WINLESS CHASE HOPEFULS RUNNING OUT OF TIME
Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon slogged through frustrating, costly races at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, making their attempts to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup more anxietyridden than they’d like with four regular-season races left.
In essence, they might have entered an elimination round preceding the actual ones that define the Chase format that debuted last fall.
They can share in the consolation, however, that they’re in better position than Kasey Kahne.
Kahne, who finished 42nd and 12 laps down after being involved in an accident on a midrace restart, fell from possessing the final spot on the Chase grid to 51 points behind Clint Bowyer, who now holds the last transfer spot on points. After wrecking out after three laps and finishing last at Pocono Raceway the previous weekend, Kahne has earned three points in two weeks. He indulged in gallows humor Sunday after being checked at the infield care center and released.
“I made it longer this week than last,” he quipped.
Gordon, Kahne’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, lasted longer, too, but his 86 laps Sunday were plagued by brake-line problems, relegating him to a 41st-place finish. He fell from 10th in the standings to 12th, two spots and eight points above Bowyer. But at least Gordon, Ryan Newman and Bowyer remain snug inside the Chase field.
The regular-season finale is Sept. 12 at Richmond International Raceway, and all of the aforementioned drivers are winless. So they need to win one of the next four races or shore up their spot in the standings to get in the 10-race playoff. Five slots remain in the 16-driver grid.
Gordon finished 42nd after wrecking at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before rebounding to finish third at Pocono. He fell two spots in the standings Sunday, but as with McMurray, who fell one, playoff qualification might be about damage control.
“Our performance is not bad,” Gordon said. “Right now it is the unknown. It is the concerns of freak things happening like what happened to us at Indy, what happened to us here. Those are things out of your control. We are all about the things you can control, and from that standpoint we are just trying to improve the performance of the car slightly.”
Bowyer was the lone potential Chase points-transfer candidate to finish inside the top 10 on Sunday. A sixth-place result marked his third consecutive top-10.
“Never was a big player in the game, but we did what we needed to do,” he said.
As did Richard Childress Racing teammates Paul Menard, who finished 13th, and Newman, 15th. Menard, second in points among non-winners, could qualify for his first Chase in nine full-time Cup seasons. Newman, who finished second in the 2014 standings despite no wins, remains viable this season despite incurring a 50- point penalty for tire manipulation this season.
Richard Petty Motorsports’ Aric Almirola moved one spot above Kahne but is 50 points behind Bowyer. Kahne won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the penultimate race of the 2014 regular season to secure a Chase spot and suggested Sunday that he would need to replicate those dramatics at Michigan International Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway or Richmond to avoid missing the Chase for the first time since 2011.
“At this rate we’re going to need to win,” he said. “That’s the only way we’ll go into the Chase. I don’t know what my deal is. But we’ve got to get a little better.”
Kahne has finished 19th or worse in his last six races.