2012 PURE-SIM CHASE BREAKDOWN

First things first.. your points leader heading into Phoenix this Thursday night is Dale Reynolds. Dale is no stranger to championships (having won 2 NuffWorld VSU Cup titles) so this is familiar territory for him. Dale has also won the past 2 straight Pure-Sim races, winning at Martinsville and Texas (tracks that he has always run very well at), bringing back and looking like the image of the former champion in his 2 championship runs back on NASCAR 09. However this is not NASCAR 09 so as familiar as the position is, it is definitely not the same looking road as he was once accustomed to. 

Another is that Dale’s racing against a real life counterpart for the championship. Jimmie Johnson currently stands 2nd in the Pure-Sim championship standings only 36 points behind Dale. It seems like a lot, but we all know how Jimmie Johnson is once it comes down to crunch time in the Chase. The other big factor is that the 3rd place in points (the next non-NSCAR driver after Dale) is Jacob Popoloski. But as we said, a major shakeup is expected because as of Tuesday night, NuffWorld announced that Jacob Popoloski has been suspended from NuffWorld racing across the board for the remainder of the 2012 and entire 2013 season. Needless to say any remaining championship hope is all now gone. But for all intents and purposes, we will still go ahead and write the article as if he was not suspended and still could race.

To sum up, there are 2 races left in the Pure-Sim season; Phoenix and Homestead. The maximum amount of points any single person can gain in one race is 48, only 47 if the opposing driver at least starts and makes one complete lap and finishes dead last. So knowing that, the most anyone can gain in two races is 96 points. Anyone over 96 points behind Dale heading into Phoenix is automatically mathmatically eliminated from championship contention. So looking at the Pure-Sim points heading into Phoenix only the top 6 are still in championship contention, as Stephen Mahannah is 97 points behind Dale. This leaves Dale Reynolds, Jimmie Johnson, Jacob Popoloski, Bruce Turner, Chuck Garcia and Clint Bowyer as the only drivers left eligible to contend.

Dale’s next closest competitor is Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie Johnson has 2,330 points. So with that, add 96 points to his 2,330 points and the magic number for Dale’s clinch scenario becomes revealed; 2,426. That is the highest amount of points that any other competitor can attain against Dale. Dale currently has 2,366 points. In order to reach the 2,426 points, Dale needs 60 points to clench regardless of what everyone else does, even if Jimmie Johnson maxes out and wins both Phoenix and Homestead with most laps led. 60 points is impossible to attain in one single race, so Dale would have to surely be on his game both at Phoenix and Homestead to get those valuable 60 points.

Now lets say that Dale goes on and wins, or even finishes ahead of Jimmie Johnson at Phoenix. In that case, the magic number becomes 48 (ironically enough). If Dale can manage to extend his points lead to 48 points going into Homestead, Dale would lock up the championship and would not have to even show up for the race at Homestead. If he only manages to get to 47 points going into Homestead, Dale would need to start the race and complete one race lap to lock up a dead-last finish place of 1 point and the championship would be his.

That is the final rundown of the Top 2 contenders for the championship. I'm headed to bed now. I will post up more scenarios for the other 4 drivers and their championship hopes tomorrow before the race.

Here are your Current Standings as we head into Phoenix !

Who won the Spring race at Phoenix??

GOOD LUCK NUFFERS !!