On the last lap in what was the debut race for NASCAR’s Gen-6 race car, Harvick blocked Stewart on the inside and moved back up the track to block Biffle, who was perilously close to sending Harvick’s No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet into the fence.

Biffle ran second, Joey Logano took third, and Stewart — his momentum broken by Harvick’s block — finished fourth. Matt Kenseth finished fifth in his first competition for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Harvick’s victory was his third in five races, following back-to-back wins in 2009 and 2010. Though Harvick will leave RCR at the end of the season to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing next year, he said the impending job change is of no consequence on the track.

“I think it’s one of those deals, where, for us, it’s about winning races,” Harvick said in Victory Lane. “The politics and everything are one thing, but when we get to the race track, it’s about sitting in this race car, making it as fast as it will go.”

Harvick may not have had the fastest car — in fact, he thought the Stewart’s Chevy SS and Kenseth’s Camry were slightly better — but he made the critical moves at precisely the right times, particularly when it came to blocking Biffle.

“In the middle segment, I could tell that Biffle was backing up and trying to time what his move was going to be as we got further into the segment,” Harvick said. “So I was working on my timing to kind of back up and block that.

“Those guys (Biffle and Logano) were coming on the outside, and I don’t know if the 14 (Stewart) and the 16 (Biffle) were side-by-side, but I just felt like I needed to move up and block that momentum, and we were able to block two of those moves.”

Biffle said he thought about trying the outside lane entering the final corner but wasn’t sure he had enough room.

“I thought about sticking it in there, and it just didn’t look like it was going to work to me,” Biffle said. “It looked like it would be sparks and parts flying. He shut the door on the top. That’s what Kevin needed to do to win the race. I looked in the mirror and didn’t have anyone pushing me.”

An incident-free 25-lap second segment, won by Harvick over Biffle, set the starting order for the final 20-lap dash for the victory. By the end of the segment both Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had lost touch with the 10-car pack ahead of them, but caution between the second and final segments bunched the field for a restart on Lap 56 of 75.

The first segment, on the other hand, featured plenty of action.

On Lap 15, the halfway point, a nine-car incident ruined the winning chances of nearly a third of the field. Stewart turned down across the nose of Marcos Ambrose’s Ford near the apex of Turns 1 and 2. Stewart saved his No, 14 Chevrolet, but drivers behind him checked up, seeing sparks trailing from the rear of Stewart’s car.

The ensuing wreck destroyed the cars of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota was nicked in the melee, but he was able to continue, as were Stewart and Ambrose.

In fact, Stewart’s car was fast to enough to take the lead on the final lap of the first segment, and he held it to the finish line. During the planned caution between segments, the 12 remaining cars came to pit road for mandatory four-tire stops — a requirement dictated by a fan vote.

Fans voted to set the starting lineup for the race according to the chronological order in which drivers won their poles. That put 2012 Daytona 500 pole winner Edwards in the top starting spot and Martin, winner of the pole at Phoenix the following week, on the outside of the front row.

Both Edwards and Martin, however, had to drop to the rear for the start, because neither driver practiced his back-up car after a wreck in Friday’s opening Sprint Unlimited practice forced a change of equipment. Accordingly, Kasey Kahne led the field to green, with Biffle beside him.

Blickensderfer replaces Mike Ford, who served as crew chief of the No. 9 team without a contract. Ford is said to have been offered a crew chief job at BK Racing.

Luke Lambert, crew chief of RCR’s No. 2 Nationwide Series team and driver Elliott Sadler, will take over as crew chief of the No. 31 Sprint Cup team in 2013.

In the interim, Shane Wilson will serve as crew chief for Burton and the No. 31.

Team owner Richard Childress said:

I want to thank Drew for all of his effort with the No. 31 Caterpillar team this season. He’s a great crew chief and I can’t say enough about his dedication to RCR. Making the move now, before the season is over, gives Drew some additional time to pursue other opportunities.

The team will also continue its deals with Roush Fenway Racing and Roush-Yates Engine.

The team still plans to field two Cup teams and a Nationwide team. RPM is working on re-signing Aric Almirola and Ambrose. Michael Annett should be back in the No. 43 N’Wide entry.

Related Stories

• Burton, Ambrose Get New Crew Chiefs
• Ford ‘Very Close’ To Re-Signing RPM
• RPM Swaps Crews; Considering A Switch To Chevy?
• RPM: Dodge Approached Us To Run 2013 Charger

Ambrose will now have Mike Ford atop the pit box, while Almirola will have Todd Parrott as his crew chief.

The goal of this move is to strengthen both teams.

RPM competition director Sammy Johns said:

We’re continuing to make improvements at Richard Petty Motorsports and we’ve added talented people to our organization this season. This move is to make sure that we are using that talent to the fullest to get the best results for our teams each weekend. We feel this adjustment will strengthen the organization, allow us to continue to compete for wins and ultimately challenge for championships.

Parrott said:

Aric has really shown the desire and dedication to get his first Sprint Cup Series win. It was great our team helped lead Marcos to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win and poles. We are now ready to help direct Almirola and the #43 team to the same results and better.

Ford said:

Marcos is a racer who has proven to win poles and races. Our goal is to take my experiences and make sure we can consistently run up front and continue to win races.

In related news, FoxSports.com is reporting that RPM officials met with people from Richard Childress Racing about becoming a satellite organization to RCR, which would mean a switch from Ford to Chevy.

Team owner Richard Petty said:

No comment on anything because I don’t have a clue what’s going on. When we get everything squared away, we’ll talk to you. Other than that, there ain’t nothing. There ain’t nothing there ’til we bring something there, and right now we have nothing.

Denny Hamlin saved his best effort for the stretch run in Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and his persistence paid off with the No. 11 team’s third win of the season in 24 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

“It’s Bristol — I don’t know what to say, man,” Hamlin said as he crossed the finish line. “I’m so damn happy.”

But it wasn’t the same Bristol that played to half-empty grandstands in March. On the contrary, grinding two degrees of banking off the outside lane — a project orchestrated after the March race — helped produce an abundance of action, but perhaps not in the way track owner Bruton Smith intended.

After a heated battle, Hamlin passed Carl Edwards for the lead on Lap 462 but didn’t clear the No. 99 Ford until both drivers traded shots. As Edwards faded, Hamlin pulled away to beat Jimmie Johnson to the checkered flag by 1.103 seconds.

Jeff Gordon ran third, followed by Brian Vickers and Marcos Ambrose.

Greg Biffle (19th Saturday), Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (12th) clinched berths in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

On the newly ground surface at the .533-mile short track, the race featured 13 cautions and plenty of emotion, as drivers began to rubber-in the outside groove and discovered it was the fastest way around.

To Hamlin, the racing was similar to the old Bristol — just that cars ran single-file in the top groove instead of on the bottom of the track.

“It’s just a different kind of racing,” said Hamlin, who won the 20th Cup race of his career and the record 200th for the No. 11. “There’s nothing (Smith is) going to do that’s going to make us run the bottom, if that’s not the fastest way around the track. But it was the same thing — we were all running in a line. You’re just waiting for the next guy to screw up to get around (him).

“That’s what we had to do with the old Bristol, and that’s exactly how we had to race today. The slide job was an option to pass, which won us the race. I don’t think we saw as much side-by-side racing, but you didn’t see side-by-side racing with the old Bristol. You just saw a bunch of cars in line, waiting for someone to get knocked out of the way or to mess up.”

There were plenty of flare-ups to punctuate the racing. Juan Pablo Montoya wrecked his old nemesis, Ryan Newman, and dropped him out of a provisional wild-card spot. Brad Keselowski’s Dodge with the throwback paint scheme pinballed between three different cars before wrecking.

Contact from Regan Smith sent Danica Patrick hard into the frontstretch wall.

“The pace was fast,” said Gordon, who inched closer to a wild-card spot in the Chase but still trails Kyle Busch by 16 points for the second of two positions. “You’d fly up around the top like that with all that rubber down. . . . It was fast, and it was intense.

“The only way you could pass was to just dive on in there and slide-job the guy, and sometimes you don’t complete that. And when you don’t complete that, it definitely will get you frustrated and (you) lose positions, and if you hit the guy, it’s going to fire him up.”

No wreck was more significant to the outcome of the race — or to the Cup standings, for that matter — than Tony Stewart’s dust-up with Matt Kenseth on Lap 332. Stewart had the faster car, but Kenseth had the race lead, and their cars collided as they powered through Turn 4, with Stewart to the outside.

Repeated contact between the cars turned both sideways as they crossed the start/finish line. Kenseth’s Ford careened into the inside wall at the end of the frontstretch, with Stewart’s Chevrolet slamming into Kenseth’s car.

Kenseth’s car was wounded, but he drove away from the wreck. Stewart climbed from his car and slung his helmet squarely into the nose of Kenseth’s car.

“We weren’t that great of a race car, but we were definitely faster than that (Kenseth’s car) after that restart (on Lap 329),” Stewart said while his car spent 25 laps in the garage for repairs. “I checked up twice to not run over him, and I learned my lesson there.

“I’m going to run over him every chance I’ve got from now till the end of the year — every chance I’ve got.”

Stewart finished 27th and dropped a spot to 10th in the standings, 16 points ahead of Kasey Kahne in 11th. If Stewart should drop out of the top 10, he won’t get bonus points for his three victories when the Chase starts.

Kenseth finished 25th and fell two spots to fourth in points, but he clinched at least a wild-card berth in the Chase.

The wreck with Smith on Lap 434 relegated Patrick to 29th in her fourth Cup start. Patrick, who was sandbagged by a sneaker in last week’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Montreal, was running on the lead lap in the top 20 before the other shoe finally dropped.

Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing and Ford Motor Company all celebrated the end of a drought Sunday with Biffle’s victory in the Pure Michigan 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

With his third victory at the 2-mile track, his second of the season and the 18th of his career, Biffle broke a seven-race dry spell for both Ford and owner Jack Roush at MIS. Biffle also grabbed the points lead from Jimmie Johnson, who finished 27th after his engine failed in the closing laps.

Brad Keselowski tried to catch Biffle during a two-lap run to the finish but fell .416 seconds short, taking second in a photo finish over fast-closing Kasey Kahne. Dale Earnhardt Jr. came home fourth, followed by Marcos Ambrose.

The victory was the 12th at Michigan for Roush as a car owner, breaking a tie with the Wood Brothers. It also gave Biffle the confidence to declare himself a contender for the series championship.

“We’re going to make a run at the title,” Biffle promised. “I know they don’t talk about us a lot, but they will when we get to [Las] Vegas [site of the postseason Sprint Cup awards banquet].”

Biffle leads teammate Matt Kenseth (17th Sunday) by 20 points with three races remaining before the Chase for the Sprint Cup field is set at Richmond. Earnhardt is third, 22 points back, and Johnson fell from first to fourth, trailing Biffle by 28 points.

It was Earnhardt who gave Biffle the push he needed on the final restart on Lap 200.

“Junior gave me a huge push for that win,” Biffle said. “I have to thank him for that. I saw Brad laying back [on the restart] like always, and he got a little jump on me.”

But the push did the trick and got Biffle to the front. He cleared Keselowski through Turn 2 and kept the No. 2 Dodge at bay the rest of the way, disappointing Michigan native Keselowski.

“This is my home track,” said Keselowski, who has finished second in two consecutive Cup races. “I want to win here just as bad as I want to win a race in the Chase — probably more. There was a stretch where I felt like we were going to win it. I had some goosebumps going on.

“But it wasn’t meant to be, and I’m still very proud of the effort. … I just want to get that one more spot. I want to win races, and we’ve been running solid — and I’m proud of that — but we want that one more spot, too.”

Johnson took the lead from Keselowski on Lap 191, but four laps later his engine expired, handing the lead to Biffle, who had passed Keselowski for the second spot on Lap 192. NASCAR called a caution for oil in the tri-oval, the result of Johnson’s engine failure.

That set up a restart that sent the race one lap past its scheduled distance of 200 laps.

Pole-sitter Mark Martin suffered a vicious hit on Lap 64, when his No. 55 Toyota slammed into the butt end of the pit road wall at an opening to the garage. Martin was an innocent victim of a wreck involving Juan Montoya and Bobby Labonte, who spun off Turn 4 in front of the race leader.

Kahne spun alongside Martin and slid through the grass but suffered no significant damage and rallied for a top-five finish.

Keselowski had grabbed the lead in Turn 2 of the final circuit at the 2.45-mile road course, after he knocked Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota for a loop, with both cars sliding through a patch of oil on the asphalt.

Ambrose, who scored the second win of his Sprint Cup Series career and his second in a row at the Glen, caught Keselowski moments later, and the two drivers battled side-by-side through the grass at the inner loop and through Turn 5 and beyond.

Ambrose’s No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford finally cleared Keselowski’s No. 2 Dodge in the last corner as Keselowski slipped in oil to the outside. Ambrose got to the finish line .571 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Jimmie Johnson finished third and took over the series lead by one point over Greg Biffle, who wound up sixth. Clint Bowyer was fourth, followed by Sam Hornish Jr., Biffle and Busch.

“It was just absolutely crazy at the end,” Ambrose said. “I shot back up on the inside of Brad [in Turn 7] and put him on the oil, and we snapped through for the win.

“A big shout-out to NASCAR. A lot of guys are going to say, ‘Should they have thrown a caution, or should they not?’ but no one wants to see these races end under caution or bunched back up in these two-by-twos [double-file restarts], making a random finish. We had the three fastest cars duking it out for the win. That’s the way it should be, and I think they did the right call.”

Solidly in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with three victories and the fifth-place spot in the Cup standings, Keselowski enjoyed the quality of racing over the final lap, even though he came out on the short end.

“It just came down to who was going to slip up last, and I did, and he got by me and won the race,” Keselowski said. “But a good show — good beating and banging, and that’s the way racing’s supposed to be.

“Just real proud of that race, proud that there is a class-act guy like Marcos that can race that way without losing his cool and intentionally wrecking somebody. That’s really cool.”

Opinion was divided on whether the race should have continued with oil on the track, a condition several drivers attributed to the No. 47 Toyota of Bobby Labonte. The oil was particularly insidious because it was difficult to see.

“Those last two laps were just out of control with the oil down,” Johnson said. “You’re studying the road, trying to see if you can see an oil trail, and there really wasn’t a large visible one to dodge. But you could feel the oil on your tires, and slipping and sliding, and then guys are spinning all over.

“It was chaos, but I’m glad we got back to the finish line.”

Tony Stewart finished 19th, on the bottom end of a roller-coaster day. Starting from the rear of the field for dragging a gas can from his pits under caution on Lap 27, Stewart charged toward the front and was running second to Keselowski when he spun in Turn 7 on Lap 72 and backed his No. 14 Chevy into the guardrail.

That left Keselowski and Ambrose to restart 1-2 on Lap 75 in the 90-lap race, but before the two front-row cars cleared the first corner, Busch took them three-wide to the inside and grabbed the lead. After a protracted battle with Keselowski, Ambrose took over the second position on Lap 81 but couldn’t gain ground on the race winner.

Keselowski retook the second position in Turn 5 on Lap 89 — and then the fireworks started.

Johnson leads Biffle by one point and eighth-place finisher Matt Kenseth by two.

A late spin dropped Dale Earnhardt Jr. to 28th at the finish and cost him the points lead. He’s now fourth, 17 points behind Johnson.

Jeff Gordon spun in oil on the final lap and came home 21st, surrendering the second provisional Chase wild card spot to Ryan Newman, who ran 11th.

As he completed the final lap of his victory in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Brad Keseloswki needled Paul Wolfe, his crew chief.

“Paul, are you nervous?” Keselowski radioed to Wolfe, his voice exuding of confidence. As he crossed the finish line six car-lengths in front of runner-up Matt Kenseth, Keselowski allowed himself an excited whoop.

The driver of the No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge scored his second straight win at the .533-mile short track and the fifth of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career.

Martin Truex Jr. came home third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers, as Michael Waltrip Racing drivers claimed positions three through five. Vickers scored the top-five in his first Cup action since his contract with Red Bull Racing ended last year.

Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard completed the top 10.

If Keselowski remained cool on the racetrack, criticism for his victory last August definitely made him hot and provided additional motivation for Sunday’s victory.

In last year’s night race, Wolfe picked a pit stall that would allow Keselowski to accelerate out of his pit and gain time and positions before the next timing line. To offset that advantage, NASCAR added two timing lines on each side of pit road for Sunday’s race, shortening the segments between lines.

When Keselowski heard critics say he won the race because of the timing line advantage, it irked him.

“I got on Twitter, and I got kind of PO’d at some people that said I won it because of the timing line,” Keselowski said. “I knew this Blue Deuce was fast enough to win the race last fall with or without timing lines. It feels so good just to prove it here in the spring race.

“This car here, this brand-new car that Penske Racing built — everybody back at the shop did a phenomenal job. The last few races have been really good, and I knew we had a shot at winning one if we closed the deal. Matt didn’t make it easy.”

Keselowski and Kenseth had run away from the rest of the field and were battling for the lead when Tony Stewart’s Chevrolet smacked the Turn 3 wall on Lap 478 to bring out the fifth caution of the race.

Unlike a restart earlier in the race, Keselowksi chose the outside lane for a restart on Lap 484 — after considerable discussion with Wolfe — and cleared Kenseth off the second corner. From there on, it was smooth sailing.

“Yeah, he screwed that up,” Kenseth joked about the lane choice. “He should have started on the bottom for me. Unfortunately, he didn’t. I don’t know. I couldn’t run on the bottom, and Brad was really strong on the bottom of (Turns) 1 and 2.

“I was thinking I could run outside of him (after the restart), but he would roll through there so fast you could never get a run on him. I think he liked the bottom of 1 and 2, but I could never get around on the bottom of 1 and 2, so that was the right thing to do, to start on the top and leave me on the bottom — for him.”

An early wreck wiped out several strong cars, including those of Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose and Kyle Busch. Contact between the Chevrolets of Regan Smith and Kahne — after Kahne’s spotter and cousin Kole Kahne had told the driver he was clear — sent Kahne spinning and triggered the chain-reaction.

The Chevys of Kevin Harvick and Smith also sustained damage. Even Keselowski’s Dodge was nicked in the wreck — but obviously not to his detriment.

Although the crowd did not cheer much when Busch won the race, they did  when he saved his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from near disaster, twice.

On Lap 48, Busch was going through Turn 1 with Jimmie Johnson on his bumper when Busch came down and made slight contact with Johnson. The contact sent Busch sideways as the car shot off sparks. Busch collected it momentarily before going sideways again. Just as the crowd was sure that Busch was about to wreck the entire field, Busch collected it, straighten out and kept on, keeping the field under green.  Needless to say, the fans were in awe of Busch and thankful for his impeccable driving ability.

Later, Jeff Gordon gave Busch a hard shove in the left-rear, sending Busch sliding down to the apron. Gordon then moved up to avoid Busch and made contact with Kurt Busch, who then made contact with Jamie McMurray, sending all three cars into the wall. Kyle Busch again collected his car twice, keeping it from spinning initially. Then, however, on its third attempt, the car did spin, but Busch kept it off the wall and managed to avoid major damage. Gordon, however, wasn’t so lucky. More on that later.

From the drop of the green flag, the race had somewhat of a frantic pace.  After the first big wreck involving David Ragan, Paul Menard, Michael Waltrip and Matt Kenseth, we all knew another big wreck was coming; we just didn’t know when.  On Lap 55, a chain-reaction wreck occurred when Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano got together, collecting pole sitter and front runners Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Matt Kenseth.

With only a few laps remaining in the race, it seemed as if Jeff Gordon and Stewart would be battling for the checkered flag.  On Lap 74, Gordon’s hopes of winning the race went up in the air – literally.  Coming off of Turn 4, Stewart had taken the lead from Gordon when a violent wreck struck, resulting in Gordon barrel rolling down the front stretch.  Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray were also collected in the crash.  Gordon came out of the wreck uninjured. He ended up finishing 15th.

Underdog of the Race

After a rocky and emotional season in 2011, Kurt Busch was thankful to land a ride with James Finch, Phoenix Racing’s No. 51 Chevy.  Phoenix is a single-car operations with limited resources. However, Busch ran near the front for most of the night, until becoming a victim of the wreck on Lap 74.  His driving efforts didn’t go unnoticed, and I believe he will be a driver to watch in the Daytona 500 this weekend — considering he’s got Hendrick horsepower under the hood of his Chevy.

Best Comeback of the Race

Last season Clint Bowyer left Richard Childress Racing to join Michael Waltrip racing’s No. 15 team.  Bowyer started his first race with MWR in 17th position and was soon racing at the front of the pack.  On Lap 31, teammate Martin Truex Jr. gave Bowyer a shove going down the frontstretch, sending Bowyer spinning through the grass.  After overcoming a variety of challenges throughout the race, Bowyer found himself in third for the green-white-checkered finish.  Although he wasn’t able to battle for the win, Bowyer finished the race in eighth position.

Kenseth gave fans excitement after a long, mostly single-file race.  Jimmie Johnson’s late-race accident brought out the caution, giving Kenseth a chance to catch Kyle Busch on the restart.  There was a 12-lap dash to the finish and Kenseth was able to pass Busch and take the checkered flag.  This is Kenseth’s third win of the season, moving him up two positions in standings to third position.  He is now only seven points behind leader Carl Edwards.

Kenseth’s primary sponsor, Crown Royal, is exiting the team at the end of the season, leaving Kenseth without a sponsor for the 2012 season.   Kenseth said in post race interviews, “Crown Royal — it’s not too late to come back. We don’t have any sponsors for next year, so this should be a good audition. And Fluidmaster for being on this week — it was a great night for us.”

Busch wasn’t thrilled to finish in second place, after leading 111 laps during the race.  Busch said after the race, “It’s frustrating, but we’ll take it, and if we can finish second here on out, we might win this deal.”  He has now moved up four positions in standings to fourth place, 18 points behind the leader.

Bad Night for Hendrick Chase Contenders

Dale Earnhardt Jr needed a good finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway to give him any kind of chance at the championship.  After pitting too early and altering his pit strategy, he was then forced to come down pit road for a loose tire.  Earnhardt finished the night in 19th position, one lap down, and even that was a small rally, as he was running two laps down late in the race.  Junior remains ninth in standings and has fallen 60 points behind the leader.

Jeff Gordon finished the race in 21st position after being a part of the first accident of the night, involving Kasey Kahne and David Ragan.  Ragan made an attempt to pass Kasey Kahne on the inside and slid up into Kahne, sending Kahne into Gordon.  Gordon dropped from 10th to 11th in standings and is now 66 points behind the leader.

Coming off his win at Kansas Speedway last week, Jimmie Johnson was one of the drivers predicted to do well at CMS.  Johnson was running in seventh and seemed to be moving towards the front in the closing laps when the unexpected happened.  Johnson got loose inside of the No. 39 car of Ryan Newman. The two made slight contact. Johnson looked as if he was going to save until the car veered towards the outside wall, hitting it nose-first.  The front of his race car was unrepairable, and his race was over. He finished 34th.  Johnson dropped five spots in standings, leaving him eighth position, 35 points behind the leader.

Although mathematically this does not eliminate the HMS drivers, it will be very tough for them to recover from this race.

Underdogs of the Race

For more than half the race, rookie Trevor Bayne was driving his No. 21 car like a veteran.  After qualifying in tenth position in his first Cup race at CMS, Bayne stayed in the top-10 the entire night.  While running in seventh position, he ran out of gas with only 97 laps left in the race.  Instead of finishing the race in the Top 10, he finished in 31st, three laps down.  Team co-owner Eddie Wood said after the race that a problem with the new fuel system is what likely kept them from contending for the win.

Marcos Ambrose celebrated his fifth Top 5 of the season with Richard Petty Motorsports after finishing in fifth position in the Bank of America 500.  He ran in the Top 10 the entire race and overcame many cautions to hold his position on the track.  Ambrose said after the race that he has his “mojo” back.

Chase for the Sprint Cup

The current points standings are as follows: 1. Carl Edwards, 2. Kevin Harvick (-5), 3. Matt Kenseth (-7), 4. Kyle Busch (-18), 5. Tony Stewart (-24), 6. Brad Keselowski (-25), 7. Kurt Busch (-27), 8. Jimmie Johnson (-35), 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr (-60), 10. Ryan Newman (-61), 11. Jeff Gordon (-66), 12. Denny Hamlin (-86).