In drive or stuck in neutral?: Kyle Busch must focus on Chase and not let wheels fall offby Bill Fleischman
Seven more races and 1,800 laps, and the 12 drivers for the Chase for the Championship will be decided.
The top seven in the points standings appear to be locked in.
Based on his consistency, Kevin Harvick, in eighth place, should also be among the Chosen 12.
Kyle Busch, only 23 points behind Kevin Harvick, is a talented racer who also should make the Chase. He was runner-up at Daytona 2 weeks ago and has three top-10 finishes in his last six races.
However, Kyle Busch is showing signs that his lame-duck status at Hendrick Motorsports is affecting his racing. To make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. next year, Rick Hendrick decided to release Kyle Busch, effective at the end of this season.
Before Sunday's race at Chicagoland Speedway, Kyle Busch, 22, said team chemistry among himself, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears was "really good" before the announcement that Earnhardt would join Hendrick.
Since then, Kyle Busch said: "It's been real different. I'm just frustrated. [Now], I'm in the team meetings just sitting there listening. I don't even really talk about what my car does, because they all seem to talk amongst themselves."
That said, Kyle Busch added, "Everything is going to be fine."
Stay tuned.
Clint Bowyer, in 10th place, and Martin Truex Jr. (11th) are pursuing their first Chase appearances.
Earnhardt, the 12th-place driver, is the most vulnerable among the top 12, only 30 points ahead of Ryan Newman. Earnhardt must stay focused on the rest of the season and not daydream about racing for Hendrick next season.
Earnhardt and Bowyer are the only drivers in the top 12 who are winless this season.
Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray are still in contention. Kyle Busch has bounced back after losing 100 points when he was penalized by NASCAR for his pit-road incident with Tony Stewart at Dover International Speedway in early June.
Guided by new crew chief Pat Tryson, Kyle Busch has finished third and sixth in his last two races. At Chicago, Kyle Busch charged from the back of the field after his crew changed the engine on his Dodge.
Kyle Busch has nine career wins at the seven remaining tracks before the Chase begins.
Halftime adjustments
One key to the rest of the racing season is which drivers perform best in the second half.
One key to the rest of the racing season is which drivers perform best in the second half.
Tony Stewart traditionally is strong during the second half. Last year after failing to qualify for the Chase, he won three races during the Chase.
His first win this year on Sunday indicates that the two-time Nextel Cup series champion is heating up.
Tony Stewart's win occurred a day after he and teammate Denny Hamlin met with Joe Gibbs, their team owner and the Washington Redskins coach. Gibbs wanted to clear the air after Tony Stewart criticized Denny Hamlin following their crash during the Daytona race on July 7.
Gibbs's son, J.D., president of Joe Gibbs Racing, noted that it was unusual for his father to play mediator at the race track.
"When you get my dad in the NFL, he's almost always serious," J.D. said. "Crazy intense. Over here, you kind of see him laid- back, hanging out. But he was a little more intense than he normally is in the racing world. If there's a problem, he'll deal with it quickly and move on."
Tony Stewart described the session as "a good meeting."
"And the good part was that it was fairly short, because Joe can get long-winded," he said.
Among the top 12 drivers, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick won two races each in the second half last year. Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson won one race each during the 2006 Chase.
Although Jeff Gordon didn't win in the second half of '06, he collected four top-five finishes during the Chase.
The Pennsylvania 500, on Aug. 5 at Pocono Raceway, is one of the seven races before the Chase begins.
The Dover 400, on Sept. 23, is a Chase race.
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