This year's Nextel Cup championship contenders are Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Kasey Kahne, comprising two Roush Fords, three Hendrick Chevys, two Childress Chevys, one DEI Chevy, one Joe Gibbs Chevy and one Evernham Dodge. Among those teams failing to make the Chase this year are Penske, Ganassi and Robert Yates, and it's interesting to note that the best-placed, one-car team in points is Robby Gordon's operation down in twenty-fifth place.
Favourites? Based on the season so far, you have to say it's between 2003 champion Kenseth and
Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner Johnson, who have dominated the top two spots in points all year. And, as dark horses, I've got to pick four-time champion Gordon, impressive sophomore Hamlin and the rapid Kahne, winner of more races than anyone to date this year.
At the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet on Sunday, Sam Hornish took his third IRL title by dogging Dan Wheldon's tracks all day and finishing a close third behind Ganassi team-mates Wheldon and Scott Dixon. Hornish has won the IRL championship twice before with Panther Racing, but this is his first with Penske. It's Penske first IRL trophy since joining the series in 2002, and adds to his record of eleven CART championship and fourteen Indy 500 wins.
