Biffle, Bowyer close in on final two Chase spots

HAMPTON, Ga. -- It wasn't the prettiest seventh-place finish in NASCAR history but Clint Bowyer was more than happy to accept it and move on to Richmond.

Battling a balky No. 33 Chevrolet all evening, Bowyer bounced back to finish seventh in Sunday night's Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. And by avoiding the trouble that dogged his competition, Bowyer leaves Atlanta with a 117-point advantage over Ryan Newman for the 12th and final spot in this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup.

"It was a hard-fought battle," Bowyer said. "The guys kept digging and digging. The car was good in the daytime but as soon as it went to night, it got really, really loose and was way down on grip. But we kept adjusting on it and never gave up. The guys in the pits, they got us back up there where we needed to be and I'm real proud of them."

Even if Newman scores the maximum 195 points by winning and leading the most laps at Richmond, Bowyer only needs to finish no worse than 28th. If Jamie McMurray wins, Bowyer clinches by finishing no worse than 32nd. And if Mark Martin is victorious, Bowyer's position to clinch is 38th. If Bowyer starts the race next week, he'll eliminate David Reutimann at the drop of the green flag.

"Certainly, we're running out of races and we're gaining points, so that's a good feeling," Bowyer said. "But I don't know where we're at, so I don't know."

In all, 10 drivers have secured places in the Chase, and despite a mid-race wreck that left him 36th, Greg Biffle is virtually assured of the 11th position, as he only needs to finish 42nd no matter what happens at the front of the field at Richmond.

Kasey Kahne was leading the race late and had an opportunity to gain ground on Bowyer. But a bump from behind by Newman caused Kahne to bounce off the wall, then Kurt Busch, which ended Kahne's slim Chase hopes. Kahne had to pit to fix the resulting damage and wound up 32nd, 15 laps down.

"I was just going down the straightaway and got hit from behind and I know it was [Newman], so I feel like he lost us about 20 spots [Sunday]," Kahne said. "He said he got hit from behind and that forced him into me, so that's racing, but either way, we're the one that took the big shot there."

Bowyer had a perfect viewpoint for the incident, as he was running behind both Kahne and Newman at the time. Newman eventually faded to eighth after starting fourth on the final restart with 17 laps remaining.

"He was a madman [Sunday night]," Bowyer said of Newman. "He was doing what he had to do. He had to go out and try to make something happen [Sunday night], and he did."

Bowyer had his own problems but was able to pit following David Ragan's spin on Lap 201 to make extensive repairs. He stayed on the lead lap, then made up significant ground on each of his next two pit stops to get back into the top 10, where he stayed for the rest of the event.

"We had a brace break in the right-rear quarter panel," Bowyer said. "Luckily we were able to fix it. It made the car just really, really loose. Once we were able to fix that, we got a lot better. But just fought it all night long. That's what teamwork is all about. I had to lean on the guys [Sunday night] and they did their homework."

Newman played a role in Biffle's woes, as well. Three-wide and running on the outside, Biffle appeared to sweep down across Newman's right-front fender, which sent the No. 16 Ford spinning sideways in the middle of the track. Elliott Sadler was unable to avoid contact and clipped Biffle's front end.

"It was my fault," Biffle said. "I didn't know we were still three-wide and I guess I cut down on the 39. I have to watch the replay. He certainly didn't cut us any slack. He could have cut us some slack and let us go there.

"I don't know, I'll have to watch the replay before I make my judgment, but I didn't know we were still three-wide. It looked like I had cleared him, along with [A.J. Allmendinger], and I just turned down into the corner and, unfortunately, he was there."

Biffle took his damaged car to the garage area for extensive repairs and returned to the track in 40th place, 71 laps down to the leaders. But by making up four positions to finish 36th, Biffle left himself with an excellent chance of gaining a Chase berth.

"Yeah, we're 161 points ahead, so I've got to beat one car if whoever it is wins and leads all the laps, so we're pretty much locked in," he said.

Denny Hamlin punched his Chase ticket Sunday night, but watched most of the race from the sidelines after a blown engine put his No. 11 Toyota behind the wall after 144 laps. That was the bad news. The good news? He led 74 laps to that point.

"I'm 50-50," Hamlin said about his night. "Fifty percent of me says I'm worried about our engine package and the reliability part. The other side of it shows that we're going to run really, really good when the Chase does come around.

"You have to run all the laps, that's the important thing. It doesn't matter how fast you are if you can't finish. Right now, we're just struggling with that a little bit."

Still, Hamlin was relieved to not be on pins and needles heading into Richmond.

"We just have one more week to hopefully survive," Hamlin said. "At this point, I'm so lucky that there's no more races before the Chase cutoff or else we'd be in danger of missing it. It's just very discouraging, but I know we can get it together."

As for Bowyer, he'll breathe a little easier this week.

"It's not what we wanted but it's what we needed," he said.

Video:
• Kahne blows tire after contact | Biffle suffers crash damage | Hamlin blows engine