FONTANA, Calif. — If there’s a lesson to be learned from the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup, it’s that the competition is having to peddle harder just to stay in place.
When the top five finishers of the race are the top five drivers in the standings, as was the case in Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway, there isn’t a whole lot of ground to be gained. But woe to anyone who makes the slightest hint of a stumble at this point.
Juan Montoya finished third — his fourth consecutive top-five finish in the Chase — and lost ground to race-winner Jimmie Johnson, who assumed the points lead from fourth-place Mark Martin. Oh, and Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon? They finished in the top five, and are fourth and fifth in the standings. And the rest find themselves sliding farther and farther behind.
“It’s incredible,” Montoya said. “We have four top-fives in a row and I’ve been losing points to the leader. It is what it is.
“You aren’t going to make any points on anybody. Everybody that runs good is going to be there. You just have to make sure you don’t lose any if you make a mistake.”
Gordon finished third and remained amazed at how dominant the top cars were all day. He admitted his team was “good, but not good enough.”
“We can only do our best,” Gordon said. “When we get to Homestead, if our best isn’t good enough, you work harder over the offseason and see what you can do to improve it for next season.”
“We’re doing what we need to do, in my opinion. If it takes a third-place average finish over 10 races, then no, we’re not going to win it this year. We’ve already gotten a 15th-place finish. So we’ve got to keep battling and keep trying to get wins and top fives.”
Denny Hamlin stumbled in the worst way, crashing out of the race and finishing 37th. Montoya had a front-row seat, since Hamlin unexpectedly slid down the track in front of his No. 42 Chevrolet and spun off into the infield grass, eventually hitting the wall and damaging his car seriously enough to wind up in the garage for much of the rest of the day.
“I was surprised,” Montoya said. “When I saw it, I was thinking, ‘What is he doing? What is he doing?’ And he was fifth in the point and that took him out of contention.”
Johnson’s the one setting this torrid pace, and he may be more nervous than any of his pursuers as he pursues his own goal of a fourth consecutive championship. I doubt Satchel Paige knew much about NASCAR, but the Hall of Fame pitcher understood the dynamics of the Chase when he said, “Don’t look back. Something may be gaining on you.”
“It’s way too early to start thinking of other things,” Johnson said. “I mean, we love where we’re at. We love we’re in the points lead. We got maximum points [Sunday], but I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to think about those things. If we’re in the hunt at Homestead or Phoenix, the thoughts, the emotions — all of that — will be heavy on all of our shoulders.”
That’s especially prescient with the shortest track — Martinsville — and the longest one — Talladega — looming ever closer on the horizon.
“There are still some tracks out there that can change [the points] all in one lap,” Gordon said.
Montoya agreed.
“Once you pass Martinsville and Talladega and you look at the points, you say ‘OK, what do we need to do for that?’ Montoya said. “It doesn’t matter how many points. We’re doing top-fives every week. We hope to keep doing that.
“It would be nice if we can get a freaking win soon and we can move on.”
.Tags: contention, Denny Hamlin, Juan Montoya, Talladeg