Rain, competition shrink cutoff margin for Chase

LOUDON, N.H. -- Like double-file restarts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the race for the final positions in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup tightened considerably following Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301.

The threat of rain, and ultimately the showers that cut the event 27 laps short kept the temperature at the track in the 60s all day but its effect on the results drastically shrank the point margin.

While at the front of the pack, first-time Sprint Cup winner Joey Logano's breakthrough triumph made the accompanying 10 Chase bonus points moot -- since Logano's not a Chase contending driver -- performances that ranged from consistent to timely to mediocre left five drivers contending for three spots in the sixth annual Chase separated by only 17 points.

Strangely enough, considering how closely packed they are, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Juan Montoya, Kasey Kahne and David Reutimann remained in 10th through 14th positions, respectively, in the points.

It didn't mean they were happy about it, as Kenseth summed up the feelings of many after his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford had cycled up to second at Lap 245, only to finish 22nd.

"We ended up on the wrong end of the rain this time," said Kenseth, who won the rain-shortened Daytona 500 earlier this year. "We really weren't as good as we needed to be and the weather fell wrong for us and that hurt our finish in the end."

But for the second time in six races, Reutimann's No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota team used bad weather and crew chief Rodney Childers' strategic gamble to score a top-five finish. Reutimann, who won the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, overcame damage from a mid-race melee on a restart to finish fourth and moved from 40 points behind Montoya for the final Chase berth to just 12 behind the 12th spot.

"We were just lucky the rain came when it did, but unlucky we got tore up on that restart, so it works both ways," Childers said. "We actually had a pretty good car all weekend, but I screwed it up on the first pit stop when I put on four tires and got us back in about 26th. So I got us way back there and he drove all the way back to the top 10 all on his own.

"Then we got tore up on that restart and we couldn't hardly recover from that, because the right-rear quarter panel was tore up real bad and the car got way loose. But we saw the rain coming and knew it was going to be [raining] in about 15-20 minutes and we came in, topped it off the best we could and hoped the other guys would have to come in and pit; we prayed the rain would come in time." (Continued)