Chase drama builds after Charlotte humbles much of playoffs field

— -- CONCORD, N.C. -- There was a time when cable channel TNT carried NASCAR Cup Series racing. There was also a time when TNT's slogan was "We know drama."

Sunday afternoon's 500-mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the first race of the second round of the 2016 Chase for the Sprint Cup, would have fit perfectly into an old TNT time slot. It already felt like a throwback event, starting at high noon on a Sunday and forced out of its sexier Saturday night prime-time starting time by Hurricane Matthew.

But as anyone in the Carolinas will tell you, the most perfect weather you'll ever experience comes the day after a hurricane has passed through.

Even under perfectly clear, cool skies, a dang near-perfect Chase storm blew in.

"This is just how it's going to be, isn't it?" Carl Edwards wondered aloud, standing on pit road after finishing 12th.

On most Chase days, that finish would have been cause for panic. But a rash of attrition that infected a majority of the championship contenders meant that Edwards was sitting squarely in the middle of the postseason pack, finishing sixth among the dozen remaining Cup hopefuls.

"I think we'll see guys making mistakes behind the wheel because they are pressing so hard. I think we'll see pit crews making mistakes because of the same. And I think we'll see equipment breaking down because teams are pushing the limits."

On Sunday we saw all of the above.

Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, winners of three races apiece, both had engine issues. Wunderkinds Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon both crashed. Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr., two of the year's consistently biggest threats to win races, were plagued by tire and clutch issues, respectively.

In all, five of the Chase contenders finished 30th or worse. There were 40 cars in the race. On the digital results screens that are shown in NASCAR media centers, the Chase contenders are highlighted in red. Typically, at the end of Chase events most of those red marks are crowded up at the top left of that screen. That makes sense. After all, they are the best teams.

At the end of Sunday's race, it was quite the bizarre look to see those marks piled up in the lower right-hand corner of the monitor.

"It's weird how each round of this thing kind of takes on its own personality," said Hamlin, who finished 30th. "The first [three-race] round so many of us moved on into this round because we were consistent. Now there are so many of us who left early today, winning becomes even more important than it already was. Some guys will be hanging it out there at Kansas."

That's the next race in this round of what NASCAR carefully calls a grid and a not a bracket. But it's a bracket. And like any other postseason, ever step along that bracket becomes smaller than the one before it, like a funnel. And like a funnel, the pressure builds up the closer you get to the exit.

The stress level at Kansas, a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway in the same family tree as Charlotte, will feel like an elimination race, even though it isn't. Why? Because of the place that does host the elimination race.

"I think we would all love to tell you that we aren't thinking about Talladega, but we definitely know it's out there," admitted Cole Pearn, crew chief for Truex, who won two of the three races in the previous Chase round but finished 13th on Sunday, seventh among the Chasers.

Only eight will move on from the restrictor-plate bingo hopper that is Talladega two weekends from now.

"I don't think you are ever totally in control of your race car or what might happen," Pearn added. "Our season has sure proved that. We've won four races, but we could have won 10. But at Talladega you have way less control of what might happen than anywhere else."

Sure, they all say they aren't thinking about Talladega, but not worrying about results on the sport's biggest track was among the first points raised by Jimmie Johnson, who guaranteed himself a ticket into the final eight with his Charlotte win.

And it was also on the mind of those who now know the best route to join him is to win Kansas.

"That our only goal at this point," said Rodney Childers, crew chief for Harvick, who has finishes of 20th or worse in three of the four Chase races but is still alive thanks to his win at New Hampshire two weeks ago. "Then again, our goal is to win to every week."

"I can't even imagine what the last lap of Talladega is going to be like," Edwards added. "I can't imagine what the last lap at Kansas is going to be like. That's just what this is. Every lap matters more than the next one did. But you have to be there for that lap, don't you? A lot of guys today weren't. That could be us next week. It's hard to describe.

Stress, pressure, fun ... I don't know what the right word is."

Sure you do, Cuz.

Drama.