Sprint Cup 2011: Race 31 -- the Home Stretch to the Championship is on.

The Sprint Cup tour comes home to Charlotte marking the halfway point in the 2011 Chase at race’s end. Tony Stewart who burst on the Chase scene winning his first two races, his first two for 2011, but has fallen to 7^th place with bad showings at Dover and Kansas, is positioned to throw himself back in the picture sitting on the poll for the Bank of America 500. Five more chasers reside in the top ten while all but two start in the top 20. The two outside of the top 20 are Jeff Gordon, all but eliminated from the chase when his engine blew in the final laps of last week’s race. Trapped in 10^th place, 47 points out any faint hope Gordon had are surely dashed with tonight’s qualifying spot all but cinching the deal. Kyle Busch who has not shown much punch in the chase 8^th place, 20 points out starts in 25^th. Let’s look at where the championship contenders by rank start in their drive to the Chase. Leader, Carl Edwards, starting 3^rd must be feeling pretty good!

1-      Carl Edwards, #99, (#1), starts 3^rd

2-      Kevin Harvick, #29, (-1), starts 14^th

3-      Jimmie Johnson, #48, (-4), starts 9^th

4-      Brad Keselowski, #2, (-11), starts 26^th

5-      Matt Kenseth, #17, (-16), starts 2^nd

6-      Kurt Busch, #22, (-16), starts 20^th

7-      Tony Stewart, #14, (-19), starts 1^st

8-      Kyle Busch, #18, (-20), starts 25^th

9-      Dale Earnhardt Jr., #88, (-43) starts 15^th

10-  Jeff Gordon, #24, (-47), starts 23^rd

11-  Ryan Newman, #39, (-54), starts 6^th

12-  Denny Hamlin, #11, (-79), starts 17^th

For all practical purposes, positions 9-12 are absolutely eliminated from Chase consideration. At -43 points, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has an entire race’s worth of points to ake make. While positions 4-8 are within 20 points of the lead, they’re also going to depend on other drivers ahead of them to fail to make their move. Perhaps the big question for the race will be if any of those drivers can vault themselves back into serious contention at the close of the race realizing than Charlotte is one of the tracks where Jimmie Johnson is most successful. Carl Edwards needs a win to atone for his sloppy, car destroying burnout, from last spring’s All-Star race at the track!