Why Phoenix Has All the Ingredients to Be More Exciting Than NASCAR Chase Finale

Yes, there have been fights, Game 7-type storybook tales of survival against the odds, wrecks and more controversy than one could have imagined beforehand in this 2014 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup.

But you know what's really amazing? It's quite possible you ain't seen nothin' yet.

This Sunday's final race of the Chase Eliminator Round at Phoenix International Raceway has the potential to blow all other highlights of NASCAR's postseason away—and perhaps even surpass for drama what will follow in the next week's race for the championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Eight drivers remain in contention for the title heading into Phoenix, and none of them is even remotely out of it. That's unprecedented and brings with it an unprecedented amount of possibilities and desperate people who likely will be willing to risk doing desperate things in the final 50 laps Sunday.

Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin technically are tied for first, with Logano owning the tiebreaker by virtue of his two wins in the Chase and five for the season overall.

But despite an average finish of 5.25 in the first eight Chase races that would have given Logano a comfortable 35-point lead over Kevin Harvick at this point under the old Chase system—and would put him a whopping 76 points ahead of Hamlin, who has only one win all season, none in the Chase and would be seventh under the old format—Logano hardly is running away with anything under this new format.

And quite frankly, that's OK.

It's not OK with everyone, as plenty of folks seem to be grumbling about the new system, including FoxSports.com's Tom Jensen, who took particular issue with Hamlin's current position at the top of the Chase standings with Logano.

Jensen wrote, understandably, that he has a problem with Hamlin being tied for first, having not only zero wins, but also having zero top-five finishes in the Chase and an average finish of 13.375 that ranks seventh among the remaining eight drivers.

Nonetheless, the new format seems to have more people talking, debating and simply thinking more about NASCAR at this late point in the season than arguably in years. It's also got the Phoenix race track sold out for this race, and it should have people tuning in on television this Sunday to see what happens.

And that's not all. It has the competitors of the sport—not just the drivers, but the crew chiefs, the pit crews, even car owners—all on the edge of their respective seats. Most of them have never dealt with pressure like this, no matter how long they've been in the sport.

If you doubt that is true, you must have been hiding out in a cave as post-race fights broke out at two of the last four Chase races—first following the Bank of America 500 in Charlotte and then last Sunday following the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

"Everyone is mad at everyone, because never in the history of NASCAR have eight drivers had a chance to win the championship with two races to go," former Sprint Cup driver and current Fox Sports NASCAR analyst Kenny Wallace wrote on FoxSports.com.

Therein lies the key ingredient to why this Phoenix race has the potential to be wilder than the championship race that will follow it.

There is more uncertainty, a higher number of drivers desperate to do whatever it takes to be one of the four drivers left standing when the current Chase field of eight is cut in half at the end of this race. Win the race, and you automatically advance. So you know there will be all kinds of risks being taken that drivers and crew chiefs normally wouldn't even consider.

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Ryan Newman, one of two drivers left in the Chase who has yet to win a race this season, sits third in the Eliminator Round standings heading in and knows all he needs is a top-five finish in ensure advancement and thumb his nose at the entire NASCAR establishment that thought winning was supposed to be everything under this new format.

Jeff Gordon sits in fourth, still steaming about his tangle with Brad Keselowski that relegated him to a 29th-place finish at Texas after he had been fighting for the lead on a green-white-checkered restart. He's only 12 points out of first—and yet only six points out of last in the current Eliminator Round standings.

Matt Kenseth, the other driver without a 2014 win, and Carl Edwards are only one point behind Gordon; Keselowski is four points behind him and only one ahead of Harvick.

And what about Harvick, who is eighth in the Chase roundup heading in? It just so happens he's won the last two and three of the last four races at Phoenix. Plus he has threatened to wreck Kenseth to keep him from winning the championship, much the same way Gordon has said he intends to pay back Keselowski for wrecking him last week at Texas.

No matter what happens at Homestead in the week to follow, that's a whole lot of drama to match, let alone surpass. The Phoenix race is very likely to be akin to a great NFC or AFC Championship Game in football that frequently is followed by a boring blowout in the Super Bowl.

Whatever happens then it will be up to the powers-that-be in NASCAR to decide if what has transpired is good enough to leave their Chase format alone for a while.

Unless otherwise noted, all information was obtained firsthand.

Joe Menzer has written six books, including two about NASCAR, and now writes about it and other sports for Bleacher Report as well as covering NASCAR as a writer and editor for FoxSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.