HAMPTON, Ga. – The Emory Healthcare 500 had better be a healthy race.

            For once, the weekly Sprint Cup race must stand on its own merits. Even though there are but two races remaining before the Hullabaloo (officially, the Chase for the Sprint Cup), precious little tension remains.

            Twelve drivers make the championship lottery. Two spots, those belonging to Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon, are already locked up. Six more spots are very likely to be mathematically clinched. Three more could easily happen.

            That would leave only Clint Bowyer, who himself could clinch a spot in the Chase field by gaining 96 points on 13^th place (Jamie McMurray, at present) in the points, to migrate from Atlanta Motor Speedway to Richmond International Raceway – the final regular-season race is there on Sept. 11 – with some mild level of uncertainty hanging on the outcome.

            Unless disaster strikes – either Bowyer or Kurt Busch or Greg Biffle, or, god forbid, all of them – this is just going to be a regular race. That ought to be enough, by the way, and much more often, was back before the Chase was implemented back in 2004 to keep situations like this one from happening.

            Bowyer bemoans being even in this situation, which, compared to previous seasons, is still relatively secure.

“There is a reason for every bad finish we've had this season,” he said. “I know everyone has a reason for a bad finish, but I think every bad finish we've had, except for one race, something bogus happened around us.”

            Bogus, huh? How about totally bogus? Dude …

“That's the frustrating thing about our season this year,” Bowyer added. “Last year, there were a lot of bad finishes where you would say, ‘Boy, we were terrible all weekend,’ but, this year, we’ve been up front, running well and leading more laps than we ever have. Things have been good this year, but we haven't been able to get the finishes that we deserve in a lot of places.”

            Of course, there’s a silver lining to that. Is having to finish 21^st going to prevent winless Carl Edwards from trying to get into the victory column at a track where he has been notably successful? Probably not. If Edwards doesn’t clinch the Chase here, he can wrap it up in Richmond.

            Johnson and Denny Hamlin, with five victories and the 50 bonus points they represent, might as well … just … win, though Johnson technically needs a top-10 to clinch. Remember, the term “mathematical” is precise but not all that practically significant. Johnson, Hamlin and Kurt Busch only need top-10 finishes to clinch if McMurray or 14^th-place Mark Martin wins the race.

            And if McMurray and Martin don’t run up front, it’s going to be all over. They certainly have every reason to win, simply because a win is what it’s probably going to take.

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.