After 26 grueling weeks of racing action, the points have been reset and the 12 drivers who made the Chase for the Sprint Cup are ready to fight it out for the title.
The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has been full of many surprises. Can this carry over into the Chase? We will soon find out.
With four wins entering the Chase, Denny Hamlin enters today’s race at ChicagoLand Speedway as the points leader. That sounds like a good thing, but there’s 11 other drivers vying to knock Hamlin off the throne.
Last year we saw Tony Stewart do something that had never been done in NASCAR. He won 5 out of 10 races in the Chase, tied Carl Edwards in the final points standings, and won the title based on wins. That was as exciting as things can get for a Chase.
Could that happen again this year? We can only hope.
There are 12 drivers that currently have a shot at winning the championship. Some, like Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson stand out over others as being favorites. But as Stewart proved, anything is possible.
Here are my predictions for the 2012 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup
The 2012 Champion will be…………..drum roll……………. Jeff Gordon
1) Jeff Gordon- After what he did at Richmond, Gordon has a chance now. The bad luck has been washed away and Gordon is eyeing his fifth championship. It helps when Gordon has won at all but one of the Chase tracks (Homestead)
2) Jimmie Johnson- Jimmie will be hard to beat and could easily overtake Gordon, but Jimmie already has 5 championships. No driver in the Chase will make it for him on the track. That includes his teammates.
3) Greg Biffle- After his win at Michigan a few weeks back Biffle said that people aren’t talking about him much, but they will at the end of the year. 5 of the 10 Chase races are at mile and a half race tracks, Biffle may be right because those are his specialty. And nobody drives harder than Greg Biffle, ask the Fox announcers.
4) Denny Hamlin- Before back to back wins and Bristol and Atlanta, Hamlin was like the Katy Perry song “Hot and Cold.” I see this happening in the Chase with struggles at New Hampshire, Charlotte, and Phoenix. By the time he gets his mojo going it will be too late.
5) Kasey Kahne – After a string of bad luck in the first quarter of the season, Kahne bounced back with 2 wins and made the Chase. Don’t count this team out, they could be the Stewart of last year.
6) Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Consistency is great, but that will only get you to second in points. Dale Jr. needs to win races if he wants to be the champion, period.
7) Brad Keselowski- I don’t know what they’re lacking, but the blue deuce hasn’t been as strong as they were earlier in the season. Expect crew chief Paul Wolfe to use a lot of pit strategy to help Keselowski and his chances of a championship. They may need it to win.
8) Matt Kenseth – They will say that it’s not, but the distraction of Kenseth leaving this team after the season will bite the 17 team in the Chase. Does Matt stay in meetings as the season winds down? Could the sharing of knowledge be used against Roush next year? There are just too many questions that will form as Homestead nears.
9) Clint Bowyer- Congrats to Michael Waltrip Racing on getting two cars in the Chase, that’s a big step in the right direction for them. However, the Chase will be the wrong direction based on the tracks they go to. There’s no road courses and only one short track. It will be tough.
10) Kevin Harvick- Hopefully they can keep up the momentum they’ve had since the return of crew chief Gil Martin. RCR has to be fully prepared though if they want to make a run. Harvick and Martin can only do so much.
Not making the awards banquet:
Tony Stewart
Martin Truex Jr.
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