Hamlin’s frustration with the lack of performance from his crew and car has shown at times throughout the season and he has made no attempt to be quiet about it either.

Hamlin certainly has the potential to pull off a win in the Chase – maybe even this weekend at New Hampshire – but I don’t think his team will be able to be consistent enough to put together 10 solid races to win the Championship.

Look for Hamlin to be sitting in 10th when the final checker flag flies in Miami in November.

Clint Bowyer (07): Bowyer is the driver of the third and final Richard Childress Racing (RCR) car in the Chase. Unlike his teammate Harvick, Bowyer has won a race this season and that is why he is seeded higher than him, but if you take the 10 bonus points away Bowyer would be sitting much lower in the Chase standings.

Out of all of the drivers in the Chase I believe that Bowyer has the least odds of winning the Cup. Even though he has finished nearly 99% of laps run this year Bowyer’s consistency to finish in the top 10 has just not been there this year. Bowyer has an average finish of 15.7 this year with only 4 top 5’s to his credit. Hardly the kind of finish stats you would expect from someone who stands to win the Cup.

Bowyer also suffers from that lack of performance that all of the RCR cars seem to have this year making Bowyer’s chances slim and next to none in the hunt for the Cup. Look for Bowyer to finish 12th in the Chase this year.

Dale Earnhardt Jr (88): Since his move from Dale Earnhardt Inc (DEI) Dale Jr. has proven that his poor performance was not his fault. Earnhardt has had a respectable year drivng for Rick Hendrick this season. I know his fans this season wanted more wins than what he currently has (1), but if you look at his stats he is quietly putting together one of his best seasons ever even though it does not show in the win column.

Now that I’ve said that, I don’t think NASCAR’s most popular driver will win the Championship this year.

Wait! Don’t give me any hate mail for saying that, I’m a Jr. fan after all, but lets be realistic here even though Jr has had a good season he still lacks the consistency needed to win a Championship.

Earnhardt has made mistakes on the track, like jumping the restart a few weeks ago and being put a lap down (which he never recovered from), while his crew has made mistakes in the pits.

Unless this team can get it together and be absolutely perfect in their execution over the next 10 races Dale Jr will finish his first season for Hendrick 5th in points.

If they do manage to put it together for the last 10 races then Dale Jr may potentially be the 2008 Sprint Cup Champ.

Jimmie Johnson (48): Johnson is the only other driver besides Kenseth to participate in all of the Chase Championships since it was introduced 5 years ago.

Johnson is also the defending Cup Champion and is looking to “3-peat” this year. Only one other driver in the history of NASCAR has ever won the Championship 3 years in a row and that was Cale Yarborough. Not even the legendary 7-time Champions of Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty were able to do it.

Jimmie Johnson and his Crew Chief Chad Knaus seem to be able to turn it up a notch when it counts near the end of the season. Johnson is just coming off of a two race win streak too.

Johnson has ice water in his veins at this time of year. On or off the track you never see him get emotional or on the edge. He is cool and calculating and when it counts he is not afraid to take his car anywhere on the track to get it to front.

Look for Jimmie to be holding the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship trophy at the end of it all.

Carl Edwards (99): Edwards is the driver of the last of the Jack Roush cars in the Chase. Edwards has had a good season so far - only Kyle Busch has won more races this year than him.

Edwards is a solid runner who is not afraid to ‘mix it up’ when he has too.

He also has a pretty good relationship with his Crew Chief Bob Osborne, who is no slouch with a wrench either.

All of the buzz on the Internet this past week has been that the Championship is going to come down to just three drivers; Johnson, Busch, and Edwards. I really have no problems with that, those drivers make the most sense really and Edwards certainly has all of the tools and equipment to win himself his first Cup Championship. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if her were able to do it either, but I don’t think he will.

Edwards has all of the ingredients to be a Champion, but I think he still lacks the maturity and experience to handle the pressure of the Chase format which will cause him to make mistakes. It will be those mistakes that cost him the Championship and make him finish in 3rd.

Kyle Busch (18): In an interview I did at the beginning of the season I was asked who I thought the best up and comer driver out there was and I replied Kyle Busch without hesitation and look at what he has done this season. He has destroyed the field.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has had an incredible year with 8 wins, 15 top 5’s, and 17 top 10’s. Incredible! People have won Championships with worse stats than that!

No doubt about it, this kid has had a Championship year, but the question remains, “Can he close the deal?”

Certainly having “The Coach” Joe Gibbs in your corner is a benefit. If anyone can get young talent, like Busch, focused on winning Gibbs can. But it is still Busch out there in the car by himself. Busch does not have the luxury of coming off the field in between plays to get refocused on the task at hand like you can on the football field and I’m afraid that the young Busch might just let his emotions get the better of him as he has in the past.

Busch certainly has shown more maturity this year than last, but he still has let his emotions get the better of him at times this season and with the added pressure of the Chase format all he has to do is screw up one race and he could be out of Championship contention.

Busch could, and by all counts should, win the Championship this year, but I have him finishing in 2nd place in the standings once the season is over.

There you have it, my crystal ball has spoken. The predictions are out there for your amusement – don’t laugh too hard. We’ll see how close I was to getting it right in November.

You know, no matter who wins the Championship this year it will come down to one thing; consistency.