Hamlin maintains Chase lead

Denny Hamlin remained in the lead of the Sprint Cup series playoff following a strong second-place finish on Sunday's Chase opener at Loudon.

The 29-year-old, who led the standings for the first time in his career heading into the start of the title battle this weekend, drove a great race of recovery after being turned around more than halfway through the race by title contender Carl Edwards.

The Roush Fenway racer made contact with Hamlin's Toyota, sending him into a spin on lap 213 of 300, but the Joe Gibbs racer managed to avoid hitting the wall, while being lucky of not getting collected by other cars, as he was running in the top-five at the time.

"I was really glad we just didn't get plowed by the entire field," said Hamlin. "Obviously we spun in front the entire field at that point. First thing I asked is how many cars is on the lead lap because I wanted to see how bad our day was going to be

"When we restarted 22nd, I immediately set a goal and said, let's finish top 15 and a few things happen and it was like, crap, let's get a top eight and then top 6, holy cow, we can win this thing. It was one of those days, our car, we just made a heck of a charge at the end."

Hamlin was able to recover from the incident and he quickly made progress while running on a safer fuel strategy than some ahead of him. As the lap-count faded he started to put the pressure on, closing on the leaders who were trying to save enough to make it to the end.

With ten laps remaining he was able to get up to third place, as he continued to shorten the gap to leaders Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer. In the end, the tank of the Stewart-Haas Chevy of his former Gibbs' teammate ran empty, allowing Bowyer to take the win ahead of Hamlin's #11 Toyota.

"The 33 [Bowyer] had a really good car today, the 1 [McMurray], the 14 [Stewart]," said Bowyer. "Those three cars I felt like were the best cars all day. We never really got to show where our car was at. As soon as we got to the Top 3, is when we got spun.

"We clawed and scratched our way to the front all day to get in position with 80 to go to go for a win. Luckily, it's a double-edged sword, it made us come in [the pits], we had to get fuel and it gave us the fuel for the end. Typically, our Toyota gets really good gas mileage, so I knew we were going to be fine on fuel right there at the end.

"Top 6 was where I wanted to leave this day, and so first mission accomplished."

Following Sunday's race Hamlin edges Sunday's winner Bowyer by 35 points in the Chase standing.

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Hamlin: Johnson still the favourite

Chase leader Denny Hamlin believes reigning champion Jimmie Johnson is still the favourite to win this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the final event heading into the championship play-off, which was his sixth victory of the year, and beat Johnson to the top spot of the standings for the deciding final 10 races.

Last year Hamlin was one of the strongest drivers in the Chase, taking top three finishes - including two wins - in six out of the 10 events. However two engine failures and a crash caused him three non-finishes that ruined his chances of contending for the title in the season finale.

Despite the likes of four-time champion Jeff Gordon picking the 29-year-old as favourite to beat Johnson, Hamlin does not think he is the target rivals will be aiming at from Sunday at Loudon.

"The #48 [Johnson] is definitely the favourite, with the #29 [Kevin Harvick] right behind him, in my eyes," said Hamlin. "One has shown the consistency to win the championship this year and the other has shown that when it comes to game time, he is ready to play. In my eyes, we haven't won one yet. We're 0-for-4, so it's time for us to step up."

However Hamlin does not deny that this season is probably his best chance ever to win his first NASCAR title. Besides Johnson, Hamlin is the only driver who has been in the Chase in every championship he has entered since the format was implemented.

"We set up our team at the beginning of the year to bring out our best race cars in September and late August and we've done that," said Hamlin. "The last three weeks, and including this week, our car has speed, and that goes a long way. It makes the drivers look good. It makes everything look good because you've executed a game plan and I feel like we've done that.

"The wins in the first part of the season, to me, were almost flukey in the sense that we didn't expect it and circumstances worked out and we won a bunch of races. But, we didn't have our best stuff at the race track.

"This is the point where we see where we stack up with our competition over the next few weeks and from what I've seen over the last couple of weeks, it looks like our stuff is going to be pretty competitive."

Hamlin, who was affected by an injured knee due to a torn ligament at the beginning of the year, has shown great speed at all kinds of tracks this season, taking wins on both short and intermediate ovals.

Two of his six wins this year came at Martinsville and Fontana, tracks that he will visit once again during the Chase. He also dominated at Atlanta two weeks ago until an engine failure put him out of the race.

"I think the biggest thing is we're competitive everywhere, competitive as in we can win races anywhere," Hamlin said. "We've shown we can win races and that means we've been up front a lot during the course of this season.

"For as many wins as we've had, we've had second and third-place finishes as well. That means we've been up front a lot during the season and that's what it's going to take to win the championship - a low average finish and making sure you have everything in line and prepared in case something does happen.

"Even if you have a bad race or two, if you consistently run in the top two to three positions every week and put yourself out there to possibly win a lot of races, I think you'll be a contender."

Hamlin's best finish in the Sprint Cup came in his rookie season, when he was third in the final standings.

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Stewart laments losing Loudon win

Tony Stewart lamented losing a likely win in the Chase opener at Loudon this weekend as he ran out of fuel right before taking the white flag.

The two-time Sprint Cup series champion took the lead early into Sunday's race and despite dropping in the order following his first pitstop, he was able to get back to the front and eventually lead the race again in the deciding stages.

After staying on the track when many pitted during the sixth of eight caution periods, Stewart briefly lost the lead to Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray, re-passing him with 52 laps remaining, then pulling away while try to save enough fuel to make it to the finish.

But despite being on the same pit sequence as eventual winner Clint Bowyer, his car ran out of fuel on the penultimate lap at the exit of turn four, just a few seconds after Bowyer's RCR teammate Jeff Burton, also on the same strategy, suffered a similar blow.

"I'm not happy, that's for sure, but we went down swinging," said Stewart. "It's hard to lose one that way but at the same time it was fun racing Clint like that. He was definitely the fastest car and congratulations to those guys.

"It's a tough way to start the Chase but I'm proud of my guys. Darian [Grubb, crew chief] kept swinging at it all day and finally on that last set of tires we got it halfway decent."

Stewart said that had he known he was so marginal on his fuel mileage he would have accepted finishing second behind Bowyer, but unfortunately the numbers didn't meet the targets on his team's calculations, ending around a mile short of scoring his second win of the year.

"I would have settled for second," accepted Stewart. "If you knew exactly how much gas you have it would be different, but you never know. It's part of the sport, always has been. It's what makes it exciting when you never know until the last lap what's going to happen

"...[Clint Bowyer] had a great car all day. He did a good job of saving fuel and I didn't do a good job."

A victory on Sunday would have placed Stewart up in second place in the Chase standings, but his 24th place finish meant he dropped five places in the playoff down to eleventh, only ahead of Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth.

But despite a 124-point deficit to leader Denny Hamlin, Stewart says it's still too early in the playoff to give up on his title hopes.

"There is so much that can happen in nine races," said Stewart. "I promise you this: This team is not going to give up. We'll do the best we can and give it our best shot."

Sunday's result has been Stewart's worst for a Chase opener since he missed the playoff in 2006.

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Ekstrom to make oval debut

Two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom will make his oval debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series next weekend at Richmond, Red Bull Racing Team has announced.

The Swede will pilot the #83 Red Bull Toyota for a second time this year, having made his NASCAR debut in June. Ekstrom drove in the first road course event of the season at Infineon Raceway, where he finished 21st after starting 38th, leading the race for seven laps.

After racing in the DTM last weekend at Brands Hatch, the 32-year-old tested for Red Bull on an oval for the first time on Tuesday at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a 0.625 oval in North Carolina, where he successfully completed his preparation to compete next Saturday in the final race of the regular season at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway.

"To do a race on an oval is something different - it's a lot of laps and a lot of cars," said Ekstrom. "Racing in Richmond will be one of the biggest tasks of my life so far, but I feel I am ready for the challenge."

Ekstrom replaces Reed Sorenson, who has driven the #83 car for eighth of the past nine races. Brian Vickers started his fourth year at the wheel of the leading Red Bull entry but he has been sidelined from racing since May after being diagnosed with blood clots. Casey Mears, Boris Said and Ekstrom, have also driven the car this year.

"Mattias did a great job in Sonoma, and continues to impress at the oval track testing sessions," said Red Bull Racing Team's Jay Frye. "He has earned this opportunity, showing continued improvement every time he is behind the wheel."

Ekstrom is expected to be back behind the wheel of his DTM Audi A4 next week, when the series competes at Oschersleben. With four events remaining, he ranks fifth in the DTM standings.

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Hamlin: Johnson still the favourite

Chase leader Denny Hamlin believes reigning champion Jimmie Johnson is still the favourite to win this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the final event heading into the championship play-off, which was his sixth victory of the year, and beat Johnson to the top spot of the standings for the deciding final 10 races.

Last year Hamlin was one of the strongest drivers in the Chase, taking top three finishes - including two wins - in six out of the 10 events. However two engine failures and a crash caused him three non-finishes that ruined his chances of contending for the title in the season finale.

Despite the likes of four-time champion Jeff Gordon picking the 29-year-old as favourite to beat Johnson, Hamlin does not think he is the target rivals will be aiming at from Sunday at Loudon.

"The #48 [Johnson] is definitely the favourite, with the #29 [Kevin Harvick] right behind him, in my eyes," said Hamlin. "One has shown the consistency to win the championship this year and the other has shown that when it comes to game time, he is ready to play. In my eyes, we haven't won one yet. We're 0-for-4, so it's time for us to step up."

However Hamlin does not deny that this season is probably his best chance ever to win his first NASCAR title. Besides Johnson, Hamlin is the only driver who has been in the Chase in every championship he has entered since the format was implemented.

"We set up our team at the beginning of the year to bring out our best race cars in September and late August and we've done that," said Hamlin. "The last three weeks, and including this week, our car has speed, and that goes a long way. It makes the drivers look good. It makes everything look good because you've executed a game plan and I feel like we've done that.

"The wins in the first part of the season, to me, were almost flukey in the sense that we didn't expect it and circumstances worked out and we won a bunch of races. But, we didn't have our best stuff at the race track.

"This is the point where we see where we stack up with our competition over the next few weeks and from what I've seen over the last couple of weeks, it looks like our stuff is going to be pretty competitive."

Hamlin, who was affected by an injured knee due to a torn ligament at the beginning of the year, has shown great speed at all kinds of tracks this season, taking wins on both short and intermediate ovals.

Two of his six wins this year came at Martinsville and Fontana, tracks that he will visit once again during the Chase. He also dominated at Atlanta two weeks ago until an engine failure put him out of the race.

"I think the biggest thing is we're competitive everywhere, competitive as in we can win races anywhere," Hamlin said. "We've shown we can win races and that means we've been up front a lot during the course of this season.

"For as many wins as we've had, we've had second and third-place finishes as well. That means we've been up front a lot during the season and that's what it's going to take to win the championship - a low average finish and making sure you have everything in line and prepared in case something does happen.

"Even if you have a bad race or two, if you consistently run in the top two to three positions every week and put yourself out there to possibly win a lot of races, I think you'll be a contender."

Hamlin's best finish in the Sprint Cup came in his rookie season, when he was third in the final standings.

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Harvick keen to take form into Chase

Kevin Harvick plans to keep the same approach that earned him the points lead during the regular season as he heads into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship play-off.

The Richard Childress Racing driver accumulated the most points during the first 26 races of the season, taking three wins that gave him third in the standings as the points were reset for the start of the Chase this weekend.

Harvick's consistency this season has been underlined by his 17 top 10 and 11 top five finishes thus far, more than any other title contender. Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin only beat him in number of victories, but failed to match him for overall performance consistency.

The Californian believes that if he manages to translate his performance from the regular season into the next 10 weeks, he should have a good shot at winning this year's title.

"For us, I think we just have to keep doing the things that we did up until this point," said Harvick. "We won a few races, had a lot of top fives and top 10 finishes.

"On the days where we really struggled, I felt like we, for the most part, made something out of those days. It was good enough to lead the points in the first 26 [races] so there is really no reason for us to change our strategy.

"I feel like the guys have done a great job of getting the cars prepared. They have built four or five new cars. We'll see what happens. Whether we win or lose, I think everybody has done everything we can control. We'll just go race now."

Harvick has finished in fourth place in the standings twice, and back in 2006 he also won three times before the Chase, then took two victories in the play-off. However, he believes this year to be his best shot ever at winning NASCAR's top title, his team being the only one having all its drivers in contention for the championship.

"I think we have the best chance to win just because of the mindset that we've been able to put ourselves in going into it first off; and that came from running well in the first 26 weeks and running through almost three Chases leading up until this point," said Harvick.

"Until you beat the guy that's won four times is one thing, but I think our shot at being able to win and have a chance to win the championship is there.

"It's just a matter of how it all unfolds in 10 weeks. All 12 teams are capable of getting on a hot streak at any time.

"We've all been here before. We've all won championships in some sort of racing division at some time. So it's just a matter of who puts these 10 weeks together and who gets on that hot streak."

Although not a good qualifier, that being his main weakness, Harvick has the best average of positions earned from start to finish during races this season among Chase contenders.

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Ekstrom to make oval debut

Two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom will make his oval debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series next weekend at Richmond, Red Bull Racing Team has announced.

The Swede will pilot the #83 Red Bull Toyota for a second time this year, having made his NASCAR debut in June. Ekstrom drove in the first road course event of the season at Infineon Raceway, where he finished 21st after starting 38th, leading the race for seven laps.

After racing in the DTM last weekend at Brands Hatch, the 32-year-old tested for Red Bull on an oval for the first time on Tuesday at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a 0.625 oval in North Carolina, where he successfully completed his preparation to compete next Saturday in the final race of the regular season at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway.

"To do a race on an oval is something different - it's a lot of laps and a lot of cars," said Ekstrom. "Racing in Richmond will be one of the biggest tasks of my life so far, but I feel I am ready for the challenge."

Ekstrom replaces Reed Sorenson, who has driven the #83 car for eighth of the past nine races. Brian Vickers started his fourth year at the wheel of the leading Red Bull entry but he has been sidelined from racing since May after being diagnosed with blood clots. Casey Mears, Boris Said and Ekstrom, have also driven the car this year.

"Mattias did a great job in Sonoma, and continues to impress at the oval track testing sessions," said Red Bull Racing Team's Jay Frye. "He has earned this opportunity, showing continued improvement every time he is behind the wheel."

Ekstrom is expected to be back behind the wheel of his DTM Audi A4 next week, when the series competes at Oschersleben. With four events remaining, he ranks fifth in the DTM standings.

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