RICHMOND, Va -- There is absolutely no correlation between winning the regular season finale at Richmond and having success in the Chase for the Championship -- something that should be a relief for the field after the beatdown Matt Kenseth delivered in the Federates Auto Parts 400 on Sunday.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Matt Kenseth led all but 49 laps and won his fourth win of the season. Aric Almiorla was running fourth at the time of the final caution with 25 laps to go and took tires only to restart third but had a slow restart (some could argue Kenseth jumped) and watched his Chase chances fade out of his windshield.


With his fourth victory of the season, Kenseth joins Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson as top seeds in the Chase for the Championship.

CHASE GRID: After 26 races, the Chase for the Championship roster has been finalized. As has been the case two years running with this still-new championship format, there was no drama and no last minute heroics for someone to defy the odds and make the Field of 16.

Truthfully, 16 drivers are way too many for a NASCAR playoff.

At this point in the season, every legitimate contender has won (and thus clinched a spot) while the middle portion of the standings have had time to spread out. The current format has really neutered the regular season and the intensity that solid teams trying to battle their way into the Big Dance.

It’s best to judge a playoff roster by who didn’t make the field rather than who did and after Richmond – virtually everyone that mattered are still championship eligible. Sure Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Kyle Larson didn’t make it but really they weren’t even close to championship caliber.

Ditto Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray and Paul Menard who made it but simply don’t feel like playoff drivers at this juncture of their careers.  

Regardless, the field is set and these are the 16 drivers that will make the 2016 Chase for the Championship, starting next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kyle Busch
3. Joey Logano
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7. Kurt Busch
8. Carl Edwards
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Martin Truex Jr.
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Jamie McMurray
13. Ryan Newman
14. Jeff Gordon
15. Paul Menard
16. Clint Bowyer

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FAVORITES: Sure, it’s early and there will come a time to make predictions but for now, you have to mark Harvick as the favorite right? As the defending champion, he is the only guy that has proven he can win this under this format and has followed up that season with one that is even better.

But should Harvick run into any issues, the four-headed Joe Gibbs Racing monster of Kenseth, Busch, Hamlin and Edwards should be there to capitalize. Conversely, Hendrick Motorsports needs to pick up the pace.

It feels like Jimmie Johnson goes through an annual summer swoon but none have ever looked this bad especially when each of his teammates look just as out of it.

GOODYEAR NOTES: It wasn’t exactly a banner weekend for Goodyear, which brought a tire that simply didn’t lay rubber on the racing surface during each Sprint Cup Series track session at the Virginia short track.

The right side compound (D-4654) was a single-zone tread that replaced the multi-zone tread used at Richmond since the spring of 2014. The track didn’t start to show rubber on the surface until roughly 130 laps into the event and it was a single-file parade as a result.

The fact that Kenseth could pass on the outside at all was a testament to his car more than the package or tire.

In fact, while much has been made about the aerodynamic configuration NASCAR should use next season, not nearly enough has been said about the tire element of the so-called "competition package." Perhaps sealing Richmond as track officials did routinely during the past decade but for the rest of the tour, it might be time for NASCAR to consider ordering up bias-ply tires to replace the status quo radials.

RESULTS:

1. Matt Kenseth
2. Kyle Busch
3. Joey Logano
4. Aric Almirola
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Jeff Gordon
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Jimmie Johnson
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Carl Edwards
12. Kyle Larson
13. Jamie McMurray
14. Kevin Harvick
15. Kurt Busch
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
17. David Ragan
18. Kasey Kahne
19. Danica Patrick
20. Ryan Newman
21. Casey Mears
22. Brian Scott
23. Trevor Bayne
24. AJ Allmendinger
25. Justin Allgaier
26. Paul Menard
27. Austin Dillon
28. Sam Hornish Jr
29. Tony Stewart
30. Landon Cassill
31. Greg Biffle
32. Martin Truex Jr
33. David Gilliland
34. J.J. Yeley
35. Brett Moffitt
36. Matt DiBenedetto
37. Alex Bowman
38. Cole Whitt
39. Jeb Burton
40. Jeffrey Earnhardt
41. Reed Sorenson
42. Michael McDowell
43. Michael Annett

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