Several drivers on the bubble

By Jim Pedley

Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

A couple of years ago, somebody somewhere in the NASCAR marketing department came up with the idea to label the 10 races leading up to the Sprint Cup playoffs as the Race to the Chase.

The concept wafted the faint scent of marketing ploy, but in reality, the final 10 races before the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup also tend to produce an increased level of urgency among those teams and drivers who are on the bubble.

The 2010 Race to the Chase starts Sunday with the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and it does so with a large contingent of big-name drivers in the immediate vicinity of that bubble.

One of those drivers is Ryan Newman, a Chaser a year ago. His crew chief, Tony Gibson, was succinct in explaining the urgency that is setting in this week: “It’s here. It’s game on. We’ve got to make it happen.”

Newman is 15th in points — 82 out of 12th. One good race could put him back in contention for a Chase berth. One bad race could take him out. Just maintaining serve, well, do the math.

“We would like to already have our spot locked into the Chase, but we don’t,” Gibson said. “You could go backward just as easily as you can go forward, and I think we are going to see that happen every week right up until the Chase starts.”

Juan Pablo Montoya, who made the Chase last year but is 161 points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards, said a good finish this weekend is semi-mandatory for him.

“It’s crunch time now with only 10 races remaining until the Chase,” Montoya said. “And I’ll be honest with you, we need to have some strong finishes in order to get back into the Chase this year.”

Matt Kenseth will begin his weekend in New Hampshire in what would seem to be a comfortable position: He’s seventh in points and 217 ahead of 13th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. But four races ago, Kenseth was third in points. The slide resulted in a crew chief change this week, with Jimmy Fennig replacing Todd Parrott. Fennig is Kenseth’s third crew chief of the season.