Kurt Busch gets into Chase mix at Dover

DOVER, Del. -- Kurt Busch left a rocky start to the Chase and his fiercest rival behind him.

Busch stormed into contention for a second Cup championship, holding off fellow Chase drivers Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards to win Sunday at Dover International Speedway, tightening the leaderboard in a playoff where no driver has emerged as a clear-cut favorite.

Busch, though, is in the mix.

His No. 22 Dodge seemed to only get stronger over the 400-mile race, and the Las Vegas native beat Johnson, his long-time antagonist, on the final restart to take the checkered flag for the second time in 2011. The win pushed Busch from ninth to fourth in the points standings, only nine points out of first.

Only 15 points separate the top eight drivers, with seven races remaining.

Edwards and Kevin Harvick share the points lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings entering the fourth Chase race at Kansas Speedway. Harvick is seeded first because of a tiebreaker.

Busch, the 2004 champion, won his 24th career race and got his first win at Dover.

"To win a Sprint Cup race in the Chase, this is what it's all about," Busch said.

Johnson leads active drivers with six victories at Dover and traditionally dominates Chase races. Sure enough, after a tough start to the Chase, the defending five-time champion led the majority of laps and proved the No. 48 is far from finished.

"Are we out of this?" said Johnson, rubbing his chin with a smile.

Not yet. Not by a long shot.

Johnson got beat off the last two restarts, spinning his tires on the first one and mistiming when Busch would accelerate on the second.

"I hate leaving points on the table, and we have these first three," Johnson said.

Losing to Busch had to sting.

Busch made his move off the final restart with 43 laps left, leaving Johnson and the rest of the field in the mirror.

Johnson's reign was considered by some to be on the ropes after he finished 10th and 18th in the first two Chase races. But his strong result on one of his favorite tracks moved him only 13 points behind the leaders and feeling confident. At Kansas, he has five straight top-10s, including one victory..

"Giving up a win by not getting a good restart, I'll think about it tonight," he said. "But big-picture wise, we'll take it."

The winning move against Johnson made the victory more meaningful for Busch. Two of the sport's top drivers have a simmering rivalry, trading paint and barbs. It reached a boiling point this year at Richmond, when Busch called Johnson a "five-time chump."

"To beat your arch nemesis, that's just icing on the cake. That's pretty sweet," Busch said.

Johnson, who led 157 laps, was second and Edwards third. Edwards, who won the Dover Nationwide race on Saturday, dominated most of the race until a speeding penalty on pit road cost him a lap. Without that infraction, Edwards just might have won the race and made it a weekend sweep.

"I definitely took myself out of position to fight for the win by doing that,' Edwards said.

Chase drivers dotted the rest of the field. Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch were fifth and sixth, respectively. Harvick was 10th.

Tony Stewart lost the points lead he built after winning the first two Chase races and finished 25th. Results of other Chase qualifiers: Jeff Gordon 12th, Denny Hamlin 18th, Brad Keselowski 20th, Ryan Newman 23rd and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 24th.

Earnhardt, Newman and Hamlin are about out of contention. Gordon needs to get hot fast.

Non-Chase drivers filled four of the top-10 spots. Kasey Kahne was fourth, AJ Allmendinger seventh, Clint Bowyer eighth and Marcos Ambrose ninth.

Kurt Busch started the Chase ranked seventh and opened with a solid sixth at Chicagoland Speedway. He struggled at New Hampshire and finished 22nd.

He found the right combination at Dover, where he qualified second and carried the position into victory lane -- and up the standings.

"We've got such a long way to go in this Chase," Busch said. "That's what we're really focused on."

Busch won the first Chase, beating Johnson by eight points for his only NASCAR championship. Sunday, he credited owner Roger Penske for giving him the equipment and crew needed to compete for a title.

"The car just had a good feel all weekend long," Busch said.