NASCAR’s number crunchers have come up with their scenarios for drivers still in the running for one of the two remaining berths in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The field will be set after Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
Any winless driver who is in the top 30 in the points standings clinches a spot in the Chase with a win at Richmond.
Ryan Newman is guaranteed a spot in the Chase even without a win if he finishes 18th or better at Richmond; 19th with at least one lap led; or 20th with the most laps led. If someone else is a repeat winner from this season, all Newman would need to do is finish 41st or better, or 42nd with one lap led.
Greg Biffle, who like Newman is poised to make the Chase without a regular-season win, will get in if there is a repeat winner or if Newman or Matt Kenseth win and Biffle finishes 22nd or better. If there is a new winner other than Kenseth or Newman, Biffle will need to score 19 points more than Newman and stay ahead of Clint Bowyer and Kyle Larson in the standings.
Larson and Bowyer also can clinch a Chase berth without winning at Richmond, but the odds are against them.
Martin Truex Jr., who appeared to have secured a Chase berth last year but lost it after his former team was found to have manipulated the finishing order of the Richmond race, is one of 15 drivers high enough in points to make the Chase if they win Saturday night.
Truex, who moved from Michael Waltrip Racing to Furniture Row Racing this season, made the Chase in 2007 and 2012, and enters Saturday’s regular-season finale having posted two consecutive top-10 finishes at Richmond.
He said in his team’s weekly release that the key to running well on the three-quarter-mile, relatively flat oval at Richmond is to have a car that handles well in all four corners. But that’s tougher than it might seem because all of the race practice is in the heat of the day Friday and the 400-lap race is at night Saturday.
“You never have a good feeling in practice about what your car is going to do in the race,” he said. “Even if you’re fast in practice, there is no guarantee that it will be the same during the race. It gets so hot there during the day, and the track is super slick. The race conditions at night are obviously different, and you must be ready to make the necessary adjustments.
“Racing at Richmond is really a crap shoot to be honest, but it’s also fun to race there.”
TV numbers: The NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway fared better than many others this season when it comes to TV ratings.
ESPN’s broadcast of the Oral-B USA 500 on Sunday earned a 3.2 U.S. rating, averaging 5,210,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media. The rating was the same for last year’s race while the viewership was down a bit from 5,323,000 last year. ESPN2’s telecast of Saturday’s Great Clips 300 Nationwide Series race earned the same 1.0 rating that race drew last year, but viewership declined from a 2013 average of 1,611,000 to an average of 1,541,000.
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