2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup

The 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup[1] was contested in the final ten races of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to determine a champion. The Chase began with the Sylvania 300 on September 14, 2008 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and ended with the Ford 400 on November 16, 2008 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 2008 Chase was won by Jimmie Johnson, his third consecutive championship.

From 2004 through 2007, the championship system was known as the "Chase for the Nextel Cup", but with the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel, the name of the series became known as the Sprint Cup Series in 2008.

Drivers

Chase Standings
PL Seed Driver Pts Behind P W T5 T10 DNF
1 3 Jimmie Johnson 6,073 Leader 5 6 13 20 1
2 9 Greg Biffle 5,924 (−149) 2 2 11 15 3
3 7 Jeff Burton 5,921 (−152) 0 2 7 17 2
4 2 Carl Edwards 5,875 (−168) 1 6 15 23 2
5 5 Clint Bowyer 5,831 (−242) 0 1 5 15 0
6 11 Kevin Harvick 5,817 (−256) 0 0 6 16 0
7 10 Jeff Gordon 5,798 (−275) 3 0 11 16 5
8 8 Tony Stewart 5,735 (−338) 0 1 10 15 3
9 4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5,694 (−379) 1 1 10 15 1
10 12 Matt Kenseth 5,665 (−408) 0 0 8 18 3
11 6 Denny Hamlin 5,653 (−420) 1 1 10 16 3
12 1 Kyle Busch 5,628 (−445) 2 8 16 18 2

Seeding

Seedings at the start of The Chase
Seed Driver P
1 Kyle Busch 5,080
2 Carl Edwards 5,050♦
3 Jimmie Johnson 5,040
4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5,010
5 Clint Bowyer 5,010
6 Denny Hamlin 5,010
7 Jeff Burton 5,010
8 Tony Stewart 5,000
9 Greg Biffle 5,000
10 Jeff Gordon 5,000
11 Kevin Harvick 5,000
12 Matt Kenseth 5,000

♦ – Edwards was docked the ten-point winner's bonus as a result of a violation found during post-race inspection at the UAW-Dodge 400 in Las Vegas.

Regular season standings with seeding change
PL Driver ₧ Behind +/-
1 Ky. Busch 3,878 Leader N/C
2 Edwards 3,671 (−207) N/C
3 Johnson 3,576 (−302) N/C
4 Earnhardt Jr. 3,488 (−390) N/C
5 J. Burton 3,384 (−394) -2
6 Stewart 3,285 (−493) -2
7 Harvick 3,283 (−495) -4
8 Biffle 3,280 (−498) -1
9 Hamlin 3,235 (−543) +3
10 J. Gordon 3,221 (−657) N/C
11 Kenseth 3,132 (−746) -1
12 Bowyer 3,116 (−762) +7

Schedule

Date Race Track 2007 winner 2008 winner
September 14 Sylvania 300 New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire 		Clint Bowyer Greg Biffle
September 21 Camping World RV 400 Dover International Speedway
Dover, Delaware 		Carl Edwards Greg Biffle
September 28 Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kansas 		Greg Biffle≠ Jimmie Johnson
October 5 AMP Energy 500 Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, Alabama 		Jeff Gordon Tony Stewart
October 11 Bank of America 500 ♣ Lowe's Motor Speedway
Concord, North Carolina 		Jeff Gordon Jeff Burton
October 19 TUMS QuikPak 500 Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Virginia 		Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson
October 26 Pep Boys Auto 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Georgia 		Jimmie Johnson Carl Edwards
November 2 Dickies 500 ♣ Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas 		Jimmie Johnson Carl Edwards
November 9 Checker Auto Parts 500 Phoenix International Raceway
Avondale, Arizona 		Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson
November 16 Ford 400 ♣ Homestead-Miami Speedway
Homestead, Florida 		Matt Kenseth Carl Edwards

≠ — Non-qualifier for the 2007 Chase.
Italics denotes non-qualifier for 2008 chase.
♣ – Denotes night race or race that will start in the late afternoon and finish at night.

Television

This marked the second year of exclusive national television coverage of the Chase for the Sprint Cup on ABC. Dr. Jerry Punch remained in the play-by-play position, with Andy Petree in one color commentary position, but there were changes in the booth and host position.

Brent Musburger and Suzy Kolber were out in the host position, and former MRN Radio, TNT and NBC play-by-play voice Allen Bestwick took their place after spending the 2007 season on pit road. Joining him were 1989 NASCAR series champion Rusty Wallace and JTG Daugherty Racing owner and former Cleveland Cavaliers center Brad Daugherty in the on-site studio, while 1999 series champion Dale Jarrett took Wallace's spot in the broadcast booth and Shannon Spake replaced Bestwick on pit road, joining Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Mike Massaro.

Results

NOTE: Actual race finish in parentheses.

Race One: 2008 Sylvania 300

Race Two: 2008 Camping World RV 400

Race Three: 2008 Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman

Race Four: 2008 AMP Energy 500

Race Five: 2008 Bank of America 500

Race Six: 2008 TUMS QuikPak 500

See also

References

  1. ^ "NASCAR.com: Predicting the 2008 Chase for the Cup champ?". Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
Preceded by NASCAR seasons
2008 		Succeeded by