Bet Jamaica Camping World RV 400 / Dover Preview

[Dirty]

- Kyle Busch entered the Chase for the Sprint Cup in first place in the standings, but he now has some ground to make up as the drivers hit Dover International Speedway on Sunday. Busch ran into several problems on the weekend in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and he ended up finishing in 34th place in the opening race of the Sprint Cup playoffs. That dropped Busch from first to eighth in the standings. Greg Biffle came out on top in New Hampshire, holding off Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards for the victory. Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the day's Top 10. Clint Bowyer ended up 12th at New Hampshire, while Jeff Gordon was 14th, and Matt Kenseth was well back in 40th place. Edwards and Johnson sit tied atop the driver standings heading into the second Chase race, with Biffle 30 points back in third place. Earnhardt Jr. and Burton are each 50 points back of first place. Hamlin, Stewart, Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Harvick, Gordon, and Kenseth round out the Chase contenders. Kyle Busch won the Best Buy 400 at Dover back in June, while Edwards and Truex Jr. won the two events on that track during the 2007 season. Gordon and Mark Martin each have four career wins on the track, Johnson and Ryan Newman have three each. Others with career Cup wins at Dover: Stewart (two), Earnhardt Jr., Biffle, Kenseth, and Burton. After racing at Dover the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will head to Kansas Speedway for an event on September 28. The rest of the Chase schedule will feature races at Talladega, Lowe's, Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead-Miami.

[The General]

Kyle at 23 years old I believe gets a real dose of pressure here. I don't like the chase format, so as far as I am concerned Busch is the champion of 08. He had a remarkable season in all aspects of the sport, but my choice in the chase would be Jimmie Johnson as he has the Best Team in the sport. So he has the best people, team and engineering. After that, they work to rewrite the rule books via pushing the limits as much as possible to find the best set-ups. It is only cheating when you get caught in racing. Everyone, Every team attempts to find ways to get around some of the rules Every day/week.

NASCAR nation wants to see Dale Earnhardt Jr win a title. Maybe that can happen.

Let's enjoy the races and see what transpires. Throwing in Talladega as a chase race is not really a good idea IMO either. To many things involved in that race that are out of a teams control.

Look for Edwards and Kenseth to follow up Biffle's performance and get at least 1 win during this race for the cup.