The Hot Pass: Busch fights back in Chase battle

BRISTOL, Tenn.

The Chase for the Sprint Cup hopefuls refuses to fade away. Last week at Michigan, Brian Vickers forced his way into Victory Lane — jumping to 13th in the standings and closing the gap between himself and the 12 drivers who hold spots for NASCAR's playoffs. Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, it was Kyle Busch's turn. "The 18 is not going down without a fight," crew chief Steve Addington radioed to the crew after Busch crossed the line ahead of Mark Martin to win the Sharpie 500. "Thank you, guys," an exhausted Busch replied. "Thank you." Busch's fourth win of the season — which ties him with Martin for most this year — allowed the No. 18 car to move back into 13th place in the standings — 34 points behind Matt Kenseth, who holds the 12th and final spot for the Chase. "We didn't have the best car tonight but we had a car capable of (winning)," Busch said. "I gave it everything I had." The effort started well before Saturday. A chance encounter at the shop last week between Busch and Addington — which lasted over two hours — gave the pair the opportunity to discuss where the team had lost ground to the competition throughout the season. Busch has complained about ill-handling cars in the last few months but never offered Addington and the engineers constructive feedback to make adequate changes. "We discussed what we had changed in our setups and getting our cars back to a consistent feel," Addington said. "We've changed and we talked about why we changed and the reason we made the changes. "I think we're headed in the right direction — we need to get his car back to a more consistent (setup) and give him consistent corners to run fast." And speed is precisely what Busch will need to stay ahead of Vickers and capitalize on any mistakes made by any of the eight drivers ahead of him who have not yet secured a position in the Chase. Unfortunately for Busch, he wasn't the only one who put up a fight against his Chase rivals Saturday. Vickers averaged a 20th-place position and spent most of the race off the lead lap, yet when the checkered flag waved he managed to salvage a 12th-place finish and trails Busch by just five points. "Tonight wasn't one of our best finishes, but it definitely could have been worse," Vickers said. "Bristol has never been one of my better tracks in a Cup car. Ryan (Pemberton, crew chief) made some great calls for track position and we were able to get the lucky dog (free pass) twice. "Now our sights are set on Atlanta in two weeks. It sucks losing a position in the points, but don't count us out — this team doesn't give up. We're still very much in this." Vickers has one top five and five top 10s at Atlanta. Richmond, however, has not been kind. He has one top 10 in 10 starts and an average finish of 27.8. Busch has wins at both Atlanta and Richmond, but given his 18th-place finish at AMS earlier this year, he's not as comfortable returning to the 1.5-miler in two weeks. "My biggest concern is going to be Atlanta — getting through there with a top-10 finish," Busch said. "We really have to work it out there. We feel like Richmond will be really strong and we feel like we can do the same thing we did here tonight at that place. "I'm just hoping this isn't a fluke to get in the Chase."

Numbers game

Kasey Kahne took the biggest hit among the Chase candidates Saturday after finishing 28th — three laps down — and losing three positions in the standings to 11th. Whether it was an ill-handling car or memories of last season's playoff-killing wreck at Bristol, Kahne, who started 29th, was never a factor on race day. Kahne has won at the final two tracks — Atlanta and Richmond — in the regular season. However, his average finish at both venues is 18.5. Juan Pablo Montoya experienced a very different evening, but had a similarly disappointing result. Montoya ran among the top 10 all evening until Lap 465, when the No. 42 Chevrolet got a flat tire. Montoya was forced to pit and lost two laps. Montoya ended the day 25th and fell two positions in the standings to ninth. Although their performances were far from pretty, Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who finished eighth and 23rd, respectively, clinched positions in the Chase. For Johnson, it continues his streak of qualifying for each postseason since the format was established in 2005, a mark that can only be equaled by Matt Kenseth if he makes this year's playoffs. HMS' Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished ninth, scored his first consecutive top 10s of the season.

Underdogs of the day

Marcos Ambrose finished 10th in his first Bristol race last spring. So given his steadfast improvements throughout the season — Saturday marked the 32-year-old Australian's 35th career Cup start — it's really no surprise that he finished a solid third.

Martin Truex Jr. promised on Friday that his No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team was "still digging," despite him being on the way out at the end of the year. Although his 22nd-place finish isn't indicative of his overall performance, he certainly proved his point Saturday night. Truex started 24th and powered the No. 1 Chevrolet to sixth place before NASCAR penalized him for speeding on pit road. Although Truex was forced to restart 23rd, he climbed back to second until he had a tire issue and collided with Jamie McMurray, bringing out the 10th caution of the night on Lap 480. Still, Truex made considerable gains and passed 94 cars Saturday night.

Watercooler talk

JR Motorsports President Kelley Earnhardt confirmed that Kelly Bires is on the list of possible replacements for Brad Keselowski should the company and the driver part ways. Many in the garage have called Bires, who turns 25 Tuesday, the front-runner for the No. 88 Nationwide Series ride.

Martin Truex Jr. says he will drive five to 10 NNS races for James Finch this season. Truex says he was promised additional races when Dale Earnhardt Inc. merged with Chip Ganassi Racing, "but it never happened."

Sources have told FOXSports.com that Hendrick Motorsports is working on the fuel injection project for NASCAR. If NASCAR opts for fuel injection engines in the near future, it will likely increase production costs by $15,000 to $20,000. One engineer also quipped, "It will be more fuel efficient, but also provide teams with an easier platform to cheat."

Say what?

Bristol runner-up Mark Martin on his choice to race Kyle Busch cleanly in the closing laps: "Anyone who thought I was soft on the track tonight wasn't watching."