Crew chiefs will determine the outcome of this Chase

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- In this part of the world, the locals are no strangers to gambling. Moored in the turbid waters of the Missouri River are neon-lit venues where visitors can play blackjack or shoot dice. A number of Indian casinos dot the Kansas landscape. The master plan for Kansas Speedway includes an adjacent hotel and gaming complex, a flashy, glitzy facility that will seem like it's straight out of Las Vegas and loom over the race track's second turn.

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Drivers talk about the race at Kansas and how pit strategy can make a difference.

• Greg Biffle
• Jeff Gordon
• Tony Stewart
• Mark Martin
• Johnson, Knaus
• Montoya, Hamlin

Chase tightens

The championship is far from settled with seven races to go.

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So perhaps it was appropriate that Sunday's Sprint Cup event at the 1.5-mile speedway -- and increasingly, this 2009 Chase -- was one for the gamblers. The real pit bosses weren't beefy guys in smoke-stained suits, but calculating men wearing sponsor logos and sitting atop war wagons.

The big all-in calls involved not straights or flushes, but two tires or four. Seven weeks from now, a driver is going to celebrate a championship in South Florida. But this title will ultimately be won by the crew chief whose gambles work out for the best.

Is there any doubt after Sunday? Of the three Chase races, two have now been won by pit-strategy calls, those gambles disguised as educated guesses that can land a driver anywhere from out of the running to Victory Lane. Two weeks ago at New Hampshire, it was crew chief Alan Gustafson's decision to stay out on a pit cycle that paved the way for Mark Martin's win. Sunday, it was crew chief Darian Grubb's call to take two tires on the final pit stop that got Tony Stewart back in the championship hunt.

"We knew we had a shot at it, and we knew track position was going to be the key," Grubb said following the fourth victory this season for the No. 14 team. "So we had to do that to be able to get out there and race those guys that were so fast."

There will always be exceptions like last weekend's event at Dover, where Jimmie Johnson had the field covered from beginning to end. But given how much better the current Sprint Cup car handles in clear air, and given how perilous it can be back in the field during a double-file restart late in the race, events ebb and flow on track-position gambles.

On Sunday at Kansas, Greg Biffle used an early two-tire call to get out front and lead 113 laps. As the cars approached the green flag for the final restart with 26 laps remaining, the leaders were Stewart, Kasey Kahne, and Johnson -- all of whom had taken two tires. Greg Erwin, Biffle's crew chief, wanted to take two, as well. His driver talked him out of it, and the No. 16 car wound up third. (Continued)