Does Bowyer need a Talladega win to capture Cup title?

During the regular season Clint Bowyer won two events in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This weekend the driver of the No. 15 Toyota

Camry heads to the track that he may have an advantage at in the Chase. The 2.66 mile Talladega Superspeedway has been the home of two victories for Bowyer.

Bowyer is ahead of the class at Talladega. In the last five races at Talladega no one has been better. During that time Bowyer has not finished lower then seventh. Bowyer finished sixth at Talladega earlier this year.

While NASCAR has made some changes to the cars there is no doubt that Bowyer knows how to navigate through the field.

Does Clint Bowyer need to win this weekend at Talladega in order to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title?

The answer is not a simple yes.

As good as Tony Stewart ran during the Chase last season Carl Edwards kept apace. Even without winning Edwards showed that a driver could compete for the series title even if he did not win a single race. Edwards used a flurry of good finishes to match Tony Stewart. Stewart ended up winning the title based on the number of wins but Edwards run showed that by avoiding the catastrophic finish one could run for the title.

However does that remain true this season?

Bowyer is currently 25 points out of the Sprint Cup Series points lead. He will need to make up points over the next seven races if he is going to win the series title. The easiest way to make up points is by winning. By winning you guarantee yourself the most points.

A Bowyer win at Talladega would almost certainly cut Bowyer’s deficit below 20 points.

It is possible Bowyer could make up ground on those ahead of him in the standings even if he does not win on Sunday. The one thing he can not do is lose ground. If Bowyer falls further behind his chances will be gone.

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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