Joey Logano captured the win at the last race, who is next at Darlington? [Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images]
With just over a quarter of the regular season completed, let’s take a look at how the 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is shaping up.
The new rules for 2014 have changed the qualifying criteria for drivers to be relevant in the postseason. Basically, the top sixteen winners make it into the Chase when the postseason starts at Chicagoland Speedway on September 14th. If there are not sixteen winners, the rest of the field is filled in based off of the point standings following the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond, race number twenty-six on the schedule.
Looking at the winners so far this season, we have seven winners in seven races, a trend that does not bode well for drivers trying to make the Chase without a win. Another issue that makes it look like drivers will need to “win to get in” comes to light when you look at who hasn’t won yet. Throw in the wild-card races like two restrictor plate and two road course races where drivers that may not normally win have a shot at victory lane and one can see that wins are going to be important to crack the Chase field.
The list of winners so far this season includes Carl Edwards (currently 3rd in the point standings), Joey Logano (4th), Kyle Busch (5th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (6th), Brad Keselowski (8th), Kurt Busch (25th) and Kevin Harvick (26th). For the last two drivers listed, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Busch and Harvick, point standings really matter because they are close to the edge of a rule that says Chase eligible drivers need to be in the top thirty of the standings. With all of the bad luck and parts failures these two drivers have been experiencing, staying in the top thirty seems to be a struggle right now. Also, if there are more than sixteen winners, and there are nineteen races left to look for nine more drivers to get their first win this season, Busch and Harvick could find themselves on the outside looking in.
Drivers that won last season but still are looking for victory lane this season is a list that includes Jeff Gordon (currently the point standings leader), Matt Kenseth (2nd in the standings), Jimmie Johnson (6th), Brian Vickers (9th), Ryan Newman (11th), Denny Hamlin (13th), Tony Stewart (14th), Greg Biffle (15th), Kasey Kahne (19th), Jamie McMurray (21st), Martin Truex Jr. (27th) and David Ragan (34th). If you are counting along, that list is twelve drivers and one can easily make a case for at least nine of those drivers to win a race prior to the Chase. Throw in drivers like Clint Bowyer who won three times in 2012, Marcos Ambrose who is a huge threat on the road courses, Paul Menard who has been running well, and rookies Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon as possible winners and the chances to make the Chase without a win seem to disappear.
Are we going to have more than sixteen winners in the NASCAR regular season? At the start of the season, I said no. Now, I say yes.
The emphasis on winning has finally taken hold this season.
Bring on Darlington and probably another first time in 2014 winner.