Auto Racing | NASCAR, fighting drivers meet

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson. Those were the three drivers considered the favorites to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title.

Few gave Jeff Burton a chance and that is what Burton prefers.

Burton thrust himself into title contention Saturday, using savvy pit strategy to win the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and slice into Johnson's points lead on a night several contenders seemingly lost sight of the title.

"Nobody's giving us a chance except for us, and all those guys have a tremendous amount to lose," Burton said. "We've got nothing to lose, and we're just hanging it out there and seeing what happens."

Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw finished second and Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., was seventh of 43.

"We had good track position, that's for sure, but we just didn't have enough to pull it off," Kahne said.

Three poor finishes at the start to the Chase for the Sprint Cup knocked Busch, the regular-season points winner, out of contention.

Edwards is teetering on the edge after a 33rd-place finish Saturday night dropped him to fourth in the standings.

Burton's victory lifted him two spots in the standings to second. He trails Johnson by 69 points with five races to go in the 10-race Chase.

"We're just having fun. We're paying attention to us," Burton said. "We're not going to get caught up in this. We're paying attention to it, but we're not going to get caught up in it. If we don't win the championship, our year is not a failure. We weren't one of the teams that set that bar up there."

Johnson, seeking a third consecutive title, finished sixth and insisted he never counted out Burton as a major contender.

"He's always been on my radar screen," Johnson said. "He's been doing this a long time."

Kahne is not among the 12 drivers eligible for the Chase. Biffle is third in the Chase standings, 86 points behind Johnson.

The night was a disaster for several Chase contenders.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fared worse than Edwards, finishing 36th after his tire exploded a lap before he planned to head to pit road to have his tires changed. He is 10th in the standings.

Matt Kenseth was in a wreck and finished 41st to drop to 11th in the standings.

Notes

• Photographs of a scuffle between drivers Edwards and Kevin Harvick show a more physical confrontation than witnesses described, with Edwards at one point grabbing Harvick by the throat.

The NASCAR standouts argued during Thursday's practice when Edwards confronted Harvick in his garage stall at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The photographs, obtained Saturday by The Associated Press, show the drivers clutching each other as their conversation grew heated.

Both Edwards and Harvick were called before top NASCAR officials before the start of Saturday night's race to discuss their feud. "NASCAR just wanted to make sure everything is cool, and they left here walking side by side together and talking," spokesman Jim Hunter said. "We just wanted to hear them say 'it's over' and they did."

• Renault's Fernando Alonso won the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix in Oyama for his second consecutive victory.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren finished 12th and Felipe Massa of Ferrari was eighth after the two collided on the second lap.