Chasers have a lot on their plates as Talladega calls (cont'd)

TIER 3

Busch

Hamlin

Kurt Busch (No Change)
Kurt Busch got out of Martinsville kind of the way we expected...not too good. Talladega is likely to be a much different story. Busch is the one driver who bucks the trend when it comes to results at Talladega. Despite the fact that he is still looking for his first restrictor plate win, Busch has a strong record at Talladega with eight top tens in his last ten races there. Busch has always been known as a solid plate racer and he's pushed several people to wins at both Daytona and Talladega. Maybe this time around it's his turn to get a push from someone else. Don't be surprised if Kurt Busch is a contender for the win this weekend.

Denny Hamlin (+1)
Like we talked about last week, Denny Hamlin is in a terrific spot, no championship pressure, yet they have a car fast enough to win most every week. Last week at Martinsville, Mike Ford was able to make some pit gambles work out and Hamlin took a fast car from there to victory lane. Hamlin has also been one of the exceptions to the rule with Talladega results. He has two top tens in his last four races at Talladega and one of those non-top tens came when he lost a right front tire while leading the race. No doubt Gibbs has been near the top when it comes to speed and handling at these plate tracks of late; JGR has won two of the last three Talladega races. So Hamlin will run up front Sunday and with nothing to lose, who knows, maybe they can parlay those factors into a second straight win.

TIER 4

Biffle

Edwards

Newman

Kahne

Vickers

Greg Biffle (No Change)
As predicted, Martinsville was miserable for Greg Biffle. He told me this week he was just glad to get out of there but he did make a kind offer to Denny Hamlin. Biffle said that he would offer to take Denny Hamlin to Dover and test with him and he'd also be willing to share some of his secrets, since Hamlin struggles so much at Dover and Biffle is so good there. If Hamlin would do the same for Biffle at Martinsville, Biffle may want to find someone to offer him the same help at Talladega instead. This has just not been Biffle's track over the years. He did finish 7th here in the spring but, believe it or not, that was his first career top ten Talladega finish. In fact, Roush Racing as a whole has always struggled at Talladega. In the last five Talladega races, Roush has just four top-10 finishes (with five teams, that means there were 25 opportunities). The whole, "Roush getting their grove back before the end of the season" thing, is not likely to start this week at Talladega.

Carl Edwards (No Change)
If you're Carl Edwards and you are looking for a fresh start, why not look to Talladega? Couldn't get much worse than the last time here, right? Or worse than his five straight races at Talladega without a top-10, or his three, Talladega DNF's in his last five races there. Surely things can only get better, right?

Ryan Newman (No Change)
Ryan Newman turned in an impressive Martinsville effort. If you read these pages last week, you might have selected Newman as a dark horse. Good call. Equally as impressive as the 39 team's short track program this year has been their plate program. Newman has shown the ability and desire to run up front in these races and was one of the players late in the race at Talladega in the spring. Perhaps surprising to some, Newman has four finishes of 11th or better so far in the Chase. In years past, that would probably get you in the top half of the chasers. This year however it will get you solidly in the bottom half. Newman might pick it up a bit this weekend though with a surprising, to some, top five run.

Kasey Kahne (No Change)
Ugh! That's the only way to describe Kasey Kahne's Martinsville race. It's one of the races I'm told drivers hate the most (according to people who have actually had to do it). A driver wrecks his car early but doesn't wreck it hard enough to be able to quit. Instead he has to keep going, with a torn up car, limping around while people are passing him every few seconds and exhaust fumes are filling up the car. I can only imagine how frustrating and nauseating it must be. The result for Kahne was a 32nd place finish. Unfortunately, the prospects for this weekend may not be much better. While Kahne has always seemed to run well at the plate races, the end results at Talladega have not been kind. Kahne has exactly one career top-10 finish at Talladega and has finished 36th in his last two races there. After his wreck at California and his disaster of a day at Martinsville, you would think the odds would be in Kahne's favor to just have a clean race at Talladega. Considering his recent record there, that would be a good day.

Brian Vickers (No Change)
Some scribblers continue to bash the 83 team and wonder why they are even in the Chase. On some level I agree, but I think their Martinsville run was fairly impressive. Vickers finished 11th last Sunday but ran most of the race in the top ten. That's a solid day considering Martinsville is one of his worst tracks. Now he comes to one of his best tracks. Vickers is one of the few drivers who has been able to post solid results almost every time out at Talladega. He has five top tens in his last seven Talladega races. Don't be surprised to see the 83 back in contention for a win this weekend.