NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup moves to Week 7 this weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Here’s where the top contenders stand:

1. Jimmie Johnson (leader): In the 32 Chase races since Talladega in 2006, Johnson has 11 wins, 20 top-three finishes and has not finished worse than 15th.

2. Mark Martin (minus-118): Look at it this way: Second place trailed Johnson by 149 points at this point in last year’s Chase.

3. Jeff Gordon (minus-150): Leads series in top-five and top-10 finishes with 16 and 23, respectively. But that won’t be enough to win his fifth Cup title.

4. Tony Stewart (minus-192): Remember when Smoke was burning up the series? Now he’s more than one race out of the lead with four to go.

5. Juan Pablo Montoya (minus-200): Five of his seven top-fives this season have come during the Chase, but finishing 35th at Charlotte two weeks ago put a major hurt on his chances.

Note: Drivers in positions 6-12 are all but mathematically eliminated.

— Curt Cavin