OBSERVATIONS Rick Minter's
Big names seek spot in Chase

JOHNSON

Maybe it's going to finally be Jimmie Johnson's year to win a Nextel Cup championship.

Johnson, who has finished second twice and fifth twice, can look to history for added hope now that he has won for the first time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Five of the previous 12 winners at the Brickyard went on to win the Nextel Cup championship that year - Jeff Gordon in 1998 and 2001, Dale Jarrett in 1997, Bobby Labonte in 2000 and Tony Stewart in 2005.

For Johnson, just getting out of Indy unscathed is a good sign. Last year, he had dominated the points race up to the 400, where he crashed, finished 38th and lost his momentum. Stewart, last year's race winner, seized control of the points race from Johnson at Indy and topped the standings for all but one week the rest of the season.

This year, Johnson appears to be all but a lock to be among the top 10 who will compete in the championship-deciding Chase for the Nextel Cup, which begins after the Sept. 9 race at Richmond International Raceway.

Here are some other observations as the Chase comes more into focus:

+ Dale Earnhardt Jr.:With five more races to run before the start of the Chase, the prevailing sentiment among the drivers in contention seemed to be relief that they had made it through another week without a major setback.

There was a collective, but brief, sigh of relief at Indy after three of the sport's top stars - Earnhardt Jr., Gordon and Stewart - overcame problems in the Allstate 400 that could have jeopardized their Chase hopes. Many feel the absence of Earnhardt and Gordon from last year's Chase took much of the luster off the title run.

Earnhardt, who had finished 43rd in the past two Cup races, was all but absent for most of Sunday's race. He was mired in 28th place when a caution flag with 18 laps to go gave him and his crew a chance to take a gamble that could stop his skid.

While most of the drivers ahead of him made pit stops, he stayed on the track, took over second place, but became a sitting duck to the shooters behind him with fresher tires.

The gamble paid off. Earnhardt led briefly and finished sixth, which put him back in the top 10 in points.

"I'd love to have a better car where we didn't have to make those kinds of calls," an exhausted Earnhardt said. "We took a chance and made it work."

+ Gordon and Stewart: Gordon made a similar recovery, but it took him the whole race. He fell three laps behind when a part of his sway bar broke just after the start of the race. His crew made repairs, and he raced his way back to the lead lap and finished 16th, which boosted him one spot to eighth in the points standings.

Likewise, Stewart made a nice recovery in the Allstate 400, moving up a spot in the standings to ninth despite early race problems with loose lug nuts that put him as low as 35th. He recovered to finish eighth.

+ Kasey Kahne: Kahne entered Sunday's race as a favorite to win and likely be a Chase participant, but that all changed before the checkered flag fell. He ran among the leaders for most of the race, but wrecked on the last lap and finished 36th, which dropped him out of the top 10 for the first time since the first race of the season and illustrated how quickly a solid points position can melt away. He has dropped from third in points after the road race at Infineon Raceway to 11th, largely because of five finishes of 23rd or worse in the past six races.

+ Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin: Kenseth and Roush Racing teammate Martin continued their steady march toward Chase berths. Kenseth's runner-up run was his 11th top-five finish of the season, and Martin's fifth-place finish was his 10th top-10 finish. Martin said his car still needs a little tuneup if it's going to take the title, but he's ready. "This old man ain't gave up yet," he said.

+ Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton: Richard Childress' two veteran drivers, Harvick and Burton, continued their steady run toward berths in the Chase. Harvick finished third in the Allstate 400, while Burton, the pole-sitter, was 15th, but Burton heads to Watkins Glen a solid third in points, and Harvick is fourth.

+ Fresh faces: It's looking as if there will be a fresh face or two in the Chase, or at least in the race to it. Kyle Busch and rookie Denny Hamlin continue to perform like veterans. Busch took the lead late in Sunday's race by staying on the track, like Earnhardt, while most of the leaders pitted. He parlayed that into a seventh-place finish that leaves him fifth in points. Hamlin finished 10th despite his involvement in a last-lap wreck. He moved up a spot to seventh in the standings.