HAMPTON, Ga. -- Most of the talk heading into Bristol this weekend has centered on the debut of the Car of Tomorrow. But Bristol also marks the fifth race of the Nextel Cup Series season, the last chance for drivers who are still relying on 2006 owner points for a guaranteed starting spot.

Teams' 2007 owner points will go into effect after Bristol, and several organizations are teetering below the top 35 line. Most notable among them is Kasey Kahne, who is 37th in owner points, 15 behind the 35th-place car of Jeff Green.

Kahne finished 39th Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway after getting collected in a four-car crash involving David Reutimann, Greg Biffle and Brian Vickers.

"When something [like that] happens, there's just no place to go," Kahne said. "The accident happened right in front of me and that was it."

Kahne got into the back of Reutimann, spinning the No. 00 around as the two cars faced nose-to-nose.

"I tried to turn left, but I just didn't have enough time," Kahne said.

Kahne was already a lap down when the accident happened on Lap 231.

"We got down early but managed to get the handling straightened out on the next two pit stops to be in position to get our lap back with a caution," Kahne said, "but the caution never came. The accident messed up the handling."

Kahne started the season losing 50 owner points for a rules violation during Daytona qualifying. In addition, he's been without team director Kenny Francis for the first four races this season, under suspension by NASCAR.

"Kenny will be back next week, and we'll be ready for Bristol," Kahne said.

Teammate Scott Riggs also had trouble Sunday and is 41st in owner points. Riggs lost an engine, and was the first car out of the field, resulting in a last-place finish.

"We were hoping to make a good showing [Sunday]," Riggs said. "We need to make a good showing for the points. We dug ourselves a hole here in the first three races by not having much luck.

But on this St. Patrick's Day weekend, the bad luck continued.

"We brought a great racecar to Atlanta. We were doing everything right," Riggs said. "All of a sudden we lost a cylinder and it started to slow down pretty bad and then we lost a couple more cylinders.

"We've just got to buckle down and keep digging ourselves out of the hole we've created for ourselves. We just need to get better finishes." (Continued)