Chase offers no real surprises, but Hall class did

Coming up to the halfway point in the Chase, and don't know about you, but not much in the way of surprises in this corner.

No one -- except maybe the most delusional haters -- could have imagined that Jimmie Johnson wouldn't have been right where he's sitting as the Sprint Cup Series heads to the house Johnson formerly called virtually his own, Charlotte Motor Speedway.

No Cup team is better-equipped than Johnson's and Chad Knaus' to crank off top finishes punctuated by wins, or to rebound if a disaster strikes.

And then there's Tony Stewart and Darian Grubb. No matter what any of the other championship hopefuls had displayed this year and in the past, Stewart always had to be considered the strongest threat to unseat Johnson.

And nothing he's done since the start of the Chase has shaken that belief -- very much, at least -- though kinda stinking it up at Dover was very unexpected. But Stewart's history has shown he can strike, repeatedly and -- putting aside the fact that "would've" and "could've" are two of the most useless words in the sporting lexicon -- Stewart's proven how good he can be in just four Chase races.

What makes this Chase the most fascinating -- maybe ever -- is that Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon are perfectly positioned as lurkers. They're good enough to stay within striking range, and if one of those inevitable "racing deals" comes down, they could take advantage if Stewart hasn't already overrun them.

What about the chances of success for the rest of the contenders and pretenders? At least two of the final six races will be won by drivers outside that top-five group. But none of them have shown the consistency to get it done regularly.

And in the end, that's what winning a championship has always meant, and it's why the five teams and drivers who are in the position they're in, in the Cup Series, are where they are.

If you need a better example, just look up "Brad Keselowski" and "Nationwide Series."

And if you want to talk "surprise" and "no surprise," we had the Hall of Fame induction vote.

David Pearson, Bobby Allison and Lee Petty were gimmes. But Ned Jarrett, though his eventual induction was inevitable due to his Hall-worthy careers as both a driver and broadcaster, and Bud Moore, who took a veritable write-in campaign to earn a recent induction into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, were pleasant surprises.

So now, keeping it "close to home" in Charlotte for a week always keeps enough popping -- like JR Motorsports announcing a sponsor who got a taste at another location and is jumping "across the street" -- to have enough to read.

At any rate, you hope it's enough to keep the interest level up for another week.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.