Dover, where the Chase hopes of four would be over by the time the haulers moved on down the road. Two came in safe, some were comfortable while others were scrambling to survive. For a pair, it pretty much was win to be in.
Most races come down to a series of snapshots, of moments that determine their fate and those of those challenging them. For Kevin Harvick, it came early, on just the 24th lap of the 400 circuit affair. He took the lead and showed himself to be in the dominant car. For the defending champion, a win would pretty much be necessary to keep his dreams of a repeat alive.
For Jimmie Johnson, it was lap 104. Problems in the rear end forced him to come to the garage for 37 laps, to forever sit beyond 40th, and to hope for someone to experience disaster. He did not need to move up, but he needed somebody to move back toward him. More than one would have been nicer.
That left Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. battling for the bubble spot. Well, as long as Harvick led and no one other than Johnson suffered a major failure, it was going to be either one or the other who would make it in. Just one to four points separated the pair most of the afternoon in the battle for 12th in the standings.
With 20 to go, that two car duel had widened to a five-car fight. Suddenly, the jack problems that dropped Kurt Busch to 17th had him ahead of the pair by just two points. Kyle Busch was running second, but he was up only by a single point as Junior and McMurray were running third and fourth in the race. Ryan Newman was back to 19th, and his lead was now just a single point. Seven laps later, Brad Keselowski, 15th on the track, was himself just two points to the good in the standings. A dozen laps left, and we still did not know how it would all end. Meanwhile, as all this was going on, Harvick still was running first, Johnson was sitting near last on the track. This movie was promising to have one hell of a finale.
“We believe we can win,” was the chant his crew serenaded their driver in Victory Lane, and they were right as Harvick advanced them to the Contender Round of the Chase. No disaster came to save the day for Johnson, so his dream of seven championships is put off for another season. As for the battle for the final berths, in the end it did come down to Earnhardt and McMurray. They finished tied in points, with the tie breaker going to the man recording the best finish amongst the three Chase races to date. On the day, Junior was third, McMurray was fourth, and that was the difference.
Harvick joins Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin winning their way forward, as Earnhardt, Newman, the Busch brothers, and Keselowski join Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Joey Logano as, for them, the hunt continues.
It was one hell of a race, now on to Charlotte this Saturday night to begin the next round.
