Out of reach?

CONCORD, N.C. – The victorious burnout smoke billowed, the cheers reverberated and Kasey Kahne pumped his fist in the air in triumph.

That's the good news from Kahne's victory in Saturday night's Bank of America 500 here at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

The bad? Kahne was only able to cut a measly 25 points off the margin between himself and points leader Jeff Burton (who finished third Saturday), picking up just one position in the standings.

Now eighth in the standings, Kahne still finds himself 160 points behind Burton with just five races remaining in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"We're making ground," Kahne said in victory lane. "We're down to 160. We've cut [the previous 273-point deficit] about in half."

Unfortunately for Kahne, 25-point gains just aren't enough to win the championship. Even if he picks up 25 points on Burton in each of the remaining five Chase races, he'd still come up far short.

But this is not just about Kahne. It's also a testament to the consistency that Burton has displayed over the last four races of the Chase. No matter what challenges have been thrown at him – even the disappointing 27th-place finish last week at Talladega – Burton still remains the man in command.

"[Burton is] running well enough that if they don't make mistakes, the likelihood of people catching them, it's just not going to happen," said Kahne's boss, team owner Ray Evernham.

And there are plenty of drivers trying to catch him. But with Burton finishing third, the strong efforts from the likes of Kahne, runner-up Jimmie Johnson and fourth-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. essentially went for naught.

"We didn't get to gain on the ice man, Jeff Burton," Earnhardt said. "They are there every week, doing a great job. You have to pull for them a little bit to win the championship."

Added Johnson, "I'm only 146 [points] out. I only made up 10 points, but it is 10 points."

And if Burton does slip, 10 points could make all the difference in the world. Lest anyone think otherwise, flash back to 2004 when Kurt Busch defeated Johnson by a mere eight points – the smallest championship-winning margin in Cup history.

The next opportunity for the field to gain on Burton is Martinsville, where wild affairs usually unfold once the green flag falls. And Kahne is going to remain optimistic that he can continue his upward climb.

"We've had some rough weekends and great weekends," Kahne said. "This was a great weekend. Hopefully we'll have another great weekend next week at Martinsville."

Kahne is singing a much different tune than he did a few weeks ago when he recorded finishes of 38th (Dover) and 33rd (Kansas), relegating him to 10th place in the Chase. He believed his championship chances were gone just three races into NASCAR's "playoffs."

"Things happen, you're mad, you say 'Yeah, we're out,'" he said Saturday. "But I mean, we're in it as much as anybody. … We just have to have good luck and other people have to have tough breaks."

And several Chasers, including Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin, endured tough breaks Saturday, with Gordon and Kyle Busch (who did finish top-10) being all but eliminated from title contention – partly thanks to another strong run by Burton.

"You are basically not gaining on Burton, but we are coming down to where we are taking guys out of it," said Tony Eury Jr., Earnhardt's crew chief. "That's the biggest thing. … Burton is going to have to have trouble for somebody to catch him."

Even Burton concedes that.

"We're one race away [from downfall], in my opinion," said Burton, who leads second-place Matt Kenseth by 45 points. "We've had at least one less bad-luck race than Jimmie and Kasey and those guys. If we have another one and they don't, then they'll be right there with us.

"We've done a nice job of positioning ourselves, but at the same time I'm pretty sure Jimmie and Kasey and Mark Martin and all those guys aren't just going to say, 'He's got the lead so we'll give him the championship."

The reality of being unable to catch Burton if he maintains the same type of consistency that Kenseth rode all the way to the Cup championship in 2003 is not lost on those who are trying everything they can to run him down.

"If he keeps running great races, you're not going to be able to catch him," said Kahne, whose win was his series-leading sixth this season.

But, Earnhardt cautioned, "[Burton] is not indestructible," a sentiment echoed by the current points leader himself.

"In this sport, five races to go is a long time," Burton said. "You can go from having all your stuff together and really feeling good about yourself to really figuring you can't run a lick. We're not going to take ourselves too seriously just yet.

"We still have a lot of work to do, and you know anything can happen. I just hope that we can keep yielding [good] results."

No matter how the next five races turn out, one thing is certain:

"There's no doubt [trying to overtake Burton is] a big challenge," Johnson said. "It's going to be a tough order."