FanHouse

After blowing up colorful projectiles in the name of freedom on the 4th, hang out with FanHouse for the Coke Zero 400 Live Blog Saturday night at 7:45pm/ET.

Heading into Saturday night's showdown at Daytona, there are now nine races remaining until the Chase for the Championship begins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Here's the drivers on the outside that are looking in:

13th - Matt Kenseth (-15 points): The No. 17 joined his fellow Roush Fenway Racing teammates in having a terrible weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick, who sat in 13th just one week ago, led quite a few laps until the late rain hampered his effort to secure a Top-5, limiting the damage to Kenseth's Chase chances. Kenseth came away from NHMS with an 18th-place finish, but the effort left him 15 points out of 12th.

Saturday night at Daytona is a crapshoot for Kenseth -- he's never won on a restrictor-plate track in the Sprint Cup series -- but expect this cagey veteran to find a solid spot in the Top-12 after Chicago, Indianapolis, and Michigan.

14th - Martin Truex Jr. (-31 points): Just like Kenseth, Truex didn't exactly race in a manner that he's going to be writing home to Mom about at New Hampshire, but he was one of the lucky drivers who worked strategy and rain into a Top-5 finish. The finish vaulted the No. 1 three spots in the standings and left him much closer to the Top-12.
Truex -- if he doesn't run into any DEI's self-inflicted wounds over the next few weeks -- could find himself a solid spot in the Top-12, especially if either RCR teammates Harvick or Bowyer run into any trouble.

15th - Ryan Newman (-111 points): I still don't have faith in Newman that he'll make the Top-12. He did pick up a position after finishing 15th last weekend at New Hampshire, but he's only got two points on Brian Vickers in 16th. Newman & Co. simply haven't put together a season that is anywhere near his talent level as a race car driver. Fortunately, Newman is returning to the site of his last win this weekend at Daytona.

However, if you expect Newman to go 2-for-2 at Daytona on Saturday night, I'd call you crazy. Put that with the drivers who are closest to him in the point standings (Vickers, David Ragan, and teammate Kurt Busch), and it makes for a Chase recipe that won't work for the No. 12.