Chase Watch: Kasey Kahne may need a win to get in
Kasey Kahne made the 2014 Chase after he won at Atlanta, the penultimate race before the Chase.
He may need to execute similar heroics to make the 2015 Chase.
A week after crashing early at Pocono and finishing 43rd, Kahne got stacked up on a restart and finished 42nd at Watkins Glen. Sam Hornish Jr. missed a shift and you can see what happened from there.
Kahne entered Pocono 13th in the points standings. He’s now 17th, 50 points back of Clint Bowyer, who iis the final driver in the Chase currently on points after Kyle Busch cracked the top 30 at Watkins Glen.
With Busch’s entrance into the top 30, 11 drivers within the top 30 have wins. There are four races to go before the Chase, so those winners are guaranteed Chase berths.
As of now, the five highest drivers in the points standings who don’t have wins are as follows. They’d be in the Chase if there are no more new winners:
Jamie McMurray: 635 points
Paul Menard: 631
Jeff Gordon: 620
Ryan Newman: 613
Clint Bowyer: 612
These drivers are on the outside looking in currently
Aric Almirola: 562
Kasey Kahne: 561
Greg Biffle: 532
Kyle Larson: 517
At almost 100 points back of Bowyer, Larson pretty much needs a win to get into the Chase. Making up that many points and passing three drivers seems almost impossible in four races.
And speaking of drivers who needed wins to get into the Chase, AJ Allmendinger and Tony Stewart very likely saw their Chase chances go kaput on Sunday. Allmendinger, who started on the pole, got frustrated with the handling of his car early. Then, midway through the race under caution, it shut off. He got back onto the lead lap but had to pit for fuel before the finish.
Stewart was running in the top 10 for the entire race until a rear gear broke on his car. He ended up finishing last.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
