And then there were 3!  Just Bristol, California, and Richmond remain.  The 3M Performance 400 is in the books, and it's going to be "do or die" for those not in the top 5 in points.  Some drivers had the great run they needed today, others took the plunge.  This race really shook up the Top 12, and left Denny Hamlin with just a 26-point lead over 13th.

Brian Vickers led the field down for the green flag, but didn't even lead the first lap.  Jimmie Johnson led the first 8 before teammate Dale Jr. passed him and left him in the dust.  Vickers would end the day with a solid finish though, not so much for the HMS boys.  It was no surprise that Roush-Fenway Racing had the best day of all the teams, after all, Roush has had at least 1 win in the 2 Michigan Cup Series races dating back to 2002, and the streak stayed alive today when Carl Edwards backflipped in celebration of getting "one for the thumb" with his 5th victory of the season.

Right off the bat, Sam Hornish gave the turn 2 wall a kiss and bottlenecked at least the first 10 cars behind him for a lap.  Thankfully he got back up to speed and there was no huge wreck like he was a part of last weekend.

Last week's hero, Marcos Ambrose, sadly brought out the first caution of the day before lap 20 with a blown engine.  He started 43rd and finished 3rd last Sunday in Watkins Glen, today he finished 43rd after completing just 19 laps.  At this point, Carl Edwards was already flying up through the field.

Jimmie Johnson got the lead following pit stops under the caution for Ambrose's smoke screen, but once again Dale Jr. went right back past him...umm, so much for the comments from the guys in the booth about a teammate deal to let Dale Jr. lead a lap like Shrub did for Smoke last week.  Johnson obviously let the 88 go by because he had the better car, and knew not to push the envelope so early in the race.  Sometimes I wonder if they're daydreaming up in the broadcast booth.

Anyways, back to the action where Jeff Gordon has a slice in his tire...ruh-roh.  In the meantime, Dale Jr. has some garbage on the grille and is about to start boiling water...thank you Team Red Bull though as Jr. loses the paper when Vickers passes him for the lead and Jr. is able to draft off him to send the paper off the grille, probably onto the front of someone else's car.

By lap 60, 2 Roushketeers are in the top 10 and Kenseth is knocking on the door in 11th...cue green flag pit stops.  Shortly after pit stops, Menard, Newman, and Blaney decide to play some pinball.  Blaney of course gets the short straw as usual and spins around.  If this guy could ever catch a break he'd be able to do some damage in this series.  During pit stops, Scott Riggs stays out to get his 5 bonus points.  Even though he won't be racing for Stewart-Haas next year, at least he's making a good effort to make sure either Tony Stewart or Ryan Newman doesn't have to qualify on time for the first 5 races of 2009, what a great act of sportsmanship to show you still care about the team that's kicking you out!

During the pit stops, Kenseth's crew takes out a spring rubber, Dale Jr.'s crew adjusts the bar...the track bar for all you alcoholics that thought I meant something else, and Gordon's crew loses their nuts...err, their lugnuts!

After he pits, Carl Edwards inherits the lead...yep, you heard right, Roushketeer alert on lap 88!  After the restart, Biffle takes the lead, but Edwards gets it right back a lap later.  AHEM, attention ESPN booth guys, THIS was the teammate deal like we saw from Busch and Stewart last week!

During this Roush teammate lead exchange, the big incident of the day happens a little further back in the field.  Running 3-wide are Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart.  3 former champions who all know Michigan is a wide race track, yet they still manage to hit each other making a Gordon sandwich.  Johnson has to pit for a tire rub, while Roush continues to impress, now with 4 of their 5 drivers in the top 6!  Jamie McMurray is the furthest back of the 5 Roush boys in 19th.

5 laps after Jimmie Johnson's untimely pit stop for a tire rub, Jeff Gordon brings out caution #3 as he blows the right front tire and goes on a bee-line for the outside wall.  Gordon goes to the garage for repairs as the field comes down pit road once again.  Don't look now, but Denny Hamlin is a-comin'.  He started 37th and is all the way up to 10th.  Yeah, I know Carl Edwards started pretty far back and is leading, but he started 27th, 10 spots further forward than Hamlin.  So Denny has picked off one more spot than Carl...HA!

The action settles down a little bit, as it usually does in Michigan.  Again we see green flag pit stops...and lead change, lead change, lead change....oh and a couple more lead changes until Cousin Carl gets back in front once pit stops conclude...BUT, Shrub catches and passes Edwards for the lead.  Don't worry, Edwards would have the last laugh.

The caution comes out for just the 4th time on lap 164.  Yep, cautions at Michigan are few and far between.  There's so much room to pass and so mcuh side-by-side racing that you can run 3-wide and still have room, which is why you usually don't see an incident like the one between the 20, 24, and 48.  Speaking of the 24, he most likely brought out this caution for debris when he started shedding parts.

Brian Vickers gets out first after pit stops, but Shrub quickly takes the lead back.  10 laps later another debris caution.  Ragan and Dale Jr. stay out and are running 1-2 respectively.  With 17 laps to go, the 88 bounces off the wall and eventually causes another debris caution, but not until Edwards passes both the 88 and the 6 to retake the lead.

Carl Edwards then sees Kyle Busch and David Ragan starting to battle for 2nd in his mirror.  Just as he thinks to himself "keep doing that, and I'll drive off into the sunset," Denny Hamlin blows up.  Edwards does hold off Kyle Busch for the win though, and Jimmie Johnson goes through the spin cycle coming to the finish.

It was a great day for Roush-Fenway Racing, as all 5 drivers finished in the top 10, 4 of them in the top 5 surrounding Kyle Busch.  Edwards scored win #5, David Ragan tied his career best finish of 3rd, Greg Biffle finally finished up front where he should be with a solid 4th-place run, and Mr. Cool Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 5.  Jamie McMurray wound up in 10th, completing a Roushketeer stomping at the track where the organization has made at least 1 Cup Series trip to victory lane for 7 straight years.

Here's the standings after the 3M Performance 400, and who's already locked into the Chase.  With just 3 races left, if you're not in the top 5 in points, you better get yourself in gear and make a stand, or you'll be on the outside looking in after Richmond! 

1. Kyle Busch - IN
2. Carl Edwards (-222) - IN
3. Jimmie Johnson (-302)
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (-345)
5. Jeff Burton (-349)
6. Tony Stewart (-558) +1 
7. Greg Biffle (-575) +3
8. Kevin Harvick (-617) +3
9. Jeff Gordon (-638) -3
10. Matt Kenseth (-646) +2
11. Kasey Kahne (-673) -3
12. Denny Hamlin (-694) -3
============================
13. Clint Bowyer (-720)
14. David Ragan (-720)
15. Brian Vickers (-860) +2
16. Martin Truex Jr. (-895)
17. Ryan Newman (-905) -2

Now it's time to crunch some numbers.  The most amount of points you can pick up between 1st and 43rd in a race is 161.  Multiply that by 3, and that give you 483.  That means Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards are officially locked into the Chase, as Busch is 720 ahead of 13th, and Edwards is 498 ahead of 13th.  Johnson is 418 ahead of 13th, Earnhardt Jr. is 375 ahead of 13th, and Burton is 371 ahead of 13th.  After next week, the magic number with 2 races remaining will be 322.  Anyone at least 322 points ahead of 13th after Bristol will be locked into the Chase.  Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., and Burton are all ahead of that mark right now.  They're all more than a full race margin ahead of 6th place Tony Stewart, so they'll all remain in the top 5 after Bristol no matter what happens.  However, they'd all like to have a strong run and lock themselves in.  Then they can all just go for the win in California and Richmond knowing they're already into the Chase.

Keep it tuned to The Blitzburgh Pit Stop all week, your home for NASCAR on the Q.

BK over and out