Notes: Chase drivers run into trouble at Chicagoland (cont'd)

Other contenders struggle
Other Chase contenders who struggled Sunday included Martin Truex Jr. and Jamie McMurray, who was coming off a win in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway one week earlier. That victory had lifted McMurray into 13th place, just 49 points behind Earnhardt, coming into Sunday's event.

But McMurray struggled all day, eventually hitting the wall coming out of Turn 2, and was able to complete just 214 laps. He was credited with a 38th-place finish and fell to 15th in points --111 out of 12th.

McMurray still finished one spot higher than Truex, who started second and led 12 laps early before engine troubles developed. He was forced to the garage on Lap 211 and did not return, finishing 39th. That dropped him one spot, from 10th to 11th, in the point standings.

The only other current Chase-eligible driver to drop a spot Sunday was Kyle Busch, who finished 13th and dropped from eighth to ninth as he was passed in the standings by Kevin Harvick.

Edwards strong
Carl Edwards was the only one amongst the top six finishers who did not lead a lap Sunday, but he was mighty pleased nonetheless with his third-place effort behind Stewart and second-place finisher Matt Kenseth.

His No. 99 Ford team overcame a poor pit stop during the race to do so.

"My guys are awesome," said Edwards, who jumped one spot to fifth in points. "They are the greatest guys. They can have good pit stops -- but for some reason, we keep having bad ones, making mistakes. ... I know they're always going to keep working hard to get back on the right track. I'm behind them 100 percent. I know they're always behind me no matter what I run into.

"I'm just excited we had such a great car. If we keep running like this, it's going to be an awesome season."