Best part of the Chase is the night that creates it (cont'd)

"I remember that 2005 season like it happened yesterday, and that ought to tell you how much a driver thinks about it and a team thinks about it," he said. "Coming in for your last chance, the got to hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth mentality that you've got to have. My teammate [Kahne] is going through it right now, being over 40 points out going into Richmond. He's not only racing just one guy, but kind of racing against two guys. Not only are you worried about what you're doing all night and the things you're trying to take care of, but also the guys that you're racing against. I remember how tough it was."

Sadler, a Virginia native, was battling Ryan Newman and McMurray for that final spot, which ultimately went to Newman. "It's a gut-wrenching week in terms of nerves and thoughts, so I understand what these drivers are going through," he said. "There's nothing fun about coming to Richmond on the outside looking in, or either on the bubble knowing you have to have a mistake-free race to make your way into the Chase. But I think that's what's great about the Chase and the reason I like so much, making guys race hard each and every week."

Indeed, it's the pressure, and the way the competitors handle that pressure, that make the Richmond race so enthralling. Granted, drivers and teams have figured the Chase out a little bit, discovering that being conservative and holding position is often the ticket in -- because once in, theoretically, anyone can win it. We may never see a repeat of Mayfield's win-to-get-in strategy, which in retrospect seems ludicrously risky. Likewise, we've gone from a time when seven or eight drivers came to Richmond with their positions still undecided, to the current handful today. Last year, it was mathematically possible for all the Chase drivers to have clinched their berths before they even got to Richmond, something that may well happen one day.

Yet compared to what's usually on offer in the series finale at Homestead, where one or two drivers harbor mathematical but unrealistic chances of catching the leader, Richmond drips with suspense. Somebody's going to have their heart broken, and 112,000 people get to watch. The winners are whoever clinches that last Chase berth, and the racetrack, which because of the Chase's proximity has seen its fall event vaulted into an elite group of the sport's most important races, alongside the three crown jewels -- the Daytona 500, the Brickyard, and the 600-miler at Charlotte -- and the endgame in South Florida.

"From Richmond's standpoint, this definitely has increased the significance of our race, there's no doubt about it," track president Doug Fritz said. "It really raises Richmond's profile. It has more of a national feel to it than it might have had before that. Last year we credentialed about 700 media, which is up about 100 from the year before. It continues to grow and get more stature. You go into Daytona the week of the 500, and drivers are talking about the Daytona 500 and Richmond and Homestead. It's really top of mind the whole year as they prepare their schedules and try to peak at the right times."

To be fair, the Chase didn't make Richmond; the track was one of the most successful on the Sprint Cup circuit long before the new playoff format was even conceived. Its current sellout streak of 33 races dates back to March of 1992. The facility's most recent grandstand expansion, the addition of the 7,800-seat, high-rise Commonwealth Tower, might have gone up even if the Chase field were determined somewhere else. But there's no question that this old fairgrounds track, which was revitalized by the addition of lights in 1991, has taken on a more prominent role in NASCAR simply because of its position on the schedule.

"We haven't sold more tickets because of the Chase," Fritz said, "but it's really just increased the significance of the race."

And that significance will be on display Saturday night, when the moon comes out, fingernails get chewed, crew chiefs shift nervously in their seats, and the best night of racing on the Sprint Cup schedule begins to unfold.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer