Kansas Speedway a place of opportunity for some

These are desperate times for Jeremy Mayfield. They aren't much better for Jimmie Johnson. And Tony Stewart? Well, the clock is ticking. The NASCAR Nextel Cup season is

Sunday, October 10th 2004, 3:44 pm

By: News On 6

These are desperate times for Jeremy Mayfield.

They aren't much better for Jimmie Johnson.

And Tony Stewart? Well, the clock is ticking.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup season is winding down.

Today's Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway is the 30th race of the season. Six races remain.

And time is running out on the title hopes of some of the top drivers in the Chase for the Championship.

Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon may be the top contenders in the title chase, but a few others believe today is their chance to close the gap.

"We've been looking forward to Kansas," said Mayfield, who starts third today behind Joe Nemechek and Kasey Kahne. "Not only is it one of our favorite race tracks, but it's a track we thought would be our turning point for the last 10 races."

Mayfield certainly needs something positive to happen.

A month ago, his dramatic victory at Richmond propelled him into Nextel Cup's 10-driver, 10-race title hunt. It was the highlight of a turnaround season, which saw him collect his first victory in four years.

Since then, however, nothing good has happened. Mayfield has crashed in two of three races, fallen to 10th in points and trails Busch by 267 points.

"As far as the last 10 races, we know what happened," he said. "But I don't want to talk about that. Coming here is a breath of fresh air for us."

The frontrunners in the title chase are succeeding with consistency. Busch has three consecutive top-five finishes, including a victory.

Earnhardt won last week at Talladega and has three consecutive top-10 finishes.

Gordon, meanwhile, has been in and out of the points lead for the past six weeks. He has won two Kansas Speedway events, but starts 30th today.

A strong finish in today's 267-lap race is important to all of them. But it's especially important to the drivers trying to make up some ground.

Johnson, who was the points leader in early September, has slipped to ninth overall. Johnson has finished 35th or worse in five of the last nine races.

"We need to get the momentum back for us," Johnson said. "It's been a rough couple of months for us, and today would be a good day to get back in the right direction."

Johnson believes this could be the place to do it, too. He was fast throughout practice and qualified fourth.

"All we can do is give 100 percent," he said. "If luck isn't on your side and you have things take place on the race track that are out of your control, there isn't much you can do."

Stewart, who starts 24th today, said catching up is especially difficult at this point in the season. Most drivers already are exhausted from nine months of competition.

"Your body is still like a gas tank whether you're having fun or not," he said. "You can go a little longer if you're having fun doing it. But there's still a point where you finally run out of gas."

The driver with the best chance to make up some ground may be Ryan Newman. He has been the most dominant competitor at Kansas Speedway the past three years, winning once and finishing second twice.

Newman, who is seventh in points, trails Busch by 146 points.

"We're not going to win the last seven and he's not going to finish fifth in the last seven," Newman said. "Somebody's going to have some problems. Things you never expect just pop up. I'm not racing them. I'm racing myself."