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Joliet, Ill. — Exactly half of this season’s NASCAR Sprint Cup 36 points-payin’ races have been run headin’ into this weekend’s event at Chicagoland Speedway, and that means only eight races remain to determine which 12 drivers will compete for the 2009 championship.
A few drivers have accumulated enough points that the next eight races will be spent getting’ ready for the all-important final 10. And, right now, there’s quite a race shapin’ up toward the bottom of the top 12. And, of course, a few drivers are somewhere in the middle, able to look at tomorrow but not so much that they can take their eyes off of today.
For the Ford Racing drivers involved, Carl Edwards is in the best shape. Despite not yet winnin’ a race in ’09, he is in fifth place in the standings, not entirely comfortable, but still in pretty good shape. Remember, at this time last year, he had won three times, and would go on to win six more to lead the series and almost win the championship. Greg Biffle also hasn’t won yet this year, but he and Matt Kenseth are in that group of drivers that need to keep both eyes on today and the race at hand. Fortunately, that’s the exact mindset—always—of those two.
Only 49 points separate Biffle, in ninth place, and Kasey Kahne, in 12th. Then, it’s another 65 points back to Mark Martin, in 13th place, in part because Martin experienced an early exit in last Saturday night’s race at Daytona. Kenseth, by the way, is in 10th place, 14 behinds behind Biffle and 14 points ahead of 11th-place Juan Pablo Montoya.
Kenseth, as it’s been noted many times before, has never missed the Chase, one of two drivers to accomplish that feat. And, with the Chase bonus points now based on victories, he’ll have at least two wins to carry into those final 10 races.
This weekend’s race is noteworthy, too, because it’ll be the first one on a 1½-mile track since the end of May. Because so many races are run on them, those 1½-milers are all important in the Cup series. The race just the week before the Chase cutoff is now Atlanta, a 1½-mile track, and three races—Kansas, Charlotte and Texas—in the Chase are on 1½-milers.
By the way, the last time the series was at a 1½-mile track, at Lowe’s in May, Edwards finished fourth and Kenseth finished 10th. Not too bad, but, still, not good enough to win a championship. But, still, a championship is not out of the question. As the Sparkster has recently pointed out, a year ago at this point in the season, Ford had won but three races—just one more than this year—and finished with a flourish: The Biff had two wins to open the Chase (the first driver ever to accomplish that feat), and, down the stretch, Edwards won everything but the lottery.
So, optimism shall remain.
Kenseth has twice finished second at Chicagoland, which, by the way, is the hottest race track the Sparkster has ever visited. That was back in the early days of racin’ there—like ’01 or ’02—and the heat was just unrelentin’. Once, at IRP a few years later, it was almost as bad, but that race day in Chicago was somethin’.
The drivers, though, should be used to it after last weekend’s sweat-a-thon in Daytona. The weather did break, dippin’ all the way to 95 degrees, but the humidity had to be double that, whether that’s a mathematical possibility or not.
LOOK WHO’S BACK
Bill Elliott and the Wood Brothers will be back at the track this weekend for the first time since Michigan. Awesome Bill has been on a bit of a roll for only runnin’ a part-time schedule: He finished 16th at Michigan (after qualifyin’ 15th) and finished a season-best 15th at Lowe’s after startin’ 10th. Chicagoland will mark just his sixth start of ’09.
RACIN’ COLORADO
If you like racin’ straight ahead or straight up, Colorado would be a good place to visit over the next week or so. The NHRA series will be in Denver this weekend, and the annual Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb will be next weekend.
Ashley Force Hood is the Funny Car points leader, a spot generally reserved for her father, John, who happens to be in eighth place in the standings. He also happens to have five career wins at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, where, by the way, on July 19, 1996, he became the first Top Fuel or Funny Car driver to exceed 300 miles an hour when he hit 301.30 mph during qualifyin’. John, who has won at least one race every year for the last 22 years, and has qualified for each of the last 25 Mile-High Nationals.
Then, in an event that will be just a little longer and have a few more turns, the Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb will take place July 19, and the Olsberg Motor Sport Evolution team from Sweden will campaign a pair of Ford Fiestas. Andreas Ericksson and Marcus Grönholm will be the drivers, and their goal, Sparky’s been told, is to break the 10-minute barrier, something that has never been done. Oh, yeah, the pavement-and-gravel course is 12.4 miles and contains 156 turns. It’s a good thing that Ericsson is a four-time Swedish rally champ, and Granholm is a two-time World Rally champ. That should be helpful.
PAINT SCHEMES
Online voting has begun for Ford Customer Service Division’s second annual Funny Car Design Contest, which supports the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Visit the online site to find more than 200 paint scheme designs by children. You can make a donation for your favorite car design, and then the top five donation-earnin’ designs will be judged and narrowed to one. And that design will be Bob Tasca’s paint scheme for the NHRA event in Concord, N.C., in September. Votin’ ends Aug. 14.
While lookin’ for the sunblock, the Sparkster went through this week’s mailbag.
Dear Sparky,
I saw that last week the NASCAR Hall of Fame announced 25 racers that will be considered for its inaugural class in 2010. I guess that five of those 25 will be in that first class. Who do you think should be the first ones to go into the Hall of Fame?
Hayden,
Colorado
Well, Hayden, the consensus seems to be that the first class will consist of at least one of the Frances, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, leavin’ two spots open to what has turned into a spirited debate. The Sparkster knows who he’d vote for if given the chance, but he’s willin’ to listen to everyone’s input. This Hall, after all, is for the fans. Now, the Sparkster was in Daytona last weekend, and drivers were bein’ asked who they thought should be part of that first class of five inductees, and Ryan Newman, with no hesitation, said that one of the Wood Brothers should be. How’s that for a young driver knowin’ the history of his sport? Ol’ Sparky was fortunate enough to speak via phone with Glen Wood after it was announced that Mr. Wood was one of the inaugural nominees. What an unbelievably humble man, Mr. Wood is. He is truly overwhelmed to have been included on that list, and then, after the conversation ended, he went back to makin’ lunch for the family. Those are two of the many reasons—genuine humility and helpfulness—why the Woods will always be among the Sparkster’s all-time favorite people—not just racers, but people. They are the best. They would be the Sparkster’s pick to be in the People Hall of Fame.
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