NASCAR News from ThatsRacin.com

LOUDON, N.H. – No one questions the need for a strong start in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but it appears that winning during NASCAR’s 10-race playoff has increasingly become a priority.

Jeff Gordon, who led the series standings for most of the first 26 races last season, averaged slightly better than a fifth-place finish in the final 10 races and still came away empty-handed.

The lesson? It takes more than consistently good finishes to win the title.

Gordon won twice in the final 10 races, but his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, won four times and came from behind to win his second consecutive series championship.

If that scenario holds true again this season, the winner in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway could be in prime position to win the championship.

There’s one caveat, however.

Since the Chase format’s inception in 2004, only one winner of the Chase’s first race – Kurt Busch in the inaugural season – has gone on to win the championship. No one else has finished better than third.

“With those stats, I hope I don’t win Sunday,” Greg Biffle joked. “It’s always nice to be in victory lane, but we’re going to do what we can and certainly we want to get off to a good start, and certainly this weekend so far we’re off to a pretty good start.”

Biffle, who enters the Chase seeded ninth, said Gordon’s inability to win the championship with fewer wins last season has altered priorities for other drivers this season.

“We see Jeff Gordon have a five-point-some average and didn’t win the title, so that gives you an idea of how tough this thing has become, and this new car. The new car has certainly tightened the field up,” Biffle said.

“The reality is you’re going to have to be winning races. I wouldn’t say you have to win races, but you’re going to have to finish better than fifth.”…

Continue reading this story on ThatsRacin.com

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