Chase tightens up for fifth race
Never has the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup been so close.
The Bank of America 500, race No. 5 in the 10-race Chase, takes place tonight at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., near the home of so many of NASCAR’s race teams.
The pressure is mounting.
The aftermath of last Sunday’s UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway saw seven of the 10 Chase drivers swap points positions, and now only 185 points separate the top 10 – the closest margin after four races in the Chase’s three-year history.
The separation is even tighter near the top. Only 51 points divide the top five, again the closest margin at this juncture in history.
One of those feeling the pressure is Nextel Cup points leader Jeff Burton. He looked in position to score a top-10 finish last Sunday, but a cut tire with less than 10 laps to go forced him into the pits and relegated him to 27th place. His 69-point lead going into Talladega is now six points over second-place Matt Kenseth. Burton will start seventh in today’s race.
One driver who will be at ease is Mark Martin. The weight of the world lifted off of Martin’s shoulders last week when he finally announced his racing intentions for 2007 and followed that up with an eighth-place Talladega finish. He was one of only three Chase drivers who didn’t change positions in the standings.
“We’re 10 points out of first place right now,” Martin said. “With six to go, that’s pretty incredible. No matter what happens, we’ll enjoy it.”
Scott Riggs will try for career victory No. 1 when he starts from the pole, the 101st start of his career. But unlike all those other fruitless efforts, Riggs has good reason to believe he might finally find his way to Victory Lane.
He was terrific here in May, when he won the pole for the Nextel Open, then won that qualifying race to earn a spot in the All-Star field. He won the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 a week later, and was in position to pull out the victory until a series of mistakes during a late pit stop sabotaged his effort.
Busch Series
Dave Blaney wound up the winner Friday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Busch Series finish that included a crash by Carl Edwards and Casey Mears while battling for the win.
Edwards, going for a season sweep of the Busch races at the suburban Charlotte track, led 123 of the 203 laps that included a final two-lap overtime sprint in which Blaney fought off Matt Kenseth to grab his first series win in 93 starts since 1998.
The crash by Edwards relegated him to a 27th-place finish and gave Kevin Harvick his second Busch championship with four races remaining.