Let The Chase Begin!

The Chase is on! And, I am thirlled!

Kyle Busch is out, as Brian Vickers bumped out the 4-time 09′ race winner with some amazing driving down the stretch. Jeff Gordon is positioned as a solid contender for his 5th crown. Therefore, the only thing that would have made the race at Richmond International Raceway any better would have been if Juan Pablo Montoya had crashed and missed the chase along with KyBusch.

Now, Twenty-six races into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, it comes down to 12 drivers with a chance to win the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Local native Denny Hamlin from Chesapeake finally won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at his home track after coming “oh, so close” so many times before. He also did it in convincing style, battling door-to-door with Jeff Gordon along the way. It was Hamlin’s second win of the season in his FedEx Toyota. He won earlier this year at Pocono.

Hamlin is one of the 12 Chase participants but his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch didn’t make it. Hamlin had locked in a spot before the race but Kyle needed to finish well ahead of Brian Vickers to make it. Kyle finished fifth but Vickers was seventh and wound up grabbing the 12th spot by eight points over Busch.

Kurt Busch finished second and made the Chase. Jeff Gordon was third and in The Chase.

Everybody’s favorite, Mark Martin, was fourth and secured a Chase spot and there wasn’t a happier man in Virginia on Saturday night when this race ended.

Kyle finished fifth and Clint Bowyer was sixth. Vickers was seventh and former Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish finished eighth. Kevin Harvick was ninth and Ryan Newman 10th, which earned him a slot in the Chase, along with his car owner Tony Stewart, who had a rough night and wound up 17th.

Jimmy Johnson finished 11th and he’s in the Chase, along with 12th-place finisher Kasey Kahne and 13th-place finisher Greg Biffle. Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya also made the Chase. It will be Montoya’s first Chase as well as the first for team owner Chip Ganassi.

Former series champion Matt Kenseth finished 25th and failed to qualify for the Chase for the first time.

The first race in the Chase begins Sunday, Sept. 20 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Go 24 Go!

Jimmie Johnson Hitting His Stride Again with Victory at the Brickyard!

Jimmie Johnson might not have had the fastest car at Indianapolis for most of the race. Nonetheless, his car was fastest when it counted the most…the last 25 laps of the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard.

Johnson ran behind race leader Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Martin until Montoya received a pass-through speeding penalty during a late race pit stop.

That put Montoya back in the pack and another caution a few laps after a restart compounded things for the man who led 118 of the 160-lap distance. Starting from 12th, Montoya improved his position by one spot to finish 11th.

The race was left for Martin, who took the lead shortly after the final restart with 25 laps to go. Johnson, however, had other ideas and zipped past his Hendrick Motorsports teammate a lap later and held Martin off to the end. It made it back to back wins for Johnson and his No. 48 Lowe’s team, a first for this race.

NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader and two-time champion Tony Stewart finished third with Greg Biffle fourth. Brian Vickers was fifth in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota and Kevin Harvick was sixth. Kasey Kahne was seventh, David Reutimann was eighth, four-time champion Jeff Gordon finished ninth and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 10. Montoya was 11th and rookie Joey Logano was 12th.

With just six more races to the Chase, Johnson and the rest of the 48 team are doing what they do best – – and that’s putting themselves in position to make yet another run at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

Road Course Rage is About to Begin!

With road course action taking off this weekend at Infineon Raceway, the timing may be right for the perfect storm for Juan Pablo Montoya. On the outside looking in at NASCAR’s top 12 contenders throughout the 2009 season, Montoya has gained to the point where he is only 43 points away from a berth in NASCAR’s elite top 12.

Now, with only 11 races remaining before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Montoya will be in his element when he gets behind the wheel of the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates No. 42 Target Chevrolet in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

Montoya was one of the world’s premier road racers prior to joining the stock car ranks. He won seven Formula One races, the 1999 Champ Car title and 11 open-wheel races, including the 2000 Indianapolis 500, prior to making his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut for Chip Ganassi in the 2006 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award in 2007, along with winning at Infineon Raceway.

After final finishes of 20th and 25th in his first two NASCAR seasons, Montoya is getting the hang of driving the 3,400-pound machines. He’s coming off back-to-back top-10 finishes, placing eighth at Pocono and sixth in the LifeLock 400 at Michigan, moving to 14th in the series point standings.

Now, he’s looking at a solid run at Infineon to make his move with only 11 races remaining before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. That stretch also includes the road course at Watkins Glen, along with races at the four tracks where he’s had top-10 finishes this season.

Other news and notes:

A shakeup in the Top 12 sees Martin rise, and Reutimann stumble.

Mark Martin’s (No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet) last-lap victory at Michigan vaulted him up the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. After starting last Sunday in 13th place – one point from the top 12 – Martin leapfrogged all the way up to eighth with 10 races remaining before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

David Reutimann (No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) was the loser in the mix, falling from 11th to 13th in the standings after finishing 19th. Now, he trails Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet) by three points in the battle for a share in racing’s elite dozen. Juan Pablo Montoya is now 14th, 43 points out of 12th, while Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge) is also in striking distance, 91 points back.

Once again, four past champions continue to pace the standings.

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet), Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) and Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) continue to hold the top-four positions, respectively, separated by 128 points. Stewart is a two-time (2002 and ‘05) champ, Gordon is a four-time titlist (1995, ‘97-98, 2001), Johnson is a three-timer (2006-08) and Busch has one title (2004).