Auto Racing News

02:23 PM EDT on Wednesday, October 6, 2004

Associated Press

A glance at the 10 drivers competing in NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup, in order of points standings:

DRIVER: Kurt Busch

CAR: No. 97 Sharpie Ford

CHASE POINTS: first, 5,530

POSITION CHANGE: plus 1

WHAT HAPPENED: Busch finished fifth at Talladega, becoming the only driver to score a top-five finish in all three Chase races. He then inherited the points lead when NASCAR docked Dale Earnhardt Jr. 25 points for cursing in his post-race interview.

SPEAKING: "It's unfortunate. The emotions in Victory Lane overcame (Earnhardt). He was the dominant car all day and deserved to win. For us, we want to beat him on the race track," Busch said.

DRIVER: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

CAR: No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet

CHASE POINTS: second, 5,518 points

POSITION CHANGE: plus 1

WHAT HAPPENED: Earnhardt won at Talladega -- his fifth victory at the restrictor-plate track -- and took a 13-point lead over Busch in the standings. But a slip of the tongue cost him his spot on top. He's now 12 back.

SPEAKING "We've put some distance between us and the fifth-place guy, so we keep on narrowing it down a little bit. It's still anybody's race, I think, but we've started with three top-10 finishes and I don't see a reason we can't keep that pace for the rest of the season. That's what it's going to take to win it," Earnhardt said.

DRIVER: Jeff Gordon

CAR: No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet

CHASE POINTS: third, 5,482

POSITION CHANGE: minus 2

WHAT HAPPENED: Gordon was strong most of the day, but got shuffled to the rear in the waning laps and ended up 19th. It cost him his spot on top of the leaderboard.

SPEAKING: "We still have seven races left and we may see the lead swap a couple more times before the championship is decided. When you're battling for a championship, it's intense -- every single decision is a major one, every single position is a major one," Gordon said.

DRIVER: Mark Martin

CAR: No. 6 Viagra Ford

CHASE POINTS: fourth, 5,432

POSITION CHANGE: None

WHAT HAPPENED: Martin had a respectable 15th-place finish -- not enough to gain ground on the leaders. He now looks to the rest of the schedule, where he has multiple wins at four of the seven tracks remaining -- but none at Kansas, site of Sunday's race.

SPEAKING: "We are really looking forward to going to Kansas, especially after 500 miles at Talladega. Kansas is more of what I would consider 'real' racing and a chance to get back to what we do week in and week out. We are taking my favorite car and it's the type of track that really suits my driving style," Martin said.

DRIVER: Matt Kenseth

CAR: No. 17 DeWalt Tools Ford

CHASE POINTS: fifth, 5,393

POSITION CHANGE: plus 2

WHAT HAPPENED: The reigning series champion finished 14th at Talladega. He heads to Kansas with his favorite chassis, a Ford that has won twice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He wrecked the car at Kansas last year, then begged the team to rebuild it.

SPEAKING: "Kansas is pretty suitable to where we've run our best races this year and the outcome is going to be on the drivers and the pit crews instead of chance, so we feel pretty good about it. We just need to stay on top of all the little things like pit windows and adjustments during the race because I think it'll come down to those two things along with how your crew performs," Kenseth said.

DRIVER: Tony Stewart

CAR: No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet

CHASE POINTS: sixth, 5,391

POSITION CHANGE: plus 3

WHAT HAPPENED: Stewart was in position to win at Talladega -- and even helped drafting partner Earnhardt Jr. get to the front -- before he was shuffled out of the draft and ended up sixth. Now he goes to Kansas, which is considered a sister-track to Chicago, where Stewart won earlier this year.

SPEAKING: "You aren't going to find any two tracks that are more identical than Kansas and Chicago. What you do at Kansas is solely based on what you and your team can do with your race car, not what drafting line you're in or how the car behind you is going to affect your next move. There are too many variables out of your control in a plate race. At Kansas, we're back in control," Stewart said.

DRIVER: Ryan Newman

CAR: No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge

CHASE POINTS: seventh, 5,384

POSITION CHANGE: plus 1

WHAT HAPPENED: Newman finished 16th at Talladega, and was thrilled to get out of there incident-free. He's looking ahead to Kansas, an intermediate track, which is where he excels.

SPEAKING: "It was an OK points day. We needed to win, but we'll take what we got. We finished and that's the good thing. I'm ready for any place besides (Talladega)," Newman said.

DRIVER: Elliott Sadler

CAR: No. 38 M&M's Ford

CHASE POINTS: eighth, 5,377

POSITION CHANGE: minus 2

WHAT HAPPENED: Sadler finished 22nd after flipping his car on his way to the finish line. It was the second consecutive race Sadler has tumbled at Talladega. He heads to Kansas with the same car he used to win at California earlier this season.

SPEAKING: "If we can go into Kansas this weekend and not have any bad luck I think we will be a contender for a win. We're taking one of my favorite race cars and our 1.5-mile program has been very strong this year. In order for us to get back in the championship chase we need to win some races. That's what we're aiming for this weekend," Sadler said.

DRIVER: Jimmie Johnson

CAR: No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet

CHASE POINTS: ninth, 5,371

POSITION CHANGE: minus 5

WHAT HAPPENED: Johnson had an engine failure that led to a 37th-place finish. The most dominating driver earlier this season -- he probably would have run away with the title under the old points system -- Johnson is now pretty much out of it.

SPEAKING: "We're just taking it race by race. This has kind of been the philosophy I've had with the guys, we're all trying to live by it. If we all go in and put in our 100 percent, and know at the end of the day, we sleep well at night, that we put up everything that we had, that's all we can do, that's all we can control," Johnson said.

DRIVER: Jeremy Mayfield

CAR: No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge

CHASE POINTS: 10th, 5,263

POSITION CHANGE: none

WHAT HAPPENED: Mayfield wrecked at Talladega and finished 38th -- officially ending any shot at winning the championship.

SPEAKING: "Its disappointing, but we have to remember we've had a good year so far. We've just got to keep fighting back and do the best we can. We'll go out and try to win races now. We're going to some tracks that are the type of tracks we run well at," Mayfield said.