Analysis: Tighten your seatbelts, folks, you ain't seen nothin' yet
If you wanted proof that the new format for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is working, you got it Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Kevin Harvick won and pit road exploded in a brawl after the race.
So far, the new Chase has done exactly what it was designed to do, with four different winners in five races, total unpredictably and regular season and first-round Chase accomplishments counting for exactly nothing.
The tension and pressure has sent the drivers and teams to the boiling point and beyond.
That's why six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus were cursing a blue streak at each other over the radio Saturday night at Charlotte.
That's why 2012 Sprint Cup champ Brad Keselowski used his race car as a battering ram on pit road after the race.
And it's why the normally level-headed Matt Kenseth ran after Keselowski in the garage and body slammed him as the Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske crews brawled behind him.
Boys, have at it, 'cause Saturday night's alright for fighting.
Three of the sport's biggest starts -- Johnson, Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- all came into Charlotte in dire need of a great finish to advance out of the Annihilator Round ... oops, Contender Round of the Chase. None of them got one.
It likely will take a victory at Talladega on Sunday for any of those three to be one of the eight drivers who will move on to the next round of the Chase. This despite a collective 11 race victories so far this year.
This is exactly the kind of randomness NASCAR wanted when it set up this format. And although no one in Daytona Beach would ever admit this publicly, there is doubtless great joy that this year won't be another Johnson runaway to championship No. 7.
It's also the reason there was so much mayhem: Great drivers and teams felt the season slip away from them and they reacted, and in some cases overreacted. It will be interesting to see if NASCAR penalizes anyone in the wake of what happened Saturday night.
My own two cents is what happened on the track in the race and on the cooldown lap was simply boys having at it. Keselowski hitting two stopped cars on pit road and then doing burnouts in the garage crossed a line and showed he had lost control.
NASCAR has always frowned on pit road contact and I think they will again, because they have to maintain a safe environment. Tempers flaring is one thing; endangering crewmembers and fellow drivers is something else entirely.
Now, it's on to Talladega.
The only drivers guaranteed to make it to the Eliminator Round are Harvick and Kansas winner Joey Logano, which means they won't have to sweat at Talladega. The remaining 10 Chase drivers and teams, on the other hand, will be more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Kyle Busch has had a great Chase so far, but he has only a 26-point lead on the ninth-place car. If Busch or any of the other drivers in positions 4-8 get taken out in The Big One and some of the drivers in positions 9-12 have great races, we could see the standings radically juggled again.
For that matter, Johnson and Earnhardt are only 26 points out of eighth place and collectively, they have seven race victories at Talladega.
It's about to get real.
Welcome to the Annihilator Round.
Please pull your belts tight. Turbulence is expected.
VIDEO: A look back at Denny Hamlin's win at Talladega in the spring
