Race Report.(Motorsports)

Byline: Al Pearce

With three races to go before NASCAR set its 10-driver Chase for the Cup field, everyone knew 500 laps around Bristol Motor Speedway would cull the candidates from about 20 to, say, 12 or 13. But the Sharpie 500 did more than that: It locked in two drivers, left eight others still bunched together, and for all intents and purposes reduced the outside contenders to a single long shot.

Matt Kenseth made it in-big surprise, huh?-by winning his second straight Saturday night rumble at the half-mile, high-banked bullring in Tennessee. The win pulled him to within seven points of series-leader Jimmie Johnson, who finished a workmanlike 10th.

Kyle Busch finished second to reach fourth in points, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave himself some wiggle room by finishing third and climbing to ninth in points. Fourth-place Scott Riggs was eliminated from the Chase, but fifth-place finisher Jeff Gordon gained a spot, to fifth in points. Rookie-of-the-year candidate Denny Hamlin was sixth, followed by Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton and Johnson.

According to NASCAR's convoluted logic, Johnson and Kenseth are the only drivers locked into the 10-race playoff that begins Sept. 17 in New Hampshire. Technically the suits in Daytona Beach are right... but only if the 11 drivers behind them in points skip the upcoming races at Fontana and Richmond. Barring that unlikely scenario, the Chasers will be Johnson, Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Busch, Gordon, Hamlin, Burton, defending champion Tony Stewart, Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin.

The remaining long shot is Kasey Kahne. Ranked 11th after Bristol, Kahne gets 250 laps at Fontana and 400 at Richmond to make his first Chase field in three tries.

"It's rough when all the guys ahead of you in points beat you in the race,'' Kahne said after finishing 12th, behind eight Chase drivers. "There are so many good teams; we've got to figure out how to be better than they are. If nobody else has bad races, we've got to finish top-two or top-three at Fontana and Richmond. We run well at those tracks, so we know we still have a chance.''