November 1, 2005

By Rebecca Gladden

For five of the top-10 finishers in Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, the race was about points, position and the possibility of winning the Nextel Cup title.

For the other five, it was about pride, preparation and - for a few - the potential to win one million dollars at season's end.

Under the revised points system, now in its second year of use, the driver in 11th place when the season ends is rewarded for being the highest finisher among non-Chase competitors. The prize includes recognition at the NASCAR Awards Banquet in New York City and a check for nearly a million dollars.

The five Chase drivers finishing in the top 10 at Atlanta were Carl Edwards - whose victory gave him the season sweep at the mile and a half oval - along with Mark Martin (3), Matt Kenseth (5), Greg Biffle (7) and Tony Stewart (8).

Also in the mix were five non-Chasers whose top-10 finishes were especially noteworthy.

Jeff Gordon's strong car on Sunday carried him to a second-place finish behind Edwards. On the heels of last weekend's victory at Martinsville, Gordon has three top-10's in his last four starts, and has climbed from 17th to 12th in the standings since Charlotte, now just 42 points out of 11th place. After the race, Gordon explained how his team has approached the final ten races: "I feel like our 2006 started when this Chase started. By not making the Chase, we were able to really regroup and make a bunch of changes - not just personnel changes, but with the race cars themselves as well. We've had a couple of tests come up since the Chase began, and those tests have been very valuable for us. When the season is going on, you can't make major changes because you've got too many guys that you're battling with for points and you don't want to make huge changes. Once we missed the Chase, we were able to just go out there and change all kinds of things. It's kind of a trial and error. We can try something major and if it's no good, it's not really going to affect us that much. But if we make gains, then we're moving in the right direction and I feel like we've really been making gains here lately."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also had an impressive run in Atlanta, finishing fourth on the day. Junior led a race-high 142 of 325 laps; prior to Sunday's race, he had led only 27 the entire season. Though he did climb one spot to 19th in points, 11th place probably remains out of reach for the 8 team. Nevertheless, Earnhardt was excited about what the strong showing means heading into 2006: "This is what we're after. This is the way you want it to be - to show up at the track and run fast and compete for the win. Today we had a car that was great at the beginning, good at the end, and we ran in the top three or four all day. I'm just proud of my team. I can't wait to go to Texas next week."

Jamie McMurray, last year's 11th-place winner, held on to that spot for the second week in a row with a sixth-place finish at Atlanta. McMurray had fallen as low as 14th after Charlotte, but back-to-back top-10's at Martinsville and Atlanta thrust him back to the top of the non-Chase pack. "It's cool in a 500-mile race to have an engine run like that," McMurray said Sunday, adding, "The 42 car is 42 points ahead of the 24 for 11th place with three to go, so we feel good about that. That's another top 10, but we'd really like to win one of these last three."

Jeff Burton has also put together back-to-back top-10's, with a fifth at Martinsville and an 8th-place finish in Atlanta. Burton was unable to make a move in the points, however, and remains in 18th heading to Texas.

Elliott Sadler has struggled since narrowly missing the Chase cutoff at Richmond. Prior to Atlanta, the 38 team had posted just one top-10 in six races, and had suffered four finishes of 27th or worse. Sadler's 10th-place run Sunday boosts him one spot in the standings to 13th, just 60 points out of 11th. "I'm just glad we saw the checkered flag," Sadler said half-jokingly. "We've had a lot of great cars here the last month and a half and haven't been able to show it, so to see the checkered flag and get a top 10 was a big relief to this team. I'm proud of my guys. We had great pit stops all day. We tried to adjust on it and it was just a little free, but all in all it was a great day."

With title suspense reaching a fever pitch in coming weeks, the primary focus will be on the title contenders, especially Stewart and Johnson. Nevertheless, there are other drivers with stories worth noting, particularly with the 2006 Daytona 500 just over 100 days away.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN. Although we may not always agree with what is said, we do feel it's our duty to give a voice to those who have something relevant to say about the sport of auto racing.