Johnson remains on top, but Gordon closes gap (cont'd)

5. Kyle Busch, No. 5 Chevrolet: Next to Bowyer, young Kyle made the biggest jump in the Chase hierarchy, going from ninth to fifth by virtue of his fourth-place finish. Not bad for a guy who is a lame-duck driver at Hendrick Motorsports and will begin driving next season for Joe Gibbs Racing.

"We stayed out on tires [Sunday] and kept it up there. We got up from 13th or 14th to second and then the lead for a while, but couldn't hold it," Busch said. "Jeff was really good [Sunday], Tony were really good [Sunday]. I could catch Tony a little bit when he was getting into traffic. But of course, then when I got into that same traffic he would pull away from me again. Some things were just inevitable."

6. Martin Truex Jr., No. 01 Chevrolet: A strong run Sunday led to a fifth-place finish that enabled him to move up one position in the Chase standings. After qualifying second behind only the pole-sitter Bowyer, it capped a strong first Chase weekend for the only Dale Earnhardt Inc. entry in the Cup postseason.

"We did what we needed to do," Truex said. "We didn't have the best car [Sunday] and we got a great finish."

7. Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Ford: He should plan a trip to Las Vegas after starting the day seventh in the standings, finishing the race in seventh, and staying in seventh in the Chase as result. The 7-7-7 finish for the No.17 was typical of Kenseth -- workmanlike. But as long as several other Chasers ahead of him keep running better, it won't be enough.

"We can all strategize it to death, but the winner got the most points [Sunday]," Kenseth said. "We go out every week and we try to win and try to run as far up toward the front as we can and finish as high as we can every time out and not worry about the points. I couldn't have finished one spot higher no matter what I did."

8. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford: Although he dropped four spots from fourth to eighth in the Chase overall, he was generally pleased with his 12th-place finish in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during practice last Friday. He was unable to practice in the backup he had to run Sunday because Saturday morning's two scheduled practice sessions were rained out.

"With a backup car, that's pretty good," Edwards said. "But overall, it was not the kind of weekend we wanted. We need to run better than that -- but it's nobody's fault but my own for wrecking the primary."

9. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Chevrolet: He dropped three spots after struggling to a 15th-place finish and blasted the COT for what he said was its inability to produce side-by-side racing or passing capability.

"We know this is the car we're going to have to run until the end of my career. I don't know. This thing might drive me into an early retirement," said Hamlin, 26 and in only his second full Cup season. "It's just frustrating when you've got a car that you know is better than five cars in front of you, and you can do nothing to pass them. That's real frustrating to me."

10. Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Chevrolet: After falling all the way to 25th at one point following a mid-race pit stop, he did what he could with what appeared to be an ill-handling car to eventually make his way back up to 17th, one lap down. That was enough to move him up one spot from 11th to 10th in the Chase standings, but now he's 88 points behind the leaders.

11. Jeff Burton, No. 31 Chevrolet: Like Harvick, his Richard Childress Racing teammate, he finished one lap down and had to live vicariously on this day through Bowyer -- their third RCR teammate. He swapped places with Harvick in the Chase standings and fell 91 points off the lead.

12. Kurt Busch, No. 2 Dodge: With 75 laps to go, Kyle's older brother was right behind Bowyer on the track. Problem was, he also was a lap down at the time. He lost a cylinder early in the race and never really recovered. His 25th-place finish was by far the worst of the Chasers and made him the big loser in the Chase standings on the day, dropping him seven spots from fifth to 12th, falling 102 points behind Johnson and Gordon.