Chase Race No. 6: With Backs Against the Wall, Keselowski's Team Advances; Big Names Eliminated

After coming to blows last week, Brad Keselowski (2) and Matt Kenseth (20)
helped each other advance to the Eliminator Round (Photo: Google Images)

Going into this weekend's Geico 500 at Talladega, Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth faced elimination from the Chase for the Cup. But after Sunday's race was run, two of these drivers have advanced into the Eliminator Round, while the other two will have to wait until next year to win a championship.

Everyone knew going in that Talladega was going to be the ultimate wild card race. Anyone can get wrecked at any time because of someone else's mistake. Normally, drivers who aren't in the Chase will give a little extra room to those who are because they don't want to have any effect on the outcome of the championship fight. But at Talladega, where cars are inches apart and 25 cars run within three or four second of each other in a giant pack, it's hard to give someone else extra space. While many fans were waiting for the big one, it never actually happened. But the few wrecks that happened were still big in the sense of the title implications they had.

The first wreck on lap 61 saw Joey Logano, already locked into round three after his win at Kansas, spin through the infield grass after Jamie McMurray blew a tire and spun off Earnhardt Jr's nose. Logano's teammate Keselowski also received some right side damage to his No. 2 Ford. But the dent was square enough to the center of the door that it really didn't effect his car all that much. But other drivers battling for playoff sports were not as lucky.

Kyle Busch's wrecked car limps to the garage (Photo: Google Images)

The next caution was for a much more serious wreck. On lap 104, J.J. Yeley's No. 83 Camry came into contact with the front of Aric Almirola's No. 43 Fusion, setting off a chain reaction that had major implications. While he was not in the vicinity of the initial bump, Busch was tapped from behind by Austin Dillon when he tried to slow up to avoid getting collected. This sent his No. 18 car skidding towards the inside wall, where it eventually hit and ended any realistic chance he had of advancing to the third round.

Throughout the afternoon, it looked as if Johnson or Junior would beat Keselowski and punch their ticket to the next round with a win. But just as quickly as it seemed Junior Nation could rejoice, their driver met the same untimely fate as Busch.

On lap 189, just a few from the scheduled 194 lap distance, Greg Biffle was tapped from behind by David Gilliland, sending Biffle's Ford into Junior's Chevy and turning NASCAR's most popular driver back into traffic. The incident also collected the cars of Paul Menard and Michael Annett and saw Junior's potential winning car relegated to a 31st place finish.

In Johnson's case, he just could not keep his car at the front as the race got closer to the finish and he lost any potential drafting help. He finished 24th on the day.

However, while the competition was taken out in a few accidents, Keselowski avoided all the mess and mistakes and held off a late charge from Kenseth to score the win and keep his title horpes alive for another week. Because he won the race, this meant that there was one less spot available on points, so the four drivers eliminated were Kasey Kahne, Johnson, Busch and Earnhardt Jr.

Next week, the Chase heads from one of NASCAR's biggest track's to one of its smallest; the paperclip shaped Martinsville Speedway. With these four perennial title contenders elininated from the hunt, it will be interesting to see how the remaining races of the season play out.