They see no ‘yield’ signs

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The dozen drivers chasing NASCAR’s top championship will be disappointed if they expect special treatment from their 31 other rivals.

Nextel Cup points leader Jeff Gordon and 11 other drivers qualified for the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup, stock car racing’s ultimate prize.

The third Chase race is today’s LifeLock 400 at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway here.

Jimmie Johnson, Gordon’s teammate and the reigning Cup champion, won the pole position for Hendrick Motorsports with a lap of 175.063 mph.

But in final practice Saturday, Johnson lost control of his No. 48 Chevrolet in Turn 3 and grazed the wall. He was forced to finish practice in a backup car, which, under NASCAR regulations, means he must start today’s race at the rear of the field.

That put Matt Kenseth, who qualified second, on the pole.

Several drivers said Gordon, Johnson, Kenseth and the other drivers in the Chase shouldn’t expect their non-Chase competitors to give them a break.

“Just because you are in the Chase doesn’t mean that these guys are going to pull out of your way,” said Elliott Sadler, who drives the No. 19 Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports and isn’t in the Chase.

The issue took center stage again last week, when non-Chase driver Kyle Petty was racing hard against Denny Hamlin, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver who is in the Chase.

Hamlin’s Chevrolet hit the rear of Petty’s Dodge, sparking a crash that damaged both cars and saddled Hamlin with a 38th-place finish that dropped him to last in points among Chase drivers.

The incident resurrected the question of whether drivers such as Petty should give Chasers such as Hamlin a wide berth.

“They shouldn’t,” said Kenseth, who is 10th in points. “I don’t think the 12 guys in the Chase have any more right to the racetrack than the guys that aren’t in the Chase.

“It should be the same in Week 2 as it is in Week 22 as it is in Week 32,” said Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion with Roush Fenway Racing.

Sadler, starting 14th today on the Kansas tri-oval, said the non-Chase drivers still have incentive to race hard beyond their inherent desire to win that got them to the Cup level in the first place.

“We’re all racing for something,” he said. “Whether it’s a win, the top 35 in points” that guarantees them a spot in the next race “or whether it’s some guys looking for a ride next year.”

To be sure, non-Chase drivers with ailing cars should use their heads and not intentionally hold up the 12 vying for the championship, they said.

Sadler teammate Kasey Kahne, who also missed the playoff and starts 28th today, said his willingness to race hard against the Chasers often depends on whether he has a strong car.

“When it’s not as good I’m going to give a little bit more,” Kahne said. “When your car is good, yeah, you will race a little bit harder whether it’s a Chase guy or not.”

Regardless, “it’s not the non-Chase drivers’ responsibility to get out of the way,” said Johnson, the El Cajon, Calif., native who had a series-high six wins in the first 26 weeks of the Cup series’ “regular season.”

Johnson would like a strong race today because he has never finished in the top five here. But first he’ll have to charge from the rear after his practice mishap.

The car “just got out from underneath me getting into Turn 3,” Johnson said. But he noted that his backup car was the one he used to win at California Speedway on Sept. 2.

With only 18 points separating the top five Chase drivers, today’s winner not only could emerge from the pack but also be a bigger threat to win again before the playoff ends.

That’s because four of the final seven races are on tracks the same length as Kansas Speedway, and victory here could signal that the winner has the optimum car setup that bodes well for the other races.

Meanwhile, there’s a threat of rain for the 400-mile, 267-lap race, with forecasts calling for a 40% to 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms.

There was speculation that two-time champion Tony Stewart, second in the Chase and only two points behind Gordon, might be penalized with a loss of points for cursing on live television during Saturday’s first practice session, carried by ESPN2.

“It was an unfortunate incident, and we apologized immediately after the words were spoken,” ESPN spokesman George McNeilly said. “The matter is in NASCAR’s hands from our perspective.”

Said NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston: “We’re looking at it.”

--

james.peltz@latimes.com

--

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Nextel Cup

*--* Driver Points Behind 1 Jeff Gordon 5,340 -- 2 Tony Stewart 5,338 2 3 Jimmie Johnson 5,336 4 4 Kyle Busch 5,330 10 5 Clint Bowyer 5,322 18 6 Carl Edwards 5,312 28 *--*

*--* Driver Points Behind 7 Martin Truex Jr. 5,294 46 8 Jeff Burton 5,265 75 9 Kevin Harvick 5,225 115 10 Matt Kenseth 5,224 116 11 Kurt Busch 5,189 151 12 Denny Hamlin 5,182 158 *--*

REMAINING RACES

Sunday: LifeLock 400, Kansas City, Kan.

Oct. 7: UAW-Ford 500, Talladega, Ala.

Oct. 13: Bank of America 500, Concord, N.C.

Oct. 21: Subway 500, Martinsville, Va.

Oct. 28: Pep Boys Auto 500, Hampton, Ga.

Nov. 4: Dickies 500, Fort Worth

Nov. 11: Checker Auto 500, Avondale, Ariz.

Nov. 18: Ford 400, Homestead, Fla.

Associated Press