Racing News Digest

Hell no! Jimmie Johnson has not won the chase yet. Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton are all still in “easy” striking distance. They could mathematically be in first place in just one race.

Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer could be there in just 2 races.

Realistically Jimmie Johnson could have a bad day.

Qualifying was once again rained out so the field will be starting in order of owner points. In the Chase I have mixed feeling about this. I think it is a great benefit for the Chase contenders it is nice not to have to possibly start in the back of the field and maybe get into trouble.

But on the other hand, they should have to if that is the kind of car they have that weekend. Ultimately I would like to see qualifying happening and of course after 10 qualifying sessions being rained out this year we are hearing cries that NASCAR should have 2 chances for people to qualify. I agree.

And on the whole qualifying subject I think it needs to be changed. Forget the top 35. I think it should be MAYBE top 20 (even less). Let everyone qualify there way in. To many good drivers are not getting into races because of the top 35 rule. And that does not mean those drivers are bad drivers. There are plenty of drivers in the chase right now that are horrible qualifier like Jeff Burton. And drivers that are not in the chase that are fantastic qualifiers like Ryan Newman.

ATLANTA
Now Jimmie Johnson is pretty good at Atlanta Motor Speedway but this is not his best track as far as his average finishing position of 9.64. That is the top average finishing position of all the Chase contenders this year and the 3rd best all time. The scary part for the rest of the Chasers is that he has 3 wins out of 14 starts and only 1 DNF. Jimmie will be a contender for the checkered flag on Sunday if he can stay out of trouble.

Greg Biffle is going to be hurting at Atlanta with an average finish of 14.82. He has no wins, 3 top 5’s and 6 top 10’s.

Jeff Burton (who is my pick (or hopeful for winning the championship) is not good at all at Atlanta. He has and average finishing position of 16.54 with no wins and only 7 top 5’s and 13 top 10’s out of 28 starts at Atlanta. The good news is that he is a finisher here though. Out of those 28 starts he only has 3 DNF’s at Atlanta.

Carl Edwards could be the one to give Jimmie a run for his money. He has an average finishing position of 12.88 and 2 wins out of his 8 starts along with 4 top 5’s and 6 top 10’s. Only 1 DNF for Edwards as well.

Don’t look for much out of Clint Bowyer this weekend. He has an average finish of 14.00 and 3 top 10’s out of 5 starts. The 3 top 10’s to 5 starts ratio is not bad really.

This is Kevin Harvick’s worst track as far as average finish is concerned. 23.27 is what he has averaged over 15 starts. He also has 1 win, 2 top 5’s and 3 top 10’s. Cross Harvick off your list as a possible winner this weekend.

Jeff Gordon has 32 starts here and an average finish of 12.84. 4 wins, 13 top 5’s and 20 top 10’s makes Gordon look pretty good as a possible winner this weekend as well. Out of all active drivers Jeff Gordon has the most all time wins.

Tony Stewart does not look like a bad possibility of a checkered flag this weekend either. Out of 19 starts at Atlanta he has 2 wins, 8 top 5’s and 13 top 10’s. That brings him to an average finish of 12.00. Stewart has finished 2nd in the last 2 races at Atlanta.

Dale Earnhardt JR. has 18 starts here with 1 win, 8 top 5’s and 10 top 10’s. His average finish here is 11.72. JR. finished 3rd here earlier this year.

The remaining 3 Chase contenders don’t really have much to mention. Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch do not have any where near good stats here. Kyle Busch is the only one with a win but he is also has the lowest average finish of the 3 – 19.88.

So, who’s your pick for this weekends race.

Kind of looks like it is down to Hendricks again. I am not a Jimmie or Jeff fan. So Naturally I will be rooting for Dale Earnhardt JR.

Ultimately I want the this to be a very close chase season. I don’t want 1 or 2 drivers basically having the championship wrapped up at this point. I want it to come down to the last lap of the last race and have it between at least 6 or 7 drivers.

So, while I don’t want to necessarily root for any drivers to do bad during a race, I would like to see Jimmie Johnson finish towards the rear and some of the the Chasers in the back to make big points gains.

Lets close up the points gaps this weekend. That’s what I am rooting for this weekend.