Six of the dozen drivers beginning pursuit of NASCAR's Chase for the Championship on Sunday weren't in the playoff-on-wheels last year. When these six look around, they'll see four former Sprint Cup champions in the Chase. Talk about intimidation . . .

Jimmie Johnson is the Chase king: He has won the last three Chases. The other titlists are Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch.

If Johnson wins again, he'll be the first driver in NASCAR history to win four consecutive Cup titles. Cale Yarborough is the only other three-time winner.

Consider Johnson a force again in this year's Chase, which starts at New Hampshire and then moves to Dover, Del., Sept. 27. Johnson has the most Chase wins of all time (14). He's the only driver in all six Chases.

Gordon has had a very consistent season. He was runner-up in points to Tony Stewart entering Saturday night's race at Richmond. Gordon has four runner-up finishes in the last 12 races.

Stewart, the points leader for 13 consecutive weeks, has had a remarkable first year as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. While Stewart is an outstanding racer, he and teammate Ryan Newman, another Chaser, have benefited from their alliance with Hendrick Motorsports.

Kurt Busch is another driver who has ridden consistency into the Chase. His only victory came in the season's fourth race at Atlanta, but in the last 10 races, he collected three top-five finishes and three other top-10s.

Getting off to a good start in the Chase is a priority. When Kurt won the 2004 championship, he won the Chase-opening race at New Hampshire. The next year, he was 34th at New Hampshire and finished 10th in points.

Last year, Busch's younger brother, Kyle, was seeded first. In his first two Chase races, he finished 34th and last, respectively, and tumbled out of contention, finishing 10th. This year, despite tying Mark Martin for the most wins (four), Kyle Busch missed qualifying for the Chase by eight points.

All the Chasers will have an extra bounce in their steps this weekend, as each thinks he's the driver to beat for the championship.

"But once that green flag falls on Sunday, the race is really on," Kurt Busch said. "I know from experience that if you can get it going in the right direction at Loudon, you can keep the momentum growing and build some insurance for something bad happening later on."

There are other intriguing story lines among the Daring Dozen:

-- Mark Martin: Armed with Hendrick power, the 50-year-old veteran should be a strong contender. In the three races before the Chase, Martin finished second, fifth and fourth, respectively.

-- Carl Edwards: Despite not winning this year, he was a solid fourth in points until the last three races, when he finished 16th, 37th and 15th. Not a good way to enter the Chase. The good news for Edwards is, he is tied with Greg Biffle with six career Chase wins each.

-- Denny Hamlin: Another driver who is riding momentum into the Chase. He won two of the season's previous six races, including Pocono.

This is the first time in the six Chases that Matt Kenseth missed the cut. He fell out of 12th place with a 25th-place finish at Richmond, which dropped him to 14th in points.

"I'm really disappointed we didn't make it," he said, "but we just didn't perform good enough. We need to figure out why, because none of our [Roush Fenway] cars run the way they should."

Sylvania 300

 

When: Sunday, 2 p.m.

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