Sports

By Pete Pistone, Special to CBS Sports
CONCORD, N.C. (CBS) ― The Chase for the Nextel Cup might only be reaching the halfway point but it's game over for more than half the field.

The championship contenders have been separated into two distinct groups, with the top four still in the hunt and the bottom eight just making laps.

Vallejo native Jeff Gordon and his friend Jimmie Johnson are sailing along 1-2 on top of the standings with Clint Bowyer trying to keep them in his windshield at 63 behind and Tony Stewart barely hanging on 154 out.

After that, the chances at this point are slim and none, with fifth place Kevin Harvick already 202 out of the top spot and everyone behind him pretty much making their holiday shopping lists.

While Gordon and Johnson have been sailing along in the first four races of the Chase, the same can't be said for everyone else, with mechanical problems and accidents taking their toll.

Jeff Burton, who a year ago was leading the standings, has had a complete reversal of fortune and finds himself at the bottom of the Chase, a massive 336 points behind Gordon. His blown motor last week at Talladega was the latest in a series of unfortunate events that have plagued the popular veteran, who waved the white flag in Alabama.

"Obviously this about wraps it up for us for the championship, we will keep fighting," Burton said when he climbed from his disabled Chevy last Sunday. "We will go next week and strap our boots on and go fight and see what we can make out of it."

Martin Truex Jr. is another example of a driver who came into the Chase with high hopes after a successful regular season. But after a top five to kick off the playoffs at New Hampshire, it has been nothing but one disappointment after another for the sophomore driver.

A 38th at Kansas after getting involved in a wreck and a 41st at Talladega after another DEI blown engine have left Truex Jr. buried in 10th and changing his strategy for the remainder of the Chase.

"It's just frustrating," Truex Jr. said. "The last three weeks we've had great cars capable of winning every race, and we just can't seem to find any luck. We'll just keep going and try to win races from here on out and just do the best we can. We're way back in the points and that's not looking good. But we can still win a bunch of races. So we'll just go have some fun."

The Chase has been anything but fun for Kyle Busch.

Busch has gone through two consecutive weeks of being involved in accidents, the latest Sunday when he got caught up in the 11-car "Big One" that punctuated the day in Talladega. After a 41st-place finish in Kansas, Busch was credited with a dismal 36th last week, and the reality of his title hopes going out the window sank in.

"The team wants to be optimistic and they want me to be optimistic, but I am sorry, it is just the realism of what has happened that sets in and you try to realize you are so far back, it is going to take a lot to get back in this deal," Busch said. "Especially when you have great racers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart who are up front in the points and haven't had much bad luck in this Chase deal."

Gordon understands that luck is as much a part of winning a title as anything and knows it will take a combination of many elements for him to finally grab his fifth career championship.

"Well, you can call if whatever you want," Gordon said. "Good fortune, whatever. We definitely had some good things go our way. You have to have that to win a championship. We have that right now and hope we can keep that going. But we also have to perform."

While many of his competitors have seemed to give up, Gordon isn't taking anything for granted knowing full well the tide could turn at any time.

"It is not going to be handed to you; it is not going to be easy," he said. "You aren't going to get out there and lead every lap and win the race. It is not going to happen this weekend, not next weekend, all the way to Homestead. Long as we keep putting up this kind of fight, I don't care what happens, with the points, I am just proud of this team."

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