After winning the first two races of the Cup, you would believe that Matt Kenseth would have a huge lead over the other drivers. You would also be wrong in this case. Matt Kenseth only has an eight point lead over five time champion Jimmie Johnson with seven races still remaining. This may not seem to be a problem for Kenseth since he has been quite impressive as of late, but Kenseth has only finished ahead of Johnson once before in The Chase. This fact must be in the head of Kenseth and may be causing him even more worry on top of the other stress of racing for the cup. Competitor Jimmie Johnson disagrees saying “Matt has always been incredible at scoring points and getting the most out of his race car on a given weekend. He doesn’t let emotions rattle him much." Whether or not emotions will play a role or not, there is no doubt that Kenseth has been far more impressive this season than any of the previous ones. Kenseth has set personal records for wins in a season (7) and laps lead (1380) which are greater than his numbers when he won the cup in 2003. Matt is well respected by his competition and their crew chiefs. Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, praised him saying, "He’s a good driver. He’s a clean driver. He understands where he’s at on the race track.He really gets it. He gets it more than most of the drivers out there. He knows when to get the (heck) out of the way. He knows when he has the best car." Respect is mutual between most of the top drivers and they know that any driver that makes it to The Chase can upset the rest. Much of the talk suggests that the victor this year would either be Johnson or Kenseth, but other drivers are still within reaching distance of the title. Currently third in the standings, Kyle Busch, is only four points behind Jimmie Johnson. If you are capable of using simple math, you realize that he is therefore only twelve points behind Kenseth. He should be considered a high risk threat due to him still being very close in the points and due to Busch's ability to win races. Busch was the youngest driver to win a Sprint Cup Race, youngest to win a pole, and youngest to qualify for The Chase. He also holds the record for most Nationwide series wins in his rookie season which just shows how truly amazing he is at achieving victory. The rest of the drivers in the running are a decent ways further back in the points, but they still have a chance with seven races remaining. Fourth place Kevin Harvick is thirty-nine points behind the leader and would need to race significantly better than the three drivers ahead of him in order to win the cup. The rest of the drivers in the Chase goes as follows: Jeff Gordon-39 points behind Greg Biffle- 41 points, Ryan Newman- 48 points, Clint Boyer- 51 points, Kurt Busch- 55 points, Dale Earnhardt Jr- 57 points, Carl Edwards- 65 points, Joey Logano- 66 points, and Kasey Kahne- 78 points. Thus, The Chase for the Cup remains full of possibilities for all drivers to change their positions in the standings and will most likely come down to the last race to crown a winner.
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