DOVER, Del. — On a day when Jeff Burton finally finished a win, three top Chase drivers had their title hopes all but finished.

Burton returned to Victory Lane after a thrilling late battle Sunday with Matt Kenseth in the Dover 400, parking him in the lead of NASCAR's Chase for the championship and ending a 175-race winless streak that dates to Oct. 28, 2001.

"We have positioned ourselves to have something special happen," Burton said, "but just because we're in this position doesn't mean something special is going to happen."

That's because Burton knows how slim his six-point lead over polesitter Jeff Gordon, who finished third, is — and how quickly it can disappear.

"Eight races is an eternity," Burton said.

Even so, he has a lot less competition to worry about: Sunday's race likely ended the title hopes of Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. — each of whom had problems that left them all but out of the Chase.

Burton wasn't about to play it safe, staying all over Kenseth's bumper in the waning laps. He ducked beneath him, pulled side-by-side, but kept falling just behind. Then, with six laps left, Burton finally made the pass.

"I knew the sooner we got by Matt, the better chance we had of winning," Burton said.

His chances really improved when Kenseth ran out of gas.

"We gambled for fuel, but there was really no reason to gamble because we had the best car," said Kenseth, who tried to drive the final 100-plus laps without a pit stop. "Even if we would have lost two or three spots, we had the car to beat, so I don't understand how you can run out of fuel."

Kenseth failed in his bid for a clean sweep at Dover, but he isn't out of contention for the championship. He finished 10th and remains third in points.

Carl Edwards finished second, and Gordon moved up two spots in the Chase with his third-place finish. Non-Chase drivers finished fourth through eighth before rookie Denny Hamlin, who took ninth. Hamlin fell from second to fourth in the points standings.

Even though he sat on the pole, Gordon failed to lead a lap and did not gain bonus points. Ryan Newman quickly passed him and led the first lap of the race.

"I really wanted those five points," Gordon said. "I hope this thing at the end of the season doesn't come down to five points or I'll really be kicking myself."

Kevin Harvick, the points leader coming into Sunday, was knocked out of the race with a blown engine. Harvick, who won the last two races, was 32nd and plummeted to fifth overall.

It wasn't much easier for the rest of the contenders on The Monster Mile.

Make that former contenders.

Kahne plowed into another car. Busch blew an engine. Earnhardt battled an unruly setup. One by one, drivers already near the rear of the Chase standings dropped back or dropped out.

Kahne wrecked 11 laps into the race with defending champion Tony Stewart, who did not make the Chase this season. His car spent more than an hour in the garage before he returned.