Chase is on but no one is a heavy favorite

Autoracing Betting Lines

09/14/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond -- the final race of the regular season -- the 12-driver field for the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" has been determined. The 2009 Chase features your usual cast of title contenders such as Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, and a class of newcomers featuring Juan Pablo Montoya and Brian Vickers. But no one stands out as a clear-cut favorite to win this year's Sprint Cup Series championship.

JOHNSON'S BID FOR A RECORD FOURTH STRAIGHT TITLE

Johnson enters the final 10 races of the season as the most experienced Chase contender. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has made the field every year since the playoff format began five years ago. In 2007 and '08, Johnson went on a late-summer surge by winning the last two races before the Chase began. That wasn't the case this year, as he finished 36th at Atlanta and 11th at Richmond.

Heading into New Hampshire next weekend, Johnson will begin his quest for a record fourth consecutive Cup championship in the third seed.

"I think it's anybody's championship right now," Johnson said. "I think it's really tough to really give this to anybody and really pick a favorite at this point. We just need to buckle down, put in ten good ones and work really hard."

Last year, Johnson tied Cale Yarborough's 30-year-old record of three titles in a row. Johnson and Matt Kenseth were the only drivers to qualify for the Chase each season, but Kenseth failed to make it this year after finishing 25th at Richmond. He ended up 38 points behind 12th-place Vickers.

COMEBACK CHASERS

Mark Martin and Ryan Newman made the Chase by overcoming a sluggish start to the season. Martin finished outside the top-30 in three of the first four races this year and held the 35th spot in points after the spring event at Atlanta. The 50-year-old driver staged a remarkable comeback by scoring four victories, which earned him the top-seed.

"I'm a really intense person," Martin said. "I'm really competitive, and I will give every ounce that I have at it just like I do every time. We'll see how it turns out. I'm proud to be driving for this race team. [Crew chief] Alan Gustafson is the key to all of the success I've had this year."

Martin's fourth-place finish at Richmond secured him a playoff spot for the fourth time in his career. He ran a partial schedule in the series from 2007-08. Martin, in his first season with Hendrick, has been running well lately, as he gears up for what is perhaps his best shot at winning the title for the first time.

Kyle Busch, who also has four wins this season, had an opportunity to share the first seed with Martin, but Busch came up eight points short of making the Chase.

Newman endured a rough early season as well. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver wrecked twice and blew an engine during Speedweeks at Daytona. He finished 36th in the Daytona 500, using a backup car intended for the following event at California. Newman sat 32nd in points after Atlanta in March, but gained enough momentum from there to put him in the Chase for the fourth time.

DRIVER/OWNER CHAMPIONSHIP?

Tony Stewart's remarkable first year as driver and owner continues with the two-time Cup champion beginning the Chase in the second seed. Stewart, with three wins this year, ended the regular season with a 179-point lead, but now finds himself 10 markers behind Martin.

"It's better than 12th," Stewart said. "The system I think is a good system. It's not devastating to leave [Richmond] and be second in the points after leading for so long. We all knew what the system is going in. It's a fair system."

Stewart has struggled lately, finishing outside the top-10 in each race since winning in early August at Watkins Glen.

NEWCOMERS

Juan Pablo Montoya and Brian Vickers, unlikely Chase contenders at the start of the season, made the playoffs for the first time.

Montoya, in his third Cup year, has been one of the most consistent drivers lately, despite no wins so far for the season. Four of the final 10 races this year will be held on 1.5-mile tracks, and that could work in favor for Montoya, who recently has excelled on the intermediate tracks.

"We made it, we were good enough to be there and we showed everybody we had the potential," Montoya said. "At this point, I think we have got a car fast enough to go far."

Ten races ago, Vickers held the 17th spot in the rankings and trailed then 12th-place Montoya by 123 points. A victory last month at Michigan helped Vickers gain enough steam to squeak into the Chase.

"We have done it for the past ten weeks, so there's no reason we can't do it for the next ten weeks," Vickers said.

Vickers has been one of the most improved drivers in the series since he joined Red Bull Racing in its first season of Cup competition in 2007. Two years ago, Vickers was struggling to qualify for a race. Now he's battling for a championship.

CHASE VETERANS

Carl Edwards was voted by the media as the pre-season favorite to win this year's title, but Edwards surprisingly has yet to win a race this year after leading the series with nine victories in 2008. The Roush Fenway Racing driver finished second in last year's Chase, 69 points behind champion Johnson.

"This season is so much different than last season," Edwards said. "Right now, we have struggled a little bit as a group, Roush Fenway, so I feel like this is our opportunity to only be a few points behind the leader, kind of gather all of our energy and all of the things we have been working on and head into these last ten races full force."

Jeff Gordon is a four-time series champion, but has not won a title since the Chase format began in 2004. In past seasons, Gordon has not been consistent throughout the playoffs, and this year will probably be no different.

Denny Hamlin is coming off a huge win at Richmond, and it could serve as a springboard for his championship bid. Hamlin has been in the Chase each of his first four Cup seasons. If he continues to run strong, he just might be there fighting for the title in the season-finale at Homestead.

Hamlin, who holds the fourth seed, is the only Joe Gibbs Racing driver in this year's Chase.

After winning two races this season -- Sonoma and Atlanta -- Kasey Kahne put Richard Petty Motorsports in the playoffs. Kahne has rebounded nicely since finishing 14th and 19th in points the last two years. He will begin the Chase in the fifth spot.

Kurt Busch also improved significantly this season after an 18th-place finish in points last year. Busch's quest for a second title could be hampered with team distractions. Last Friday, Busch revealed that his crew chief Pat Tryson will leave Penske Racing at season's end. Tryson will serve as Martin Truex Jr.'s crew chief at Michael Waltrip Racing next year.

Greg Biffle hung on to make it in the Chase for the second straight year, but Biffle could start off the playoffs the same way he did last year, winning at New Hampshire and Dover. He is winless so far this season, but he also began the '08 Chase with no victories to his credit. Biffle finished third in points last season.

This year's Chase should be as close and exciting as the battle to make the playoffs has been in the last 10 races. Any one of the drivers in the field could make things quite interesting during the next couple of months.

After New Hampshire, the Chase moves on to Dover, then Kansas, California, Charlotte, Martinsville, Talladega, Texas, Phoenix and wraps up November 22 at Homestead.