Tuesday, August 5, 2014

2014 Week 21 Chase Standings

Chase Standings After 21 Races


By Richard Tix

Another repeat winner in 2014, this time is Dale Earnhardt Jr bringing home his third win of the 2014 season. Every race that goes by and a new driver doesn't win just means the points race heats up.


Race to the Chase Standings
Rank
Driver
Wins
Points
Pts Back
Last Week
1
Dale Earnhardt Jr
3
740

4
2
Brad Keselowski
3
687

1
3
Jimmie Johnson
3
633

2
4
Jeff Gordon
2
757

3
5
Joey Logano
2
633

6
6
Carl Edwards
2
618

5
7
Kevin Harvick
2
608

7
8
Kyle Busch
1
611

8
9
Denny Hamlin
1
532

9
10
Aric Almirola
1
506

10
11
Kurt Busch
1
488

11
12
Matt Kenseth
0
668

12
13
Ryan Newman
0
642

13
14
Clint Bowyer
0
617

14
15
Kyle Larson
0
595

15
16
Greg Biffle
0
590

19
17
Kasey Kahne
0
589
-1
17
18
Austin Dillon
0
588
-2
16
19
Paul Menard
0
562
-28
18
20
Marcus Ambrose
0
541
-49
22
21
Brian Vickers
0
539
-51
20
22
Tony Stewart
0
537
-53
21
23
Jamie McMurray
0
536
-54
23
24
Casey Mears
0
487
-103
26
25
Martin Truex Jr
0
477
-113
25
26
AJ Allmendinger
0
477
-113
24
27
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
0
423
-167
27
*Pts Back= Points back from the last Chase spot
*Last Week= Where they were in the standings last week.

Greg Biffle was the big mover in the standings this week. This came after the #16 team chose to gamble and stay out. They were right on the edge of there fuel window but cautions came out and assured them they could make it. The caution's also meant that there gamble for the win would come short because on the restart Jr took back the lead. Even though the gamble didn't get them the win it did give them a "very good points day" (yes, that was said) which moved them into the Chase if the season ended today (16th). 

Since we already are talking about 16th in points, check out the fight for the last spots. 15th through 18th in the standings are separated by just 7 points. Remember when people said points no longer matter? Yeah, tell that to these guys.

When Paul Menard got caught up in the late wreck (when Denny Hamlin saved it) his day was not only all but over but it took a huge hit on his Chase hopes. He is only 28 points out, but climbing back just became harder.

Time is ticking for Tony Stewart. Its looking more and more like he will need a win to get into the Chase this season. If he doesn't, time will still be ticking for him to get a win in his 16th straight season (has at least one in every season in his career. 15 years). If he fails at both it will be tough to swallow. 


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