Mad scramble for Nextel Cup
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Four races from the end of the NASCAR season, this is what Brian France had in mind when he devised the Chase for the championship in 2004.
Seven drivers within 99 points of the lead, and many of them much closer. All 10 eligible drivers with a mathematical chance of still being champion. Lots of suspense.
The wild card short track in the last 10 races did what the drivers feared it would on Sunday, shuffling the field and setting up what is likely to be a dramatic finish.
"It's still pretty wide open," 2003 champion Matt Kenseth said after taking over the standings lead when Jeff Burton blew an engine after 217 laps of the Subway 500. "It's going to be pretty exciting, I think, coming down to the last race."
If they are all like this one, it will be gripping for sure.
Jimmie Johnson took the race lead from Bobby Labonte with 55 laps to go and held it through several restarts to win the crash-filled Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.
Johnson moved from seventh to third in the standings, and seems to be building significant momentum.
"I'm just happy to finish where we should have," said Johnson, who was denied at least a second-place finish at Talladega when he was spun out on the last lap two weeks ago, then finished second last week at Charlotte.
"We've been running up-front the last three or four races and haven't been able to close the deal. Today we did."
Kenseth, who finished 11th, seemed more concerned than excited about his performance.
"I'm glad we are in the lead and if we can get going back on these last four tracks like we were earlier in the year, I think we've got a shot at it.," Kenseth said.
Kevin Harvick is now second, 36 points back, and Johnson is 41 points behind. Denny Hamlin moved into fourth, 47 back. Burton dropped to 48 points off the pace, marking the first time the points leader has changed in the second half of the playoffs.
"By no means do I think we are out of this thing," Burton said. "We won't lay down. We'll go to Atlanta feeling like we have as good a shot as anybody."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (94), Mark Martin (96) and Kasey Kahne (99) also are within striking distance, while Jeff Gordon is 141 back and Kyle Busch trails by 171.
Johnson, a two-time runner-up in the championship, made the biggest move in the standings after starting the race 146 points back. He quickly worked his way forward after being 10th on a restart with 94 laps to go, passed Gordon for second with about 70 laps to go and put Labonte in his rearview mirror on the 446th of 500 laps.
From there, he made it look easy, pulling away with relative ease on every restart except the last one, when Hamlin, a rookie, banged on his bumper and pulled up alongside. Johnson rebuffed the challenge, got back in front and won by 0.545 seconds.
"Once I got pushed to the outside, I really felt like I was in trouble," Johnson said, "but I was able to rally back on the outside and get going, and once I got back going, I knew I had a better car and could get away from him.
"He played with that line, but didn't cross it and I respect him for it."
Labonte finished third, followed by Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, who cut 75 points off his deficit.
