Jimmie wins again - does it bode well for the Chase now?

And so the long awaited weekend draws to a close. The drivers are locked, and the stage is set. Before I continue, let’s take a moment to congratulate the top 12 men who are all now one step closer to achieving their goal: win the championship.

Jimmie Johnson seemed to be a bit of a no-brainer when it came to who would make the Chase. Already this season, Johnson has won six races, many of which were booked back to back. Due to the new configuration of the new points system, Johnson finds himself sitting back in the No. 1 spot, a position he became quite accustomed with last year. Johnson and company seem to be hitting all of their marks, a remark echoed my Johnson himself:

"Everything is working right now. We're happy to be hitting our stride at this point in the season."

Their stride could not have developed at a more opportune time. However, as is often the case in life, you take one step forward and two steps back. Such is the case with Hendrick Motorsports and Jeff Gordon. Gordon unhappily sits 20 points behind his teammate, and rightfully so. Coming into the weekend, Gordon had achieved a 317-point lead over Johnson, but because Johnson has two more wins than Gordon, Johnson became the new point leader. However, do not count Gordon out yet; he can make up 20 points in his sleep. The No. 24 team knows how to bring home championships, winning two back-to-back for a combined total of four.

Tony Stewart is another driver familiar with the position at the front table during the awards banquet. Stewart is currently in third; 10 points and one win out of second. He also has two more top 10s than first place Johnson. On the final 10 laps of this season, Stewart is expected to do well when it comes to restrictor plate tracks, like Talladega. Unfortunately for Stewart though, the same can be said about the Hendrick teammates. Therefore, if Stewart hopes to clinch the title again, he will have to continue to book top 10s and earn a few more wins.

Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch are both 40 points out of first, with two wins apiece. However, one thing that Busch has that Edwards is still chasing is a championship. Edwards may be closer to a championship that expected though, as he is currently leading the Busch Series points by 733 points.

The drivers holding six through 11 all have claimed victory at least once this year. Martin Truex Jr. made the Chase for the first time in his career. As noted with pervious drivers, Truex also has the title “champion” on his resume. However, unlike Johnson, Gordon, and Busch, Truex’ titles come only in the Busch Series. Championships often do not transcend across the different series: Dale Earnhardt Jr. also won two championships in Busch, but has yet to make the Chase. Brian Vickers, Toyota’s current poster child, was the youngest champion to date, but failed to win the Rookie of the Year award in his first year.

Also new to the Chase is Clint Bowyer. If someone had told me that Bowyer would have clinched the final spot in the Chase back when he flipped and caught on fire at Daytona, I probably would have laughed at them. However, it seems as though the joke is on me. Bowyer has been silently climbing his way up the standings. Before the standings were reset, Bowyer was ninth, with a pole under his belt. Clint may be the underdog in this year’s race, with no previous experience in the Chase, no wins to his name, and only two top five finishes so far. Bowyer is only 60 points out of first though, and with how he has been performing this year, he may find himself amid a mid-pack points frenzy.

Probably one of the biggest stories this weekend was the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. failed to qualify for the Chase…again, due to blowing an engine…again.

"I'm just very disappointed for the engine failures that took us basically out of the Chase," which may be a true statement. At the time his engine blew, Earnhardt had been battling for the lead most of the night, and never fading for long past tenth. A win was within his grasp, and so was the Chase.

"We've had a top-five car every week.” He said after the race.

Earnhardt has not lost faith in his team though, “My team is very upset, disappointed, and bummed out about it. We've got ten more races to run together before we may never race together again, and we'll just try to have fun and enjoy the kind of cars we can put on the track and see if we can win a race or two."

While he may not be able to bring home a championship for DEI before his contract ends, and win, possibly at Talladega, is certainly possible.

Now that the top 12 have been decided, drivers and crews alike can take a collective sigh of relief…for a short time anyway. For those in the Chase, it is now or never; time to step it up or go home. For those outside of the Chase, they have nothing left to loose as the season dwindles down. No matter what they are racing for, exciting racing should ensure in the following 10 races!

Who will end up in Victory Lane next weekend? Who will become one step closer to claimed the Nextel Cup as theirs? Find out next week, here, at the Checkered Flag! 

Questions and comments may be sent to larissasmith@sportsgrumblings.com