Bruce: Hendrick trio, Keselowski not out, just down
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — For the second time in three weeks, Joey Logano woke up to the realization that he and his No. 22 Team Penske outfit are one step closer to Homestead-Miami Speedway and a chance at this year’s NASCAR NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
A much harsher dose of reality greeted Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski, as well as Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jimmie Johnson.
With two races remaining in the Contender Round of this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, their chances at advancement are much less likely. Certainly it’s not impossible, given the results that brought each of them this far. But the odds that all four find their way out of the points wasteland in which they currently wander aren’t good.
A win at Charlotte, on tap for this Saturday night, or next week’s stop at Talladega Superspeedway, would guarantee any one of the four the right to fight another day. But the math there doesn’t add up — two winners doesn’t get four drivers into in NASCAR’s Chase.
Racing their way back into contention won’t be easy. Bad starts in the Chase, regardless of format, have proven to be notoriously difficult to overcome. Under this year’s system, it may be even more so.
Just ask Greg Biffle or Aric Almirola. Those two struggled in the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway and went on to prove that two races isn’t enough time to climb back into the title picture. But a fourth driver, Denny Hamlin, did manage the feat. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was first “on the outside” after finishing 37th at New Hampshire going into the cutoff race at Dover. A 12th-place finish there gave Hamlin new life if not more horsepower.
Obviously, the misfortune that struck Kahne, Keselowski, Earnhardt Jr., and Johnson at Kansas could just as easily bite four others at some point during the next two races. A flat tire here, a broken part there.
It’s hard to make a living or contend for championships, however, based on what could occur. Teams don’t set up their cars, tune their engines or plot pit strategy based on what might happen to others.
The reality of the situation is that it happened to them, and now they must deal with the consequences.
Kahne, eight points out of the top eight, has lived on the edge most of the season, winning late in the year to gain a spot in the Chase and then advancing into the Contender Round by the slimmest of margins.
Keselowski, 22 points out of eighth, enjoyed a strong regular season, then promptly won the opening race of the Chase. The team didn’t rest on its laurels; Keselowski finished seventh at Loudon and second at Dover while leading 78 laps in each of those races.
Earnhardt admitted concern before the start of the second round, acknowledging that his No. 88 team had lost something off its fastball in recent weeks. Still, the sport’s most popular driver didn’t appear to have too difficult of a time advancing to the second round. Now, he finds himself 25 points out of eighth place.
Johnson, the six-time champion, has his back against the wall and there’s no other way to put it. He’s 27 points out of eighth and those two top-five finishes that he rode into the second round might as well have happened in the season’s first two races, for all the good they do him now.
A week from today, all four could be back in the title picture and maybe that will indeed be the case. If Kansas was a nightmare, Charlotte could be the Promised Land. Wrongs can be set right when the sun goes down.
Talladega is 500 miles of opportunity surrounded by chaos. Who can guess what unfolds there?
The four aren’t down and out at this point — just down.
But “out” is clearly visible. And it’s something none of the four expected to see this soon.
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