LONG POND, Pa. -- Juan Montoya and Kasey Kahne had the kind of finishes in Monday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 that continue to solidify their chances of gaining one of the 12 slots in the Chase. Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers had the kind of finishes that kept their hopes alive for at least another week. And David Reutimann had the kind of finish that leaves a driver without comment at the end of the day.

“

Let's get into the Chase and then let's have some fun. I think we've got fast race cars. I think we're just starting to push more the envelope with everything we do. I think if we make it, we might have a shot at this.

”

-- JUAN MONTOYA

With his runner-up finish, Montoya jumped two spots and is now eighth in the standings, with a 169-point cushion between himself and 13th-place Kyle Busch. That's just 11 points behind seventh-place Kahne, who has now posted five top-10 finishes in the six starts since his win at Sonoma.

In what turned out to be a stroke of genius, crew chief Brian Pattie brought Montoya onto pit road for a final round of service on Lap 166, just as NASCAR threw the caution for debris (watch video). It allowed Montoya to remain in cleaner air, which helped the handling of his No. 42 Chevrolet in the closing laps.

It looked as if Montoya might have something for eventual winner Denny Hamlin at the end, but Montoya admitted victories are great but making the Chase is the greater goal.

"That's the bigger picture," Montoya said. "If I make the Chase, they won't remember this guy won the race, this one didn't. [Kyle Busch] won three races this year. He's probably like 150 points out or something. You know what I mean? They won't be talking that he won three races. They'll be talking he didn't make the Chase."

Montoya said he and Pattie are staying within their game plan.

"Let's get into the Chase and then let's have some fun," he said. "I think we've got fast race cars. I think we're just starting to push more the envelope with everything we do. I think if we make it, we might have a shot at this."

Kahne had another solid day, leading twice for 35 laps and staying among the leaders for most of the race. He was as high as third with 20 laps remaining but was passed by Hamlin and Montoya following the final restart.

Another great decision on the pit box helped Bowyer turn a potentially devastating day into an outstanding one. Needing to stop on Lap 158 to make repairs after contact with Ryan Newman, crew chief Shane Wilson opted to top off the tank and gamble on fuel mileage, especially when Bowyer wound up with the lead less than 10 laps later when most of the lead-lap cars came in for service.

Two multi-car accidents that required major cleanup made sure that Bowyer had more than enough fuel to go the distance, and even with old tires, he was able to lead 23 laps, hang on for third place and move up to 15th in the standings, now 115 points out of a Chase berth.

"We had to make a call," Bowyer said. "We were losing way too much time on pit road every time we'd go in. We had to do something. We couldn't go back down pit road. We gambled on fuel mileage.

"I didn't think I'd lead that much. I was prepared to try to get it back up and have a top-five or maybe even a top-10, was what I was thinking."

A top-10 finish was also Reutimann's goal, and he seemed well-positioned to do just that when it all came apart with 25 laps to go. Coming out of Turn 3, Hamlin tapped the rear end of the No. 00 Toyota, sending Reutimann spinning into teammate Marcos Ambrose. Both cars suffered heavy damage but were able to continue. However, Reutimann wound up 29th and lost three places in the standings. He's now 121 points behind Biffle with just five more races before the Chase field is set (watch video).

An obviously frustrated Reutimann climbed from his car at the conclusion of the race and refused to comment, but Hamlin tried to explain what happened in his post-race comments.

"I got to him coming off Turn 1," Hamlin said. "I drove into Turn 2, got to him, nudged him actually in the middle of the corner. I let go of him. He pulled away about a car-length, but then he slammed on the brakes obviously to let me know he was upset. I plowed him off of [Turn] 2 really hard.

"In Turn 3, I got to him again. He got really loose off. When I got to him and pushed him, I was hoping he was just going to come off the corner and straighten up. Instead, I kept my throttle on him and when I did, I spun him into his teammate."

Hamlin said the emotions of the weekend, and impatience at needing to get back to the front, played a major role in the incident.

"I've got to make it up to those guys somehow, cut them some breaks on the track or something."

• Press Pass: Hamlin | Montoya | Bowyer