Defining moments in the season that decided Chase (cont'd)

"I think it was due to some of the downshifts I was doing during practice," Junior said. "We didn't turn anything over 10,000 rpm during the race, but during practice all weekend, I was having trouble with the car and struggling.

"I was using the downshift to slow the car down and get some speed out of the thing. We might have beat on the motor too hard this weekend, but [the engines] have been really good this year. We have had a lot of gremlins, but as far as failure in parts, rods and things like that, we haven't had them."

At the time, Earnhardt had confidence that he could make up the 100-point deficit.

"We're going to have our work cut out for us," he said. "This engine trouble here is going to make it much more difficult than what we were looking at last week. But we're going to keep trying. We've got to keep trying. If we don't try, we'll be pretty damned ashamed of ourselves. So we've got to keep working."

Junior was left outside looking in for the second time in three seasons, as his engine expired during the final laps at Richmond, once again while Junior was in contention.

Kevin Harvick: Lap 73, Centurion Boats at the Glen

With five top-10 finishes in six races heading into Watkins Glen, Harvick seemed to cement a spot in the Chase. He was running fifth when Juan Montoya dove down the inside in Turn 1 following a restart and was tapped from behind by Martin Truex Jr., setting off a chain-reaction accident that affected Harvick's momentum for several races to follow.

Harvick climbed from his damaged No. 29 Chevrolet and went helmet-to-helmet with Montoya (watch video). Later, Harvick had more to say about the incident.

"It's one of those things where [the car] was really good there at the end and it just felt like we'd saved our car enough to have a chance to win there," Harvick said. "And it all just goes up in smoke because some people get impatient. But I just hate it. I'm frustrated with [Montoya]. It just seems like he runs over somebody every week."

Harvick wound up 36th and dropped to 10th in the standings. He followed that with three shaky finishes -- a 15th at Michigan, a 16th at Bristol and 14th at California -- before rallying for seventh at Richmond to lock down the final spot by 201 points over Earnhardt.

"Everything in between, we've just had a lot of things go wrong," Harvick said. "Hopefully, we've got all that out of the way, a solid top-10 run and overcome a lot of things, so it's nice to start back at ground zero with everybody and only be a few points behind."

Kurt Busch: Lap 271, Autism Speaks 400

Busch was ninth in the standings heading to Dover, where he qualified 12th and was running sixth behind Tony Stewart when the two cars slammed into each other several times along the frontstretch.

Busch then pulled his No. 2 Dodge alongside Stewart's car in the pits two laps later, narrowly missing a crewman in the process. That incident led NASCAR to park Busch for the remainder of the race. He wound up 42nd, and coupled with a 100-point penalty, he dropped all the way to 17th and seemingly out of contention (watch video).

But in Busch's case, it's what didn't happen that might have played the biggest factor in his ability to make the Chase. NASCAR could have suspended Busch for a race, a move that would have had a major impact on the rest of his season. Instead, Busch was allowed to drive the next weekend at Pocono.

Despite crashing his primary car in practice, Busch was able to rally for a 16th-place finish but was encouraged by the improvement his team was making.

"We were working our way up through," he said. "At times we were as fast as the leader. At other times, we weren't quite as quick. Track position is important and we kept getting a little bit at a time."

With just three top-10s before his Dover meltdown -- including crashing while racing for the lead in the Daytona 500 -- Busch's fortunes turned around when the series returned to Daytona. He wound up third behind the Jamie McMurray-Kyle Busch photo finish, reeled off a sixth at Chicagoland, followed by a dominating victory at Pocono that vaulted him into the Chase to stay.

Even getting caught up in a multi-car accident on Saturday night couldn't faze the 2004 champion, who heads into the Chase with confidence and momentum.

"Since the beginning of July it's felt like a very solid race team," Busch said. "We're poised to be at threat in this deal. We have fast racecars. We have consistency and we have patience. And the best thing is we have that experience."