Johnson knocked off pole, will lead Chase to green (cont'd)

He's had some mischief since that runner-up finish, finishing 39th, 32nd and 32nd his past three tries. That's contributed to his average finish of 22.1, 10th of the 12 Chasers. He'll roll off eighth in the race.

Denny Hamlin is searching for a way to get out of the championship hole he finds himself in, and Lowe's is a good place for him to do that. In four starts, he's been in the top 10 three times, with a best finish of eighth. He averages 13.5 per finish, fourth in the Chase.

Hamlin's lap of 28.815 seconds, 187.402 mph was good for 11th on Saturday.

Kyle Busch has a love/hate relationship with Lowe's. He runs well, but can't seem to finish that way. In seven career starts at Lowe's, he has one finish better than 25th. In his past four starts, he has finishes of 39th, 38th, sixth and 30th. His average finish is a Chase-worst 29.1. He put his No. 5 Chevy in at 28.948 seconds, 187.188 mph and will start 13th.

Carl Edwards wound up with a lap at 28.905 seconds, 186.819 mph in the No. 99 Ford, good for 18th, and that usually means good things for him. In five starts, he's been in the top 10 four times, including a pair of third-place finishes. He was third in May, and his average finish is 7.8, second only to Johnson's gaudy mark of 6.2.

Kevin Harvick was the next-to-last car to qualify, and while he's run well at Lowe's, it isn't one of his better tracks. In 13 starts, Harvick has a second-place finish in his rookie season of 2001, and two more top-10s. His average finish of 20.2 is ninth in the Chase.

Harvick reeled off a lap at 28.967 seconds, 186.419 mph on a chilly track and will start 24th on Saturday, leading a string of five Chasers in the next eight spots.

Clint Bowyer, another one of the early cars to go out (10th), logged a lap at 28.974 seconds, 186.374 mph and clocked in at 25th. Bowyer has just three starts at Lowe's, and his best finish is 19th earlier this year. His average finish is 11th in the Chase at 23.7.

Jeff Burton, coming off an engine failure at Talladega last week, put the No. 31 Chevrolet in 27th at 29.009 seconds, 186.149 mph. Lowe's is a good track for Burton, as he's won twice in 27 starts. Twelve of those starts have resulted in top-10 finishes, half of those in the top five. Burton is smack in the middle of the Chasers in terms of average finish, ranking sixth at 15.6.

Tony Stewart is still in the hunt for the title, sitting fourth in points, and he laid down a lap at 29.057 seconds, 185.842 mph to rank 29th. Stewart has run well at Lowe's, winning once in 17 starts and knocking down 10 top-10 finishes. He won this race back in 2003, and his average finish is third-best among Chasers at 13.2. He's also second in laps led among the Chasers with 530 -- 509 behind leader Johnson.

Martin Truex Jr. has been solid at Lowe's, though not spectacular, averaging 18.8 in four starts. He does have a top-10, finishing seventh in the spring race in 2005, before he was a full-time driver in the Cup Series. His lap of 29.089 seconds, 185.637 mph gives him the 32nd position on Saturday.

After Saturday's race, there are just three more races left for the current car before the series switches to the COT for 2008.