Future teammates Busch and Edwards flying under the radar in postseason
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CONCORD, N.C. -- While much of the attention in the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has been paid to the drivers in danger of not advancing, three veterans yet to claim a championship in the sport's premier series have flown under the radar and are on the cusp of advancing to the Eliminator Round.
Coming into the Chase, some wondered if Kyle Busch's team could recover from a late slump in the second half of the regular season, while others wondered if Carl Edwards would have enough speed in his Chase swan song with Roush Fenway Racing. Ryan Newman has cranked out top-20 finishes with ease, but there was concern that wouldn't be enough for the Richard Childress Racing driver as the Chase wore on.
After an August stretch that saw "Rowdy" have four consecutive finishes of 36th or worse, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has rebounded in a big way with five top-10 finishes to open the Chase, including a career-best finish at what had been his kryptonite in Kansas and a fifth-place result in Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Points leader Joey Logano is the only other driver who can lay claim to opening the 2014 Chase with five-top 10s, though his record also includes two wins and five top-fives.
Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award at Charlotte and led 41 circuits en route to his top-five finish. However, he seemed a bit disappointed with the result.
"Little adjustments just didn't help us tonight," Busch said. "We made that one big change and the car really took off for us. It wasn't a win -- which is what we really want -- but it's another solid finish for us."
Despite that frustration, Busch will head to Talladega Superspeedway for the GEICO 500 (Oct. 19, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN) in second place in the points standings, six points behind Logano for the lead and 26 points ahead of JGR teammate Matt Kenseth, who sits in ninth place, the first elimination position.
Busch's 21.4 average finish in 19 starts at the Talladega is tied for his worst among all Sprint Cup Series tracks. His strategy for the Alabama track is simple.
"We just need to go to Talladega next week and try to avoid the 'Big One,' " he said.
Busch's future teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Carl Edwards, has posted two straight top-10 finishes to kick off the Contender Round, following up a fifth-place result at Kansas (his home track) with an eighth-place result at Charlotte. The end result was all the more impressive considering that he spent the second-fewest number of laps in the top 15 (170) out of all the drivers that finished in the top 10.
"We definitely made the most of it," Edwards said of his run at Charlotte. "It was a good night for us and a great points night."
The 35-year-old also picked up a bonus point for leading a lap, Lap 315.
The top-10 at Charlotte puts Edwards in fifth place in the points standings and 20 points ahead of the first driver (Kenseth) on the outside looking in. But now Talladega looms -- and it is statistically his worst track. In 20 starts at 'Dega, Edwards has just two top-fives and an average finish of 21.0.
"We'll go on to Talladega, but I'm just glad we got out of here clean," Edwards said. "I don't think we made any enemies, so we'll go have some fun at Talladega and hopefully make the next round."
Ryan Newman has been consistent all season long with 27 top-20 finishes in his first season with RCR. In the past three weeks, Newman has raised his game with three top-10 finishes, including a seventh-place finish at Charlotte.
The 36-year-old spent much of the night running in the top 10 but nearly getting caught up with former Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Danica Patrick on Lap 246 looked like it might hurt his result. However, Newman made a great save to keep his car from suffering significant damage after spinning out. The team's jack also broke on Lap 223.
"It was a good rebound with all the problems after missing the wreck and broken jack," Newman said. "We didn't have the best car on the short run there at the end when we needed it. To go from 18th (where he restarted after the caution involving his car and Danica's) to seventh isn't too darn bad."
With his third top-10 finish in his past four Charlotte races, Newman is fourth in the point standings, with a 21-point advantage on Kenseth. Just like Busch and Edwards, Talladega is Newman's worst track based on average finish (21.5) in 25 starts.
Busch has yet to win a Chase race as a driver in the sport's playoff and his best finish in the final standings of the 10-race format was a fourth-place result last season. Edwards has twice been the runner-up for the title, most recently in 2011 when he was tied with Tony Stewart after the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but Stewart won the title based on his five wins to Edwards' one that season. Newman's best Chase finish came in 2005 when he finished sixth.
To officially lock themselves into the Eliminator Round, Busch, Newman or Edwards could win at Talladega; or Busch would need to finish 24th, while Newman would need to finish 19th and Edwards would need to finish 18th.
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