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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Battle For Chase Heats Up At Indy
The battle to earn a berth in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup has been hotly contested in recent weeks. That held true in Sunday's Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the standings were shaken up again...
SceneDaily.com  |  Posted July 27, 2009  
Kyle Busch was the only driver to actually fall out of the top 12 in points after Sunday's Brickyard 400 (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The battle to earn a berth in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup has been hotly contested in recent weeks. That held true in Sunday's Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the standings were shaken up again.

As misfortune strikes one contender then another, drivers are moving in and out of the top 12 and the race for the final few spots remains tight.

Tenth through 13th are separated by 100 points while three drivers outside the top 12 are within 120 points of the Chase group and four are within 151 points of making it.

Ironically, two of the drivers who have won the most races this season have been caught up in the fight just to earn a spot in the 12-driver, championship-determining field.

At Indy, their fortunes could hardly have been more different.

Hendrick Motorsports' Mark Martin, winner of a series-leading four races this season, entered the race 11th in the standings. His runnerup performance Sunday pushed him up two spots to ninth, where he is 110 points ahead of the driver in 13th, Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann. An eighth-place finish moved Reutimann closer to the field, too, as he gained one spot to 13th and is 68 points outside of the top 12.

"If we can gain a little bit and not lose anything, that’s a good deal," Reutimann said.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch, meanwhile, entered the race in 10th but faltered when he cut a right-front tire on lap 58 and slammed into the wall. His car needed extensive repairs and he finished 38th.

"We were loose the whole run, just biding our time and sliding around out there and got behind the lapped cars and the 71 [of David Gilliland] and, unfortunately, built up a push and the tire started vibrating for a few laps and unfortunately blew out," Busch said.

That cost him four spots in the standings. Busch is now 14th, 82 points outside of the top 12.

"I think it's pretty self-explanatory that we're trying to fight for a spot in the Chase and this is obviously frustrating," he said. "I don't know if it was our car, the tire or what. The guys on pit road were going to save this day because you can't pass out there, but then I showed that I can't even pass the lapped cars, so [it's] something with our cars."

Busch was the only driver to actually fall out of the top 12. Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle moved into the field from his prerace spot of 13th. He's 11th in the standings after finishing fourth Sunday.

Busch's teammate Denny Hamlin had a rough race, too, breaking a drive shaft coming out of the pits following his first pit stop.

"The drive shaft broke and the shifter broke apart from the transmission - I was holding the shifter in my right hand," Hamlin said. "We were starting to move through the field slowly and it all ended, just like that."

He managed to only lose one spot in the standings, falling to sixth.

"You just can never lock yourself into the Chase, it is always something, really," he said. "It was good to only lose one spot in points. After we fixed the drive shaft we ran well, but we were way behind and out of it."




SceneDaily.com•Stewart pleased with initial Indy outing as NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner
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