1
Sylvania 300
New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sept. 14
After a season in which Kyle Busch or Carl Edwards won more than half of the 26 races, the Chase opener proved that the race for the title would be wide open. Greg Biffle’s victory — his first of the season — gave hope to drivers that the winner of the fifth Chase wouldn’t be a foregone conclusion.
What went wrong: It only took one race for the tight Chase pack to spread out. Instead of going into the second Chase race with plenty of drama, Greg Biffle’s victory and Kyle Busch’s struggles made it a 117-point gap between new Chase leaders Carl Edwards and 12th-place Matt Kenseth.
The starring role: It had been nearly a year since Greg Biffle had won a Sprint Cup race. But the driver of the No. 16 Ford made a late-race pass on Jimmie Johnson to win his first race since Kansas in 2007. Biffle’s victory, the 13th of his career, also put him in immediate contention for his first Sprint Cup title. Biffle started the Chase in ninth place, 80 points behind Kyle Busch. But his win in Loudon moved him up six spots and into third. Not bad for a driver who didn’t even lead the race until Lap 289 of the 300-lap race.
Cast as the villain: A sway bar may have swayed the balance of power in the Chase. It was a sway-bar problem that hampered points leader Kyle Busch in the race. Unable to keep the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota competitive, the problem eventually led to a crash and a 34th-place finish. Busch entered the race the points leader, but left 74 points behind Carl Edwards.
2
Camping World RV 400
Dover International Speedway, Sept. 21
Dover proved that all that really matters is making it to the Chase. Once again, Greg Biffle, who wasn’t a factor at all in the regular season, won the race. It was a good weekend for Biffle’s Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, who rounded out the top 3. The race also all but buried favorite Kyle Busch, who finished 43rd and fell to 12th in points.
What went wrong: The Monster Mile didn’t produce much pizzazz if you weren’t a Roush Fenway driver. Sixteen cars finished on the lead lap and 40 of 43 were running at the end. The biggest news from the race didn’t happen on the track. NASCAR announced it would begin random drug testing for the 2009 season.
The starring role: Greg Biffle is starting to get comfortable in the spotlight. For the second consecutive week, he found Victory Lane as Roush Fenway capped a 1-2-3 weekend. Biffle’s victory, by .934 of a second over Matt Kenseth, moved him into a tie for second place. He and Jimmie Johnson were 10 points behind leader Carl Edwards. Biffle last won twice in the same season in 2006, when he won the season finale at Homestead and finished 13th in the points as a non-Chaser.
Cast as the villain: The Kyle Busch haters got their wish at Dover, as his championship hopes all but came to an end with a 43rd-place finish. Busch had an engine problem and was able to limp around for 172 laps before going to the garage for good. It was just Busch’s second DNF of the season. He was 210 points behind leader Carl Edwards after the race.
3
Camping World RV 400
Kansas Speedway, Sept. 28
Kansas provided Chasers a chance to take a deep breath and prepare for the stretch run. The top finishing spots were occupied by Chasers, with Jimmie Johnson winning in a thriller over Carl Edwards, who made a last-lap effort to pass Johnson only to come up second.
What went wrong: Nothing went right for any of the three Joe Gibbs Racing Chasers. As has been the case all Chase long, Kyle Busch struggled. His 28th-place finish was brought on by a fuel-pressure problem, but was actually his best finish in the first three Chase races. Tony Stewart was involved in an accident and finished 40th. Denny Hamlin was the highest-finishing driver of the three and was 11th. The three left Kansas at the bottom of the Chase standings.
The starring role: It’s only fitting that a driver from California was the star. Jimmie Johnson won for the third time in five weeks and moved to the points lead for the first time all season. Johnson’s victory moved the two-time defending champion to the top of the standings for the first time all season.
Cast as the villain: There’s nothing wrong with being aggressive and finishing second. Carl Edwards did just that. But his last-lap attempt to pass Jimmie Johnson was both exciting and dangerous. Edwards couldn’t make the move stick and nearly crashed. An overaggressive driver can do more damage to his Chase chances than good. Edwards should have remembered that as the series headed to Talladega.
4
Amp Energy 500
Talladega Superspeedway, Oct. 5
Jimmie Johnson didn’t win the race, allowing other drivers to keep their championship hopes alive. The race included a speedway-record 28 leaders and two "Big Ones," the multiple-car crashes common at restrictor-plate tracks..
What went wrong: Chase drivers dread going to Talladega, because it’s the one wild-card race in the Chase. A driver can get caught up in an accident that has nothing to do with them. It happened a few times at Talladega, as eight of the 12 Chase drivers were involved in at least one incident and Chaser Carl Edwards was responsible for the race-changing crash. Accidents also brought an end to the Chase hopes of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin.
The starring role: Tony Stewart finally got his first Sprint Cup victory at the track, and it came in controversial fashion. Stewart, who hadn’t won a Sprint Cup race in 2008, crossed the finish line second but was awarded the victory after Regan Smith was penalized. Smith went beneath the yellow line to pass on the final lap, and was dropped to 18th in the final results.
Cast as the villain: It wasn’t a good day for tire manufacturer Goodyear. Tire failures led to several of the accidents, including two that took out Chasers. Jeff Gordon’s race ended when David Reutimann’s tire blew and he collected Gordon. Denny Hamlin got to spend the night at an Alabama hospital after a tire failure sent him into the wall while leading the race. And the first big accident started after Brian Vickers’ right front tire exploded.
5
Bank of America 500
Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Oct. 11
After the big crashes at Talladega, the only night race of the Chase gave drivers a chance to settle down closer to home. Lowe’s also provided a new title contender as Jeff Burton took over the role as the newest threat to Jimmie Johnson with his second victory of the season. The steady Burton has finished in the top 10 in all five Chase races.
What went wrong: It was a bad night for some of the sport’s biggest names. Carl Edwards had lugnut, tire and ignition problems and saw his title hopes take a nosedive. Jeff Gordon’s chance of repeating at the last track he won at were dashed early when he scraped the wall. Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew a right tire and crashed into the wall, ending his night prematurely as he finished 36th.
The starring role: Give props to Jeff Burton and the crew of the No. 31 Chevrolet. Three times the team pitted and didn’t change tires. The moves paid off as Burton held off Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne to win the race. Both Johnson and Kahne took tires on the last stop while the gambling Burton didn’t. The move worked as Burton moved to second in points.
Cast as the villain: The karma police caught up to Carl Edwards. He caused the big wreck at Talladega a week earlier. He then got into a garage scuffle with Kevin Harvick. Once he got on the track, he had all kinds of problems with a faulty ignition. He finished 33rd and dropped from second to fourth in points, losing more than 100 points to leader Jimmie Johnson.
6
TUMS QuikPak 500
Martinsville Speedway, Oct. 19
Along with Talladega, the Virginia short track was supposed to be the other wild card in the Chase. But instead of shaking up the Chase picture, all the race did was keep the standings pretty much intact. There wasn’t much of the typical short track bumping and banging, and the Chasers took advantage of that. Not only did points leader Jimmie Johnson win the fall race for the third consecutive time, but Chasers grabbed nine of the top 12 finishing spots.
What went wrong: Unless you’re a Jimmie Johnson fan, the race lacked any real punch. Johnson’s dominance — he led for 339 of the 504 laps — never gave the race a chance to develop any real drama. There was a green-white-checkered finish because of a late caution, but Johnson easily held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. for his sixth victory of the season.
The starring role: If you see a Jimmie Johnson theme developing here, you’re right. Because qualifying was rained out, Johnson started on the pole. He stayed there pretty much all race long. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon threatened him early on, but a real challenge never really materialized. Johnson now has five victories at Martinsville Speedway.
Cast as the villain: Let’s make this a Jimmie Johnson sweep. He wasn’t really a villain, but his dominance is depriving Sprint Cup fans of a true Chase. Johnson’s lead coming into the race was 69 points. He left Martinsville with a 149-point lead over Greg Biffle. At the rate he’s going, the final four weeks will be one extremely long victory lap. That’s not exactly the way the Chase was drawn up, so Johnson at least has to take some of the blame.
7
Pep Boys Auto 500
Atlanta Motor Speedway, Oct. 26
This was supposed to be the race where Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards made up some ground on Jimmie Johnson. It didn’t happen. Edwards did his part by winning the race, but Johnson was able to rebound from an early penalty that dropped him to 30th and a lap down. He rallied for a second-place finish and took some of the luster off the race at Texas Motor Speedway as he built his points lead to 183 points.
What went wrong: The Chasers pursuing Johnson couldn’t close the gap. Greg Biffle, who came into the race second, fought an ill-handling car all race long and wound up 10th, losing ground to Johnson. Jeff Burton, who came in third, got a lap down early but was able to make that up. But he got caught up in an accident with Dave Blaney and took a big points hit with his 18th-place finish.
The starring role: Give Carl Edwards credit for trying to make a Chase of things. Edwards capped a perfect weekend. He was the fastest car in both Saturday practice sessions and then hopped on a plane to Memphis and won the Nationwide Series race. Edwards then won at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the third time, leading 98 laps and making a nifty pass on Denny Hamlin in the closing laps.
Cast as the villain: We know Jimmie Johnson wants to make the Chase as boring as possible. And now so does his crew chief Chad Knaus. It was Knaus who decided to have Johnson pit under the last caution for fresh tires. It allowed Johnson to move from 11th to second in the final eight laps and take any lingering drama out of the Chase.
