Out of all of the races in The Chase, this is the one that is the wildcard. It is the hardest race to predict an outcome for because of the likelihood that there will be a wreck, or wrecks, that will take out part of the field and a few Chase contenders as well.
With that being said, I’m picking the 8 car of Dale Jr to win with the 33 as my dark horse winner. Although, now that I’ve gone on record as predicting the 8 to win it is almost a given that he won’t, because everytime I predict him to win at ‘Dega he almost certainly gets caught in a wreck or drives himself into the wall for no reason at all.
Starting line-up after the jump. See you in the comments.
***
This line-up comes to you via nascar.com.
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 181.367 | 52.799 | Leader |
| 2 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | MyLowe’s | 181.360 | 52.801 | -0.002 |
| 3 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Chevy 100 Years | 181.243 | 52.835 | -0.036 |
| 4 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center | 181.010 | 52.903 | -0.104 |
| 5 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 180.918 | 52.930 | -0.131 |
| 6 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Diet Mountain Dew “Paint the 88” / National Guard | 180.904 | 52.934 | -0.135 |
| 7 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Serta / Menards | 180.655 | 53.007 | -0.208 |
| 8 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS My Choice | 180.608 | 53.021 | -0.222 |
| 9 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Subway | 180.210 | 53.138 | -0.339 |
| 10 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 180.203 | 53.140 | -0.341 |
| 11 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Jeremiah Weed Southern Style | 180.197 | 53.142 | -0.343 |
| 12 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | El Monterey / Office Depot | 180.108 | 53.168 | -0.369 |
| 13 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches | 180.047 | 53.186 | -0.387 |
| 14 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 179.970 | 53.209 | -0.410 |
| 15 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Energizer | 179.875 | 53.237 | -0.438 |
| 16 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 179.831 | 53.250 | -0.451 |
| 17 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 179.831 | 53.250 | -0.451 |
| 18 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / O’Reilly Auto Parts | 179.784 | 53.264 | -0.465 |
| 19 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 179.736 | 53.278 | -0.479 |
| 20 | 97 | Kevin Conway | Toyota | Extenze | 179.693 | 53.291 | -0.492 |
| 21 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Scott Products | 179.672 | 53.297 | -0.498 |
| 22 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 179.645 | 53.305 | -0.506 |
| 23 | 115 | Michael Waltrip | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine / Darrell Waltrip NASCAR Hall of Fame | 179.629 | 53.310 | -0.511 |
| 24 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Best Buy | 179.602 | 53.318 | -0.519 |
| 25 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 179.602 | 53.318 | -0.519 |
| 26 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 179.575 | 53.326 | -0.527 |
| 27 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves | 179.420 | 53.372 | -0.573 |
| 28 | 55 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 179.349 | 53.393 | -0.594 |
| 29 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | HP Racing LLC | 179.346 | 53.394 | -0.595 |
| 30 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 179.054 | 53.481 | -0.682 |
| 31 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Office | 178.944 | 53.514 | -0.715 |
| 32 | 32 | Terry Labonte | Ford | C&J Energy | 178.897 | 53.528 | -0.729 |
| 33 | 71 | Andy Lally* | Ford | TRG Motorsports | 178.884 | 53.532 | -0.733 |
| 34 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s Halloween | 178.780 | 53.563 | -0.764 |
| 35 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 178.773 | 53.565 | -0.766 |
| 36 | 00 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 178.673 | 53.595 | -0.796 |
| 37 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 178.670 | 53.596 | -0.797 |
| 38 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction / Thank A Teacher Today-Securit- y Benefit |
178.603 | 53.616 | -0.817 |
| 39 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker | 178.520 | 53.641 | -0.842 |
| 40 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | World Hunger Relief / www.FromHungerToHope.com |
178.427 | 53.669 | -0.870 |
| 41 | 36 | Dave Blaney+ | Chevrolet | Golden Corral | 178.337 | 53.696 | -0.897 |
| 42 | 13 | Casey Mears+ | Toyota | GEICO | 176.477 | 54.262 | -1.463 |
| 43 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Speed Energy / Mapei / Menards | 178.567 | 53.627 | -0.828 |
| Did Not Qualify | |||||||
| 44 | 135 | Geoffrey Bodine | Chevrolet | Luke & Associates | 178.533 | 53.637 | -0.838 |
| 45 | 46 | Scott Speed | Ford | Red Line Oil | 177.478 | 53.956 | -1.157 |
| 46 | 277 | T.J. Bell* | Ford | TRG Motorsports | 177.071 | 54.080 | -1.281 |
| 47 | 37 | Josh Wise | Ford | Bradley University | 177.055 | 54.085 | -1.286 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie
* Denotes Rookie
