Dover penalty keeps Busch in jeopardy

LONG POND, Pa. – Kurt Busch should be the driver that everyone outside the top 12 is pursuing for the final spot in the Chase. Instead, the former Nextel Cup champion is the one lagging behind.

When Busch was docked 100 points for reckless driving in early June at Dover, the penalty plummeted him six spots and out of a place for the 12-car, 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.

Those points could now deny him a chance to race for the title.

“Yeah, that’s what everybody will write about if we don’t make it,” Busch said. “There’s been times where we’ve let quite a few points get away from us. Hopefully, the 100 from Dover won’t come into play.”

Busch is one of a handful of drivers vying to claim one of the few slots up for grabs in a six-race stretch that starts in today’s 500-mile race at Pocono Raceway and ends at Richmond. The final six races of the 26-race regular-season put the drivers, their fans and everyone in the sport on edge about how it will all end.

“It’s real nerve-racking,” said Clint Bowyer, who is in 10th place. “It’s up to us to ensure that we’re in it.”

For drivers at the bottom of the top 12 like Martin Truex Jr. (11th) or Dale Earnhardt Jr. (12th), this stretch is like the college basketball conference tournaments: Win and you’re in. Lose and, well, you’ll need some help.

“I think everyone’s on the Chase bubble,” Truex said.

Had Busch not been docked those 100 points for reckless driving and endangering one of Tony Stewart’s crew members on pit road, he would have 2,304 points, enough to bump Earnhardt (2,217) outside the top 12.

Busch fell from 11th to 17th in the Chase standings after NASCAR penalized him, and has since worked his way back to 13th on the strength of five top-10 finishes in the seven races since Dover. Busch is followed by Ryan Newman (59 points out of the Chase), Jamie McMurray (113) and Greg Biffle (128), all legitimate contenders to catch Earnhardt, Truex and Bowyer.