Bonus points battle heats up with return to Bristol

With the Chase for the Nextel Cup field set in just three short weeks, focus has been on the battle for the 12th and final spot between Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman. But with the new Chase rules this year, there is an equally important battle going on, and it's not at the bottom of the standings -- it's at the top.

For most of the season, it was assumed either Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson would lead when the Chase started at New Hampshire with the losing teammate beginning the Chase in second.

And why wouldn't we think that? After Pocono, the 14th race of the 26-race regular season, Gordon and Johnson each had four wins and were the only ones in the Cup garage with multiple victories on the season.

The new Chase rules implemented state the top-12 drivers who make the Chase will all start with 5,000 points and to put an extra emphasis on winning this year, for each win a driver will earn 10 bonus points. So through 14 weeks, Gordon and Johnson would have a 30-point lead on the rest of the field.

But my how things have changed since.

The Hendrick Motorsports duo has gone winless in the last nine races and Tony Stewart has turned his season around thanks to wins at Chicago, Indianapolis and Watkins Glen. Stewart now finds his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy just 10 points behind Gordon and Johnson when the Chase starts.

The battle for those important 10 bonus points is now officially heating up.

"We are going out there each weekend to get those bonus points," Gordon said. "We really don't care where we finish, unless it's first. I'd rather be ahead by 10 or 20 points than tied.

"Since we're locked into the Chase, it doesn't matter if we're first or fifth in points. We just need to get as many wins as we can in the next few weeks. Anything can happen in the Chase, and bonus points could be the advantage we need to make a run at the championship."

Bonus points could be exactly what Gordon leaves with after Saturday night's running of the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). Gordon is tied with Busch for the most wins among active drivers at the track with five. In 29 races at the 0.533-mile short track, Gordon has 12 top-fives -- including the last two races there, 18 top-10s and an average finish of 11.4.

But this is a new Bristol, as new concrete and an added racing groove was put in after the spring race this season. Gordon though doesn't think too much will change although he knows he will have to relearn the track on the fly.

"We learned a lot about the COT and how it reacts with the track during the last race here, but it's going to be a whole new learning curve this time around," Gordon said. "Hopefully, we'll find the handle on the new surface pretty quickly during practice on Friday, run strong during the event on Saturday and be in contention for the win at the end."

For Gordon's teammate, he's not looking forward to getting to Bristol, he's looking forward to leaving it.

"There's not a lot I look forward to when it comes to racing at Bristol," Johnson said. "It is a track where when you see it in the rear view mirror you are relieved that you got out of there." (Continued)