By Ken de la Bastide
After eight months of preliminary racing, the field for the Chase to the Sprint Cup title has been set and as in past years the team to watch is Hendrick Motorsports.
Hendrick has Mark Martin at the top of the standings going into the first Chase race at New Hampshire based largely on his four wins. Three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson is seeded third and Jeff Gordon is the six seed.
But that’s only half the story. Stewart/Haas Racing uses Hendrick powerplants and Tony Stewart, who led the standings for most of the season, is seeded second and teammate Ryan Newman is 10th.
Johnson has to be considered the front-runner to win a fourth consecutive title with Martin as the sentimental favorite to finally win a championship.
What is surprising about the Chase field is that only Denny Hamlin qualified for the championship chase for the powerful Joe Gibbs Racing team. Kyle Busch, who won four races during the year, missed the Chase field by eight points and rookie Joey Logano was a distant 19th.
No drivers from Richard Childress Racing made the field with Clint Bowyer in 15th in the point standings.
Look for Johnson, Martin and Stewart to battle for the title.
Long shots for the title have to include Juan Pablo Montoya and Red Bull Racing’s Brian Vickers. Montoya has been consistent all year and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him score a win in the final 10 races, and Vickers has been strong in the final races leading up to the chase. Kasey Kahne could also surprise during the final 10 races.
In other racing news
The Indy Racing League returns to Japan where Danica Patrick scored her one and only win with the series. There is a good fight for the championship between Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves.
The unfortunate thing is that because of a contract dispute, Direct TV is no longer carrying the Versus channel. That’s a loss for the fans who have been watching the races on the satellite provider and for the IRL which is losing some of its fan base.
• Ken de la Bastide may be reached at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com or (765) 454-8580.
