Now it’s Greg Biffle’s turn. Again. The early-season points leader is back atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings following last Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 victory.

Biffle won for the second time this season, giving him three additional bonus points when the standings are reset for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™, which begins Sept. 16 at Chicagoland Speedway.

The driver of Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 16 Ford largely had dropped out of the championship conversation after losing the points lead in early June.

“Well, I know that a lot of people don’t expect us to win the championship and don’t expect us to compete for the title, but I don’t care what they say or who they want to talk about or what they want to talk about,” Biffle said. “We will be a factor when it comes down to Homestead, I promise you that.”

Biffle has every right to claim the mantle of a favorite. That’s because there really isn’t one as the Race to the Chase heads into its final three events beginning with Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

He’s the third different points leader in as many weeks following Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The provisional Chase seedings haven’t moved since Indianapolis when Johnson won for the third time to match victory totals of reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski.

Biffle is the 10th consecutive different winner – a run that began at Pocono Raceway in early June.

The top four in the championship standings – Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Earnhardt and Johnson – have separated themselves from the next six contenders.

Biffle has been the most consistent, posting top 10s and a win in four of his past five races. Earnhardt and Johnson each have three top 10s. Kenseth has a single top five and two finishes outside the top 20.

The pre-Chase momentum actually belongs to Keselowski, whose ranking (fifth) doesn’t reflect the current strength of his Penske Racing No. 2 Dodge team. Keselowski, hampered by early season mechanical problems, didn’t crack the top 10 until the first Pocono race on June 10.

Beginning with his June 30 Kentucky victory, the 28-year-old rising star has assembled seven consecutive top-10 finishes. Four of his last five races were top fives, the last two runner-ups at Watkins Glen and Michigan.

He battled Johnson late for the win at Michigan, Pocono and The Glen and claimed better finishes in all three races. It’s not yet a rivalry, but the No. 2 and Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet seem to be finding each other on the track on an increasingly frequent basis.

Keselowski might have the edge this week. He’s won the past two Bristol races and bids to become the track’s first winner of three straight since Kurt Busch in 2003-04.

‘Wild Card’ Opportunities Fading Fast

With the regular season dwindling down to a precious few races, the Chase “Wild Card” race literally has become a game of musical chairs.

Six winners into two seats obviously won’t go. And that doesn’t take into consideration four more drivers ranked 11th through 20th able to win their way into post-season racing.

Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman retained the provisional “Wild Cards” in Michigan. Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano must wait for another day – or in the case of Bristol, night – to oust their rivals. Hope remains for non-winners Carl Edwards, Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray and Jeff Burton.

Kahne holds the best cards: Two victories to his challengers’ one or zero. He’s also only 33 points out of the top 10 and the possibility of entering the Chase with at least six bonus points.

Bristol isn’t quite a get-it-done-or-else affair but it’s close – especially for drivers who have feasted at the 0.533-mile concrete-surfaced oval in past years. That would be Busch and Gordon, five-time winners, and Edwards, who counts a pair of victories.

Busch has won four of the last seven Bristol races, including a sweep of both events in 2009. He has the top Driver Rating (102.3) among the contenders and the most laps led (1,375). Busch is one of three short-track winners in 2012, in May at Richmond.

The past few races have been on-again, off-again affairs with Busch: second at Indianapolis, 33rd at Pocono, seventh at Watkins Glen and 13th at Michigan.

With track changes expected to make track position and pit selection crucial, Gordon’s ability to qualify is an asset. The four-time champion’s average start (8.3) is best in the field and his Driver Rating (99.8) trails only Busch and Matt Kenseth. Gordon’s last Bristol victory came in 2002.

Whether New Or Old, Bristol’s Tough Test

It’s rare – almost unheard of, in fact – that teams go to a race track unsure of what’s about to take place. But that’s the case this week at one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ longest-scheduled venues, Bristol Motor Speedway.

Unhappy with the on-track activities in March, Speedway Motorsports Inc.’s O. Bruton Smith fired up his heavy equipment and set to work milling down the top groove of the 0.533-mile oval’s progressive banking.

Whether this brings back the “old,” pre-2007 Bristol, in which racing was primarily punctuated with passing via bumps and gouges, remains to be seen. The progressive banking produced side-by-side competition in which passes could be executed without re-arranging a competitor’s doors and fenders and significantly reduced caution periods.

“Who knows what will happen. Anytime you change a track like that there is no telling,” said Carl Edwards, winner of the 2007-08 Irwin Tools Night Races. “It might make it a completely different race.”

Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle, who’s yet to win at Thunder Valley, calls the reconfiguration “a shot in the dark.” And that’s exactly what his and other teams face when the series rolls into Bristol on Friday morning for the first practice.

Bristol Good Times Haven’t Faded For Waltrip Racing

Michael Waltrip Racing got everyone’s attention when each of its three cars finished among the top five in March’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Some suggested, based upon the organization’s history, that the good times wouldn’t last. Oh, were they wrong.

MWR, which never has qualified a driver for the Chase, continues to steam toward not one but two spots. Wins and bonus points would be nice, but consistency, with three races remaining until the post season, is the key to Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer sealing the deal.

Truex is sixth in points; Bowyer, with one win, is seventh. Their lead over 11th-place Kasey Kahne is 69 and 63 points, respectively.

MWR’s five drivers – Bowyer, Truex, Mark Martin, Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip – have produced team records for poles (five), top fives (14) and top 10s (34).

Hats A Fact: Expect A Few Drivers To Clinch Chase Spot At Bristol

When a driver clinches his spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, they receive a commemorative black and yellow hat with the 2012 Chase logo emblazoned on it. So far, no one’s in possession of that hat.

Ten drivers in all have a mathematical chance at clinching a Chase spot. Seven can secure a top-10 berth in the Chase this Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Regardless of what any other driver does, points leader Greg Biffle will clinch with a finish of 28th with no laps led, 29th with at least one lap led and 30th with the most laps led. The scenario for Matt Kenseth is eighth with no laps led, ninth with at least one lap led and 10th with most laps led. Dale Earnhardt Jr. lands a spot in the postseason with finishes of sixth with no laps led, seventh with at least one lap led and eighth with the most laps led. Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will punch his Chase ticket with a victory or second-place finish while leading the most laps.

Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer also can reserve spots in the Chase but are not yet in charge of the their own destinies. The magic number is 97. Any driver 97 points ahead of 11th place leaving Bristol will officially clinch a top 10 spot.

Those who can clinch at least a Wild Card: Keselowski, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne and Clint Bowyer. A win and Keselowski and Stewart are in. Hamlin, Kahne and Bowyer have to win on Saturday night, and get some help.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Etc.

With 21 more laps led, Jimmie Johnson will reach the 1,000 laps-led mark for the sixth consecutive year. Only three drivers have ever led 1,000 laps in six or more consecutive years: Richard Petty (12 straight years), Darrell Waltrip (seven) and Dale Earnhardt (seven). … Bristol Motor Speedway boasts one of the more unique driver introductions in all of NASCAR, as drivers choose their own entrance music as they walk down the stage in turn 3. This weekend, an added buzz will surround the festivities, as Michael Buffer – of “Let’s Get Ready To Rumble” fame – will announce all 43 drivers. … Richard Childress Racing’s next top-10 finish will be No. 900 for the team. The first was scored by owner Richard Childress himself on Jan. 18, 1976, at Riverside International Raceway. … If Roush Fenway Racing places two of its drivers in the top five on Saturday night, it’ll be the 700th top-five finish for the team. Coincidentally, the team’s first top-five finish came at Bristol, by Mark Martin on April 10, 1988. … The last seven races at Bristol have all ended with a margin of victory under one second.

Multi-Dimensional Tracks, Tight Points Race – Need We Say More?

In one of the season’s most difficult stretches, coming off back-to-back road courses and heading to a reconfigured short track makes this championship battle one that proves a driver’s mettle. Four drivers are still jockeying for the season-ending spoils and out front sits Richard Childress Racing’s Elliott Sadler with a lead of 22 points over second-place Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and third-place Sam Hornish Jr. Sadler’s teammate, Austin Dillon, is fourth in the standings, 35 points off the lead but still a contender.

Crew chiefs this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway can toss out their notes from the season’s previous race there because the speedway has partially removed the progressive banking in the corners and this is the first race back at the 0.533-mile track since the change.

Of the contending four, Sadler has logged the most laps at Bristol having made 11 starts, posting one Coors Light pole, two wins – including earlier this season – four top fives and five top 10s. Of the four drivers, Sadler also has the best pre-race Driver Rating (106.0) and Average Running Position (8.128).

Roush Fenway Racing’s Stenhouse has made five starts at Bristol, posting one Coors Light pole and a best finish of sixth earlier this season. His Food City 250 pre-race Driver Rating is second-best among the four contenders with a 94.6. Stenhouse has rallied back into contention over the last nine races, posting an average finish of 6.4.

Penske Racing’s Hornish has found his stride and is marching right into this championship battle. Late-season momentum is key to a championship run and Hornish has plenty: Ten straight top-10 finishes. In his last nine NNS races, he has averaged a finish of 4.7, including finishing in the top three in the last four races. Hornish has made two series starts at Bristol, posting an average finish of 13.5 with a pre-race Driver Rating of 80.8.

Dillon welcomes the return to a short track having cut his teeth on them in the NASCAR K&N Pro East and West Series. The Sunoco Rookie of the year candidate has one series start at Bristol, posting a 12th-place finish, which is the best first-start finish of any of the contending four. Dillon’s Food City 250 pre-race Driver Rating is 90.2.

Bayne Returns Home In Race Car Honoring Tennessee’s Summitt

Tennessee native Trevor Bayne (Knoxville) returns to his home state for this weekend’s NNS Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway with a paint scheme honoring one of the state’s biggest icons, University of Tennessee Head Women’s Basketball Coach Emeritus Pat Summitt.

Bayne will be driving the Roush Fenway Racing-owned No. 60 Yourracecar.com Ford Mustang sporting the phrase “We Back Pat.” The Volunteer-orange race car is part of a promotion to raise awareness for The Pat Summitt Foundation, which raises funds and awareness for the battle against Alzheimer’s.

“Growing up in Knoxville, I’ve always been a big UT fan and an even bigger fan of Pat Summitt,” said Bayne, who has one top-five finish in five starts in the series this year. “I have always respected what she stood for. … I am excited she is going to be a part of our team at Bristol.”

Summitt will serve as Grand Marshal of the Food City 250 on Friday night.

In 38 years at UT, Summitt led the Lady Volunteers to eight NCAA titles.

Will Patrick’s Solid Outing At Montreal Continue At Bristol?

After a solid performance in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 Presented by Dodge at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, where she led 20 of 81 laps, Danica Patrick is hoping her success continues this weekend in Bristol. Despite running strong, she finished in 27th place after running over a shoe.

The race-high 20 laps Patrick spent at the front of the event are the most laps a female race car driver has led in a race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. In 2012, she has also led in four other races (spring Daytona, Talladega, Michigan, summer Daytona) for a total of 38 laps.

This weekend, Patrick will be pulling double-duty by competing in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide races. She won’t be alone. Kyle Busch, Sam Hornish Jr., Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs and Josh Wise will also attempt to run both races.

Brad Keselowski is the only driver slated to pull triple-duty in all three national series races.

NASCAR Nationwide Series, Etc.

Turner Motorsports became only the sixth team in history and first non-Cup affiliated team to win two NASCAR national series races (NNS, NCWTS) on the same day (8/18/2012). Turner Motorsport’s driver Justin Allgaier is fifth in the standings, 68 points behind the standings lead following his win last weekend at Montreal. … Milestone Watch: Danny Efland Racing’s Danny Efland will attempt to make his 50th NNS start; Austin Dillon will be making the No. 3 car’s 350th start in the NNS; and Brad Keselowski will attempt to post the No. 22 car’s 200th top-10 finish in the NNS. … Food City will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its sponsorship of the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) this Friday. Food City is BMS’ longest-running sponsor.

Bristol Visit Win-Win Proposition For KBM, Scott

Kyle Busch Motorsports remains winless in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series but this could be the week the drought ends. No, Kyle won’t be gunning for a fourth Bristol Motor Speedway victory, but KBM has another concrete specialist in the team’s No. 18 Toyota.

Brian Scott will make his second start of the year for KBM having finished 13th at Dover International Speedway in June. Scott’s only NCWTS victory came at Dover in 2009. He currently drives for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where he ranks ninth in the standings.

Call it a win-win proposition. KBM gets an accomplished driver – Scott finished fifth in Dover’s Nationwide event, a day after driving the truck – and Scott gets additional track time. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be the first to test Bristol’s revamped banking.

“It’s all speculation,” said Scott of whether the racing will be different. “I just kind of wait and see and figure out what it is when I get there. You can expect the high line not to be there [any longer], but who knows?”

The last time Scott competed in a truck at Bristol, 2009, he finished fifth. “It’s a track I enjoy going to,” he said. “I think the extra track time will be beneficial. At Dover (in the Nationwide Series car), it was like we were up to speed instantly. It just paid off for Saturday.”

KBM’s best finish of the current season came at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Jason Leffler finished fourth. Denny Hamlin scored the 2010 championship organization’s most recent victory last October at Martinsville Speedway.

Bristol A Veteran’s Track Regardless Of Configuration

For most of the 2012 season, the NCWTS’ “young guns” have stolen the spotlight for the veterans. This could be the week the tables turn.

Bristol Motor Speedway – old, new, reconfigured, shaved or whatever – promises to be the ultimate test of aggression tempered by patience.

In other words, right up a veteran’s alley. The track’s only first-time winner was Rick Carelli in 1996.

“Bristol is always a wild card because it’s a high-banked short track; you never know what is going to happen. Tempers can flare and you can easily get caught up in someone else’s mess because everything happens so quickly,” said two-time champion Todd Bodine, who won June’s concrete race at Dover.

No driver has won more NCWTS short-track races than Ron Hornaday Jr. Two of those 22 wins came at Bristol, including 1998, Hornaday’s second (of four) championship season. The 51-time NCWTS winner has yet to visit Victory Lane in 2012 and the UNOH 200 seems a likely event to break the drought.

“The last four races have been at tracks that I've never won at and getting back to a place like Bristol will be refreshing,” Hornaday said. “We found some things in our trucks in the last couple weeks and I feel like I finally have the trucks where I can drive them.”

Piquet Latest To Crest On Turner Motorsports Flood

Turner Motorsports couldn’t buy a victory in 2011. Now it seems that Steve Turner has a long-term lease on the winner’s circle.

Nelson Piquet Jr. became the team’s third NASCAR Camping World Truck driver winner at Michigan International Speedway. Piquet, three-time winner James Buescher and Kasey Kahne have combined to hand Turner five series victories – with three more in the NASCAR Nationwide Series by Buescher, Piquet and Justin Allgaier thrown in for good measure.

Brazilian Piquet, the second foreign-born driver to win in the series, is the 10th different winner in the season’s first 12 races, breaking a record for different winners over the first 12 events. Five first-time winners are the most since 2006, when there were six. The all-time record is seven (three times).

Michigan kicked off the second half of the season by deadlocking the championship standings. Timothy Peters and Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader Ty Dillon have scored an identical 449 points with Peters the de facto leader by virtue of his Iowa victory. Buescher is six points behind in third place.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Etc.

Hornaday is the only Bristol winner expected to compete in Wednesday’s UNOH 200. Jack Sprague (1999) and Travis Kvapil (2003) also won at Bristol in their championship seasons. … Johnny Benson was the last NCWTS regular to win in Thunder Valley in 2007. Five of the last six races have been won by NASCAR Sprint Cup veterans. Brad Keselowski and Brendan Gaughan are the only NSCS points-eligible drivers entered this year. … Ryan Blaney makes series debuts this week driving for Brad Keselowski Racing. … Jason White (second) and Sunoco Rookie Dakoda Armstrong (third) posted career-best finishes in Michigan.

 

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