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KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Seven spots in the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup remain up for grabs heading into Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM). While there is plenty of excitement over the action that will take place and wondering who will make it through to the next round, Stewart-Haas Racing driver and co-owner Tony Stewart is not a fan of having the 2.66-mile track in the Chase.
“I have never thought it was good to have it in the Chase, especially with this format,” Stewart said following Kurt Busch‘s press conference on Wednesday at SHR to announce a co-primary sponsorship with Monster Energy. “You’ve got teams that have worked too hard all year, and two guys in front that aren’t a factor in it (the Chase) could totally dictate somebody’s season this weekend.
”I think Talladega and Daytona races are great, but I don’t know that when it comes time to individual performances, a race like this is the right race.”
The Talladega fall race is the sixth race of the Chase and the third and final race of the Contender Round. Upon the completion of the race, four drivers will be eliminated from the playoff field and eight drivers will move on to the Eliminator Round.
Entering Talladega, both of SHR’s Chase teams, Kurt Busch and defending series champion Kevin Harvick, are above the cutline to advance to the next round. But at Talladega, that can all change in one fell swoop with “The Big One,” not to mention the differing strategies that will be in play at the Alabama superspeedway.
“From a driver’s side, it’s like we’ve always said, it’s a chess match,” Stewart explained. “You are trying to figure out where to be at the right times. There’s guys that from the drop of the green to the checkered, race their guts out. And there’s guys that don’t race until 20 to go. Both systems work and don’t work at different times. The hard part is just trying … I think everybody has to sit there and go with the attitude of driving to run your race and analyze what you think is the best strategy.
“From an owner’s side, you sit there and there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. It’s all out of your control because there’s so many — everybody else dictates everybody else’s outcome.”
Last month, the three-time champion announced the 2016 season would be his final season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Since he did not qualify for the 2015 postseason, Stewart has turned his attention toward getting a head start on the recently announced 2016 rules package that will be similar in many ways to the low downforce setups run in July at Kentucky Speedway and in September at Darlington Raceway.
“Probably the most excited I’ve been about a rules package in a long time,” Stewart said. “It’s been going the other direction and finally, I think through a lot of people’s effort and NASCAR. … This is probably one of the coolest times to be a part of this sport as far as working with NASCAR and how much they’ve leaned on the manufacturers, Goodyear, the drivers, the team owners to make this as good as it can be. I don’t know that we’ll get all the way there in one year, but I think it’s a great, great start.”
