Denny Hamlin's Chase standings took a hit when he crashed with Mike Bliss on the second lap. Credit: Autostock

Chase picture setting up like good, bad and ugly

CONCORD, N.C. -- By the time the smoke from Kasey Kahne's monster burnout cleared, it was evident that the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway didn't solve much in the way of the Chase.

It merely muddied the water.

Kasey Kahne won his series-high sixth race of the season. Credit: Autostock

Bank of America 500 Official Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Kasey Kahne Dodge 2. Jimmie Johnson Chevy 3. Jeff Burton Chevy 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 5. Bobby Labonte Dodge 6. Kyle Busch Chevy 7. Tony Raines Chevy 8. Carl Edwards Ford 9. Joe Nemechek Chevy 10. Brian Vickers Chevy • Complete results, click here • Official standings, click here Victory LaneKasey Kahne celebrates his Bank of America 500 victory Top finishersBurton, Johnson and Kenseth talk about their night Final lapsKasey Kahne drives away from the field down the stretch Smoked outJeff Gordon retires after car goes up in smoke Hard HitYeley clips Martin sending him full speed into the wall Early cautionDenny Hamlin involved in big wreck first lap of the race Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

In short, it was the good, the bad and the ugly at 190 mph.

The good, first of all, was Kahne, who took the lead from Jimmie Johnson with 26 laps to go and won the race to sweep the big races at Lowe's this season.

Behind him, like beads on a string, came fellow Chasers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"We are making ground," Kahne said. "We are down to 160 out, we've cut it about in half. It's good. We are doing everything we can. We want to finish in the top five and to win more races."

Despite finishing second, Johnson was able to gain just 10 points on points leader Burton, and at the end of the night he still trailed by 146 points. That's frustrating.

"When you look at what Jeff and the 29 [Kevin Harvick] have done from about the middle of the season on, you knew that RCR was going to be a threat for the title," Johnson said. "I'm only 146 out, but I only made up 10 points. It is 10 points, and we finished the race where we ran all day long, which is important."

Both Kahne and Earnhardt said that no matter what they did on Saturday, they still weren't able to shake Burton or his confidence.

"We didn't get to gain on The Iceman, Jeff Burton," Earnhardt said after the race. "They are there every week doing a great job. You have to pull for them a little bit to win the championship.

"He [Burton] is not indestructible. The guy knows how to win championships, he has an idea what it takes. We're doing what we need to do, and that's good. It's frustrating, because we should have finished fifth at Kansas and at least third at Talladega."

Matt Kenseth spent most of his night dodging bullets, from a possible engine problem to getting caught in the pits by a caution flag and trying to regain the lead lap. He rebounded to finish 14th, a lap down, and dropped 39 points to Burton.

"We got lucky," Kenseth said. "Hopefully, we'll get rolling again. We had problems with the car from the get-go and had problems all night long.

"I don't know what's wrong. We ran good enough for 10th. We have to do a lot better than this. We have to go back to work and figure out what we're missing."

Kevin Harvick, Burton's teammate, broke three gears and still managed to finish 18th, two laps down. Yet he gained a spot in the points to third, trailing by 89.

"I'm a lucky dude," Harvick said upon exiting his car. "I lost second gear, and when I came back out I lost third. The only thing I had was fourth, and it was tough to get in and out of the pits. We never had a green-flag pit stop again, but the thing is still running."

Chase Standings After Lowe's Motor Speedway (5th of 10 races) Pos. +/- Driver Behind 1. -- Jeff Burton Leader 2. -- Matt Kenseth -45 3. +1 Kevin Harvick -89 4. -1 Mark Martin -102 5. +1 D. Earnhardt Jr. -106 6. -1 Denny Hamlin -137 7. +1 Jimmie Johnson -146 8. +1 Kasey Kahne -160 9. +1 Kyle Busch -195 10. -3 Jeff Gordon -216 • Complete standings, click here Race RewindWatch a condensed version of the Bank of America 500! Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Kyle Busch, who had two consecutive DNFs to start the Chase, was sixth at the finish but remains 195 points out.

That made five Chasers in the top 10, and still the distance between first and sixth in the championship is just 137 points.

That sixth-place driver, Denny Hamlin, was just six points back in second when the race started, but after just one lap, he was free-falling when he was caught up in a chain-reaction crash on the front straightaway.

He spent 57 laps in the garage fixing that damage, then came out and drove from 41st place to a 28th-place finish. He lost 86 points on the leader and one spot in the order, but is still within striking distance.

"I guess they said the 49 [Mike Bliss] got into me," Hamlin said while waiting for the car to be repaired. "We checked up and if he was right on me there was no way he was going to be able to see it. It's just bad luck. I hate to rely on others in the points, but it looks like that kind of night."

Now, here's the ugly part.

Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin, victims of a blown engine and a lapse in judgment, respectively, finished 24th and 30th. Martin lost one spot in the points and trails by 102 with five races left, while Gordon pretty much ceded any chance he had at a fifth championship. Gordon slid three spots to 10th in points, 216 out.