How the Chase field fared Sunday

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Tracking the Chase | How the Top 12 fared Sunday

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.

Kahne overtakes Harvick in Atlanta

Kasey Kahne gave himself a huge boost in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with a victory Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kahne jumped from 11th to sixth in the Sprint Cup standings with the victory, allowing him to breathe a little easier going into next weekend's race at Richmond, Va., that will set the 12-driver field for the season-ending playoff.

Kevin Harvick, who won the Nationwide Series race Saturday night, was in position for a weekend double until teammate Clint Bowyer spun with 15 laps to go, bringing out the final caution of the night. Kahne got Harvick on the restart and pulled away to an easy 1.766-second win.

Rewind | Texas race, Chase notes

Rearview mirror

Sunday shows why you run the race. I certainly couldn’t have conceived of a scenario that would send Jimmie Johnson to the garage two laps into a race, and I doubt many others would either. The bottom line is Johnson is still in remarkably great position to win a fourth consecutive title, although it is far more likely he will not be able to clinch the title until the season finale Nov. 22 at Homestead, Fla.

I have never seen so many contenders for race wins push the limit on fuel mileage as I have this season. The same scenario that unfolded in the final laps Sunday also happened at Michigan as contender after contender fells to the wayside before the finish, many of them several laps short. I understand the win-or-go-home philosophy, but when you are four, five or six laps short is there really even a gamble to be made?

Montoya feeling 'cool'

Juan Pablo Montoya has qualified for his first Chase for the Sprint Cup and now sits on the pole for the first of the 10 races which will decide the championship.

How do you think he's feeling?

"I'm loving it. It's kind of nice having like zero pressure right now," Montoya said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "It's cool."

Rewind | Commentary and more from Sunday's race

Rear-view mirror

If nothing else, Sunday's results established that the Chase's remaining seven races won't necessarily be "The Mark Martin-Jimmie Johnson Show." Three drivers were within 106 points of second-place Johnson entering the race now there are six. And Tony Stewart certainly served notice that he'll be a factor.

There seems to be a lot of hand-wringing about the Cup race next Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The 2-mile track had reportedly considered increasing its banking from 9 to 23 degrees (which apparently isn't happening) to pump life into what's perceived as boring racing. A few drivers maybe they were joking have suggested renovating the track to be more like Bristol or Martinsville. Jeff Gordon doesn't think the Los Angeles market is much for pro sports, anyway.