Rock and Roll 400:

Chevy Rock and Roll 400: The Chase For The Chase
By Christopher Harris

So much for Carl Edwards or Greg Biffle making a run at the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship. Neither could get close to the lead in California last weekend, so neither will be part of the 10-driver Chase, a fact you'd never have convinced me to believe back in February. After all, weren't the Roushketeers the best drivers in the business? Apparently not.

Don't get me wrong; Matt Kenseth is still a cut above. But Mark Martin is hanging on by his fingernails, and could be bumped by Kasey Kahne this weekend, while Edwards, Biffle and Jamie McMurray are officially on the outside looking in. I'll have a preview of the Chase next weekend, when all 10 slots are iron-clad, but I suppose I ought to offer up a prediction before we get to calling a winner in the Richmond race. Last weekend I said I still thought Kahne would make the Chase, and that he'd supplant Martin, and I'll stand by that pick. Kahne was the class of the field winning Fontana last Sunday, and Martin isn't actually in 10th place any longer; Jeff Burton holds that dubious distinction. But when the dust settles late Saturday night, I think Martin will have had enough problems to cause him to miss the Chase. It's just that kind of year for Roush.

Meanwhile, there's the race itself. The Evernham team has been strong here the last few years; Jeremy Mayfield (remember way back when he was an Evernham guy?) basically needed a win here in '04 to make the Chase, and he got one, and last season Kahne posted his first career win at this track. They call Richmond the short track that drives like a superspeedway, because the front straightaway is much longer than the back, so even though it's a .75-mile course, cars get up to surprisingly fast speeds heading into Turn 1. Loose is fast at this joint, and traditionally guys who have sprint-track experience tend to excel here. Then again, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won two of the last five events at this place (including a come-from-behind win here in the spring), and no one's going to mistake him for a sprint-car guy, so every such rule should be taken with a grain of salt.

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