With only five races left in the season, we continue to assess who's up and who's down in the Chase for the Cup. And there are a whole lot more of the latter than the former.
Current standings (movement): Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon (+2), Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch (+1), Juan Pablo Montoya (-3), Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman (+2), Kasey Kahne (+2), Carl Edwards (-2), Denny Hamlin (-2), Brian Vickers.
Who's up: Who else? Johnson strengthened his hold on the top spot, stretching his lead over Martin from 12 points to 90. Gordon continues his charge up the leaderboard, but with Johnson at the top, Rainbow is but an afterthought. Further down the line, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne continue to solidify their top-flight status.
Who's down: Thanks for playing, Juan Pablo. His streak of top-five finishes came to a crashing end Saturday night with his range of problems all over the 42 car. Edwards continued his slide into irrelevance in 2009, and Hamlin's second week of car problems torpedoed what had been an optimistic shot at a title.
Outlook: Johnson has done what everyone who's not a fan of the 48 hoped he wouldn't -- jump out to a large lead. And now, with only one driver even within 100 points of him, it's going to require at least one total flameout by the Johnson crew, and probably two, to give anybody much of a chance. Hate on Johnson all you want, but somebody's got to step up and challenge him for more than one race.
All right, your turn. What's your take on the Chase?
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