Johnson Gains, Chase Tightens, but Martin Maintains Poise

In acknowledging Jimmie Johnson's close proximity in the standings, Mark Martin subtly reminded the news media that he still leads the Chase for the Sprint Cup until further notice.

And as they distanced themselves some from Juan Pablo Montoya, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart, that trio made their cases in Sunday's NASCAR race at Dover, Del., with position gains that further defined the group trying to deny Johnson a record fourth consecutive title. The result is a points gap nearly identical to last year, where 106 separated the top six after two races.

This year that margin separates the top five, and each came away with something to build on as the Chase heads to Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

"It was a pretty good day," said Montoya, who moved to third with a fourth-place run coming after last week's third at Loudon, N.H. "We just got a little tight there at the end. Overall, it was good. Another top five, and I had a pretty cool fight there with (Busch)."

Busch, the 2004 inaugural Chase champion, took heart in running a drama-free fifth compared to last week's sixth-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he reluctantly pitted early and then hit David Ragan on exit, changing race strategy. Starting 16th on Sunday, his No. 2 Dodge quickly moved into the top 10, led twice for 99 laps and avoided trouble on Dover's reconfigured pit road.

Though Johnson snatched everybody's hopes of contending by leading 271 of 400 laps, Busch, who moved to fourth and 75 points behind Martin after earning five bonus points, saw enough to be encouraged with the next three stops on intermediate-length tracks.

"We put it up front most of the day and put ourselves in position to win, but a couple of guys were quicker than us at the end," Busch said. "We were tight on corner exits (and that) slows the car on the straightaway. If we can tweak that, we'll be after them."

Stewart improved to fifth with his ninth-place run, an excellent save considering how his race started. The regular-season points leader felt responsible for tapping Joey Logano during a chain-reaction accident on lap 31 that sent the rookie's No. 20 Toyota on a frightening ride down and up the banking before it flipped eight times in Turn 3.

His No. 14 Chevy sustained front-end damage that left him 33rd at one point, but the two-time champion rebounded for a top-10 that kept him in the hunt heading to a track he won at three years ago.

"I can't say I'm satisfied because I still lost points," Stewart said. "That's how competitive the Chase is, too. I got a top-10 and I'm not happy with it. ... We dodged another bullet."

Of the next five only Jeff Gordon (eighth) gained on the leaders, though he believed his No. 24 Chevy was better than sixth place, the result of lost time on pit road when an air gun malfunctioned midway through the race. Denny Hamlin dropped three spots to sixth, Brian Vickers (10th) fell two and Ryan Newman (seventh) and Greg Biffle (ninth) remained unchanged.

On the opposite end was Martin, relishing another strong weekend and expressing confidence of making noise over the next eight weeks. As some viewed his 10-point edge on Johnson as almost a dead heat given his teammate's killer instinct in the Chase, he chose to look at the whole picture, where things could change to the point that it wouldn't be shocking to see him making history.

"It's just two races," he said. "And I think a first and the second is a pretty good way to come out of the gate. But we've got eight more to go, and all kinds of things can happen. I still say that there's 12 in it, and 12 can win."