All Day Sports Talk

Busch and others look to Richmond to clinch spot

If you told Kyle Busch at the beginning of the season that he would win four races this season and still miss The Chase, he probably would have told you that you're crazy. On the eve of Chevy Rock & Roll 400, that is exactly the situation we are in. Busch has won four races, but sits 14th in the standing and 37 points out of The Chase.

The Busch team has been inconsistent all year, and Kyle has constantly had in-race meltdowns that have prevented his crew from properly adjusting the car. In a year where Kyle was suppose to mature and develop into a threat to win a Sprint Cup title, he has regressed and now finds himself fighting for his Chase life.

Luckily, Richmond is one of Busch's best tracks on the circuit. He won here earlier this year, and his a track record of running up front. He pulled off a big win in Bristol when he needed one, and he's more than capable of taking Richmond to leapfrog Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth to get into the much coveted 12th spot.

Kenseth has fallen off the map after winning the first two races of the season. With a consistently subpar car, he has still managed to stay in The Chase, and a decent showing Saturday night would normally be enough to get him in. Unfortunately for him, Vickers is one of the hottest drivers on the circuit and Busch is capable of winning any week. Another finish inbetween 10 and 18 might not cut it for the 17 team's quest to make another Chase. The Roush Ford might have to run near the front for Kenseth of have a spot, and I'm not convince it can do that.

Roush teammate Greg Biffle also needs a good showing tomorrow night to clinch his spot in the Chase. Biffle has had several top 10s in the past month and a half, but he hasn't had strong showings at Richmond in the past two years. If Vickers and Busch have fast cars, then Biffle will likely join his Roush teammate on the outside looking in when The Chase starts.

Gordon finally wins!

Jeff Gordon has been consistent all year, leading the points race, but he has yet to have a truly dominant performance.

Early in the race, it looked like Gordon was going to follow the script of the previous races this season. After starting on the front row, Gordon dropped back several spots. His car didn't look great, and an unprecedented green flag run to start the race prevented his crew from doing anything other than changing the tires on his first pit.

As the race went on, and the yellows came, opportunity came for Gordon and his teammate Jimmie Johnson. There cars got better as the race went on, while silly mistakes by Kyle Busch and David Reutimann left them out of contention.

The turning point of the race came on the final pit stop. It was looking like Carl Edwards' 99 car was going to roll into victory lane for the three-peat. However, a bad pit stop kept Edwards from doing backflips and fire off six shooters in Fort Worth.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked like he was be in the running too, but a crucial mistake on pit road also kept him from making up ground in the standings. He finished a lap down, and will need a good showing next week in Phoenix to get into the top 12.

With seven races finished, the cream of the crop is certainly emerging. After a slow start, Jimmie Johnson is starting to assert himself, and looks like a good bet to repeat in Phoenix next week. The key for him and crew chief Chad Knaus is to get the car right from the beginning. This week, and last week in Martinsville, they needed about 3 pit stops before Johnson really started to go.