Catchfence

A lot of people got their cars washed on the morning of New Hampshire’s Sylvania 300 thanks to pouring rain. But it wasn’t enough to stop the first Chase race of the 2008 season and amid a humid overcast day some surprises developed in Round One of the ten-round showdown. A look at the Sylvania 300′s winners and losers and how they may stack up entering the Delaware 400 -

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ROUSH PERFORMANCE - We start with Greg Biffle. Winning the race after nearly a full calender year after his last win was liberating enough; winning this particular race put him in range to steal a championship, a fact obviously on his mind with greater than expected postrace verbiage about Biffle’s past title chances in all three NASCAR divisions. If history is any guide, the last Roush Ford to win this race was Kurt Busch in the inaugural Chase format.

Carl Edwards finished third and took the point lead, and the podium dominance contrasted with the rest of the Roush fleet, as Jamie McMurray first went nowhere, then went to the wall, and was eventully joined by Matt Kenseth while David Ragan spun twice.

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS - Jimmie Johnson and Dale Junior combined to lead 175 laps. That Biffle caught and passed Johnson was a bit surprising. But it signalled that Hendrick’s top two are certainly ready for this playoff run, with Johnson holding the edge in the Hendrick camp on his two previous championships and Junior’s general inability to close out the deal.

Jeff Gordon is in the Chase but it’s unrealistic to expect anything from him, as nowhere this season has he shown ability to figure out the funk he is in nor has the Hendrick organization shown ability or perhaps any particular interest in redoubling Gordon’s efforts.

RCR - Despite finishing all three of its cars in the top twelve, RCR is the most outpowered of the four Chase teams and has been the last two seasons. Combine this with two drivers (Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer) lacking sufficient killer instinct to fight for wins and a driver (Kevin Harvick)seemingly unable to figure out how to win again, and there isn’t that much to expect an RCR title.

JOE GIBBS RACING - Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin finished in the top ten, but all season they have shown nothing close to the muscle of Kyle Busch, and Busch’s disasterous day was the kind that has often eliminated title hopefuls in the present Chase format. Busch now has an uphill fight and that horsepower he’d shown most of the season has to come back in force, for winning out is now the order of the day. It’s a horsepower edge neither of his teammates has shown this season and which one cannot reasonably expect them to discover these last nine weeks.
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That horsepower edge was on display at Dover last time out, and Kyle Busch needs another win there. The four Chase teams all have good records there and the near-total monopoly they showed at Loudon can be expected at Dover as well. So can any non-Chasers soil the party? Unlikey, though Kurt Busch, Martin Truex, Kasey Kahne, and Bobby Labonte deserve some brownie points for top-13 finishes that broke up the Chase monopoly.

Some comments about the rookies are necessary as well. It says a lot about the sport’s lack of competitive depth that rookies have been irrelevent to the season and were irrelevent to this race. Joey Logano was in this race – you might not have noticed because he was mostly invisible all day. Chad McCumbee was also in this race, and while he passed some cars I doubt anyone else noticed him, either, until yet another rookie – Sam Hornish – decided to try five-abreast in Turn Three and McCumbee paid the price with several veterans. Regan Smith was the highest-finishing rookie – and for what good a 23rd could do he might as well have not even participated.

It’s absurd to expect rookies to do anything at Dover. As the Chase winds its way to Delaware the focus has shifted to the star drivers of four teams left to battle for the title.