Matt Kenseth is just 11 points behind Jeff Gordon in the Race to the Chase. Credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images

Race to the Chase has familiar look after Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- You know the adage. It's cliché -- like "déjà vu all over again." But we've been here, done that. Even have the T-shirt: History repeats itself.

Twenty-four races down, two remain until the Chase for the Nextel Cup begins Sept. 18 at New Hampshire. And just like 2004, four drivers -- Nos. 10-13 -- are within thirtysomething points.

Credit: Autostock

Official Results Sharpie 500 Pos. Driver Make 1. Matt Kenseth Ford 2. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 3. Greg Biffle Ford 4. Ricky Rudd Ford 5. R. Wallace Dodge • Complete Results, click here • Official Standings, click here Final lapsKenseth dominates to win the Sharpie 500 Bad day for the 88Jarrett finds trouble three times Saturday at Bristol Early CautionsMarlin, Mears, and Kahne bring out early cautions Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Amazing how these things work, isn't it?

Jeff Gordon righted the No. 24 on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway en route to a sixth-place finish. It was only his fourth top-10 finish in the past 14 races. Really -- we looked it up, before Bill Weber did, in fact.

But it was good enough to vault the four-time Cup champion from 12th place to 10th -- the final spot in the Race for the Chase.

Well, that and Jamie McMurray's 26th-place finish. And Dale Jarrett's 31st-place showing after playing tag-you're-it with Ryan Newman on Lap 318. McMurray fell from 10th to 12th, while Jarrett dropped from 11th to 14th.

"You know, it's a solid day, solid finish and I think it was a good points day for us," Gordon said. "We just fought through a typical Bristol night where sometimes things are going your way, sometimes they are not. You know, luckily there at the end. We got the car a lot better and drove our way up to sixth."

So here's how things are stacking up. Gordon is 10th with 2,799. Bristol winner Matt Kenseth is 11th, just 11 points behind, while 12th-place McMurray is 12 points out of 10th. Elliott Sadler is 13th, 34 points behind Gordon.

That 34-point gap between 10th and 13th is this close to last year's 35-point margin through 24 races. Spooky, huh?

"The way our season's gone," Gordon said, "no matter how good we're running, no matter how bad, you just never know what's going to happen. You know, [Saturday night] is one of those nights we wanted and needed to happen."

Ditto Kenseth, who came to Bristol on a hot streak that now consists of eight top-10s in the past 12 races. During that stretch, which began with a seventh-place run at Dover in July, Kenseth's average finish of 11.5 has pushed him from 292 points out of 10th to 11th.

	Credit: Autostock
	2005 Chase Glance Through 24 races Pos. Driver Pts. Behind 10. J. Gordon 2,799 -- 11. M. Kenseth 2,788 -11 12. J. McMurray 2,787 -12 13. E. Sadler 2,765 -34 2004 Chase Glance Through 24 races Pos. Driver Pts. Behind 10. * R. Newman 2,918 -- 11. K. Kahne 2,892 -26 12. * M. Martin 2,883 -35 13. * J. Mayfield 2,883 -35 * -- Made the Chase

(Actually, he was 202 points out of the Chase picture entering Dover because at that time, 16 drivers were within 400 points, another cut-off provision in the Chase makeup.)

"I thought we were out of [the Chase] and we had a great run last week [third place at Michigan]," Kenseth said. "I felt like performance-wise we won the race last week, we just came up short on fuel, but I had a great car. That really put us back in it and tonight leading all the laps and winning, of course, I knew that was gonna get us closer, but there are still a couple of races to go.

"We'll see what we can do. We're a lot closer. I see some of those guys had trouble and if we can run like we did at Michigan at California next week, I think we'll be right there."

Sadler's potential top-five run was vanquished when the right-front fender was knocked out of shape during the last caution, a yellow caused when Stanton Barrett's car spun on Lap 468.

"We got into the 92 car [Barrett] and, I guess, the car got tight or something," said Todd Parrott, crew chief for the No. 38 team. "We got stuck on the outside and a few cars got by, but it's not that bad. I'm sitting here looking at points and we're only 34 points out of 10th and we've got two races left.

"It ain't over yet. The fat lady hasn't sung yet."