Heating Up

After the All-Star Race the Nascar Sprint cup "Chase" to the Chase has been heating up. The two races after the ASR (Charlotte and Dover) has left some guys who looked to be ok in the standings needing more and some guys outside looking in drooling at the thought of sneaking in.

The season story lines are heating up and I will take a look at a few after Dover that may come into play down the stretch run to the Chase.

Tony Stewart

• Smoke was on the way outside looking in before Dover and then Matt Kenseth's engine blew and Jimmie Johnson had a restart penalty. Smoke snuck up on everyone and stole the win and also put himself in a WC spot as of now.  The biggest thing isn't that he has the WC spot but the fact that he got it with a win, and that he may have started his comeback. The way the field has been up and down this year it is not too late for him to make a move. Will Smoke come from no where to compete in the Chase?

Jeff Gordon

• If the season ended today Gordon would grab the other WC spot, but I have a feeling someone with a win should nab it by seasons end. The real story on Gordon is when is he going to get win number one in 2013? He has a good shot this weekend because Pocono is a strong track of his historically. Can he gain some steam and make the Chase or will he fall off?

Brad Keselowski

• He is the first of two Penske story lines in this "heating up" section. BK has been everywhere on the map this season. He started the year looking like a defending Champ, and then Nascar came around when the Penske teams tried working in the grey area of the rules. After the first violation this team went through everything imaginable and had a pretty rough stretch. This past week at Dover they managed a top 5 but then failed post race inspection because of a broken shock (same as Martin Truex Jr at Texas). Is he heating up or will he be a defending Champ that misses the Chase?

TRD

• Toyota Racing Development. This is a tough one to figure out. Toyota has had very strong cars but finishing races has started to become more apparent after Dover. Are they just running the car engines just so close to the edge that they blow? Luckily they have time to figure it out, but it will need to be figured out if Kenseth or even Kyle Busch wants to have a shot in the Chase where consistency is key.

Joey Logano

• The second Penske driver in the article, JoLo has been all over the place too. But he hasn't had as much bad luck as BK. He also has been a big time factor for a few wins during races unlike BK. That's why he makes these story lines, I think he could be a contender for a WC spot because of the possibility of him finding a win or two. Including the ASR his past 3 finishes are 3rd, 5th, 7th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr

• Oh Jr, where have you gone? Ever since his hot start at the beginning of 2013 he has been, well just in the middle. He gets top 10's and quality finishes but he isn't that hot driver that started the 2013 season. Does it matter? Well If he is fine tuning and believes he is set for the Chase his coasting is fine, but when Nascar's season comes close to Chase time Jr better get it going or he will just be, well in the middle. It will be interesting to see how it pans out for him.

Ryan Newman and Stewart-Haas

• Kevin Harvick is on his way in next year, and Newman is most likely on his way out unless they have enough sponsorship for him to field a forth car. At Dover everything fell apart for Newman. He not only lost his power steering but he got impatient and bumped Gilliland which in turn knocked both out for the remainder of the race. Newman not only needs to figure it out if he wants to make the Chase (which will probably take a win or two) but also to fins a decent ride in 2014.