Take 5: Five Takeaways From The Second Race In The Chase
Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Take 5 – Who is the biggest surprise and disappointment of the chase drivers heading into the first elimination?
When it comes to being disappointed I would have to say that all is going to fall the way of Matt Kenseth. Granted, I did not think Hamlin was going to be on the verge of possibly not making it but he gets a pass after that fluke gas-intake issue last weekend. Kenseth on the other had does not get a free pass. 28 races into the 2014 season and Kenseth does not have a win. At this point in 2013 Kenseth had already won seven races and looked as though he was primed to win a second championship. The fall off from winning seven races to winning no races is steep and not really acceptable if you ask me. Kenseth and the No. 20 team need to be better plain and simple. Coming into the chase Kenseth was one of my dark horses to make some noise, fast forward two races and Kenseth is in trouble of not making it past Dover. The consistency has also gone away for Kenseth; in the first 14 races of the season he had 13 finishes of 13th or better. In his last 14 races he only has seven finishes of 13th or better along with seven finishes outside of the top-20. A strong run at Dover will be a fresh start for Kenseth but I thought he would be better than where he is right now.
When it comes to being surprised, Aric Almirola, AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Busch come to mind. For starters nobody gave Almirola and Allmendinger a shot to advance out of the opening round of the chase, myself included. Allmendinger is currently 10th in the standings and although Almiroa is 16th, he is only 10 points behind the cutoff line. Also, the only reason Almirola is 16th is because of the mechanical failure that he had at Chicagoland late in the race while running 6th. Both Almirola and Allmendinger have exceeded many expectations thus far in the chase. The other surprise for me is Busch. Coming into the chase Busch looked like garbage having gone on a six-race stretch where his best finish was 14th. Aside from that there appeared to be tension with his crew chief and Busch and the crew made numerous mistakes in the weeks leading to the chase. Well the chase arrived and i was wrong about Busch. The No. 18 team has flipped a switch the last two weeks and it has resulted in consecutive top-10 finishes. If Busch can continue to do this he will certainly find himself advancing deep into the chase.