posted October 6, 2006 at 10:34 EST in NASCAR Betting Trends

Legendary track

With three races down in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, NASCAR rolls into Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the UAW-Ford 500.

The winner of last week’s Banquet 400 didn’t have any bearing on the Chase, but he may have racers watching their fuel gauge a little more closely this week. Tony Stewart raced to victory, or more accurately he coasted to victory at the Kansas Speedway last week. Stewart’s gas tank ran dry on the final lap, but the 17-second lead he had over the closest car allowed him to finish the race in first place anyway. It probably helped that the closest driver to him, Casey Mears, also ran out of gas on the final lap.

The first driver still in the Chase to cross the finish line last week was Mark Martin. The NASCAR veteran finished third at Kansas to jump up the standings three places to third. Martin sits 70 points back of Chase leader Jeff Burton, but he definitely has a shot at closing the gap this weekend when you take into account that he has won twice at Talladega in his long career.

While Martin was flying up the Chase standings, Jeff Gordon plummeted down. Gordon ran into a fuel pressure problem with 29 laps to go last week. Gordon was running in eighth place at the time, but after the car trouble forced him to the pits he never made it back on to the track and ended up 39th. Gordon will need to get back to the front of the pack this weekend if he hopes to return to the upper echelon of the Chase standings. Gordon is definitely still a championship contender though, and he has four wins in his career at Talladega.

Right below Gordon in the Chase standings is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Number 8 had another rough day last week in Kansas and ended up finishing 10th. Earnhardt Jr. still has a shot at a championship but his window is closing quickly. Talladega has been kind to Junior in the past and he leads the field this weekend with five career victories at the Superspeedway. Look for Junior near the front of the pack after all the smoke and debris clears this weekend. If he’s not there, consider his Chase for the Nextel Cup over.

Everyone below Earnhardt Jr. in the Chase standings should have already kissed their championship hopes good-bye. Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch have pretty much been done ever since the first Chase race ended. Jimmie Johnson looked ready to make a run at getting back in the Chase in Kansas last week before a penalty for speeding in the pits cost him big time and caused him to finish 14th. Johnson won at Talladega earlier this season in the Aaron’s 499, but even if he repeats that feat this weekend he’ll need a bunch more wins and a lot of help to get back on top.