From Nascar.com

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Talladega Superspeedway's wild-card event in the Chase had more of an effect on the race for the final two positions in the top 35 of the owners' points than it did on the leading championship contenders.

Robby Gordon Motorsports and TRG Motorsports, with two very workmanlike runs into the top 22 at the finish of the Amp Energy Juice 500 on Sunday, maintained positions 34 and 35 in the owners' standings. In his own No. 7 Toyota, Robby Gordon ran as high as the top five and finished 18th; and Chad McCumbee, in his first start this season in TRG's No. 71 and in only his 10th career start, finished 22nd.

And in the process they've all but eliminated Front Row Motorsports' No. 38 car and Latitude 43 Motorsports' No. 26 from contention for the critical positions that will lock in starting spots in the first five events of next season.

And the competitors that have been figuratively racing for weeks with one eye looking out the windshield and the other focused on the scoring pylon knew what was riding on the outcome of Sunday's race.

"The top 35 is critical to us," TRG owner Kevin Buckler said. "And it was our goal all along. We had a limited number of resources [this season] so we spread out our dollars in an attempt to stay in the top 35. Had we spent a lot of money earlier, we might have run out of money. This was part of a three-year plan for us.

"The first two years we wanted to come into the show -- come to the big poker table and learn the rules of engagement so we'll know what to do. Next year we'll come back with a sponsor, be inside the top 35 and be ready to rock. We know we won't challenge the big teams, but we're looking to be in the top 20 all the time."

McCumbee, who had scored a 17th as his best career finish, two years ago at Pocono, rode around Sunday, lost some laps but gained them back. He was looking for a better finish when the wild, final four-lap sprint left him 20th on the final scoring monitor, but 22nd when the results sheet was shuffled and released after the caution flew on the last lap.

"We finally did get back up there and I thought I was positioned really, really good on that last restart," McCumbee said. "But I knew with them rookie stripes [on the back of his car] -- they hung my behind out pretty quick. So then it was just a case of trying to fight for what you could get, be as aggressive as you could be and it worked out for us."

Gordon was in the same position. He drove up to his hauler after the race and his engine tuner opened the car's hood before a frantic NASCAR official came along and told them to close the hood as the car was selected randomly to be inspected. Gordon's car and engine were one of those that would be brought back to NASCAR's R&D facility in Concord, N.C., for further inspection, and NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said Gordon wouldn't be cited for the minor indiscretion.

But right after the race, Gordon was more concerned about the track's scoreboard showing him in 24th rather than the 18th the final monitor reading had him. After changing out of his uniform, he spent about half an hour alternating between the NASCAR office hauler and the garage where his car had been taken, until Sprint Cup Series director John Darby confirmed his 18th place.

"I wanted those six spots -- we worked hard for them," Gordon said through a smile. "We were better than this all day long, but I'll take it.

"I had one bad pit stop that set us back, but I'd worked back up to seventh or eighth and in the end, I tried to go and nobody went with me. But it was a good points day. We're pretty much locked in for the Daytona 500.

On the pre-race grid, as he worked between his two qualified cars, Front Row team manager Jerry Freeze could only wait until the checkered flag to see how bad their deficit was going to be, after the team's three cars on Friday qualified 42nd, 43rd and 44th out of the 46 at Talladega. Travis Kvapil's No. 38 was the fastest of the three, but he was second slowest of the three go-or-go-home cars that didn't make the race.

"We kind of dug ourselves a bit of a hole with that one, for sure, and we knew -- that's why I was so disappointed about last week [at Martinsville] because we knew we had our backs against the wall to make this race," Freeze said. "We'll have to see what the 7 and the 71 do. If they have a great day, it's probably the nail in the coffin for us."

Their competitors weren't great but after Talladega, Gordon is in 34th place, 14 points ahead of TRG, which is 116 points ahead of Front Row's third car and 217 points clear of Latitude 43.

Since August, Front Row had put a lot of its focus on getting the 38 back in the top 35, where it comfortably sat until it was penalized 150 points in June for illegally modified tire-valve caps. Since Michigan in August, in three different three-race periods, Front Row had made up significant gaps on 35th: 87, 85 and 79 points, respectively.

After the most recent three-race period, which ended at Charlotte, Front Row's car was only five points out of 35th going into Martinsville two weekends ago. But after breaking a rear-end gear there as Kvapil was running well ahead of the 7 and 71, and finishing 35th -- and now the Talladega debacle -- Freeze said the team would reshuffle its plan for the rest of this season.

"Martinsville was a big downer, because we felt like Martinsville was a great track for Travis and our program seems to be somewhat competitive on short tracks," Freeze said. "Martinsville was such a huge letdown because we were so close to getting back in [the top 35] and we thought we could close the deal -- but instead we got farther behind [47 points coming into Talladega].

"We knew this weekend was going to be a challenge, so [breaking the gear] was a huge setback. Bob [Jenkins, team owner] and I talked about it [Sunday] morning and we're still going to run the 38 the last three races and make the best effort with it.

"We talked about which drivers we're going to use for which races, and we may re-strategize that. But it hurts when the guy we feel is our best restrictor-plate racer is sitting at home and we kind of put him in this predicament by him having to run the 38 car this weekend.

"We feel like David Gilliland's our best mile-and-a-half driver and that's who we've got under the gun [at Texas] -- so to think we might be having him sit at home [for the race] is tough, too."

Latitude 43 came into Talladega more than 160 points behind 35th, and from where Bill Elliott was running most of the day, was going to lose more ground anyway. So when Elliott was hit from behind and turned into the inside wall when Marcos Ambrose was spun on the backstretch, resulting in a 40th-place finish, that only added insult to injury.