After a run of 26 races that culminated in a dominate fourth win of the year for Brad Keselowski, the grid for the chase has been cemented and is set to begin at Chicagoland Speedway in the coming week.
Here’s your Sprint Cup 2014 grid:
1. Brad Keselowski (2012 points)
2. Jeff Gordon (-3)
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (-3)
4. Jimmie Johnson (-3)
5. Joey Logano (-3)
6. Kevin Harvick (-6)
7. Carl Edwards (-6)
8. Kyle Busch (-9)
9. Denny Hamlin (-9)
10. Kurt Busch (-9)
11. Kasey Kahne (-9)
12. Aric Almirola (-9)
13. AJ Allmendinger (-9)
14. Matt Kenseth (-12)
15. Greg Biffle (-12)
16. Ryan Newman (-12)
Next weekend, drivers and teams head off to Chicagoland Speedway where the challenger rounds kicks off and drivers compete to be one of the 12 not knocked out after following races at New Hampshire and Dover. The 12 that survive the challenger round will then proceed to the contender round with races at Kansas, Charlotte and Talladega with yet again a further 4 drivers out of contention for the title by the end of the Talladega race. Then it’s off to Martinsville on the last weekend of October where 8 drivers will battle through races in Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix in the Eliminator rounds to put themselves in prime position to be crowned the 2014 Sprint cup champion at Homestead Miami Speedway on November 16th.
With a combination of 16 wins between both teams, it’s shaping up to be a battle between Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske. Performances so strong from both teams that they occupy the top 5 in seeding with Kasey Kahne the only exception with only one win leaving him 11th seed. However you can’t discount the Stewart-Haas Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick, the #4 car being consistently fast this year but being hampered by continuous pit road and strategy mistakes leaving him playing second fiddle on many an occasion.
Surprise names? Almirola and Allmendinger. With Allmendinger’s strength commonly being at road circuits, his name doesn’t ring as one of the favourites with any experts and Almirola’s ‘luck’ as such at Daytona cemented his place but with only three chances to make it in to the next round, bad luck for others could be all they need.
Most notable name missing? Understandably, Tony Stewart. Starting the season continuing his recovery from last year’s sprint car racing accident, ‘Smoke’ was already on the back foot and then came the tragic accident that took the life of young Kevin Ward Jr. Out of respect to the Ward family, ‘Smoke’ took the decision to sit out of three races but was handed a waiver to the chase by NASCAR officials if he was to win a race.
Consistency is important and the win even more so with just even the tiniest bit of bad luck or involvement in a wreck could pull your driver out of contention. With only three races in each round before elimination, it’s important for the drivers and their teams to strike a balance between pushing to get that all important win whilst not getting caught in the stupidity of others and running as high up the field as is feasible.
Forget how many wins your driver got this year, this is a whole new fight. A fight where the level of competition will only become more intense. My top 4 prediction? Keselowski, Logano, Gordon and Harvick.
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