Chase field settled as Hamlin wins at home

Native Virginian Denny Hamlin finally got to take the checkered flag in his home state, but fans and spectators at the Chevy Rock ’n Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway Saturday night had their eyes riveted further back in the field.

That’s where Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, and Kyle Busch were battling to make the final spot in the 12-man Chase field that begins with a 10-race schedule next weekend in New Hampshire. But before the race was a quarter of the way through, Kenseth was complaining of no grip on either the front or rear of the 17 car, signaling the beginning of a slow fade to black. The race for the Chase then pared down to a two-man battle between Vickers and Busch. With the aid of the lap-to-lap adjustable standings graphic, viewers were treated to the escalating or diminishing fortunes of the two as they raced hard throughout the evening, Busch running as high as fourth late in the race, but with Vickers usually only a car or two behind.

With 62 laps to go, Vickers passed Busch but dropped behind the 18 car in the race off pit row with only 17 laps to go following the 10th and final caution. Vickers stayed close, finishing seventh to Busch’s fifth, which gave the Red Bull Racing ace enough pad (eight points) to claim the 12th and final spot in the Chase.

It had to be devastating for Busch: a series-tying four victories (with Mark Martin) over the course of the regular season but unable to squeeze into the Chase field. The incongruity of it all is that if Busch had eked into the Chase field, he would have been the co-No. 1 seed along with Martin, since the standings kicking off the start of the Chase are determined by bonus points awarded for victories during the regular season.

But it seems odd to hear a NASCAR driver just eliminated from going to the postseason say, “We’ll just have to do our best in the next 10 races and look forward to next year,” as Kenseth commented afterward. One wonders when enough people who think the way I do about the existing Chase format will be large enough in legion to get the attention of the attention-deficit-disorder administrators of NASCAR, who are clueless that there is something terribly wrong with their format; that 31 cars who have all just been eliminated from the postseason still show up for all 10 races of the postseason.