What a night in Richmond

Denny Hamlin finally conquered his Richmond demons and won at his home track. Brian Vickers raced his way into the Chase.  Kyle Busch didn't. And Mark Martin is the points leader heading into the start of the Chase.

When the pressure-packed regular season ended late Saturday night, relief was what many drivers felt after finally making the Chase. For Vickers, he was ready for something else after making his first Chase:

"My focus right now is going to be like where I'm going out tonight,'' Vickers said afterward. It's been a stressful period of my life. I genuintely mean that. I'm genuinely going to party hard tonight. I'm not kidding.''

Vickers made it by knocking Matt Kenseth out of the top 12.

The party will likely last all night for Hamlin, who has come close at winning at his home track but not done it in a Cup race until this event. Hamlin led 299 of the 400 laps.

Hamlin described his win as "like a Daytona 500 win for anyone else. I wanted to win this race before I won a 500.''

And Kyle Busch, who had four wins this season, won't be in the Chase. He missed it by eight points.

OK, here's the reset points standing and then we'll get to the race breakdown:

1. Mark Martin .......... 5,040

2. Tony Stewart ....... 5,030

3. Jimmie Johnson .5,030

4. Denny Hamlin ..... 5,020

5. Kasey Kahne ...... 5,020

6. Jeff Gordon ......... 5,010

7. Kurt Busch .......... 5,010

8. Brian Vickers ...... 5,010

9. Carl Edwards ..... 5,000

10. Ryan Newman . 5,000

11. Juan Montoya ... 5,000

12. Greg Biffle ......... 5,000

OK, now for the race breakdown:

DENNY HAMLIN

The talk has been that Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart are the favorites entering the Chase but that would be ignoring Hamlin (and Mark Martin). Hamlin has been outspoken about how his team being behind Hendrick Motorsports (and Stewart-Haas Racing) this year. Thing is, the team has gotten better.

"It's just a challenge to keep up,'' Hamlin said. "Our cars have really got to be on to challenge them for race wins. We can top-five them to death and things like that, but it seems here lately our cars have been getting a little bit better. Earlier in the year, we were 5 percent or 10 percent off in just about every area. I think it's down to about 3-5 percent.''

He showed it in his battle with Jeff Gordon on Saturday. They traded the lead nine times in the race in a night of great battles not only for the lead but for the final Chase spot and throughout the field. Fans saw plenty of action. Keep an eye on Hamlin in the Chase.

KYLE BUSCH

He misses the Chase by eight points. Think about that. Eight points over 26 races. Had he gained two or three more spots any any point in the last 26 races, he's in. Instead, he's out.

While Busch has been criticized for how he reacts when things don't go his way, one has to give him credit for coming to the media center, which he was not required to do. after the race and talk about missing out on a chance to win the title.

"It's not just tonight or it's not just last week that's kept us out,'' Busch said. "It's been the past 26 races that unfortunately some days I didn't do my best and we didn't have the best cars or whatever it might have been. So you can look at a whole different scenario or a whole different slew of things but what it boils down to is we missed.''

MARK MARTIN

Your new points leader is Mark Martin, who gets in the Chase in the last race and will be a threat for the title.

"I feel like a whole new person, hugh weight off my shoulders,'' he said. "This is certainly the best year of my career and the most fun and since Chicago (in July) some of that fun has been smothered out by all of the pressure. We are in. We are out. We are in. All that. But the thing that I'm excited about is our race team has so strong since Chicago. The cars have been better and better on the race track. I don't think we ever ran outside the top-5 and those are the kind of race cars and the kind of effort that  you have to give to be a championship contender.''

 BRIAN VICKERS

Kyle Busch finished fifth -- he almost always finishes in the top five at Richmond -- but he didn't make the Chase because Vickers had a stellar performance.  Vickers placed seventh, his career best at Richmond. Vickers stepped it up at Richmond. His finish marked the ninth race in a row he's placed 12th or better since Daytona in July.

What's interesting is that Vickers mentioned the team came here with two setups for this race. They knew they were good on short runs here (he won the pole in the spring) but needed to be better on longer runs. So the team did its work on computer simulation programs and the 7-post rig and got the two setups. The first was junk in practice, so the team went to the other setup, which at first wasn't much better but then they hit on something. If  you noticed, Vickers got stronger as the race progressed as he battled a loose condition early in the race. Vickers and his team stepped it up. Of course, can this team keep it going for 10 more races? That's going to be a challenge.

ODDS AND ENDS AND OTHER THOUGHTS

# First-timers in the Chase: Juan Pablo Montoya and Brian  Vickers.

# Jimmie Johnson is the only driver to have made every Chase since its inception in 2004 with Matt Kenseth failing to make it this year.

# Kenseth on not making the Chase: "This is disappointing how we ran here the last three or four times for some reason. I'm really disappointed we didn't make it but we just didn't perform good enough.''

# Kasey Kahne is in the Chase but one has to wonder how much of a factor he'll be. Richard Petty Motorsports has said it has a letter of intent to merge with Yates Racing. Many, if not all of the engine shop folks at RPM could lose their jobs with the new team set to run Roush-Yates engines. Others in the RPM organization have to be nervous about their future. So how can a team where people are worried about their future put together a championship-caliber performance? Said Kahne: "It's definitely something that I've thought about and have asked that question. The timing seems a little off and why are we doing this now? Yeah, there's definitely some people that are probably wondering (about their jobs) and hopefully we can make it through this whole situation.''

 # Juan Pablo Montoya, who has said he's been conservative this year so he could make the Chase says of his Chase plans: "The initial plan is to do the same thing we are doing, maybe a little more aggressive on changes.''

# Can't imagine too many folks are picking a Roush car to win this Chase since Matt Kenseth is the only Roush driver to have won this year and his last win came at California in February. But as Carl Edwards told me on pit road after the race, the Chase is a new beginning and maybe some things can change for the team. Recall that Biffle was winless entering  the Chase and then won the first two Chase races last year.

# Kurt Busch is back in the Chase. This team has been interesting. It runs in that 7th-14th range a lot. The team doesn't overwhelm you but then again it doesn't fall down a lot. Saturday was a step forward with the second-place finish. Now canthis team keep it going? It was a good sign to get this finish in light of the word coming out that crew chief Pat Tryson will be moving to another team next year (think Martin Truex Jr. at Michael Waltrip Racing).

# Ryan Newman returns to the Chase for the first time since 2005.

# Jeff Gordon says he thinks his team has picked things up the last five or so races and he feels good going into the Chase.

# OK folks that will do for now. I'll leave  you on one last item as you get ready for the Chase. Long-range forecast is for sunny skies and 0 percent chance of rain on Sunday in Loudon, N.H. Take that for what it's worth.

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