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RICHMOND, Va. — Dodging motorized lift gates and moving cars in the Richmond International Raceway garage Saturday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't seem downtrodden despite missing the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
Answering questions from an endless wave of media that included three live TV crews and a couple dozen radio and print reporters, NASCAR's most popular driver already had found a positive.
"At least I don't have to do it in New York," Earnhardt said.
The notorious late-riser won't be heeding a crack-of-dawn wake-up call Thursday in the Big Apple, where the 12 drivers who finished ahead of Earnhardt in the standings will hit the talk show circuit for the annual pre-Chase promotional blitz.
Then it's off to New Hampshire International Speedway for a 10-race championship showcase that promises to be the most competitive Chase yet.
"It's a really stout field," said Jimmie Johnson, whose Chevy Rock & Roll 400 victory Saturday completed a sweep at Richmond this season. "You're seeing a lot of teams hitting their stride."
Johnson begins his title defense having won back-to-back races to claim the championship lead on a series-high six wins (worth 10 bonus points apiece in reseeding the Chase field). He is 20 points ahead of Jeff Gordon, who finished the 26-race regular season with a 312-point lead and four wins.
Tony Stewart, Saturday's runner-up, trails Gordon by 10 points after winning three of the past eight. Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch join Gordon, Johnson and Stewart to make it five former champions in the Chase.
Busch made the biggest leap when the points were reset, jumping five spots to fifth on the strength of victories at Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway last month. But an impressive second-half surge suddenly seemed in jeopardy on Lap 242 of 400 at Richmond. The rear sheet metal on his No. 2 Dodge was twisted in a three-car collision.
"Our heart was beating a thousand mph after that," Busch said. "We checked, and everything was OK."
Kevin Harvick emerged unscathed and unnerved even though steam began spewing from his engine after he drove through the infield to avoid the wreck. The plume dissipated — as did a large ovation from a capacity crowd of 112,000 — after his crew dislodged chunks of sod from the No. 29 Chevy's front end.
"It actually ran cooler the rest of the night," said Harvick, who rebounded for seventh to clinch the final Chase berth. "Most of the crowd wears red, so that's why they were excited."
The pro-No. 8 faction still had plenty to cheer. Needing at least a fifth for even a shot, Earnhardt ran in the top five most of the second half before his motor expired with five laps to go. It was the fifth engine failure for Earnhardt, who said he deserved to end his final season at Dale Earnhardt Inc. in the Chase.
"I'd say 90% of the time we run in the top five, and we weren't doing that three years ago," said Earnhardt, who will leave his late father's team for Hendrick Motorsports next season and is trying to extend a streak of seven consecutive seasons with a win. "I promised these last several races that we owed it to ourselves to race hard. It would really be foolish and uncharacteristic for my team to sort of skip along the rest of this year and ride it out."
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