There is one race to go before NASCAR sets its Chase -lineup. Wooo. This is what racers and race fans thrive on. It's the difference between racing for something over the last two-and-a-half months of the season and just finishing out the string.

High drama, right? Rife with storylines? All of these scenarios to determine who will be in and who will be out?

Yeah, no. No drama. No storylines. No scenarios because we know who's in and who's out. So, alas, I have nothing worthwhile to write about (no -different than usual).

After last weekend's race at Atlanta, the picture for the Chase has come into focus. The top 10 - Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin - are in.

Greg Biffle is in 11th, 161 points north of 13th-place Ryan Newman. Clint Bowyer is 117 points ahead of Newman. They both basically need to show up at Richmond, start the race and wait for the start-and-park cars to fall out and they are in.

Sorry, Newman, your little tiff with Kasey Kahne was interesting, but your Chase chances are not. Jamie McMurray is 11 points behind Newman. Mark Martin is 19 points behind McMurray. Not that any of that really matters.

Over the years, this race has had its moments. In 2004, Jeremy Mayfield won the race to move from 14th to 8th to make the 10-driver Chase field. A bad finish for defending champion Tony Stewart at Richmond in the 26th race dropped him from 8th to 11th, leaving him on the outside looking in. David Ragan was only 17 points out of the Chase in 2008, but couldn't close the deal to get in.

It's also lacked drama - there wasn't a whole lot that could have changed in that one race in 2005, 2007 or 2009 - but none that have sucked the life out of the first two-thirds (ish) of the season like this year.

The September Richmond race is part of the reason that NASCAR went to this particular format. They pit what they hope will be their most compelling (or second-most compelling) race of the season against the start of the NFL season.

When it produces the compelling scenarios, NASCAR looks like a bunch of geniuses. But when it's like it is this year, it looks like a bunch of pointless, contrived machinations.

I really am trying to be positive about this whole thing, but I have several issues with the NASCAR points system this year.

First, I hate to see Harvick's well-earned lead disappear in one fell swoop. I also hate to see -people sandbag the way Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson have over the summer. They haven't run well because, well, they haven't had to.

No matter what happens at Richmond, they will be either first or second when the points reset. The two of them are the prohibitive favorites to win the Cup this year, but haven't really run a meaningful race in a couple of months because, again, they haven't had to.

Which I guess I could say the same thing about the Richmond race for everyone in the Chase. And it's a bad, bad thing when one of your biggest races of the year gives none of the competitors any incentive to win.

Contact Andy Cagle at -andycagle@earthlink.net.