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looking at the chase I see three contenders with zero wins this season, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth.
With Jeffs Top 5 performance this year I do have a feeling that he may indeed have a shot at it even without scoring a single win.
somehow I do not trust Hamlin to pull it off at all despite his many wins.
Do you think this can hapen?
what would the outcome be? another format for the future to score points in the chase maybe or no effect at all?
Kenseth and Edwards are out, they are not strong or consistent enough to keep up with the 11 or 29.
Gordon can do it, but he has to have top 5's just about every week and hope the 11, 29, or now even the 33 stumble
Its definitely do-able, Tony Stewart did it in 2005 (although he did win races previously in the "regular" season). But in 2007 Gordon had an average finish of 5.7 and LOST to Johnson who reeled off a bunch of wins...
the drive for the top 5
i would so love to see that happen.
Jeff getting the 5th he deserves but also just to blow that damned chase out of the water.
YES!
Is this part of the reason that NASCAR is looking into shaking up the Championship format?
Maybe. But if you look at the points standing after Dover, the top 5 in the Chase are currently the 5 drivers in the Chase with more than one.
They're also the only 5 drivers with more than one win this season.
Finishing second (without leading a lap) in all 10 races pays 1,700 points. So if everyone else scores less than 1,700 points (and all seeding is equal) then it's entirely possible.
It is VERY possible...just not always likely. We may see it though...because the last time I looked, once the reseed is done; by the time 10 races has gone by, the same points system that is given to everyone else is used to figure out out of the top 12 who is the best driver again..and we all know in 12 races putting up one top 10 after another will keep you in the hunt. Random acts of stupidity may allow a guy who doesn't win a race in the final 10 to eke one out here....
Do the math...and some of you have...
I know this thread was about whether you could win the Championship without winning a Chase race, but I just wanted to point out the fact that the three drivers going into the final race with a chance to win the championship are the winningest drivers this year:
Denny Hamlin with 8 wins
Jimmy Johnson with 6 wins
Kevin Harvick with 3 wins (tied with Kyle Busch and Jamie MacMurray for number of wins.)