Knocked out or not, some contenders feel the pain

Halfway through the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the championship contenders are starting to fade away.

Denny Hamlin, who was nearly knocked out after a wreck last weekend at California, suffered the fatal blow in Saturday night’s NASCAR Banking 500 as engine problems relegated him to a 42nd place finish.

Hamlin is now 11th in points, 372 behind leader Jimmie Johnson with five races remaining in the Chase.

“We’re definitely done as far as the championship is concerned,” said a disappointed Hamlin. “We’re going to just keep fighting to stay in that top 10. That’s important to us right now.

“A couple mistakes two weeks in a row – one by the driver and one by a mechanical issue, it just takes you right out of it.”

Hamlin still believes he has a championship-caliber team.

“We’re in contention to win every single one of these races, and just can’t get it all together,” he said. “Once we figure it out, we’ll be all right.”

Juan Pablo Montoya, who looked to be the only non-Hendrick Motorsports affiliated driver who had a shot at the title, took a big hit as well.

Contact with the cars of Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin during a bunched-up restart left Montoya with serious damage to his right-rear fender. He slowed dramatically on the track, fell a lap down, and eventually spun out on Lap 164.

To add insult to injury, Montoya was assessed a penalty by NASCAR for pitting too soon and not entering pit road single-file.

Montoya experienced more problems when a replacement piece of his right-rear fender came off on the track later in the race and caused another caution. He eventually finished 35th and dropped to sixth in points, 195 behind Johnson.

“It is what it is. If you are expecting to have 10 clean races, then you’re dreaming,” said Montoya, who was the only driver to finish in the top five in each of the first four Chase races.

“We knew it could happen. We made the Chase. Up to today we had four top fives in a row and now one bad race.

"What’s bad about it, you know?

“I think we actually surprised everybody that we’ve done such a good job. Even today, we had a faster car than (Johnson). It was one of those racing things that happen and you have to move on.”

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