Halfway through the Chase, it's a three-man race for the Chase -- and it could very well be down to two after next weekend's race at Martinsville. More on that in a moment. First, a look at Saturday night's race at Charlotte, won by Jeff Burton.
# Will the Chase be determined by the last 20 laps Saturday night?
There's been a lot of talk about how aggressive drivers have been in this chase and the things they've done to gain one extra spot -- such as Carl Edwards' banzai move he tried to win at Kansas but failed and Greg Biffle's last-lap move by Jeff Gordon for third in that same race.
Well, Jimmie Johnson was second with 20 laps to go but a fading car cost him four spots. He finished sixth and lost 20 points. What if that's the difference after Homestead?
Johnson wasn't thrilled after the race but he does a good job of managing his emotions.
"I was certainly frustrated slipping back through the field,'' Johnson said. "You don't know how important those points are going to be until the end of the year. Watching each guy go by, counting them as they go by, is no fun.''
# Jeff Burton's back in the title race. Can he keep it together?
In 2006, Burton led the points going into Martinsville. He blew an engine and finished 42nd that day, falling to fifth in the Chase. He finished 13th and 38th the next two races and was out of title contention, finishing the year eighth.
So, what's to keep Burton from doing the same thing this year? Burton says he and the team have taken a different attitude. Have fun. Yes, it sounds pretty simple and everyone says it. It's worked for Burton's team because there's been no pressure until now. The focus was on Kyle Busch. Then he faltered. Then it was on Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards. Now, Edwards could be out of it. So, something is working for Burton's team.
"We may have gotten a little too tight the first year (2006) because we had never done it before,'' Burton said. "I didn't think we were last year, but we got off to a slow start. This year, we just said, "You know what? We're going to go have a good time, race hard, we're going to do the best we can and it will be what it will be.
"We're just having fun. We're paying attention to us. We're not going to get caught up in the point thing. We're paying attention to it but we're not going to get caught up in it.''
# So, how did Jeff Burton win Saturday's race?
Burton credited crew chief Scott Miller with making the call to take no tires on the last pit stop with about 36 laps to go. Miller said he was just doing what Kasey Kahne and his team had done in May to win the all-star race. Miller had done it earlier in the race Saturday. In fact, he had either taken no tires or four tires on each pit stop. He never called for two tires.
Once out front, Burton had to fend off Johnson in a spirited duel that lasted a few laps and featured side-by-side racing. Johnson admits he took some chances as he tried -- and failed -- to get the lead.
"I took a lot of risks tonight trying to get as many points as I could on the 16 (Biffle) and trying to hang with that 31 (Burton) and get by him,'' Johnson said. "(Darn) near threw it away a couple of times.''
# What about Carl Edwards?
He's done. The only way he gets back into this if all three ahead of -- Johnson, Burton and Biffle -- have major problems in the last five races. Otherwise, Edwards will have to wait another year to win his first title.
Why is he done? Well, Edwards is 168 points back. No one has come from this far back to win it. Johnson was 146 back at this point in 2006 and won the title but he did so by finishing first or second in the next four races and wrapped up the title with a ninth-place finish at Homestead.
Nothing like capping off a bad week for Edwards. He was 29th at Talladega last weekend after triggering the 12-car crash late. Had a physical altercation with Kevin Harvick on Thursday -- which stemmed from the Dega crash -- and then has mysterious ignition problems that takes 15 laps for his team to repair and he finishes 33rd on Saturday, 16 laps off the lead. This is the first time Edwards has had back-to-back finishes outside the top 20 all season. That's not how to save your best for last. Of course Kyle Busch knows all about that, also.
# So, what's happens next?
The series heads to Martinsville where this three-man race could dwindle to two.
Jimmie Johnson has won three of the last four races at the short track, including the last two. Jeff Burton finished third in the spring and has placed no worse than 12th in his last three starts there. Greg Biffle, though, has one top-15 finish finish there in his career.
With Johnson leading Burton by 69 points and Biffle by 86 points, Biffle can't afford to lose a ton of ponits to Johnson. Yet, history shows that it's very likely Biffle will leave Martinsville more than 100 points behind Johnson with four races to go. While that can be made up, it's not realistic with the way Johnson and his team perform. Burton can't afford to lose many points to Johnson either. Should Burton gain points, it will be big. Since the 600 in May, Burton has outscored Johnson in back-to-back races once -- the past two races.
While many will talk about Johnson's shrinking gap, here's one thought. When people start to doubt Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus, that's when this team seems to perform its best. So, it wouldn't be surprising to see Johnson win or finish in the top five at Martinsville.
Should Burton cut into Johnson's lead again, then things could get interesting. But recall, Johnson's team is battle tested in the Chase. Burton's team floundered two years ago and wasn't a factor last year. How Burton's team responds to the Chase pressure could be this year's X factor.
A few other tidbits:
# Kurt Busch finished third with the new Dodge engine. It was just the engine's second race. It made its debut at Kansas a couple of weeks ago.
# Jamie McMurray (fifth) scored his first top-five of the season. His last top five was his win at Daytona in July 2007.
# Jeff Gordon finished eighth despite bouncing off the wall twice in the first 10 laps. Gordon gave up second place on lap 266 to pit after having pittted about 15 laps earlier. Only leader Reed Sorenson, who had to pit, stopped. The other cars on the lead lap didn't. Gordon never regained the lost track position. Crew chief Steve Letarte said: "The pit strategy we were on , when that caution came out two or three from the end, it wasn't going to work for us to stay out. It looked liked it worked for Burton.''
# Chase drivers have won all five Chase races this season.
# The win is Jeff Burton's 21st of his career. It's his second win of the season. The last time Burton won more than one race in a season was 2001 when he won twice while driving for car owner Jack Roush.
# Felix Sabates, who has minority interest in Chip Ganassi Racing, says that if it was his choice he'd put Kyle Petty in the No. 41 because he says Petty can still drive. It won't happen, though, Sabates says, because Ganassi does not share his belief. Sabates also says that with the economy the way it's going, he could see eight Cup teams folding by 2010.