It's the same story, a different year. I say the 48 is the favorite until proven otherwise. If he comes out of Talladega more than 30 points out, we'll start talking about someone else....

 

The 99 is snake bitten. I really think he will miss the Chase. The 5 is coming on, but no. Brad maybe next year when they go to Fords. Mopar doesn't give enough support for NASCAR Engine program. They have a new engine but its not up to par against the FR9 Ford or RO7 Chevy. I would not count Hamlin out tho or the 14 car. I think Darian Grubb wants to prove something to Stewart/Haas.

 

everyone down plays jr lol. always been that way with who his dad is, but he has proven this year he is for real and he has one thing on his mind and that's shutting everyone up and winning the championship. he is more focused and committed than he has ever been. if the last 16 races go the way the first 20 went then you will be seeing "little e" doing what "big E" did 7 times and thats holding the points championship at the end of the season.

jimmie will wreck at dega like he always does at plate tracks. jr will have a top-10 if not a win at dega always runs really good there if he doesnt win he is in the top-5 to top-10.

we have martinsville where jr always runs well as well as jimmie but jr has proven to be the better hendrick car there the last year and a half.

chicago jr finished third there last year after running in the top-10 all day where jimmie wasnt even in the top-10 until people started running out of fuel and then jimmie ran out.

loudon jr finished third there in the fall said he was looking forward to going back there since he historically runs well there in the fall, jimmie is hit or miss there.

texas is a good track for jr every year. jimmie isnt bad there as well.

jimmie and jr are equal over the past two years at Charlotte.

bristol is a track jr is better at then jimmie always has been.

phoniex is a track since the reconstruction of it jimmie and jr have both sucked at.

jimmie never runs well and homestead as were jr runs in the top-10 there.

i can see jr and jimmie collecting almost all the wins in the chase this year with both having around 3-4 chase race wins.

 

It would be exciting to watch, that is for sure. I just don't see it happening.

I'm sure Steve Letarte would welcome the chance to rematch that championship from 5 years ago. Letarte was on the box 5 years ago with Jeff Gordon, they averaged like a 5.4 finish or something, and lost the championship to Jimmie. Letarte may feel like he has osmething to lose.

I admit, I was a big critic of Letarte, and I'm still not sure of him. He just seems too satisfied with the "top 5" than the win. Chad is the perfect combinatoin of 1) wanting a top 5 and 2) wanting to win races and championships. He knows when to go for both. Letarte just wants bonus points and get good finishes. But, he does have his driver on the top fo the points, and he is in a position where he could win about 3 races before the chase.

 

steve is the kind of crew chief that looks for top-5s in the first 26 races and then wants to boost those into wins in the chase. jr has two really good tracks for him coming up in the next three weeks. he could enter the chase with the same amount of wins as jimmie if not more with richmond being in there as well...

 

I think last year showed that how u run in the begining doesnt matter look at stewart he ran like crap all year & than dominated the chase

 

i agree with you on that, but jr and jimmie have been strong all year at whatever track they go to and they are going back to tracks for the 2nd time in the chase so, i really cant see betting against them this year lol

 

They're the odds on favorite. But thanks to such a short format, what if you blow an engine, what if you crash out early? There are too many ways it can go down. Jimmie may have been in contention if not for that ltitle two race stint at Charlotte and Talladega. He was racing Ryan Newman for seventh, got pinched, and hit the wall. Jimmies fault, he shoudl know better than race within a half lap of Ryan Newman. Then he got cuaght in the back with no where to go at Talladega and just couldn't dig his way back out. He may have been six time had he just settled for 8th at Charlotte.....

 

i agree, thats what i hate about the chase, it takes the guy who put the first 26 races together and was the points leader and could put him back to 10th in points, i wish they would just drop the chase all together

 

They wont, pulls in more fans & more media hype, it be nice if they would get rid of Danica