Posts tagged KyleBusch at FanHouse

With 15 laps to go in Sunday's AMP Energy Drink 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, a good portion of the Chase for the Sprint Cup contenders looked ready to challenge for a win in a race known for being a wild card on the Chase schedule.

And with 14 laps to go, they found out why Talladega was such a wild card.

Heading in to turn 3, Carl Edwards was running second in the outside line of cars when he pushed a little too hard on teammate Greg Biffle while the two were bump-drafting. Biffle lost control of his Ford and slid into his other teammate Matt Kenseth.

With all three cars sliding across the track, chaos ensued in the pack behind them.

Cameras have had staying power in the world because they are able to do something humans can't. Simply, cameras can stop action in ways we don't see. Here's some of the best shots from a fast-paced weekend at Kansas Speedway as FanHouse brings you another edition of "Scenes From":

How'd your favorite Chase for the Sprint Cup driver fare last weekend at Kansas Speedway? Is he still a viable contender, or have we found some true pretenders? Take a looksie to find out where FanHouse ranks your Chaser:

Round 3: Chase Winners

Jimmie Johnson (Finished 1st) - Johnson nearly got caught up in watching Carl Edwards make his crazy dive-bomb move on the final lap, but stayed cool and power back by him. His consistency will be tough to beat.

Carl Edwards (Finished 2nd) - Sometimes, its possible to play video games too much, though Edwards proved that he isn't afraid to try anything for a win.

Greg Biffle (Finished 3rd) - Sure, he may have passed a very ill guy for third place at the finish line, but those five points could loom large come Homestead.

Jeff Gordon (Finished 4th) - I'm throwing Gordo into a Chase winner this week because his gutsy performance showed that the No. 24 team could be a dark horse championship contender if he can return to form at Talladega, Charlotte, and Martinsville.

Now that's a move that we've all tried on our NASCAR video games before.

Carl Edwards swept around Jimmie Johnson in the final corners of Sunday's Camping World 400 at Kansas Speedway, but swept too far as the No. 99 Ford grazed the turn four wall and Johnson's No. 48 powered back by to give a 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup win to someone not named Greg Biffle.

Note: BFF = Best Friends Forever. Use it and you'll impress your kids.

Kyle Busch is doing his best impersonation of the New England Patriots from last February's Super Bowl XLII.

In other words, he's falling over his own feet when it really matters most.

Busch, who's season-leading eight wins in 2008's regular season Sprint Cup action earned him a significant anti-Kyle fan base, has simply plummeted to the bottom of the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings when he was supposed to be cementing his status at the top.

And that drop -- as Sunday's race at Dover proved -- isn't just a one-time thing. It's turning into a reoccurring theme.

It could be bad karma (he didn't make many friends on-track this season) or it could (and likely is) just bad luck, but one thing is for sure: Kyle Busch is dead-last in the championship standings battle after finishes of 34th and 43rd.

That yellow brick road he was walking during NASCAR's summer swing has seemingly taken a hard right towards a deep, dark cliff.

Ouch.

Here's a quick look at how each contender in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup will start when the field takes the green flag Sunday afternoon at Dover International Raceway for the second race in the ten race run.

Jeff Gordon - Starting: 1st - Chase Spot: 11th - A pole for Gordon is best way to start off a weekend that is as close to a must-win situation as he'll get in the Chase if he wants to find himself in any sort of contention to be in position to win the championship.

Denny Hamlin - Starting: 3rd - Chase Spot: 6th - It's been a year and a half since Hamlin has had a good run at Dover. He'll need to find one after slipping back late in the race last week at New Hampshire.

Greg Biffle - Starting: 5th - Chase Spot: 3rd - Biffle's win a week ago should serve as a warning to the rest of the field, especially coming to Dover where he has a win and four top-5 finishes in his career.

Clint Bowyer - Starting: 6th - Chase Spot: 9th - FanHouse classified Bowyer as a "Chase loser" after last week's race at New Hampshire thanks to a lower-than-anticpated finish. He'll need to capitalize on his high starting spot Sunday to get out of that hole.

It's hard to believe it -- doesn't it feel like Ryan Newman won the season-opening Daytona 500 like a week ago? -- but the 2008 edition of the Chase for the Sprint Cup is now officially at full throttle following Sunday's first round of the ten race swing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Unless you were living under a rock Sunday or perhaps digging out from Hurricane Ike, -- which, obviously, is a perfectly good excuse to miss the first race of the Chase -- Greg Biffle made a quiet, yet steady, statement that he's in no mood to be counted out of a championship run.

Naturally, Biffle's win Sunday at New Hampshire -- his first since Kansas in '07 -- will put him towards the top of the "Chase Winners" category because, well, you can't do a whole lot better than win a race (but I do give him props for the direct shot with the champagne spray in the picture. That takes talent!). The real importance of this post, though, is to summarize how the rest of the Chasers handled their first foray into the 2008 championship battle.

Did Kyle Busch -- who led the point standings nearly all year -- prove his worth? Was Clint Bowyer ready to take off his disguise of barely making the Chase (he finished third in the championship battle a year ago) and put on his "I'm here to play for keeps" hat? And what about Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Was he ready for his first Chase with Hendrick Motorsports?

It's all here, folks, so jump on in and find out who were your Chase Winners and Chase Losers following Sunday's first round at New Hampshire:

Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Jimmie Johnson started Sunday's first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as the odds-on favorites to battle for the championship.

And then Greg Biffle showed up, took the spotlight, and won Sunday's Sylvania 300 by passing none other than Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps.

Kyle Busch wasn't real happy with his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota over the course of the two practice sessions in preparations for this weekend's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but thanks to the weather he started on the pole for Sunday's Sylvania 300.

The good luck didn't last long.