The heat is on for drivers to get into the top ten and have a shot at the title. This weekend's race in Pocono went a long way to clarify who is in and who is out.
Solidly In
Jimmie Johnson is the current points leader and with only six races to go holds an enormous 620 point lead over tenth place. At this point in the season Jimmie can take a few weeks off to rest up if he wants to. It would take a catastrophic injury for him to not be in the chase.
The rest of the top five Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart also hold comfortable cushions. They still need to show up and race, but don't need to push too hard to still get into the final playoff. (Somebody may want to tell Tony that he can take it easy for a few weeks.)
A Little Less Comfortable
Elliott Sadler in sixth and Kurt Busch in seventh are holding on to a little more than one hundred points over eleventh place. While still solidly in the top ten, one bad DNF could put them on the fence. These two teams need to make sure that nothing goes wrong over the next few weeks.
Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte and Kevin Harvick are within fairly easy reach of eleventh place. One bad race and their playoff hopes could easily be dashed. These are the guys that need to race the next six races like their season depended on it. In fact, it does.
