The 26-race march to The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is over, and all I can say is, “Thank God.”
Not to be too surly about it, but I’m about Chase-d out. All the permutations, suppositions and flat wild guessing, all the “if The Chase were to start right now” posturing on TV, all the attention paid to the 12 or 15 drivers with a shot at the ball and whether or not the glass slipper will fit…that’s all over.
Now we get down to the nitty-gritty.
You have to feel sorry for David Ragan and Kasey Kahne for missing, but hey, somebody has to. Ragan had a good shot, losing it when he was sent crashing on lap 120. Kahne had to fight with Team Roush and an ever-shrinking pit box and never got untracked.
Bringing up the specter of team orders added a little spice to the proceedings, but that’s supposition, too. It sounds like something that might have a hint of truth to it, but there’s no way to prove it, so I won’t even try.
Over the next 10 weeks, there will be as much speculation, rumor-mongering and hype as there was the previous 10, but it will have a post-season spin to it, and that’s OK. It’s just the incessant, mind-numbing games of “what if” that get to you.
Now that the field is set, we can get on about the business of handicapping. I’ll make it simple: it’s a three-car race. Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson are the three, and there might be a sleeper in there somewhere — Tony Stewart comes to mind, if he can get his mind right and throw caution to the wind.
Stewart has been strong in the past at New Hampshire and has finished second 800 times at Talladega. He isn’t too shabby at the other Chase tracks, either.
Of course, Johnson is his usual automatic self this time of year, and Busch might just surprise with consistency rather than sheer speed. Edwards is on enough of a roll to get it done, and he’s tough on 1.5-mile tracks.
Sunday’s race was sort of a downer. There wasn’t much suspense after Ragan crashed, and if it hadn’t been for the last 15 laps, it would have sent The Chase off with a whimper instead of a bang.
Some observations:
• Matt Kenseth is in trouble. He hasn’t hit his weight the past six weeks or so, and he’s going to The Chase on a downward spiral. If consistency is a factor, then Kenseth will be, too, but if it’s speed, the 17 doesn’t have it.
• Denny Hamlin needs to throw his team under the bus more often. Since he bus-chucked his team at Michigan after blowing up, he’s finished third three times.
• Kevin Harvick will win a race in The Chase. He’s been too fast too often not to. So will Greg Biffle, who is oh-for-the last two seasons.
• Let’s hope the Nationwide Series CoT is easier to deal with than the Cup Series CoT is. I, for one, am tired of this knife-edge, let’s-try-and-see-if-this-thing-HAS-a-sweet-spot setup, discussions of yaw and such, and all the other things that this new piece has brought to our door.
Whatever happened to just racing and not trying to legislate every little thing? Let me present you with this: the CoT was brought in as a way to make the drivers safer, and it has done that. It was also sold as a way to level the playing field, which it most assuredly hasn’t.
More than half the races leading to The Chase have been won by two teams: Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. Throw in Roush Fenway and you have 19 of 26 races won by three teams.
Perhaps my memory is foggy, but wasn’t that the case last year as well? 
Whatever. The Chase is here. Let’s get it on.