Notes: Ragan, Sauter finish with top-fives; donkey talk

RICHMOND, Va. -- Bringing home a career-best finish of third in Richmond this weekend, rookie of the year contender David Ragan is learning that it takes more than just a fast car to perform well in the Nextel Cup Series.

"We had good pit stops and everything just worked out good," said Ragan of his only his second top-five finish in 28 races. "We've had some good racecars this year. But for pit stops to go right, for us not have any mistakes on restarts, several things have just got to go right and it was just a good night."

Lap-by-Lap

Jimmie Johnson won, Kevin Harvick secured the final Chase spot as Dale Earnhardt Jr. was eliminated shortly before his engine gave out at Richmond.

• Complete details, click here
• Caraviello: Junior's night
• Aumann: Defining moments
• Johnson rolling into Chase
• Busch, Harvick make it in
• Chasing momentum

Race Video

• Chevy Rock & Roll 400

Ragan, whose critics early in the season felt he didn't belong on the track, proved he could run in a high-pressure situation amongst Chase drivers.

A late comer in Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400, the No. 6 Ford machine seemingly came out of nowhere, running with veterans Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. nearing the end of the race.

After the commendable performance, battling back from the 20th position, Ragan said his name didn't belong amongst that list, but said racing next to them epitomized the phrase nervous excitement.

"You've got to race [Chase drivers] with a little bit of extra caution," he said. "You don't want to do anything stupid to jeopardize their good run for the night."

But at the same time, Ragan wanted to put himself in a position for a top-five or better finish.

"In this Cup racing, you just can't have any mistakes," Ragan said. "Everybody on the AAA pit crew did an awesome job on pit road [Saturday night] and it shows they can hang in there with those top-five or -10 teams."

Johnny who?

Another standout, and pleasantly surprising, performance came from Johnny Sauter, who pulled away with a fifth-place finish. The No. 70 machine started in the 35th position.

Sauter has been recognized a lot recently, but until Saturday night it hadn't been for his racing.

Sauter and his fiancée have been dubbed the "Nick and Jessica" of NASCAR for the couples' reality performance on ABCs NASCAR in Primetime television program on Wednesday nights.

Nevertheless, Sauter's gain of 30 places in the race earned him the most improved driver award.

Harvick still drinking Hatorade

After a handful of on-track incidents that finally came to a head and nearly to blows at Watkins Glen International, Kevin Harvick is still salty at Cup rookie Juan Montoya.

Montoya, Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch were involved in an incident that left the No. 42 machine of Montoya in flames, bringing out a red flag around Lap 245. Harvick avoided the melee and drove through the grass, but later his car began to overheat.

When discussing the incident, Harvick, now in the Chase, insinuated avoiding Montoya's messes is a regular occurrence.

"That's normal right? Everyone has to do that," Harvick said.

And in true antagonistic fashion, Stewart, who finished second, chimed: "Check please," and the room erupted with laughter.

Montoya's crew chief, Donnie Wingo, said to get caught up in someone else's mess was unfortunate, but to have a car destroyed by fire is worse.

"The fire burned all the electrical wiring and lines. There just isn't enough time to re-plum the car and get back out on the racetrack," he said. "The fire just burned up the front of the car."

Who you calling a donkey?

Back for a second Chase appearance in three seasons, Carl Edwards' blew up during Saturday night's race but of course you'd never know it.

Still maintaining his rosy disposition despite imposition, Edwards said his blown motor on Lap 182, while leading the Chevy Rock & Roll 400, was just the bad luck he needed to expend before the Chase starts next weekend in New Hampshire.

"The guys have been working so hard on these cars. I told them I was having so much fun that I hated to pull in," he said. "Hopefully this is the bad luck now that we don't have in the next 10 races."

Edwards finished 42nd in Saturday night's race but is seeded fourth in the Chase.

Now on the other end of the optimism scale, Edwards' teammate Greg Biffle was everything but rosy.

In fact, the Bif was down right bitter after Saturday night's race where he was collected early in a wreck and finished 39th.

"I qualified bad [37th] and that's what you get when you qualify bad," Biffle said. "You start in the back with all the donkeys and the guys that can't drive. I guess I can't drive because I qualified bad to start with."