While Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race certainly wreaked havoc on the championship hopes of some drivers, it showcased how tight the battle at the front remains for the title.
Men like Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon are keeping themselves well within striking distance of the 2010 title.
And they are doing so through diligent and continual work throughout each race. Sunday at Auto Club Speedway was a fine example of that as Hamlin started last in the race after making a transmission change and Harvick and Gordon dropped deep in the field after pit road speeding penalties. Hamlin raced through the field and worked with crew chief Mike Ford to finish eighth; Harvick rallied back to finish seventh and Gordon was ninth.
Hendrick Motorsports' Johnson, the four-time defending series champ, is on top of his game once more. He and crew chief Chad Knaus have things moving in the right direction and once more lead the field in the title race. But Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing team are hanging tough, sitting second in the standings and just 36 points off the pace. Harvick is third, 54 points behind Johnson, while the leader's Hendrick teammate Gordon is fourth, 85 points back.
With his win, Tony Stewart moved to fifth overall, 107 points behind the leader, and is vying to join that top group.
That pack is making it a tight and exciting Chase race through four of the 10 events.
Johnson, the master of the Chase format in recent years, left Auto Club Speedway feeling like he could have taken the win with a little more time or a few more laps to catch Stewart.
Still, he was pleased with the outcome — and the slight gain it gave him in the standings. Johnson is trying to keep the big picture in mind and maintain his perspective as the Chase rolls along.
"We, as a team, have tried to be smart about things and have the company motto to be top five," he said. "The races we show up to, (where) I'm like 'we've got to win' and honestly, we make a lot of mistakes, including myself. The whole thought process of being in the top five was just to kind of have everybody stay calm and in control.
"Another motto we've always had is if you're in the top five, you've got a shot to win, so that stuff all plays into itself."
Hamlin seems to be approaching the Chase with a similar idea in mind. He entered the California race with finishes of second, ninth and 12th. While he said that starting at the rear of the field Sunday was a "little bit" of something to overcome, he quickly pointed out how readily his team did rally past the setback.
"It wasn't overwhelming," he said. "It wasn't something we couldn't overcome. We were in the top 10 by lap 50 or 60. The next 150 laps we only gained two spots. We had an up and down day but we definitely had a good car there at the end.
"I was proud of the adjustments we made."
He also seems relatively pleased with his spot in the Chase at this point.
Both Hamlin and Johnson started the segment with the most points courtesy of their six victories each in the opening 26 races of the season. Hamlin had the points lead after the opening pair of Chase races, but lost it to Johnson a week prior to the California race.
Now just 36 points back, he is in solid position in the championship race -- and expects to be able to make a run at the title.
"We are in a decent spot — we're not in a great spot," Hamlin said. "We run better the second half of the Chase, we always have. At this point to be within whatever amount of points we are. I can take that and I can race (Johnson) from there."
Harvick appears to be of essentially the same mindset. He didn't run as well as he thinks he might have at Auto Club Speedway, but managed to avoid a devastating points loss to Johnson.
And like Hamlin, he thinks there are better days to come — a sign that these two could continue to keep the heat up in the Chase.
"It was a good day for our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet team, but it wasn't great," Harvick said. "Our car was good on the long runs, but we struggled a little on restarts, and we had a couple of pit stops that hurt us. I got busted for speeding on pit road, so all of us contributed to that finish. But still, at the end of the day, with all of that, we finished seventh. We need to step it up, and we are still in striking distance in the points battle."
And while those two seem confident that improvement is imminent, Gordon both took the blame for his setback Sunday — but said that his team needed to get better if it expects to battle for the title this year.
If it does, he could remain right in the heart of the battle and be a part of keeping this title race tight this season.
So far, it's been a riveting battle at the front of the field — and it looks like that might not change down the stretch.
"Things are going pretty well for us and we're hanging in there but honestly I think we were anywhere from a third- to a fifth-place car, so to come home ninth, there's no doubt, we need to get better," Gordon said. "There's no doubt. We've got to get better."
