Wide open

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Forget Brian Vickers slamming Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson at Talladega, and forget the wrecks and mechanical failures at Lowe's.

If there is going to be one race that could prove more pivotal than any other on the path to the Nextel Cup championship, it could be Sunday's wreck-fest here at Martinsville Speedway.

The one true wild-card event in the final five races of the Chase, Sunday's Subway 500 did more to shake up the standings than any other Chase race thus far – and maybe more than all that will follow.

"I don't think the trouble is done," race winner Jimmie Johnson said. "Everybody's still going to have trouble from here on out. It's going to be the headlines on Monday morning."

As for the Monday morning after Martinsville, the headlines will cry that the Chase suddenly is a brand new ballgame.

The main reason? Jeff Burton.

Burton came into the race as the points leader, but after experiencing engine failure less than halfway through, he left south central Virginia in fifth place, 48 points behind new series leader Matt Kenseth.

Burton's troubles allowed the points race to tighten and drivers like Johnson to vault right back in the thick of the championship battle. Johnson jumped four positions to third in the rankings and now sits just 41 points behind Kenseth – well-positioned to try and repeat his dramatic Chase comeback in 2004, only this time with a slightly better result.

Kasey Kahne also benefited from Burton's bad day. Kahne, who slowly has been working his way back from being 185 points behind three weeks ago, may not have moved up in the standings – he remains eighth with four races now remaining – but in finishing seventh, he did closing the gap between himself and the points leader from 160 points going into Martinsville to just 99 points leaving it.

Not everyone was able to take full advantage of Burton's troubles, however.

Mark Martin survived both Talladega and Charlotte and came into Martinsville in fourth place, and he was poised for a top-10 or at least a top-15 finish. But late mechanical issues played a part in Martin finishing back in 24th and dropping him three places to seventh in the standings. Still, he actually closed the margin between him and the points leader from 102 to 96 points.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also let an opportunity slip away, as he was on pace to leave Martinsville as high as second or third in the standings with a top-10 finish, but he spun out with 27 laps left and went on to finish 22nd, his second-worst finish in the Chase thus far.

That so many leaders coming into Sunday had issues substantially tightened up the standings heading to next Sunday's speed-fest at Atlanta. Right now, only 99 points separate Kenseth from eighth-ranked Kahne.

In other words, we have a real championship battle.

The Chase looked like it might evolve into a two- or three-driver shootout but suddenly has become a wide-open affair. Even ninth-ranked Jeff Gordon (141 points back) and 10th-ranked Kyle Busch (171 back) still are mathematically in it.

"I think there's been more off-the-wall things going on in this Chase than the last two I've been a part of," Johnson said. "I wish I could help people predict what the future holds but I don't think anybody knows, and I don't think we're going to know until the last lap at Homestead who the champion is going to be."

Yes, a Chase that a week ago looked like something which might degenerate into Brian's folly – as in NASCAR chairman Brian France – has done a 180-degree turn. But setting up a potentially dramatic four-race run to the championship hasn't exactly been pretty.

"[The Chase] has been pretty sloppy so far," Kenseth said. "There's been some guys who have run real good, but everybody's had a little bit of trouble. … It's still pretty wide open. It's going to be exciting, I think, coming down to the last race."

The numbers back that up, as this is the closest the top five have ever been after six events in the Chase, with just 48 points separating Kenseth from fifth-ranked Burton. The margin in 2004, when Kurt Busch beat Johnson by just eight points to win the title, was 224 points. Last year that number was 149.

So what exactly does this all mean?

"There's four races left; a lot can happen," Johnson said. "I don't think anybody is going to sleep well over these next four races."