By Jim Pedley
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(June 24, 2010)

A couple of years ago, somebody somewhere in the NASCAR marketing department came up with the idea to label the 10 races leading up to the Sprint Cup playoffs as the Race to the Chase.

The concept wafted the faint scent of marketing ploy, but in reality, the final 10 races before the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup also tend to produce an increased level of urgency among those teams and drivers who are on the bubble.

The 2010 Race to the Chase starts Sunday with the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and it does so with a large contingent of big-name drivers in the immediate vicinity of that bubble.

One of those drivers is Ryan Newman, a Chaser a year ago. His crew chief, Tony Gibson, was succinct in explaining the urgency that is setting in this week: “It’s here. It’s game on. We’ve got to make it happen.”

Newman is 15th in points—82 out of 12th. One good race could put him back in contention for a Chase berth. One bad race could take him out. Just maintaining serve, well, do the math.

“We would like to already have our spot locked into the Chase, but we don’t,” Gibson said. “You could go backward just as easily as you can go forward, and I think we are going to see that happen every week right up until the Chase starts.”

Juan Pablo Montoya, who made the Chase last year but is 161 points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards, said a good finish this weekend is semi-mandatory for him.

“It’s crunch time now with only 10 races remaining until the Chase,” Montoya said. “And I’ll be honest with you, we need to have some strong finishes in order to get back into the Chase this year.”

Clint Bowyer needed a strong finish at New Hampshire a year ago as well.

He arrived at the 1.058-mile flat track 16th in the standings and 65 points out of the final Chase spot. He was coming off a very satisfying eighth-place finish at Infineon Raceway the week before and was digging the fact he was at the track where he got his first series victory.

Bowyer had qualified 16th and was running in or near the top 10 for most of the race. But rain, which ended the race 28 laps early, and a bump on a late restart, took a bite out his finishing position as he ended up 20th. It also ended up taking a bite out of his Chase hopes as he left Loudon 94 points out of 12th place. And when he finished 29th the following week at Daytona, his hopes for a third-straight playoff berth could not be recovered.

“We need to make sure we get out of there this time with a solid finish,” Bowyer said this week. “Last year, we were in the money and just got taken out of it at the end, which ruined our day.”

Matt Kenseth will begin his weekend in New Hampshire in what would seem to be a comfortable position: He’s seventh in points and 217 ahead of 13th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. But four races ago, Kenseth was third in points. The slide resulted in a crew chief change this week, with Jimmy Fennig replacing Todd Parrott. Fennig is Kenseth’s third crew chief of the season.

“To be honest with you, the way we’ve been running lately and the way we’ve been finishing, I’m more worried about making the Chase a lot more than I’m worried about what we’re going to do if we get in it,” said Kenseth, who was 10th in points when the Race to the Chase started last year but then missed the playoff. “We’ve got a lot of racing left to do before we get back there, and we’ve got to get running better than we’ve been running to make sure we have a spot in it.”

Beginning now, go time is all the time.

Fast facts

What: Lenox Industrial Tools 301
Where: New Hampshire Motor Speedway; Loudon, N.H.
When: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
TV: TNT, noon ET
Radio: PRN/Sirius Satellite Ch. 128
Track layout: 1.058-mile oval
Race distance: Distance: 301 laps/318.4 miles
Estimated pit window: 70-78 laps
Qualifying: Friday, 3:10 p.m. ET
2009 winner: Joey Logano
2009 polesitter: Tony Stewart
Points leaders: 1. Kevin Harvick, 2,334; 2. Jimmie Johnson, 2,194; 3. Kyle Busch, 2,193; 4. Denny Hamlin, 2,183; 5. Jeff Gordon, 2,142; 6. Kurt Busch, 2,118; 7. Matt Kenseth, 2,092; 8. Jeff Burton, 2,027; 9. Greg Biffle, 2,011; 10. Tony Stewart, 1,983; 11. Mark Martin, 1,947; 12. Carl Edwards, 1,932; 13. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 1,875; 14. Clint Bowyer, 1,858.