Chasing The Chase
As this is the final race before the Chase is set, five drivers have clinched their positions in the 2008 playoff, while two more will clinch a spot when the green flag drops.
Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jeff Burton have all wrapped up positions in the Chase, where Kyle Busch will be ranked number one with at least 5,080 points. Edwards will be seeded second with a minimum of 5,050 points, even though he has six wins; one win was taken away as part of punishment after a post-race inspection following the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas in March.
Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick were exempt as per the Top 35 Owner Points standings rule, both started the race and clinched spots. This left seven drivers and five spaces in the chase. With the assumption that both past two-time champion Tony Stewart and 2003 series champion Matt Kenseth made the chase, the three that were "sitting on the bubble" are all qualifiers from last year's Chase: four-time series champion Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin.
Just below them were David Ragan, who was 17 points out of the chase in 13th and Kasey Kahne, 48 points out of the chase in 14th. In addition, both Hamlin and Bowyer had won races in the Commonwealth of Virginia this season, and they carried a ten-point bonus into the Chase if they make it; Hamlin winning the spring event at Martinsville and Bowyer the most recent Richmond race. Kahne held two wins (the Memorial Day Charlotte race and the June race at Pocono); Ragan has not won a race despite being the most improved driver this season, while Jeff Gordon's last win was last October in Charlotte.
Read more about this topic: 2008 Chevy Rock & Roll 400
Famous quotes containing the words chasing the, chasing and/or chase:
“You know lots of criticism is written by characters who are very academic and think it is a sign you are worthless if you make jokes or kid or even clown. I wouldn’t kid Our Lord if he was on the cross. But I would attempt a joke with him if I ran into him chasing the money changers out of the temple.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“Put in hours and hours of planning, figure everything down to the last detail, then what? Burglar alarms start going off all over the place for no sensible reason. A gun fires of its own accord and a man is shot. And a broken-down old house no good for anything but chasing kids has to trip over us. Blind accidents. What can you do against blind accidents?”
—Ben Maddow (1909–1992)
“Martin Pawley: Do ya think maybe’s there’s a chance we still might find her?
Ethan Edwards: Injun’ll chase a thing ‘til he thinks he’s chased it enough. Then he quits. Same way when he runs. Seems like he never learns there’s such a thing as a critter that’ll just keep comin’ on. So we’ll find ‘em in the end. I promise ya. We’ll find ‘em, just as sure as the turnin’ of the earth.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)