Motorsports

Trio makes quick getaway

All semblance of order has crumbled just three races into the Chase for the Championship.Title-contending cars are spinning, steering wheels are flying. Winners aren't crossing the finish line.A look at the Chase after Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway, won by non-Chaser Greg Biffle.

By BRANT JAMES
Published October 2, 2007

All semblance of order has crumbled just three races into the Chase for the Championship.Title-contending cars are spinning, steering wheels are flying. Winners aren't crossing the finish line.A look at the Chase after Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway, won by non-Chaser Greg Biffle.

Winners

Clint Bowyer: He had never won in Nextel Cup until the first Chase race at New Hampshire, but with a second-place finish at Kansas, he's suddenly looking like a contender. The 28-year-old is third in points, 14 behind.

Jimmie Johnson: The defending champion, left, reclaimed the points lead by finishing third at Kansas in a backup car.e_SClBJeff Gordon: Cranked out his 17th top-five finish in 29 races (one fewer than he had in 36 races in 2001, his last championship season) and is just six points off the lead.

Losers

Tony Stewart, right: He gambled on fuel as a lengthy rain delay approached, holding onto the lead. He would have won had the red-flag period held. He gambled on a tire rub after the restart and wrecked out, finishing 39th.

Jeff Burton: A fuel-pump problem dogged him in the middle of the race, relegating him to 36th.

Denny Hamlin: Crunched in a sequence started when Jamie McMurray pinched up into Paul Menard, Hamlin finished 29th. That came a week after placing 38th at Dover, dropping him a daunting 248 points behind Johnson with seven races left. A reason for hope: Johnson was ninth, 247 points back after Kansas in 2004 and made a rush for the title ... but finished second by eight points.

Kyle Busch, right: Rammed from behind by the driver taking his job next season, Dale Earnhardt Jr., his second Chase is starting to resemble his frustrating first one.

Matt Kenseth: Started second but was battered in a seven-car accident on the restart after the long red-flag period and finished 35th, just like at Dover last week. That's very bad news for a driver who thrives on consistency.e_SClBWhat we learned

This Chase has grown fangs well before the dreaded date this week at Talladega, where championship hopes can be consumed and spat out in so many crumpled, 200-mph ways. A week after the demolition derby at Dover, six of 12 drivers eligible to win the championship finished 30th or worse. Unless there is a complete change of tenor, the greatest field in the four-year history of this playoff format will decide this championship by adjusting, adapting and overcoming, not making some valiant dash to Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Big picture

Johnson, Gordon and Bowyer have broken away into a minipod after three races by head-faking the mayhem that has occurred around them. Stewart, in fourth place, is 113 points behind them. For Bowyer, a second-year Cup driver and a first-time Chaser, this is good company to keep. He appears to be replicating the same sort of blissfully unpressured performance that helped Denny Hamlin, then a 25-year-old rookie, finish third last season.

Talladega nights

Defending Indy Racing League champion Dario Franchitti is not entered in the ARCA race Friday at Talladega Superspeedway for Chip Ganassi Racing, nor has he made any commitment to do so as of Monday, team officials said.

Ganassi has stated in published reports that he would like the 34-year-old Indianapolis 500 winner to use the race as an entry point for driving stock cars for his team next season, as Juan Pablo Montoya did in switching from Formula One last fall. But Franchitti has not been released from his contract with the Indy Racing League's Andretti Green Racing and missed a test at the Alabama facility recently. AGR's American Le Mans Series team, of which Franchitti has been a part, was to compete in the Petit Le Mans race Saturday in Braselton, Ga., about 160 miles from Talladega.

Castroneves' Foxtrot

Two-time Indianapolis 500 and Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner Helio Castroneves took a few minutes between Mambo rehearsals for Monday night's episode of Dancing with the Stars for a little chat with the Times.

How much of a dancer were you before you joined the show?

Everything I know is brand-spanking new. When I used to dance, it was "put up my left finger and here we go." But now, obviously, it is so different. I never thought I could do something like that. At first I did not like the Foxtrot. I thought, "Who would think of this?" But it turned out to be fun.

Is it intimidating? We can see your expressions, see you sweat, unlike when you're behind a helmet.

I probably have the same kind of faces when I'm driving. I honestly have not watched the tape (of his Foxtrot performance) yet, but this is truly a vacation. (Contestant) Wayne Newton called my cell phone, man. You can't beat that. The king of Vegas. We were talking about going and having dinner together. He called and I couldn't believe it.

Should we assume that teammate Sam Hornish recently skipping IndyCar tests for Team Penske means he will leave for the NASCAR side of the organization next year?

I definitely wanted him to test because it's taking my time here, dancing. I said, "Come on, guys, just put him in the car." Obviously, it is my job to drive, not dance. I have no idea what he is doing.

What's your gut? Will he go?

I think so.

[Last modified October 1, 2007, 23:15:02]