The chase is on There is more than just attending Church on Sundays’. Watching NASCAR is where it’s at these days on Sunday. Every Sunday NASCAR fans worldwide tune-in to watch their favorite driver finish strong. Although there is a rivalry among many drivers’ fans, i.e. Dale Earnhart Jr. fans and Jeff Gordon fans, there is still this overwhelming sensation of family and unity between NASCAR fans in general, regardless of who their favorite driver is. If not born into racing or just not a NASCAR fan because the point system sounds confusing, it’s all laid out here as NASCAR is approaching the final races. The Friday before Sunday’s races, each driver individually races one lap to see who has the fastest time on that particular track. Which then depicts the pole winner and placement for Sunday’s NASCAR race. Each Sunday brings a new race with new point possibilities for the drivers, owners, and manufactures. “Point possibilities?” you ask. The drivers, the winner of each NASCAR race receives 180 points, the runner-up receives 170, and from there, the point total declines in five-point increments for places two through six, points awarded drop four points per driver for positions seven through 11 and three-point increments separate drivers' points for finishers in 12th place or lower, and the 43rd, or last-place driver, gets 34 points. Still sounds confusing, I know it gets better. There are also bonus points up for grabs with each race. Drivers receive five points for leading a lap and an additional five points for leading the most laps. The Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship begun at the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway on Sept 10. All drivers in the Chase will have their point totals adjusted to these new amounts: the first-place driver in the standings begins the Chase with 5,050 points; the second-place driver will start with 5,045, etc. Incremental five-point drops will continue through 10th place (5,000 points). The Top 10 drivers in order going for the “Chase” are Jimmie Johnson, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Jeremy Mayfield, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, and Kurt Busch. Although the season is more than half way over and there are really only seven more races left of the season, that is more than enough to keep, drivers, owners, manufactures and of course the fans on the edge of their seats to see what each week brings. For example, Oct. 2 in Talladega brought Elliott Sadler to win the pole possession on Friday Sept 30 with a lap speed of 189.260mph. It's Sadler's third Bud Pole Award of the year. Sadler, who came up 66 points short of the Chase for the Nextel Cup, is back up to 11th after finishing sixth Sunday, Sept 25 in Dover. The next race is on Oct. 9 at the Kansas Speedway for the Banquet 400.
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