Tracking the Chase | How the Top 12 fared Sunday

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - -- How the 12 drivers in the NASCAR he Chase for the Sprint Cup fared Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

1. Jimmie Johnson

No victory Sunday but still gained 28 points on Martin. Has lots of wiggle room in the points standings for next weekend's wild-card race at Talladega.

2. Mark Martin (-118)

His team gambled with a late-race pit stop for fresh tires hoping to gain some ground on Johnson. Three cautions in the final 15 laps hurt his momentum. He finished eighth.

"We fought hard and we gave it everything we had and that's all we could muster," Martin said. "You know, eighths, sevenths, doesn't look like that's going to be enough to go out here and win this championship, but there's still some racing left."

3. Jeff Gordon (-150)

Gordon's car at the end of Sunday's race was much like it was at the beginning - fast. But three cautions in the final 15 laps cut short his effort to challenge the leader.

4. Tony Stewart (-192)

Stewart, like Martin, tried a pit strategy call late in the race with four fresh tires while most lead lap cars remained on the track.

"That ended up putting us back up in the field. We were able to run up in to the top-five from there, but late cautions didn't play out in the end," Stewart's crew chief, Darian Grubb said. "We struggled to hang on to a top-10 in the end."

5. Juan Pablo Montoya (-200)

He seemed to have a car capable of challenging for the win. Montoya led 37 laps and spent most of the race in the top-five.

"This is our first Chase and we're learning to see what we have to do, how aggressive you've got to run," Montoya said. "I think one of the things we learned (is) next year somehow we've got to win some races before the Chase."

6. Kurt Busch (-240)

Busch had trouble on a pit stop when he got too close to the wall and lost several positions and fell a lap down during the late-race long green-flag run.

7. Ryan Newman (-312)

The pole winner was good on long runs but the collection of late-race cautions left him scrambling and he finished seventh.

8. Greg Biffle (-350)

Biffle said his team struggled all weekend in part because it had no chance to work on his car on Saturday, when both practices were rained out.

9. Denny Hamlin (-352)

He and Johnson are the only drivers to win at Martinsville since the fall of the 2006 season.

Although out of the championship picture, Hamlin felt the win vindicated his claim his Joe Gibbs Racing team could be a title contender.

"I said we're going to win another race because every single week, whether it be a superspeedway, a short track or intermediate, we can in," he said.

10. Carl Edwards (-413)

Was never in the hunt and finished 20th.

11. Kasey Kahne (-439)

Not a good day when you're involved in three different cautions. He was one of a handful of teams that had tire problems on Sunday.

12. Brian Vickers (-530)

Obviously this team used up everything he had to get into the Chase. He's been losing ground ever since it started.

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