Take 5: Five Takeaways From The Second Race In The Chase

Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Take 4 – Outside of Larson and McMurray nobody else outside of the chase has mattered.

With 16 drivers going to the chase you would assume that the majority of the chase would be consist of the most talented drivers in the series. With the exception of maybe Larson I would say that the chase has the right 16 guys in it this season; if McMurray continues to run well he would have a case as well. Some of the big names not in the chase looked like they were going to make an impact at Loudon but ultimately did not. Drivers like Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer and Danica Patrick were all inside of the top-8 at one point during the latter parts of the race. In the end only one of them managed a top-10 finish and that was Vickers in 10th. Other bigger names like Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were non-factors just as they have been for most of the season. Stewart obviously had some off-track issues to deal with but even prior to that he wasn’t running very well. Many race fans will condemn the chase and I am not going to say that they are right or wrong for doing so. However, give credit where credit is due; the chase in 2014 has afforded 16 deserving drivers a chance to win a championship and that’s not too shabby. The only negative in my eyes about this field is that Larson couldn’t find a way to race himself into it.