Kasey Kahne managed to get himself off the
bubble and into NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.
``We did what we had to do two weeks in a row,'' Kahne said
Saturday night after adding a third-place finish at Richmond
International Raceway to his victory a week ago at California
Speedway.
``I won my first Cup race here and now I made my first Chase
here, so Richmond has been really good to me,'' he added. ``It's
exciting to be in the Chase. That was our goal when the season
started and I'm really happy that we made it.''
Kahne came into the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 11th in the standings,
30 points behind Jeff Burton and 32 behind Mark Martin in the fight
for a top-10 spot that would put him in the 10-race title Chase.
It didn't look too good for a while. Kahne had a strong night,
but most of the drivers ahead of him in the points were also running
well.
Several times during the 400-lap event, Kahne moved into the top
10, getting as high as eighth. But it took a disastrous night by
defending and two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart to finally assure
Kahne of making the playoff lineup.
Stewart, who crashed in practice on Friday and had to go to a
backup car, wound up struggling to an 18th-place finish and fell all
the way from eighth in the standings to 11th, missing the Chase and
finishing 16 points behind Kahne.
``I never would have thought he would be the one not to make it
in,'' Kahne said.
The 2004 Rookie of the Year didn't even know he had made it until
the end of the race.
``I knew a lot of guys were having problems out there,'' he said.
``I was just hoping we were in, and we were.''
The drivers who will join Kahne in the Chase are Matt Kenseth,
Jimmie Johnson, race winner Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, rookie Denny
Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin, Burton and Jeff Gordon.
Busch finished second Saturday night, followed by Kahne. Martin
wound up fifth, Kenseth eighth, Burton ninth and pole winner Hamlin,
who finished the race on seven cylinders, 15th. The rest of the
contenders had tougher nights.
A year ago, four-time Cup champion Gordon and fan favourite
Earnhardt both failed to make the Chase. They came into this season
determined to make the top 10 and have a shot at the title, and both
made it despite major problems on Saturday night.
Gordon's car was never right and he wound up two laps down in
31st, while Earnhardt, in the top 10 most of the first half of the
race, had severe brake problems and barely held on to finish just
ahead of Stewart in 17th, a lap down.
``That's the nice thing about the Chase, it's what you do in
those first 25 or 26 races, not just one race,'' Gordon said. ``We
were just off tonight, but we did survive and we're in the Chase.''
Earnhardt praised the crew of his No. 8 Chevrolet, saying,
``Tonight is a credit to all these guys. I just drive the car and
they give me great cars all year. I'm just happy we made it and now
we've got 10 races to go out and try to win a championship.''
Burton, in the middle of a resurgent season along with Richard
Childress Racing teammate Harvick, was relieved to have held on to
make it into the Chase after struggling in recent races.
``There were seven, maybe eight people racing for a championship
tonight,'' Burton said. ``Although the champion wasn't crowned
tonight, all of us have a chance.''
Kenseth, who took the lead away from Johnson last week in
California, built a nine-point edge to 57 points at the end of the
race as Johnson spun out twice and finished a lap down in 23rd.
Those two were the only drivers who had clinched spots in the Chase
before the Richmond race.
The points will now be reset, with five points separating each of
the drivers and a total of 45 points from first to 10th heading into
New Hampshire.
