Gibbs, Toyota tumble in the Chase

Sep 29, 2008 - 4:51 PM By Scott Serrano PA SportsTicker Auto Racing Editor

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So much for that breakthrough season for Toyota.

Just take a look at the bottom of NASCAR's Sprint Cup "Chase for the Championship" standings to see how the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas are doing.

Denny Hamlin is 10th, followed by Tony Stewart in 11th and Kyle Busch bringing up the rear - 311 points back of leader Jimmie Johnson.

Think of it as an epic postseason collapse.

As dominant as the Toyotas have been in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series this season, not to mention Busch's epic regular season, things have been just as bad when it counts the most.

After winning eight times through the first 26 Sprint Cup races, Busch has been downright awful through the first three Chase races, though by little fault of his own.

He entered the Chase with an 80-point lead atop the standings, but had a sway bar issue at New Hampshire, blew a motor at Dover and had more engine issues at Kansas, which relegated him to a 28th-place finish.

"I think it's pretty self-explanatory (how I feel) to everybody out there," Busch said.

We don't know how Stewart feels, even though we can probably formulate a pretty good guess. He left Kansas without comment after finishing 40th, seven laps down after three separate run-ins with Brian Vickers.

So after starting the Chase by finishing eighth at Loudon and 11th at Dover, Stewart saw his title hopes all but go up in smoke after plummeting four spots to 11th after Kansas.

Way to leave JGR with a bang.

Then there is Hamlin.

"I've (been snakebit) all year and those other guys in our group have had luck, and I've had bad luck all year," Hamlin said. "I'm used to it. We have a situation where we are all trying new stuff and trying to get better. Right now, we keep our stuff together."

Yes, Hamlin squeaked into the Chase, but by default he has had the best Toyota thus far. That's what sandwiching a ninth at New Hampshire and 11th at Kansas around a 38th at Dover will get you. Tenth place. Wow.

Just to recap, Joe Gibbs Racing occupies the bottom three places in the Chase standings and Sunday's race in Kansas was only the second time all year that JGR failed to place one of its Toyotas in the top 10.

Sadly, the other time was a week earlier at Dover.

To rub a little more salt into the wounds, the top five spots at Kansas were occupied by drivers from the other two top NASCAR teams - the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets and Roush Fenway Racing's Fords.

The lone bit of good news for Joe Gibbs? At least the Washington Redskins beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

HAPPY HARVICK: Kevin Harvick has had a lot to smile about over the past two months.

By running sixth at Kansas on Sunday, Harvick now has nine consecutive top-10 finishes. His last finish outside the top-10 was a 37th at the Brickyard.

Since then, he has finished fourth three times and sixth on three other occasions.

Harvick currently sits fifth in the Chase standings, 136 points behind Johnson.

ALONSO BREAKS THROUGH: Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso pulled off a stunning victory at an action-packed Singapore Grand Prix after starting Formula One's first night race 15th.

The silky smooth Spaniard had struggled in his return to Renault this season, managing a mere three top-five finishes until winning Sunday.

Alonso was able to get back to Victory Lane after race leader Felipe Massa's hopes of a podium finish came to a disappointing end on lap 18.

The Brazilian entered the pit lane, but was then shown the green light while the fuel hose was still attached.

Massa injured a member of his crew as he moved away before mechanics struggled to remove the hose to allow him to rejoin the race. He wound up 13th and sits seven points behind Lewis Hamilton, who is now the odds-on favorite to win the title.

EARNHARDT JR. VS. KYLE BUSCH: Dale Earnhardt Jr. basically replaced Kyle Busch at Hendrick Motorsports. Busch thoroughly dominated the head-to-head matchup through the first 26 races, winning eight times to Earnhardt's one.

Here is how the two are faring during the Chase:

Earnhardt ran 13th at Kansas for another ho-hum finish, but moved up to eighth in the Chase standings, 190 points out of the lead.

Busch had even more engine problems at Kansas and finished 28th. Entered the Chase with an 80-point lead atop the standings, but left Kansas in 12th place and 311 points out of the lead.

Edge through third Chase race: Earnhardt by a straightaway.

SAY WHAT? "I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn't plan on the wall slowing me down that much. In video games, you can just run into the wall and run it wide open. That's what I did, but it didn't quite work out the same as the video game." - Carl Edwards, who passed Johnson on the final lap, but couldn't make the move stick for the win.

GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED FINISH: Clint Bowyer finished second at Kansas and increased his lead atop the Nationwide standings to 196 points over Edwards, who was fourth. The same week it was announced he was leaving Red Bull Racing, A.J. Allmendinger finished ninth at Kansas. ... Sunday's top-three finishers at Kansas - Johnson, Edwards and Biffle - also are the top three in driver points.

Feedback? E-mail scott.serrano@pa-sportsticker.com.