR drivers raced their way into the Chase competition are found in the Table below.
NASCAR "The CHASE" Drivers
Driver | Rankings | Number of Car | Sponsor |
Mark Martin | 1 | 5 | CARQUEST and Kellogg's |
Tony Stewart | 2 | 14 | Office Depot and Old Spice |
Jimmie Johnson | 3 | 48 | Lowe's |
Denny Hamlin | 4 | 11 | FedEx Freight |
Kasey Kahne | 5 | 9 | Budweiser |
Jeff Gordon | 6 | 24 | National Guard Yellow Ribbon and DuPont |
Kurt Busch | 7 | 2 | Miller Lite |
Brian Vickers | 8 | 83 | Red Bull |
Carl Edwards | 9 | 99 | |
Ryan Newman | 10 | 39 | Target |
Juan Montoya | 11 | 42 | |
Greg Biffle | 12 | 16 | 3M Scotch Brand |
The other 9 races that make up the Chase to the Sprint Cup stretch from coast to coast as seen in the Table below. The driver is skills are tested, but also the Pit Crews.
Sprint Cup Races (Not Included is Sylvania 300)
Race | Track | Date |
AAA 400 | Dover International Speedway (Dover, Delaware) | September 27, 2009 |
Price Chopper 400 | Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, Kansas) | October 4, 2009 |
Pepsi 500 | Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, California) | October 11, 2009 |
NASCAR Banking 500 | Lowe' Motor Speedway (Charlotte, North Carolina) | October 17, 2009 |
Tums Fast Relief 500 | Martinsville Speedway (Martinsville, Virginia) | October 25, 2009 |
AMP 500 | Talladega Speedway (Talladega, Alabama) | November 1, 2009 |
Dickies 500 | Texas Motor Speedway (Forth Worth, Texas) | November 8, 2009 |
Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 | Phoenix International Raceway (Phoenix, Arizona) | November 15, 2009 |
Ford 400 | Homestead-Miami Speedway (Miami, Florida) | November 22, 2009 |
The schedule shows that the driver cannot give way to reckless abandon because each race is about a week apart and damage to a car could mean drivers go home early and wait for next year. The driver must be consistent.
It is difficult to pick a clear cut favorite to win the cup, but I expect Tony Stewart to dethrone last year champ Jimmie Johnson. He has shown that he has been among leaders each race and that type of consistency is what will better a driver chance to win. As a fan, it would be great to watch and above all great safe race is paramount.
Sprint Cup Championship is the prize that revs up the motivation of 12 drivers. Jimmie Johnson has shown that his motivation in times past was more than enough to take care business, but last year is a memory. Tony Stewart is the driver that must drive sound race, but must take a few chances to win. I know all the NASCAR's fans are ready for the Chase to begin.
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