What About Carl?

So far in the 2008 Nascar season, all the talk has been about Kyle Busch. How ‘Rowdy’ has been having one of the best seasons in recent memories or how he is squashing the domination.
But what about Cousin Carl?! The Missouri native has stealthily moved his way up to the second seed for the Chase. The #99 notched up its fifth win of the year at Michigan. Four of them count towards his Chase seeding after the penalty received at Texas.

If Kyle Busch wasn’t having such an awesome season, everyone would be raving about Edwards’ season. This championship is anything but a two-horse race. Over the past number of races, Edwards has been notching up impressive result after result. Critics tip him, along with defending champion Jimmie Johnson to take the fight to Busch when the Chase begins in a few weeks.

The Race to the Chase is heating up with only a few rounds before the field is locked. Bad days for Hamlin, Gordon and Kahne saw them slip further towards the cut-off. From 8th down to 14th are covered by only 103 points. In Nascar terms, nothing. A bad day for any of the Chase contenders will see any hopes of solidifying their places dashed.

One man on the up is David Ragan. Lambasted last year to the point where many questioned Jack Roush’s wisdom in giving him a second year, the youngster has blossomed. He scored a career best 3rd place finish at Michigan. He goes into the next few events looking to gate crash the Chase party.

This coming week the Nascar circuit moves to Bristol – for one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. Under the lights in Tennessee, what more twists and turns we will see as drivers look to secure their Chase slots.