Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

With prior road course experience, Hornaday plans on showing the young guns the ropes

This weekend the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park will host a rare Sunday NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event – the Chevrolet Silverado 250 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

However rare it is for the truck series to compete on Sundays, the race being held on a road course and north of the border are rarer. The series makes its inaugural visit to Canada and will compete on a road course for the first time since 2000.

No drivers entered in Sunday’s race competed in the last truck road-race event on June 24, 2000, at Watkins Glen, which was won by Greg Biffle, who went on the win the series title last that season.

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Although Ron Hornaday Jr. missed the 2000 race at The Glen – his last road race in the truck series was there in 1999 – he has more truck series experience on road courses than the rest of the field combined. Matter of fact, the four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck champion (1996, 1998, 2007, 2009) is the only driver with experience competing on road-course tracks in the series.
 
In 14 races on road courses in the series, Hornaday has amassed three wins, nine top-five and 11 top-10 finishes, three poles and an average finishing position of 8.2. He’s finished first at three different tracks – Heartland Park Topeka (1995), Sonoma Raceway (1995) and Watkins Glen (1996).
 
In all four events he’s started at The Glen, he finished in the top five. In all five events he’s appeared in at Heartland Park he’s finished in the top 10. His lowest finish in all 14 races was a 27th-place performance in his only event at Portland International Raceway.

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Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

Larson looking to prove himself at Atlanta

Kyle Larson is quietly putting together a solid rookie season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Although Larson is currently eighth in the championship standings, he continues to add to his rookie lead over Alex Bowman. After placing fifth in the Wednesday night Bristol race, Larson extended his lead to 67 points.

The Great Clips/Grit Chips 300 this Saturday in Atlanta (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) will be a test for both rookies as neither of them have ever competed at the 1.54-mile track in the series. Larson, however, did finish sixth there last season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

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“I’m excited to get back to Atlanta,” Larson said. “It’s always fun when you can do some Saturday night racing. I’ve never raced at Atlanta Motor Speedway in a Nationwide Series car, but I did race in the truck series there last season, so I feel like my team and I will be ready for the race.”

For Larson, how he performs this Saturday could determine if he should be considered a dark-horse candidate to make a run at the championship. Regardless of whether he can make a serious run at the title in his rookie campaign, a top-five or top-10 finish should move him up a spot or two in the standings and further tighten his grasp on the Sunoco Rookie of the Year race.

Through the first 23 races, Larson has compiled six top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, including a pair of runner-up showings at Bristol in March and Michigan in June. Over the last 15 races, he has 14 top-15 finishes with a 30th-place finish at Watkins Glen earlier this month being the only hiccup.

“Kyle has impressed me all season so I have no doubt he can go out and contend in his first Nationwide Series race at Atlanta,” said Trent Owens, Larson’s crew chief of the No. 32 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet.

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Driver comments on SHR’s decision to add Kurt Busch in a fourth car

Ryan Newman said he found out about Stewart-Haas Racing’s expansion to four teams like most people — first rumors and non-sourced reports on the Internet that were ultimately confirmed by Tuesday’s formal announcement.

But Newman, who was informed last month his contract won’t be renewed by SHR for 2014, said Thursday he was mostly amused at this week’s turn of events, particularly at the way it was handled with the team internally.  

SHR co-owner Gene Haas told reporters Tuesday that he hired Kurt Busch for a fourth car to be sponsored by his company, Haas Automation. But Haas conceded it was — at least initially — met with surprise and “a little bit of resistance” from his fellow co-owner, Tony Stewart, who was concerned about the logistics of adding another team and the extra workload that would entail to be immediately competitive.

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“It was humorous,’’ Newman told NASCAR.com about the announcement. “To me it was more funny, than any kind of frustration from my end. In the end, it won’t affect me. Obviously, it frees up a situation for 2014 but in the end it doesn’t affect me.’’

Newman said he wasn’t privy to any discussion about the expansion beforehand.

“If they didn’t tell (Tony) Stewart why would they tell me,’’ he joked.

In fact, when Stewart told reporters at New Hampshire in July that Newman wouldn’t be a part of the team’s plans in 2014, he also said the team wasn’t ready for a fourth car at the time but should they add one in the future, Newman’s name would be on the list of potential drivers.

Judging by his own statements in Tuesday’s news conference, Haas was the driving force in securing Busch thanks to what he called a “series of events” that began with an informal conversation between the two during a Chevrolet-sponsored dinner at Indianapolis.

Newman won the Brickyard 400 from the Coors Light Pole that weekend and sits 15th in the standings, holding the second Wild Card position with two races remaining to set the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field.  

When Haas was asked this week about why he would back Busch over Newman, he said, “You know, Ryan has been an excellent driver. He’s been with us going on five years now. I think he’s done a great job driving the car. I think he’s been a great sponsor driver. He’s done well at all of that.”

But, Haas added, “The question is, at some point I am now going to be the sponsor. I just simply wanted a change and an opportunity to do something different. I don’t think this says anything negative about Ryan. He’s been a great driver, done a great job.

“After five years I just feel that I want to take hold of an opportunity that was presented to me. It gives me a chance to, you know, be a sponsor and direct things the way I wanted to direct them.”

In the meantime, Newman insists he’s ready to move forward.

“I think from that standpoint, it’s even clearer to me I wouldn’t want to be there if that’s the path they want to do down,’’ Newman said. “Take Kurt out of it. It makes no sense whatsoever.

“All of Gene’s comments don’t make any sense to me in reference to anything I did, have done, sponsorship-wise, winning races.

“There’s no logical explanation for it and I think 99 out of 100 people would say the same thing if they were being honest.’’

With Busch’s impending move from the Furniture Row Racing’s No. 78 Chevy to SHR and media reports pointing to Kyle Larson being named to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s No. 42 Chevy on Friday, the 2014 driver lineups are taking shape. Newman said things are also coming together for his ride in 2014 and expects to announce his plans soon.

He is widely considered a top candidate for a possible Richard Childress Racing fourth car or to replace Busch at Furniture Row.

“I don’t know the when, how or what or where or anything else, but I feel confident (the announcement will take in next few weeks),’’ he said.

You can watch a live stream of Ryan Newman’s press conference at Atlanta Motor Speedway at 1:45 p.m. ET on Friday.

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Atlanta has had plenty of great Sprint Cup moments, but which one tops the list?

High speed and higher drama have characterized the super-fast Atlanta Motor Speedway throughout its headline-making history. Its 1.54-mile high-banks are where NASCAR bid farewell to The King and welcomed his crown prince. It’s where the sport began healing after the loss of a legend and a place that has crowed champions and distinguished careers.

And for all of Atlanta Motor Speedway’s contributions to NASCAR’s past, when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races under the lights in Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 the track will continue a tradition of championship impact — its well-earned primetime contribution will help determine NASCAR’s postseason field with only two races remaining to set the 12-drive Chase lineup.

Here’s a look at the top 10 moments in Atlanta Motor Speedway’s storied history:

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10. After back-flipping his way into NASCAR fans’ hearts with his down-home charm and hard-charging talent, Carl Edwards finally got his first win in the sport’s big leagues in 2005. He edged Jimmie Johnson at the line to score his first career Sprint Cup win and made history by becoming the first driver to ever sweep Nationwide and Cup series races at the track.

9. Looking back, perhaps the 1978 Dixie 500 established a tradition of dramatic — and even surprise — endings. The crowd sitting in the grandstands that day thought they saw Richard Petty nip Dave Marcis at the finish line, only to hear the public address announcer call Donnie Allison the winner. After a hastily called post-race review — witnessed by NASCAR’s current chairman and CEO Brian France, then only 16-years-old — Allison was officially declared the winner. He had been down laps early in the day but raced back onto the lead lap to earn the trophy. 

8. Bill Elliott — “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville” — as he was endearingly known, is understandably forever associated with his hometown track. Twice — in 1985 and 1992 — he swept the season’s two races there, a feat only matched three times earlier and not for more than a decade later when Edwards (2005) and Jimmie Johnson (2007) pulled it off. Elliott is the only driver to sweep twice.

7. In 2009 Atlanta Motor Speedway held its first race under the lights — a primetime win by Kasey Kahne — that helped establish him among the sport’s best and turned the event into a Labor Day tradition.

6. While NASCAR has a long-established record of sibling competition, the 1996 Atlanta season-ender took brotherly bonds to new levels. Bobby Labonte won the race from the Coors Light Pole and celebrated in Victory Lane, joined by his older brother Terry who clinched his second Cup championship that day.

5. For all the great days in the track’s storied history, the evening of July 6, 2005, will be remembered for a destructive F2 category tornado with winds estimated over 150 mph that damaged or destroyed much of the speedway’s facilities. The storm caused about $25 million in damages, but in true NASCAR form, repairs were made and spirits lifted in time to hold its October race weekend as scheduled.

4. Jeff Gordon has a lot of personal history with Atlanta Motor Speedway, but it became NASCAR history on 2011 when the four-time Sprint Cup champ won his 85th Cup race on the track where he debuted 19 years earlier. The victory moved him out of a tie with Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison and into sole possession of third place on the all-time wins list. Gordon has 87 wins now.

3. Atlanta Motor Speedway boasts two of NASCAR’s top-10 closest finishes, including Dale Earnhardt’s .010-second photo-finish win over Bobby Labonte in 2000. It was Earnhardt’s 75th win and he visited Victory Lane only one more time (Talladega later that season) before a fatal accident in the next year’s Daytona 500.

2. It would be hard to find a more emotional race outcome than the 2001 March race at Atlanta. Kevin Harvick earned his first-ever Cup win only three weeks after replacing the late seven-time champ Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing. Harvick held off Jeff Gordon by a blink-of-an-eye .006-seconds in one of the most dramatic outcomes the sport has ever witnessed.

1. The 1992 Hooters 500 at Atlanta will be remembered as the bridge between NASCAR eras, a single day of drama perhaps unequalled on track. It was seven-time champion Richard Petty’s final race and soon-to-be four-time champ Jeff Gordon’s first race. The sport’s talented and popular Davey Allison entered the race a favorite to claim the first of what many expected would be multiple titles, but he crashed out. Bill Elliott — also in contention for the championship — completed the season sweep there but lost out on the season trophy by a mere 10 points to Alan Kulwicki, the first owner/driver to win in the modern era.

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Posted on by Staff Report

Suffers injury on same accident that hurt Truex Jr.

Martin Truex Jr. wasn’t the only driver to get banged up Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway — Denny Hamlin says he injured his right hand in the same accident where the Michael Waltrip Racing driver fractured his.

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Hamlin told SiriusXM Radio on Thursday that he’s wearing a splint after being unable to pull his hand from the spokes of his steering wheel before it spun in the crash that also involved Truex, who is wearing a cast this weekend.

Hamlin said the injury concerns the part of his hand near the thumb. It’s another physical setback for a driver who missed four races earlier this season with a fractured vertebra in his back.

"It’s going to be tough," Hamlin said of the injury. "You know I tested on Monday and Tuesday at Chicago and I couldn’t put my thumb on the wheel."

Hamlin said his injury should heal in a week or so.


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Posted on by Zack Albert

Sunday’s race is truck series’ inaugural international race

OSHAWA, Ontario — Richard Childress Racing drivers Ty Dillon and Brendan Gaughan stood in the pickup bed of a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado, accompanied by Kevin Williams, the President and Managing Director of General Motors Canada.
 
As Williams greeted some of the approximately 5,000 employees from the automaker’s Canadian base, the drivers’ two team haulers rumbled behind them onto the back lot of the company’s Canadian Engineering Centre.
 
The grand entrance made it clear: NASCAR had come to town.
 
Dillon, Gaughan and a host of RCR crewmembers toured the carmaker’s facilities, signed autographs for employees and gave away race tickets Thursday ahead of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ inaugural international race, the first Chevrolet Silverado 250 (Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1) at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
 
The drivers’ appearance not only gave the Ontario-based crowd a taste of what to expect this weekend at the road course just 30 minutes away, but also gave the drivers a special glimpse at what goes in to making the vehicles they drive on the street and race on the track.

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“It’s awesome to see the people behind the scenes here at the GM plant and all the hard work and what it takes to make such a huge business run as well as it does and be so successful,” said Dillon, fourth in the series’ standings. “For us, we can’t thank them enough for working so hard for building the best car there is out there.”
 
The choice of RCR as special guests at a General Motors hub that specializes in producing the sporty Camaro was a natural fit. Childress, both as a driver and team owner, is in his fifth decade as a loyal NASCAR competitor in Chevrolets.
 
It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that continues to pay dividends for both sides.
 
“It’s synonymous,” Gaughan said. “I could never see Richard with another manufacturer — it wouldn’t happen. The history he has with Chevy and how far back he goes with the General Motors brand, the GM Goodwrench cars forever with Dale Earnhardt Sr., himself back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. It’s special to be part of a company that has such a history with a single brand because you don’t see that nowadays, in anything in life.”
 
Dillon agreed, in a slightly more direct manner: “I don’t know anything other than Chevrolet. Any other manufacturer is a bad word to me.”
 
The company’s ties to the truck tour’s first race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park are evident beyond their proximity. Chevy’s venerable pickup brand will serve as the inaugural race’s sponsor, and track co-owner and promotor Ron Fellows is a longtime Chevrolet loyalist in both NASCAR and sports-car racing.
 
Fellows said earlier in the week that he wouldn’t be able to breathe a sigh of relief until the checkered flag had flown to close a well-received event at his home track. In the meantime, the chief of GM Canada has already given his stamp of approval
 
“Quite frankly, Ron Fellows is one of the best of the best at what he does,” Williams said. “He’s been such a huge part of our success at General Motors. And to see this whole thing come together the way that Ron and the team have brought it together, it just makes us proud of a part of our family and a member of our team.”
 
Thursday’s afternoon of casually chatting with GM employees represented the calm before the storm for Dillon and Gaughan ahead of a Friday packed with 4 1/2 hours of practice for the truck series’ first road-course race since 2000.
 
The extra test day and Saturday’s Keystone Light Pole Qualifying will be a prelude to Sunday’s main event, which could mimic the rambunctious nature of the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ first go-round at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks ago. Track officials have reported strong ticket and camping-lot sales in advance of the historic race — news which came as no surprise to Dillon.
 
“Man, if I lived in Canada, I know I’d be at this race for sure,” Dillon said. “It’s the greatest facility around, and it’s NASCAR racing in Canada — why would you miss it?”

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Rough paved surface has become a favorite among drivers

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Race fans will have many ways to spend their time this weekend when NASCAR returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
 
But strip away all the pre-race festivities, the driver appearances, charitable track walks and other assorted events (there’s even a Ferris wheel in the parking lot) and it’s the competition that continues to draw fans to the 1.54-mile track.
 
“In this business, everything revolves around what happens on that ribbon of asphalt; it always has and always will in my opinion,” track president and general manager Ed Clark said.
 
Site of this weekend’s Great Clips/Grit Chips 300 Nationwide Series and Advocare 500 Sprint Cup Series races, Atlanta presents one of the two remaining opportunities for Cup teams to earn a berth in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

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Atlanta has been host to NASCAR events since 1960. From 1987 through 2001, the Cup series wrapped up its season at the fast, demanding track, with eight different drivers either clinching Cup championships or putting the finishing touches on titles already sealed.
 
Clark, who has been at the speedway for 22 years, said the new tire being provided by Goodyear (which features two different compounds on the tire’s surface) represents a huge commitment on the part of the tire supplier. But he doesn’t expect the action to be “any different from any previous race at Atlanta.”
 
“If they do a full green-flag run, (lap times) will drop off a second and a half or more,” he said. “And that’s what drivers like. At whatever point that (drop-off) is, it becomes a driver’s race and not just an ‘equipment’ race. So we find out who the real drivers are.
 
“They like it because all of a sudden it kind of showcases them and they have more of a role. It’s not just ‘this is what my car is doing and this is all I can get out of it.’ …That’s one reason they raise Cain and say ‘don’t ever pave it.’ "
 
The abrasive track surface, worn thin since it was last paved years ago, presents a number of challenges for drivers and teams. It also presents a number of opportunities.
 
“The pavement is just so incredibly worn out and slick, it’s hard to get ahold of,” Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth said. “The car changes drastically from the beginning … until the end of a run. It’s one of the most fun tracks to drive, honestly.”
 
Kenseth, last week’s winner at Bristol Motor Speedway, has yet to win a Cup race at Atlanta — his best finish came in 2010 when he was runner-up to Kurt Busch. He does have a pair of Nationwide Series wins at Atlanta (2004, ’08).
 
Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards is a fan of the surface as well. “I think if you could make the pavement at all of these tracks like Atlanta, I think we’d have better races, so I enjoy it,” he said.
 
Clark said he knows that eventually the track will have to be repaved, but admitted he’s in no hurry to begin the process.
 
 “Ours is 16 years old,” he said, “and it’s been worn out for five years.
 
“My take is we’re going to leave it along until there are weeds growing through it and we have dirt showing.”

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RaceBuddy offered for Atlanta race

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Guaranteed automatic, Wild Card berths on the line Sunday night

Related: All about the Chase | Wild Card watch | Sprint Cup Series standings

We’re down to two races left before the field for NASCAR’s postseason is set, and just three drivers have clinched at least a Wild Card berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

That means eight of 10 automatic berths are still up for grabs, along with two Wild Card spots given to drivers ranked 11th-20th based on number of victories.

Jimmie Johnson clinched his spot in the Chase after finishing eighth at Watkins Glen International on Aug. 11, then promptly finished 40th at Michigan and 36th at Bristol. His points cushion has been whittled down to 18, but he still leads the standings.

The man chasing Johnson, Clint Bowyer, is the only other driver to clinch an automatic spot. He finished 14th last week, but has enough of a gap over 11th-place Brad Keselowski to guarantee himself a top-10 spot in the standings.

Matt Kenseth, who is sixth in the standings, hasn’t clinched an automatic berth yet, but his victory in last week’s Irwin Tools Night Race gives him a series-high five wins for the season and guarantees the No. 20 team at least a Wild Card berth.

Four drivers control their own destiny heading into Atlanta. Below is a breakdown of who could qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this weekend.

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Magic number: 49 points

Following Sunday night’s race at Atlanta, any driver in the top 10 of the points standings with a 49-point lead over the 11th-place driver will automatically clinch a berth in the Chase. For perspective: Carl Edwards (768 points, third place) currently leads Brad Keselowski (681 points, 11th place) by 87 points.

Eligible drivers

The top 10 drivers in the standings after the Sept. 7 race at Richmond receive an automatic entry into the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup.

• Carl Edwards. Edwards is in fine shape. In fact, the only way he won’t clinch an automatic bid is if he suffers a catastrophic failure early in the race. Because Edwards’ lead over 11th-place Keselowski is so large, the driver of the No. 99 Ford would clinch an automatic berth in the Chase by finishing 38th-place or better. Edwards would also clinch by finishing 39th and leading at least one lap (for a bonus point), or finishing 40th and leading the most laps (for two bonus points).

It’s a far cry from where Edwards was at this point last season. Following his epic 2011 duel with Tony Stewart in which Smoke claimed this third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, Edwards was outside of the Chase heading into Atlanta in 2012 and was in win-or-nothing mode.

• Kevin Harvick. Harvick is almost in as good a position as Edwards. His consistent stretch midway through the season — coupled with two wins during that time — has the No. 29 driver at fourth in the standings and leading the 11th-place driver by 79 points.

As such, Harvick clinches an automatic, top-10 berth into the postseason if he finishes 31st-place or better. If Harvick leads at least one lap (for one bonus point), he could finish 32nd and still qualify; if he finishes 33rd and leads the most laps of the race (for two bonus points), he would also qualify.

Harvick has finished 25th or better at Atlanta in 9 of the past 10 races. He was 33rd in 2010 after feeling a vibration and ending the race early. Since 2009, he has three top-fives and five top-10s in six races.

• Kyle Busch. Like Edwards, Kyle Busch controls his own destiny for clinching a postseason bid one year removed from not making the final 12-racer field. Busch has three wins to his credit and is currently fifth in the standings, with a 58-point edge over the 11th-place Keselowski.

Therefore, a top-10 finish would guarantee Busch a spot in the field. If Busch leads a lap (for one bonus point), he could finish 11th and still qualify. If he leads the most laps in the race (for two bonus points), he could finish as low as 12th and still earn the automatic bid.

• Matt Kenseth. Yes, the driver with a series-high five wins hasn’t clinched an automatic berth yet. Sure, he’s clinched at least a Wild Card, but remember this — when the field is reset, and NASCAR gives out three bonus points per victory, only those drivers finishing in the top 10 get those bonus points. So if Kenseth somehow slips out of the top 10 after Richmond, he’ll still be in the postseason, but he won’t get the extra 15 points for all of his wins.

That said, Kenseth is the last of four drivers controlling his own destiny. A seventh-place finish or better at Atlanta gives Kenseth an automatic berth; if he finishes eighth with one lap led, or ninth with the most laps led, he also earns a guaranteed top-10 spot.

• Four more. The four drivers discussed above control their own destiny, but there are four more drivers who could also clinch an automatic spot in the postseason. They are: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano, the drivers currently ranked seventh-10th in the standings.

Junior leads this group with a 33-point cushion over 11th-place Keselowski, while Kahne has a 20-point gap, Biffle is up 17 points and Logano is up four points over his Penske Racing teammate. Remember, the magic number is 49.

All of these drivers would need strong finishes (likely top-fives), and watch drivers such as Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon (and perhaps Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman) finish toward the back of the field.

Wild Card breakdown

Two drivers ranked 11th-20th will receive Wild Card berths into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The drivers with the most wins are selected. If there’s a tie, the spot goes to the driver ranked higher.

• Greg Biffle. Biffle is one of three drivers who can clinch at least a Wild Card spot with a win this week at Atlanta. Biffle is currently ninth in the standings and would certainly prefer an automatic bid, but winning at the 1.54-mile track would put the Biff on the fast track to a Wild Card clinch — although he still needs help from other drivers. Biffle has nine career wins, but none at Atlanta. His best finish there is third in 2005; he finished 15th last year.

• Joey Logano. Logano is currently 10th in the standings with one win this season, at Michigan on Aug. 18. Even though he’s only four points ahead of 11th-place Keselowski, a win at Atlanta — with some help — could put Logano in the Chase for the first time in his Sprint Cup career. His best finish at this track, though, is 18th.

• Martin Truex Jr. When you’re this close to clinching a postseason berth for the second consecutive year … well, you just drive through the pain. Truex Jr. broke his right wrist in a wreck last week at Bristol, but he’s getting a specially fitted cast to allow him to keep driving. Truex currently holds one of two Wild Card spots, but he’s in a dangerous position at 14th in the points standings. Keselowski (11th), Kurt Busch (12th) and Gordon (13th) are all above Truex, but have no wins. A win at Atlanta — and Truex Jr. is good on intermediate tracks — and some help would give the No. 56 team at least a Wild Card berth into the Chase. Then again, Truex has just two wins in 285 career Cup starts.

• Kasey Kahne. We end with Kasey Kahne, who provides the most complex scenario this week. Kahne is in eighth place in the standings and has two victories this season. If Kahne wins at Atlanta, he would clinch at least a Wild Card spot if two of these three drivers finish in the top 10: Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick. If Busch, Kenseth and Harvick all finish in the top 10, Kahne clinches at least a Wild Card spot if any driver other than Greg Biffle, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. or Ryan Newman wins the race.

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Posted on by George Winkler

Gordon among drivers needing a win at Atlanta

Related: Chase clinching scenarios for Atlanta

If Bob Costas were a NASCAR fan and vehemently against the Wild Card per usual, he’d certainly have some talking points given how the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings look entering Atlanta.

With two races to go, three drivers — Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch — have more points than Wild Card holders Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman, but because they don’t have wins, they wouldn’t qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

In a way it doesn’t seem fair, especially considering Keselowski has 22 more points than Newman, but these are the rules we live by. And instead of being against the system, the opportunity is there to embrace what figures to be a competitive finish.

In what has been one of the closest races to the Chase in years, there’s no telling which direction it will go. If any of the three aforementioned winless drivers manages to find Victory Lane in Atlanta, then the Richmond race could take on epic importance.

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WILD CARD STANDINGS

Pos Driver Wins Pts Pos Pts from 10th
1. Martin Truex Jr.     1 14th      -22
2. Ryan Newman     1 15th      -26
3. Tony Stewart     1 19th      -91
4. Brad Keselowski     0 11th      -4
5. Kurt Busch     0 12th      -6
6. Jeff Gordon     0 13th      -11
7. Jamie McMurray     0 16th      -38
8. Paul Menard     0 17th      -47
9. Aric Almirola     0 18th      -69
10. Jeff Burton     0 20th      -93
11. David Ragan     1 26th      -233

It has been fun to track the real-time standings on NASCAR.com as the drama unfolds. It was there where we saw Joey Logano drop out of the top 10 in the standings after bumping into Kyle Busch at Bristol, then work his way back into the top 10 with a fifth-place finish.

It was there where we watched Kurt Busch climb, then fall out of the Chase after a damaged wheel hub doomed his result at Thunder Valley. We also saw the defending champ, yes the Blue Deuce, do the unthinkable and end the night out of the Chase.

What will happen next? Well, we are all scoreboard watchers now. Some will pull for their favorites, while others might be rooting for utter chaos to ensue.

If you fall into the latter category, then you should hope Keselowski, Gordon or Kurt Busch can win this Sunday and tighten the race up even more.

Which one of them has the best chance to do it?

According to NASCAR’s Statistical Services, Kurt Busch has led the most laps (519) over the past 14 races at Atlanta. But during that same time, Gordon is tied with Matt Kenseth for the best average finish at 9.1. And with Bobby Labonte out because of broken ribs, Gordon is now the active driver with the most wins at Atlanta (five).

As for Keselowski, he might have the worst chance of the three if you rely on the historical data. His driver rating of 83.7 at Atlanta ranks 16th, well behind the leader in that category, Jimmie Johnson (108.3).

Although Gordon and Busch have the numbers to back them as potential favorites, they’ll have to contend with Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr., among others. Edwards has run the most fast laps (341) in this timeframe at Atlanta, while Kenseth has that sparkling average finish. Junior isn’t far behind either of those two in driver rating at Atlanta. And as we mentioned last week, Junior needs a win just as much as anyone else in this dogfight.

Yes, there’s a lot at stake this weekend. Let the scoreboard watching continue.  

Ready to pounce: Avid Gordon fans have been waiting for weeks for the No. 24 to end up in Victory Lane. The last time it happened was the 2012 finale at Homestead. But he’s a strong contender again this week, and what a boost it would be to have the four-time champion right in the thick of the Wild Card race.

As it stands, Gordon is smack dab on the fringe, in 13th place with 674 points and 11 points behind Logano in 10th place. Like Keselowski and Kurt Busch, Gordon has double-digit top-10 finishes this season, but only Newman has as many DNFs among the contending drivers (five).

Provided Gordon can stay out of trouble, he should be able to make a good run. Like we said, he has a strong history at Atlanta with five career wins there. And one can make the argument that if you toss out the wreck at Watkins Glen, that Gordon has been racing as well as he has all season.

In danger of falling out: Truex Jr. was in the wrong place at the wrong time at Bristol. With a top-10 finish in his sights, Truex Jr.’s No. 56 got caught in an eight-car wreck that sent him into the infield wall. Truex Jr. suffered a sprained and fractured wrist in the accident and will wear a specially made cast in order to race at Atlanta.

Truex Jr. enters the race in 14th place, but he holds one of the Wild Card spots thanks to his victory earlier this season at Sonoma. However, with three drivers ahead of him in points who aren’t Wild Card-qualified, should any of them win it could make Truex Jr.’s road to Chase tough. That’s especially true if Newman, who is four points behind and holding the other Wild Card spot, jumps past Truex Jr.

Truex Jr. finished fourth last year at Atlanta and ranks fifth with an average place of 11.8 in the past eight years at Atlanta. He’ll need another race like last year to hold tight in his position, and he’ll have to do it while battling that injury.

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