Kansas race critical in championship Chase

KANSAS CITY, Kan. There's a ton of racing left to decide this season's NASCAR champion, and a bad day at Kansas Speedway shouldn't cripple a driver's chances.

But statistics show that today's race (noon, ESPN) the third of 10 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship could be the most critical. The eventual champion left Kansas ranked either first or second in the standings in five of the first six Chases, and the champion has only finished outside the top-10 at Kansas once.

So it made sense that the 12 title contenders all approached the Chase with a wary eye on the 1.5-mile oval.

"I said it from the beginning of the Chase this is the one where I feel like we've got to make our most," said Kyle Busch, who goes into today's race ranked third in the standings.

"We need to come out of here with a solid top-10, just to keep us in the hunt and not lose too much ground to the guys in front of us or have the guys behind us gain too much ground."

Four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson is the only driver in the history of the Chase to have an off day at Kansas and still hoist the Sprint Cup at the end of the year. It came in 2006, when he finished 14th but went on to his first championship.

He's the only driver to win a championship despite not scoring a top-10 finish at Kansas.

Off to a slow Chase start that season, Johnson left Kansas ranked eighth in the standings, 165 points out of the lead.

In every other season, the champion was ranked at least first or second after Kansas.

Because four of the remaining six races are on intermediate tracks with similarities to Kansas, Johnson believes a strong run today could tighten up the Chase standings. As it is, seven drivers are within 83 points of leader Denny Hamlin.