BRISTOL, Tenn. -- It was obvious early that two of the faster race cars in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night were the No. 11 Toyota driven by Denny Hamlin and the No. 2 Dodge piloted by Kurt Busch.

“

It was a good finish for us, and that's what we needed. Now we should be able to kind of cruise to the Chase from here.

”

-- DENNY HAMLIN

It also appeared just as obvious at various stages later on that through mostly bad luck and also some mistakes by the drivers and their respective teams, both were destined to finish poorly. That, however, turned out to be a wrong assumption when both Hamlin and Busch overcame adversity to post strong finishes that helped solidify their places in the point standings.

Hamlin finished fifth in the race and sits fourth in the standings with only two races remaining before the cutoff that will determine the 12 drivers who qualify for this year's Chase. Busch finished seventh and sits sixth in the standings heading into the final two regular-season races at Atlanta and Richmond, respectively.

"It was a good finish for us, and that's what we needed. Now we should be able to kind of cruise to the Chase from here," Hamlin said.

Busch added: "I thought we had a car that could win."

Hamlin started 41st in the 43-car field after spoiling his qualifying run on Friday by spinning out. But he quickly began picking his way through the field toward the front in Saturday's race, moving up 16 spots in the first 50 laps.

Then bad luck struck and he had a left front tire go down following contact with another car, causing him to fall one lap down. Yet he and his No. 11 team refused to panic, even when he subsequently was penalized for pitting before pit road was open on Lap 64 (watch video).

Suddenly, after working so hard to come from 41st to 25th, he was mired back in 37th place. That was the bad news. The good news was that there were still more than 400 laps left to run at the half-mile short track. (Continued)