Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick can chill, but no one else can

By foxsports
Published

There are two drivers who are loose and relaxed this weekend at Dover International Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick. Fourteen others are in varying stages of concern, worry and/or outright panic.

Welcome to the Chase to the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Sunday's Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway is the first elimination race of this year's Chase, when the field of championship contenders will be pared from 16 to 12. 

Truex and Harvick don't have a care in the world, at least in Sunday's race.

Victories at Chicagoland Speedway for Truex and New Hampshire Motor Speedway for Harvick mean those two are guaranteed to advance to the Chase Round of 12, no matter where they finish at Dover.

And that is a huge deal. 

"I don't think there's any more to it than just knowing that if something bad happens it's not going to affect the outcome of your season," said Truex, for whom Dover is his home track. 

"I think there's a lot of potential in the Chase to have one bad race," Truex said. "You know, no matter how good you ran or no matter how good of a season you've had we've seen in the past that something out of your control can take you out of the opportunity to win a championship. So, for us, it's just one more weekend where we don't have to worry about that stuff happening."

Harvick, the only driver to advance to the championship round of the Chase in each of the last two seasons, is already feeling it.

"When you get in these situations, it's fun to be able to succeed," he said. "It's kind of like an addiction. You just love the rush of being able to be behind and be able to perform and make that happen. It's something that is very gratifying."

It's safe to say the other 14 drivers fighting for the final 10 Chase spots are feeling considerably less sanguine about what Sunday might bring. 

Last year, six-time Cup champion and 10-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson came into this race with a 27-point cushion over the Chase cutoff. But a $15 part failure knocked Johnson out of the race and out of the Chase, a lesson not lost on the racers. 

"Anything can happen," said Kyle Busch, the reigning series champion. "We saw it with the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) last year -- they had issues at Dover. We've had issues before and we've been able to make our way through, or we've been knocked out like in years prior. You just have to go and fight it out and try to keep track of that big picture and do what you need to do to move on to the next round."

"I think everybody's had that happen to them," Jamie McMurray said of having a freak incident take a driver out of a race. "It's certainly more unfortunate when it happens in a race that is so critical like this one is. But I think everybody's had something simple like that knock them out."

And while nothing is certain in racing, there's a good chance that one of the 12 drivers who's in the Chase on Saturday has a big problem in the race and falls out for good on Sunday, allowing the way for one of the drivers now 13th to 16th in points move up.

We'll know for sure late Sunday afternoon.