“What the heck just happened?”
The source of the above quote could be from many that competed in Saturday night’s Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond. It could be either Dale Jarrett or Kevin Harvick who both stormed into their trailers after finishing 26th and 12th respectively. Rookie Kasey Kahne spun out of the race and slipped out of the Chase. The quote is actually attributed to eventual winner Jeremy Mayfield after breaking a 142 race winless streak and jumping 5 places into 9th and a spot in NASCAR’s version of playoffs. These are the final qualifiers for the Chase:
Rank Driver
1. +1 Jeff Gordon
2. -1 Jimmie Johnson
3. — Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4. — Tony Stewart
5. — Matt Kenseth
6. — Elliott Sadler
7. — Kurt Busch
8. +2 Mark Martin
9. +5 Jeremy Mayfield
10. -2 Ryan Newman
Among those on the outside looking in, are two former Champions, Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett. A rookie Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray who came up 15 points short ( Who’s partial team owner, Felix Sabates is pissed) and Kevin Harvick.
Here is a silly little prediction. In the 10 remaining races for the Cup at least 3 of them will fail to start with a full 43 car field. Don’t ask why, I just have a feeling a couple of the underfunded teams will fail to show.
