2009 NASCAR Race to the Chase: Several New Faces Inside the Top 12

As the NASCAR regular season races into its final month, the Race to the Chase is getting hotter and hotter. Drivers who early in the season were thought to have no chance at making the Chase are now right on the doorstep; and those who were supposed locks for the Chase at the beginning of the season are battling it out just to make the ten race playoff. As things shape up, there are three relative surprises currently sitting inside the Chase, while several contenders are on the outside looking in.

According to NASCAR.com, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman currently sit 7th, 8th and 9th in the points standings. At this point last season, only one of these three drivers realistically had a chance at making the Chase. Kasey Kahne sat in 11th, Ryan Newman in 17th and Juan Pablo Montoya was all the way back in 21st. Come Chase time, none of these three made the Chase and had to start gearing up for 2009, and that's exactly what they did.

On the other side of things, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick all made the Chase in 2008. Now, Busch sits 15th, Burton is in 18th and Harvick is back in 23rd. Last year, not only was Kyle Busch in the Chase, but he was leading in the standings and had eight wins. This year he has three wins and is currently 70 points out of the 12th and final transfer spot. What has made the difference for these drivers? Consistency. Even though NASCAR has changed the way points are distributed by giving the winner an extra ten bonus points, the system still rewards consistent good runs more than anything else.

According to Racing-Reference.info, the three drivers likely to miss this year's Chase have a combined five DNFs while the three only combined for four DNFs in the entire 2008 season. The other interesting difference between the three new drivers in the Chase this year and those that made it in 2008 is that Montoya, Kahne and Newman all had changes take place in their organizations during the past offseason. Montoya's team switched manufacturers from Dodge to Chevrolet, Kahne's organization of Gillett-Evernham Motorsports merged with Richard Petty to become Richard Petty Motorsports and Newman switched from the #12 Dodge to run the #39 Chevrolet with newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing. Interestingly enough, the three drivers in last year's Chase had no changes made to their teams.

So, what does all of this mean? It means that things change in NASCAR at a very high rate. New cars are always being built and teams are constantly looking to improve upon what they already have, and if that does not happen, a team can quickly get left behind the rest of the field. So, change is not necessarily always such a bad thing after all. Now, this does not mean that whoever makes a move this offseason is going to be a Chase contender in 2010, but it does appear that along with the logistical changes, teams were improving their cars and personnel as well.

"2009 Official Driver Standings." NASCAR.com

"Sprint Cup standings for 2008." Racing-Reference.info.