While Stewart and others can look ahead to Chase, others are worried about just getting in

Stewart can relax, but other drivers scrambling

HAMPTON, Ga. — Tony Stewart can take it easy the next couple of weekends. Same for Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

The real action can be found further down the Sprint Cup standings.

With two races left until the Chase for the Championship, there’s quite a battle shaping up for those last couple of spots in the 12-driver playoff. So, excuse Matt Kenseth for seeming preoccupied. Cut Kasey Kahne a break if he’s not in a talkative mood. Even Greg Biffle, relatively secure with the eighth spot in the standings, is feeling a bit on edge.

“Certainly there’s a lot of pressure,” Biffle said Saturday, standing outside his hauler after practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “I don’t think we can play it safe.”

Some of this will get sorted out Sunday night in the Pep Boys Auto 500, when NASCAR holds its first scheduled race entirely under the lights at this high-speed, 1.54-mile trioval south of Atlanta, a track that’s notoriously hard on tires and tends to separate the best drivers from the pretenders.

As usual, there are subplots all around. Carl Edwards is fifth and looking good for the Chase, but he was hobbling around the garage on crutches after breaking his right foot playing frisbee. He’ll be racing, of course, because this is no time to get out of the car.

“I hate to say it, but I probably won’t be doing back flips for six to eight months if I win,” quipped Edwards, referring to his signature celebration off the roof of his car.

His rivals couldn’t resist the chance to have a little fun.

“At least say you were playing rugby or football, or scaling a mountain or something. But playing frisbee?” Biffle said, managing a smile in a stressful time.

Outside the championship race, former Cup winner Bobby Labonte was forced to scramble for a new ride after his regular team dumped him for the next seven races because of sponsorship issues. Yates Racing was able to line up funding for the No. 96 Ford, but only if it put 26-year-old Sprint Cup neophyte Erik Darnell in the car.

Labonte landed with TRG Motorsports’ No. 71 Chevrolet, which gave him a shot to continue his streak of 568 consecutive starts — second among active drivers only to Jeff Gordon’s 569.

“I’m not going to rule out anything anymore,” said Labonte, who’s with his third team in two years. “It’s been a little tough.”

Stewart, a three-time winner and comfortably atop the standings in his first year as a car owner, didn’t have to worry about those sort of issues. In fact, the notoriously cranky driver seemed downright jovial as he looked ahead to racing in Atlanta and next week at Richmond, where the Chase field will be finalized.

“I am racing 100 percent pressure free,” Stewart said. “We have absolutely nothing to lose. We can’t be bumped out of the Chase. We can finish 43rd the next two races and still be in the Chase. The next two weeks, we’re going to do what we can to win the race and get those 10 extra bonus points. It’s really all or nothing for us.”

Stewart has a 220-point lead on Johnson, the three-time defending Cup champion who will be awfully tough to beat once they start racing for the biggest prize. The cool Californian is trying to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win four straight titles.

“I’ve never felt this good about starting the Chase in the past,” Johnson said. “The car is spot on. Mentally and physically, this is the best I’ve ever been.”

Gordon, a four-time Cup champion but without a title since 2001, is right in the mix (254 points behind Stewart), while Denny Hamlin, Edwards and Kurt Busch are all at least 192 points ahead of 13th-place Kyle Busch and probably through to the next round unless they run into a stunning bit of misfortune.

Everyone will keep an eye on Kahne and Kenseth, who hold the last two spots in the Chase and are hoping to hold off the younger Busch and Brian Vickers, both within 57 points of 11th.

The 24-year-old Busch and 50-year-old Mark Martin have won more races than anyone this season (four apiece) but there’s a chance neither will be in the Chase. Martin is 10th in the overall standings, though he helped his chances immensely with a runner-up showing in the last race at Bristol, moving up two spots.

Busch has some work to do if he’s going to make up for his dismal showing in last year’s Chase. He was the leader going into the 10-race playoff, but failed to complete a couple of events and dropped all the way to 10th.

Now, he’s hoping for a reversal of fortune — slip into the Chase, then win the thing.

“My biggest concern is going to be Atlanta, just trying to get through Atlanta with a solid top-10 finish,” said Busch, who’s only 34 points behind Kenseth. “If we can do that, I think we’ll be OK.”

Kenseth is a former Cup champion and has never missed the Chase. He won’t be racing for wins, only to stay ahead of the guys who are trying to make his last 10 races moot.

“We’ve got to beat all the guys we’re around to get in,” he said. “I feel like our stuff has been running better lately, like we’ve been gaining a little bit of momentum and have been a little more competitive and we’ve been doing a good job on pit road and all the things we need to do.

“But you just never know.”