NSCS: Top-Five Drivers Still In Chase at Halfway Point

With five races remaining this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the chase comes down to about five drivers going for the championship. At the start of the chase, NASCAR put Jeff Gordon into the playoffs after what happened at Richmond International Raceway with Michael Waltrip Racing. The final races this season could be very interesting with the drivers left to go out and win the title.

Matt Kenseth goes into the halfway point of the chase with only a four point lead over Jimmie Johnson. He started out the Chase winning the first two opening races at Chicagoland Speedway and Loudon. Kenseth is one of those drivers who wasn’t expected to run this good after changing teams. He goes into the remaining races with lots of momentum after his dominating year so far.

Jimmie Johnson goes into Talladega this weekend with five wins in the season. Two of those wins came at two of the three restrictor plate races so far this season at Daytona. He will definitely be one of the favorites going into these last few races. Johnson has one win in the chase at Dover earlier this year.

Kevin Harvick finds himself 29 points behind the points leader heading into this weekend. He could be one of the drivers to steal the win at the Talladega Superspeedway to climb higher into the points standings. Harvick has quietly captured three wins this season. One of those wins came at the Kansas Speedway about two weeks ago.

Jeff Gordon finds himself fourth in the standings and 36 points behind the leader. He hopes to capture a win this weekend to stay in the running for the championship. Gordon is the only driver sitting in the top-five without a win this season. His past success at the upcoming races could launch him up further in the standings.

Kyle Busch has not had a great Chase going for him after his past issues at the Kansas Speedway. He is no doubt still in the running, but finds himself fifth in the standings and 37 points behind the leader. Kyle hopes to make a great run in the remaining races to go after his first Sprint Cup championship.

The top-five drivers in the standings have five races left to go if they want to make a final shot for the championship. Of the next five races left, the top-five chase drivers has had lots of success previously at the next few remaining race tracks. See chart below for the next five race locations, and the current top-13 in the points standings.

Date
Track
Time
TV
Radio
 
10/20/13
Talladega
1:00
ESPN
MRN
 
10/27/13
Martinsville
1:00
ESPN
MRN
 
11/3/13
Texas
2:00
ESPN
PRN
 
11/10/13
Phoenix
2:00
ESPN
MRN
 
11/17/13
Homestead
2:00
ESPN
MRN
 

 

Pos
Driver
Points
Behind
Wins
1
Matt Kenseth
2225
0
7
2
Jimmie Johnson
2221
-4
5
3
Kevin Harvick
2196
-29
3
4
Jeff Gordon
2189
-36
0
5
Kyle Busch
2188
-37
4
6
Greg Biffle
2167
-58
1
7
Kurt Busch
2166
-59
0
8
Clint Bowyer
2162
-63
0
9
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
2159
-66
0
10
Carl Edwards
2158
-67
2
11
Joey Logano
2150
-75
1
12
Ryan Newman
2147
-78
1
13
Kasey Kahne
2144
-81
2

 

Brett Winningham
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