JOLIET, Ill. -- When the green flag drops on the opening round of NASCAR's playoffs, Jamie McMurray and Paul Menard will be racing for a Sprint Cup championship for the first time in their careers.
Unlike the other 14 drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, they have no experience in racing for the title. They don't know what strategies will get them through to the second round and haven't seen firsthand how the intensity will pick up starting today at Chicagoland Speedway.
It may not be the worst thing.
"I've never been in this position before, so I'm just taking it like I take every week," Menard said. "I feel good about how we're approaching it. We're just going to put our heads down and go as far in this deal as we can."
The elimination format was implemented last year, and drivers used varying approaches to navigate their way through the three rounds that lead to the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. A victory in any of the first three segments guarantees a driver a spot in the next round; four drivers are eliminated every three races.
Consistency can push a driver into the final round, as Ryan Newman proved last year by using solid finishes in a winless season to have a shot at the title.
McMurray and Menard are winless this year, and both used consistency to make it into the 16-driver field. McMurray said he thinks that'll be good enough to get him out of the first round, which is comprised of Chicago, New Hampshire and Dover.
"When I look at our strategy going in, we would love to win the first round. But mostly, we don't want a bad race," McMurray said. "I don't know if anyone selected [Newman] for getting to the final round. If we can do what he did, getting to Homestead would be a realistic goal."
McMurray and Menard have to pick up their performance, though, to make it through the first three weeks.
McMurray has only two top-five finishes this year, has led only 14 laps and only has seven top-10 finishes. Menard also has two top-five finishes but only four top-10s and has led just one lap. His average finish is 16.7 through the first 26 races.
He is teammates at Richard Childress Racing with Newman, and that organization proved last year it can take advantage of a system that was supposed to reward winning.
"I'm not going to change how I race," Menard said. "This has gotten us to this point. We just need to step it up a little bit. We'll all fight tooth and nail."
NASCAR will explain to drivers in today's pre-race meeting about its restart policy during the Chase.
Drivers have complained about a lack of consistency on the policy and that NASCAR has not intervened when drivers have gone too early on recent restarts. The most recent gripe came on the final restart last weekend at Richmond, where many believed Matt Kenseth jumped the start and shed Joey Logano to pull away for the victory.
NASCAR made no call against Kenseth, and drivers this week have called on the sanctioning body to take a stance.
NASCAR apparently plans to re-position some at-track cameras to give the officials in the tower a better look at restarts, and there will be a dedicated official who will monitor the restart zone area.
As for Hendrick Motorsports, it's no secret it is lagging behind some of the championship competitors, but the organization isn't conceding its title chances. In fact, four-time series champion Jeff Gordon said Hendrick officials are scouring the garage to determine where the team is lacking.
"You know what you've got to do to make your car better. How you do it is another challenge, and you learn from your competitors," Gordon said. "We have spies everywhere. We constantly are looking at our competitors."
Six-time champion Jimmie Johnson scoffed at the idea Hendrick was using actual "spies" and pointed out it's very easy to see what other teams are doing during the course of a day in the garage.
"When we park next to each other, everyone is looking at each other's cars and you can see things," Johnson said. "The photos we receive during practice, you can see the attitude of the car, and how low it is, and speculate on springs and stuff going on, but it takes so many small details to separate yourself and find an advantage.
"I know our guys are digging deep, and I'm not sure if it's been the spying aspect."
.
Sports on 09/20/2015