DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Chase for the Sprint Cup Thread

Hasnt been lot of NASCAR talk this year so I thought I would start a Cup Chase discussion thread.

My favorite driver(Jeff Burton) didnt make the chase so i guess I will be rooting for my second favorite in Tony Stewart. Wouldnt bother me at all to see Mark Martin pull it off though.

I also am pretty confident that Jeff Gordon will NOT be winning 4 out of the 10 last races so I will be winning $50 from a certain Jeff Gordon fan and I also get a picture of them holding a anti JG sign with words of my choice on it. So I am taking suggestions on the sign

1 Mark Martin 5040
2 Tony Stewart 5030
3 Jimmie Johnson 5030
4 Denny Hamlin 5020
5 Kasey Kahne 5020 -
6 Jeff Gordon 5010 -
7 Kurt Busch 5010 -
8 Brian Vickers 5010 -
9 Carl Edwards 5000 -
10 Ryan Newman 5000 -
11 Juan Pablo Montoya 5000 -
12 Greg Biffle 5000 -40

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I also am pretty confident that Jeff Gordon will NOT be winning 4 out of the 10 last races so I will be winning $50 from a certain Jeff Gordon fan and I also get a picture of them holding a anti JG sign with words of my choice on it. So I am taking suggestions on the sign

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That would be me if there was any curiosity.

Not much NASCAR talk on here this summer....not much football talk on here anymore either.

GO GORDON!!! Hatin' the NASCAR points system but lovin' the possibilities now that it's crunch time....because I have no other choice.

I've been a Hendrick guy for a long time. And as much as I love to see 48 take it again for a 4th time, I gotta tell ya, it would do well to see the old man Mark Martin take one.

Since Kyle Busch isn't in it, I wouldn't be too ticked by anyone that wins it. LOL! However, as much as I don't like him, he is good for NASCAR. They need a "bad guy" Someone for the fans to both cheer and boo. There have been several guys to fit that bill over the years...Dale Sr., Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson. I just think it's more extreme with Kyle. WAY more people booing than cheering. That was evident to me in the picture I took during driver intros at Mich. As Kyle went by my section of stands, tons of people had their hands in the air. From a distance, it looks like there are a lot of people cheering. Upon closer inspection, many people have their middle fingers extended or their thumbs turned down.

Of course, I'm hoping my boy, Jeff Gordon, takes it all!

i guess he got his share of boos but I never though of Gordon as a bad guy. He always seemed to have the more clean cut pretty boy image going on. I think that is what got him booed for winning more than anything else, He was kinds the anti Dale Earnhardt kid and his sucess rubbed people the worng way.

KING

Maybe "bad guy" isn't the best term for those other names, just couldn't think of a better term. And I know there have been other bad guys in the past, I just don't know who they are. Didn't watch NASCAR before 1994.

Ppl here in nevada hate Kyle Bush ...they can stand Kurt, but Kyle is just a big cry babey from money ...or so that's the word from ppl that know him and watch nascar.

Go MARK!!!!!!!!!! MARTIN!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping for Johnson to take his 4th straight so they can figure out how he's been cheating,....

I'm a Ford guy,...but I don't see Edwards or Biffle pulling off ten straight top 10 finishes -- that pretty much what you have to do to in addition to winning one or two.

Stewart will win it,...he's a gunner, has a good car.

Alot of people who visit this sight dont understand NASCAR so I've been staying away from starting up things, Kinda hoping In the future people who dislike Nascar will just stay away from the threads, Kinda like You dont like it ok we dont need to know it, I stay away from B-Ball threads, hopping they please do the same.

Anyway My Favorate Driver # 29 Harvick had a crap year, so I'm pulling for Martin, He's still hanging in thier from the past.

Hopefully it comes down to the last week last race, last few laps...between 3-4 cars...








Than Kyle Bush takes them all out on the last lap and his brother wins the cup.........Wouldnt that be a off season to remember along with our after the race interviews....

I think Martin has positioned himself to be the guy everyone is chasing right now.

I think has been said by some drivers and such,and I agree,until he is mathematically out of it,Jimmie John is the man to beat.


KING

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I think has been said by some drivers and such,and I agree,until he is mathematically out of it,Jimmie John is the man to beat.

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I also agree with ya on Jimmy, he's the champ, he's the 3 peat, he & Kanuss know how to win, they know how to postion themselves for the best possible finish depending on thier car. Chad is the best and until somebody beats Jimmy & Chad your right thier the ones to beat. I'm not a Jimmy fan but he's earned the respect of being the one to beat.

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I think Martin has positioned himself to be the guy everyone is chasing right now.

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Yeah, having won the race and being in first place means everyone is chasing him right now.

Martin is a veteran, and knows the real deal is to not win races now but to finish as high as possible. Avoid any problems as much as he can and take it as it comes to him, not forcing his hand. A handful of other drivers know when and how to do this as well, but those like Hamlin and Montoya will fizzle as the chase goes on, methinks. Talladega and Martinsville will be wild cards as well, where anything could happen.

In other news, another year without Junior in the championship hunt. What happened to all these wins that were going to come his way now that he was in good equipment????

Don't follow NASCAR all that much anymore .... but I really hope Mark wins it all!!

The Hendrick's cars are as tough as always. All three of their good drivers made the chase...

Interestingly, I stopped following NASCAR closely when Martin "retired" from Roush Racing. He was my favorite driver and even though he is not driving for the Blue Oval anymore I will be pulling for him as he is one of the best drivers, if not the best driver, never to win a championship.

He should have been champion in 1990, but had the championship stolen from him for an "illegal" spacer at the Richmond race that penalized him 46 points - causing him to lose the overall cup race by 26. It was a complete load of crap and what really, really soured my on Dale Earnhardt/Richard Childress racing. Had the same questionable grey area of racing come up with their operation, I am quite convinced that NASCAR would not have enforced any sort of penalty.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant, but that still irritates me to no end. Martin is a class act, bring it home Mark!

Sports’ real Mr. Clutch drives a race car

By Jay Hart, Yahoo! Sports
15 hours, 40 minutes ago

Buzz up! 7 PrintDOVER, Del. – The most clutch athlete in all of professional sports isn’t Derek Jeter or Tom Brady. It’s not even Kobe Bryant.

No, the most money athlete when championships are on the line is Jimmie Johnson, and he’s got the numbers to prove it.


Jimmie Johnson dominated the second race of the Chase for the Cup at Dover International Speedway.
(Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
Of the 52 playoff races run since NASCAR instituted its Chase for the championship, Johnson has won 15, including Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover. To put that in perspective, Herb Thomas holds NASCAR’s best career winning percentage of 21 percent. Johnson has won 28 percent of all playoff races.

How good is that?

More From Jay HartStorylines: Gordon's not done yet Sep 26, 2009 To truly succeed, Kahne needs a change Sep 26, 2009 Johnson already holds the best winning percentage among active drivers. It’s 15 percent, which means he ups his game by a ridiculous 12 percentage points come playoff time.

Derek Jeter’s lifetime batting average is .317. His playoff average is .309. Tom Brady’s career completion percentage is 63 percent. His percentage in the postseason is 62.5. Kobe Bryant averages 25.1 points in the regular season, 25.03 in the playoffs.

If Reggie Jackson was Mr. October, then Jimmie Johnson is the Legend of the Fall.

“I’m pretty sure that dude’s Superman,” Mark Martin said of his first-year teammate Johnson. “You know, I have had the opportunity to see up close. I’m telling you, I see why he is so successful. I see why. He works harder at it than anybody else, I think, on the circuit.”

Johnson brushes off his playoff success, explaining that the 10 tracks that make up the Chase are in his wheel house. There is certainly some merit to that. Of the 10 tracks, Johnson has won at nine of them. But then again, Johnson has won races at 16 of the 21 tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule.

With eight races to go in the Chase, the only person standing between Johnson and an unprecedented fourth straight title is Martin, who despite finishing second saw his lead over Johnson shrink to just 10 points. And though eight of the top 10 at Dover were Chase drivers, the distance between Martin in first and Juan Pablo Montoya in third actually grew to 65 points.

“That’s how competitive the Chase is – I got a top 10 and I’m not happy with it,” said Tony Stewart, who rallied to finish ninth after an early race incident that saw Joey Logano flip seven times. “I’m proud of the effort from the team, really proud of that. We dodged another bullet.”

Stewart should be happy; it was his first top-10 finish in over a month. Still, it left him sitting fifth in the standings, 109 points back of Martin.

Though Martin maintained the points lead, Johnson served notice Sunday, as he tends to do this time of year, that he is still the driver to beat. Next up is Kansas Speedway, where he is the defending race winner. From there it’s on to California (where Johnson has three wins), Charlotte (five wins) and Martinsville (six wins).

It’s the meat of the schedule for Johnson, who still remains hungry despite sitting at the top of the mountain.

“There’s a lot of people out there that get to the top – football players, baseball players, racers for that matter – they get to the top and then they’re like, ‘Oh, well, I’ve made it. I got the big house, got the cool plane. Let’s go party on Monday,’ ” said crew chief Chad Knaus. “Jimmie does the opposite. He wakes up Monday morning at 8 o’clock, goes and gets on the treadmill, he goes to work, watches what he eats and pays attention to details.

“If you want to win races in this industry in this day and age, you have to give that type of commitment. And if you don’t, you’re not going to win.”

Johnson does, and because of it he’s in position to do something Derek Jeter and Tom Brady and Kobe Bryant haven’t been able to – four-peat.

Jay Hart is the NASCAR editor for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jay a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.