Chase For The Sprint Cup 2008 In Full Swing, But How Will It Play Out?

With the 2008 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup kicking off, one must wonder how everything will play out. Going into the chase, Kyle Busch starts off with a thirty point advantage over Carl Edwards who sits in second place.

Jimmie Johnson sits close in third behind Carl with ten points separating the two of them. After this, there is a four-way tie between Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, and Jeff Burton with all of them being behind Jimmie Johnson by thirty points.

The remainder of the starting roster for the chase is Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, and Matt Kenseth all behind the set in front of them by ten points.

When looking at past Chases, it's clear that these positions don't mean anything when the ten races of the Chase play into the scores.

The big questions are who will clinch the championship and how will the top twelve fill in over the next ten weeks. Last year showed us a back-and-forth battle between the first and second spot, but no driver below second place gave Johnson a run for his money.

It's clear that Kyle Busch has had momentum throughout the whole season, but will that continue through the chase? Jimmie Johnson has been showing increasing consistency in recent races, is he foreshadowing what the chase will be like? Carl's been hanging strong too, but he's also been hitting bouts of bad luck lately, how strong will he be through the chase? The rest of these drivers are hungry as well and could play into the standings of the Chase, but just how much?

With all of these thoughts considered, no one will really know until Homestead when the points are finalized, but predictions are bountiful for the upcoming NASCAR Championship shakedown.

I predict that Carl Edwards will walk away with the championship and throughout the chase he will win two races. He's been very strong this season, and normally his team works very well under pressure. I believe they'll pull together through these next ten races and take the championship right out of Kyle Busch's hands.

I'm thinking that Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson will hang tough through the Chase with Kyle finishing in second and Jimmie sticking at third. I think they both will definitely maintain they're power through the Chase, but Carl just has more momentum.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will stand strong at fourth place followed by Tony Stewart in fifth.  Both of these drivers have had good seasons but not championship-retaining seasons.  As much as I'd love to see Dale Jr. walk away with the championship, I just don't know how confident I am that he will take it this year.

Tony has had an alright season, and I imagine that Greg Zipadelli will step it up for the Chase, which is why I believe he will move up some in the standings from where he is starting from.

Harvick will clinch sixth spot as his team has been showing improvement in the recent races as well as bringing some pretty good cars to the track. Behind him in seventh position is where I predict Jeff Gordon will finish. For whatever reason, Gordon has had a rocky season, and I don't see things improving too much over the chase. I feel that Harvick's guys will have a little bit of an edge on the Dupont crew.

Greg Biffle will hold the eighth position in front of Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth to round out the top ten. Biffle has been more consistent than Burton or Kenseth. Kenseth has had a very rough season as far as having issues that affected him in the points standings.

I look for Denny Hamlin to finish eleventh in the points as he has just not been as strong as he has in the past couple years. Clint Bowyer will finish in the twelfth position where he finished the regular season. Bowyer's team has struggled to keep things consistent this year, which is where they will be lacking as the Chase rolls on.

In the thirteenth position right outside of the chase is where David Ragan will be found.  Currently only eight points separate him and Kasey Kahne. I think Ragan has really been stepping it up lately and that nothing will change that through the chase. Ragan nearly clinched the twelfth position in the chase, but some bad luck late in the Richmond race pushed him back into fourteenth allowing Bowyer to jump into the top twelve and be locked in.

Only time will tell how accurate these predictions are, but after weighing this year's season, and the drive behind all of these teams, I am confident in my decisions.

In simpler terms, I believe the standings will look like this when all is said and done:

1. Carl Edwards
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5. Tony Stewart
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Jeff Gordon
8. Greg Biffle
9. Jeff Burton
10. Matt Kenseth
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Clint Bowyer
13. ------------
14. David Ragan