One more race to go to the Chase, #11 Kahne makes up most of his margin to 10th place by winning the race in California. In my official personal Mr Hanki's Of Course NASCAR's Point System Is Flawed Point System (TM), after Bristol: 1 - +0 - 1561 - Kenseth M [[ 7 1/2 Equivalent Wins ]] 2 - +0 - 1469 - Johnson J [[ 7 EW ]] 3 - +0 - 1328 - Kahne K [[ 6 1/2 EW ]] 4 - +0 - 1118 - Stewart T [[ 5 1/2 EW ]] 5 - +0 - 1065 - Gordon J [[ 5 EW ]] 6 - +0 - 1034 - Harvick K 7 - +1 - 878 - Hamlin D [[ 4 EW ]] 8 - -1 - 877 - Busch Ky 9 - +0 - 848 - Earnhardt D 10 - +1 - 691 - Edwards C [[ 3 EW ]] Others: Busch Ku (669), Biffle G (634), Burton J (587), Martin M (573), Newman R (412) With a win and 21st place finishes by other racers, Carl Edwards can jump to 7th. Only Jimmy Johnson can overtake Matt Kenseth in the next race. Official NASCAR standings: 1 - +1 - 3638 - Kenseth M 2 - -1 - 3629 - Johnson J [[ still only MK and JJ are clinched in the Chase ]] 3 - +0 - 3296 - Harvick K 4 - +1 - 3251 - Gordon J 5 - -1 - 3244 - Busch Ky 6 - +3 - 3226 - Earnhardt D 7 - -1 - 3225 - Hamlin D 8 - +0 - 3194 - Stewart T 9 - +1 - 3181 - Martin M 10 - -3 - 3179 - Burton J Others: Kahne K (3149), Mathematically eliminated: Edwards C (2953), Biffle G (2889), Busch Ku (2746), Mears C (2685) With a win and most laps led and 21st place finishes by other drivers, Jeff Burton can jump to 4th (95 point differential). Only Jimmy Johnson can overtake the lead if Matt Kenseth finishes 21st. The interesting race within the race will not only be for 10th spot, but for positions 3rd to 10th, where a differential of 35 standing points will be at stake starting in the new Chase points configuration.
Survivor-style elimination: Qualified for California: GBiffle - KyBusch - JGordon - JGreen - DHamlin - KHarvick - DJarrett - JJohnson - KKahne - MKenseth - MMartin Eliminated at California - Greg Biffle in 24th running one lap down, saving 22nd place Jeff Green at the elimination room running on the same lap.
To compare Chase formats, with my Mr. Hanki's Open Wheel Style points system, 14th place has a shot at a Chase position, because there are massive points for a win. Interestingly, 9th place Earnhardt would be mathematically secured for a Chase position; the only scenario that'd threaten him is if Kurt Busch were to win in Richmond and get 200 points, but that'd leave him more than 100 points ahead of Edwards still, so Edwards' 2nd place would not be enough to displace Earnhardt. By NASCAR's format, drivers all the way up to 3rd are threatened, where Harvick could drop out of the Chase if he were to crash out in 43rd spot, but only 11th place Kahne is in a position to move into the Chase. By NASCAR's format, 5 race winner Kahne is still out of the Chase, while in my points system he sits solidly in 3rd. Jeff Burton and Mark Martin, the only present Chasers without wins would be punished in my system. The only non-race winner sitting in my unofficial Chase position is 10th spot Carl Edwards (with 8 Top 5s), sitting ahead of race winners Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle.
I think Johnson is comming into a good strech of tracks for him when the Chase starts. Kenseth has always done well at the short tracks but at times does bad at the more difficult tracks.
my driver Tony Stewart isn't going to make the chase for the championship. Save all of the NASCAR smack talk, soccer fans of the world, I'm not in the mood to hear one fringe sports group talk mean about another. As far as I'm concerned as a die hard Tony Stewart fan, this is a ********ing embarrassment. An absolute ********ing embarrassment. All season long Tony's cars have either been good from the start, or bad from the start. There has been no room for improvement during a race, like other teams somehow manage to do. In addition, Tony Stewart himself has managed to ruin his own chances, as he's cost himself finishes at Las Vegas and New Hampshire, among others, while he tried to police other drivers on the track. Just shut up and do your own damn job, Tony. You need to just drive the car, and maybe Joe Gibbs and Co. can get a crew that can work on a 20th place car during a race and turn it into a 8th or 10th place car. Until those 2 things are fixed, I have a feeling that 2007 will bring more of the same bull shit for the #20.
Last year was amazing for the 20...its like they used up all the gas on one season I got a feeling we're going to see someone other than Kenseth or Johnson win but those 2 are the main guys their just the best at this time so we'll see.
Kevin Harvick wins Richmond when he finally figured out how to run on a paricular line in order to catch Kyle Busch. Tony Stewart had handling problems from about after the second caution. In the spirit of having problems at the earliest in the race, you finish worst, Stewart's problems came earlier than Jeff Gordon's, and earlier than Dale Earnhardt, which mean the Stewart finishes two laps down in 18th and out of the Chase. Kahne make his way in with a third place finish. In my official personal Mr Hanki's Of Course NASCAR's Point System Is Flawed Point System (TM), after Richmond: 1 - +0 - 1586 - Kenseth M [[ 7 1/2 Equivalent Wins ]] 2 - +0 - 1469 - Johnson J [[ 7 EW ]] 3 - +0 - 1374 - Kahne K [[ 6 1/2 EW ]] 4 - +2 - 1324 - Harvick K 5 - -1 - 1128 - Stewart T [[ 5 1/2 EW ]] 6 - -1 - 1065 - Gordon J [[ 5 EW ]] 7 - +1 - 977 - Busch Ky [[ 4 1/2 EW ]] 8 - -1 - 891 - Hamlin D [[ 4 EW ]] 9 - +0 - 859 - Earnhardt D 10 - +0 - 691 - Edwards C [[ 3 EW ]] Others: Busch Ku (669), Biffle G (667), Martin M (613), Burton J (609), Newman R (420) Official NASCAR standings: 1 - +0 - 5050 - Kenseth M 2 - +0 - 5045 - Johnson J 3 - +0 - 5040 - Harvick K 4 - +1 - 5035 - Busch Ky 5 - +2 - 5030 - Hamlin D 6 - +0 - 5025 - Earnhardt D 7 - +2 - 5020 - Martin M 8 - +2 - 5015 - Burton J 9 - -5 - 5010 - Gordon J 10 - +1 - 5005 - Kahne K Others: Stewart T (3303), Biffle G (3039), Edwards C (3011), Busch Ku (2828), Mears C (2815)
Mr. Hanki's Chase Standings. 1 - 200 - Kenseth M 2 - 100 - Johnson J 3 - 66 - Kahne K 4 - 50 - Harvick K 5 - 40 - Stewart T 6 - 33 - Gordon J 7 - 28 - Busch Ky 8 - 25 - Hamlin D 9 - 22 - Earnhardt D 10 - 20 - Edwards C Since the NASCAR Chase standings are initiated with a five point gap, which is the approximate gap between first and second place after a single race, I decided to consider the regular season as a single race, with the points to go with it. I'll score Chase points only for positioning amongst other Chasers, but I'll also do a calculation with points amongst all the racers. Chasers will get any points if they do not finish at least 95% the laps as the race winner.
Survivor-style elimination: Qualified for Richmond: KyBusch - JGordon - JGreen - DHamlin - KHarvick - DJarrett - JJohnson - KKahne - MKenseth - MMartin Eliminated at Richmond - Jeff Green in 41st out of the race after 273 laps, saving 31st place Jeff Gordon at the elimination room running 2 laps down.
I think Kenseth is going to win this thing. Steady, workman like. Anybody but Kyle Bush, but he looks likely to win Loudon again.
In my official personal Mr Hanki's Of Course NASCAR's Point System Is Flawed Point System (TM), after Richmond: 1 - +0 - 1606 - Kenseth M [[ 8 Equivalent Wins ]] 2 - +0 - 1469 - Johnson J [[ 7 EW ]] 3 - +1 - 1434 - Harvick K 4 - -1 - 1386 - Kahne K [[ 6 1/2 EW ]] 5 - +0 - 1228 - Stewart T [[ 6 EW ]] 6 - +0 - 1131 - Gordon J [[ 5 1/2 EW ]] 7 - +0 - 977 - Busch Ky [[ 4 1/2 EW ]] 8 - +0 - 941 - Hamlin D 9 - +0 - 874 - Earnhardt D [[ 4 EW ]] 10 - +0 - 701 - Edwards C [[ 3 1/2 EW ]] Others: Biffle G (681), Busch Ku (678), Burton J (637), Martin M (631), Newman R (436)
Survivor-style elimination: Qualified for New Hampshire: KyBusch - JGordon - DHamlin - KHarvick - DJarrett - JJohnson - KKahne - MKenseth - MMartin Eliminated at New Hampshire - Jimmie Johnson in 39th 68 laps down saving Kyle Busch in 38th place 25 laps down.
Mr. Hanki's Chase Standings. 1 - +3 - 250 - Harvick K 2 - -1 - 240 - Kenseth M 3 - +2 - 140 - Stewart T 4 - -2 - 100 - Johnson J 5 - +1 - 99 - Gordon J 6 - -3 - 94 - Kahne K 7 - +1 - 75 - Hamlin D 8 - +1 - 55 - Earnhardt D 9 - +1 - 45 - Edwards C 10 - -3 - 28 - Busch Ky
Can you post something like this before each race? I really like what happened to Jimmie in the first Chase race I agree with the fellow Stewart fan .... though I place more of the blame on Tony himself for more races than the team. They sure couldn't seem to adjust his cars on many of the shorter tracks, especially Richmond (but that was a backup car that the team planned on using the next week, so it may not have been as "adjustable" as backup cars should be, still a team mistake). I don't see 2007 being a huge issue if Tony can not cause some of his own problems on the track by getting impatient with other drivers. I am happily surprised that my boy Junior made it into the chase. I don't see him winning it, but anything is possible. And if he does, I will be very very happy I'm rooting for Johnson to finish 10th, then Gordon 9th, Martin 8th, and I care less who does what above that Intersting, Mr Hanki - I wonder if that is why Burton's car can not be adjusted much at the end of races lately, if the air pressure is fluctuating because of this .........
If anything, it would make the car better later in runs, so I cant see that as a hinderance. Also, I see absolutely nothing illegal or cheating about this at all. I have no idea why it would even be banned.
well, better if your car was loose, it might tighten it up - but if it was already tight, there would be no way to add air pressure. I agree, and it isnt technically illegal - bet it will be in '07 I would think it might be a safety issue if it compromises the strength or integrity of the rim itself ....
You could say the same about Johnson last year when he used "grey area" shocks that NASCAR asked his team to never bring to the track again.
It will be interesting to see how the 29 and 31 do next week, now that NASCAR and others have blown the whistle on this homemade bleeder.
I attended this race. I love that track. In my seat between 3 and 4 you can follow a car all the way around. But, at a mile, the cars still get up some speed. However, I doubt they could have found a more remote location in New England for the only Nextel Cup event. It makes for a long a$$ day. Up at a quarter to 4am, back home by midnight. Damn, it's a nightmare getting out of that parking lot.
Same for Milwaukee. I sit right before the entrance to turn 1, and in row 17, you can see everything perfectly. The view from my seats in Vega$ is still the best though.
Seems like there was no cheating involved. http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/motorsports/15587661.htm