With the second and last road course done and over with for the Sprint Cup guys it’s on to short tracks and speedways with a super-speedway thrown in the mix. With Watkins Glen out of the way this now means there are only four more races until the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins.

But aren’t they “Chase”ing now? Yes, but they are chasing to get into the big Chase, the one that really counts.

After Sunday’s race, Kyle Busch locked himself in. His eighth win of the season gives him 80 bonus points and the top-seed come Loudon in September. He may not have to worry about making the Chase but come September he may want to watch out, because they’re all coming for him. Eighty points can go quickly especially with the field of competition now.

Right now, the Chase drivers are pretty much the same as they were a few weeks ago when I previously wrote about the possible Chase drivers. There are a few minor changes, though.

Carl Edwards now sits second in points while Dale Earnhardt Jr. fell down to fourth after finishing 22nd in Sunday’s race. And Jimmie Johnson moved into third, with a second win on the season at Indianapolis and strong, consistent finishes before and since then.

Both Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon stayed in their respective spots of fifth and sixth despite a poor finish for Gordon.

Tony Stewart finished second behind his teammate, Busch, and moved up two spots to seventh in points. He also finished second last weekend in Pocono behind Carl Edwards. He’s bound to win and soon, many are hoping. In fact, I am hoping he’d win soon, because honestly, what is a season without Stewart winning a race.

Stewart’s other teammate, Denny Hamlin, who didn’t fair well in Saturday’s Nationwide race, finished well enough to move up a spot to ninth. However, he is tied with Greg Biffle with 2,689 points, but since Hamlin has a win at Darlington and Biffle, he’s currently win-less and another driver who is a due to win any weekend, Hamlin moves up.

Kasey Kahne had his best finish on a road course of 14th beating his previous record of 16th. A feat, I as a Kahne fan, was very happy about. However, he fell to eighth in the points. The good thing — he only fell to eighth in the points.

Matt Kenseth is currently back in after knocking Clint Bowyer back out. The toss up is more than likely going to be between Kenseth, Bowyer and Bowyer’s teammate, Kevin Harvick. Two will get in and one will have to wait until next year. Or quite possibly one could get in as David Ragan makes his way into the Chase for the first time. At the moment there are one too many scenarios that could be factored in.

Michigan, this coming weekend, will be the site of Earnhardt Jr.’s only win so far this season, and despite the way he won it — gas mileage — his fans are hoping for a sweep. If all things factor in together I’m sure he’ll be in contention to win, as well as my personal favorite of Kahne, who finished second on gas mileage as well and helped Earnhardt Jr. make it across the finish line, first.

These next four races — Michigan, Bristol, Tenn., Fontana, Calif., and Richmond, Va. — are sure to mix the Chase up a bit.

The Nationwide race, also at Watkins Glen and the last road course on their schedule as well, brought a new winner to the table. Marcos Ambrose, from Australia, finally won a race. He finished second last year in the same race and almost won a few other races earlier in the season.

To make his weekend even more perfect, Ambrose also finished third in Sunday’s Cup race and looked to be in contention win, if only there were a few more laps. It was only his third start and he had to start dead last since qualifying was canceled due to rain Friday. Nice guys don’t always finish last, they just start last.

Don’t miss:
From Michigan

• Sprint Cup qualifying, Friday at 3:30 p.m. on SPEED
• Carfax 250 (Nationwide race), Saturday at 3 p.m. on ABC
• 3M Performance 400 (Sprint Cup race), Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN