Long climb for several Chasers begins at Lowe's

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On paper, the favorites seem apparent going into Saturday night's Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, ABC), as do the long shots. A have/have-not line of demarcation is drawn statistically.

• Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have combined for nine victories at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

• The other 10 drivers in the Chase for the Nextel Cup have accumulated only four wins at the Concord, N.C. oval in the Charlotte area.

• Seven of the 12 drivers in the Chase have never won a Cup Series race at LMS.

Of course, for those seven, this week can also be seen as a glass-half-full scenario, a prime-time race and a prime chance for a breakthrough at the most opportune of times.

And thus far in the 2007 Chase, the word breakthrough has been synonymous with Clint Bowyer. Bowyer, still riding the momentum of his career-first victory at New Hampshire, an event that opened the Chase, comes to LMS third in the points, only 63 points behind Gordon, who took over the points lead via his victory this past Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.

"The sky is the limit from here on out for the Jack Daniel's Chevrolet," Bowyer said. "Bottom line is we knew going into this thing we would have to step up our program in a big way and I think we've certainly answered that call."

However, in only three Cup starts at Lowe's, Bowyer's best finish is 19th. He'll start 25th after a qualifying run of 186.374 mph (28.974 seconds) on Thursday night.

"Lowe's Motor Speedway's not a racetrack where I've been particularly successful," Bowyer acknowledged. "We've always run well there -- been up front and run in the top 10; we've just never finished like we've run. We've wrecked a lot there and gotten caught up in stuff.

"We just have to do better. If we can do what we've done everywhere else and improve on our finishes, we'll be just fine."

Tony Stewart has dropped to 154 points back of the lead, into fourth place, but don't forget how he did down the stretch last year when he was outside the Chase field. Two of Stewart's five victories in 2006 came in the season's last five weeks -- at Atlanta and Texas. His only win at Lowe's came in the October race in 2003.

"All we can do is go for broke now," said Stewart, who will roll off the grid in 29th after a qualifying lap of 185.842 mph (29.057). It's been done. Jimmie Johnson did it last year.

"So for us, it's just a matter of not worrying about what everybody else is doing. We just need to go out and worry about winning races now and hope we are where we need to be at the end of the day."

Although winless at LMS, Carl Edwards has some encouraging history there. In five starts, he has four top-10 finishes, including two third-place efforts. Edwards, sixth in points, will start 18th after turning in a qualifying speed of 186.819 mph (28.905).

"Charlotte is going to be a tough track, but a lot of fun. I'm really excited to get back to a track that I feel comfortable at," said Edwards, who will drive the car in which he finished second at California in September. "I'm confident we'll be good. We need a strong finish this weekend to make gains in the Chase and try to move up in the points."

Less-than encouraging is the LMS record of Kevin Harvick, who is fifth in the Chase standings. Harvick is 0-for-13 at the track and has led a total of two laps in those 13 races.

"Charlotte seems to be a track where we just haven't had the finishes we need. We have always run pretty well there but just haven't been able to put everything together," said Harvick, who will start 24th (186.419 mph, 28.967). He finished 21st at LMS in May.

"During the Coca-Cola 600 we were running pretty good and just got caught up in a wreck. We have to find a way to keep everything together. If we can do that, I think we can leave Charlotte with a top-five finish."

In Harvick's case, it might be worth noting, again, that all of these statistics are gleaned from points-paying series races at LMS. The annual NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge is excluded. (Footnote: Harvick won this year's all-star race).

Front-end spoiler

Drivers outside the Chase are lining up to play the role of spoiler this week at Lowe's Motor Speedway. At the head of the list: Kasey Kahne and Casey Mears.

Kahne will have to be confident coming into the Bank of America 500 despite a disappointing season that finds him 21st in the series point standings this week. Kahne swept last season's two races at LMS.

Mears, meanwhile, got his first career Cup victory earlier this season at LMS. Even though he also is outside the Chase, Mears has been inside the top 10 at the finish of all four Chase races thus far -- the only driver in the series to do so. Mears is 15th in the series standings this week.

Since the start of the Chase in 2004, "non-Chasers" have won 11 times.

A special sort of flagman

Patrick Hickey has been described as a cross between Florence Nightengale and Indiana Jones.

Strange, but true -- and admirable.

Hickey is one of only 150 people to have scaled the tallest mountain on all seven of the world's continents. He has done so to raise money for nursing scholarships, in response to a growing shortage in nurses.

His latest climb was to the top of Mount Everest. When he reached the summit, Hickey planted the Nextel Cup Series flag into the ground. On Saturday, during pre-race ceremonies for the Bank of America 500, Hickey will present that flag to NASCAR president Mike Helton.

Hickey didn't plan on taking NASCAR to the top of the world. As with so many things that go down in this sport, this one went up following a groundswell of fan reaction.

In his blog during 64 days on Everest, Hickey wrote that he could deal with the cold, isolation and constant danger. But he lamented being cut off from NASCAR. What was happening with Jeff Gordon, he wondered?

We're talking a devoted fan here.

Soon, updates from total strangers started pouring in.

"All kinds of hits came in from so many NASCAR fans, giving race results, points updates, and news like Junior leaving DEI," Hickey said.

"Co-workers were amazed to learn I was a NASCAR fan, when I had no idea they were fans, too. Of course, the best part was hearing Jeff was doing so well."

Hickey noticed something else: NASCAR fans were giving generously to The Summit Scholarship he had created to support nursing students at the University of South Carolina.

The goal is to raise $29,035 -- or a buck for every foot of altitude of Mount Everest.