Kurt Busch becomes a player in Cup Chase

DOVER, Del. - Kurt Busch stormed into contention for a second Cupchampionship, holding off fellow Chase drivers Jimmie Johnson andCarl Edwards to win Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

Edwards and Kevin Harvick share the points lead in the Chase forthe Sprint Cup championship standings after three rounds. Harvick isseeded first because of a tiebreaker.

Round 4 of the Chase is at Kansas Speedway.

Busch pulled away from Johnson after a late restart to win hissecond race of the season. Johnson, the five-time defendingchampion, was second and Edwards was third. Busch moved from ninthto fourth in the standings, only nine points out of first.

Chase drivers Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch were fifth and sixth.Harvick was 10th.

Tony Stewart lost the points lead he built after winning thefirst two Chase races and finished 25th. He fell to third.

Only 15 points separate the top eight drivers. The 400-mile raceonly tightened the leaderboard and no driver has emerged as clear-cut favorite.

Johnson's reign was considered by some to be on the ropes afterfinishing 10th and 18th in the first two Chase races. But his strongfinish on a track where he usually dominates moved him only 13points behind the leaders with seven races remaining.

"Are we out of this?" said Johnson, rubbing his chin with asmile.

Not yet. Not by a long shot.

Non-Chase drivers filled four of the top-10 spots. Kasey Kahnewas fourth, AJ Allmendinger was seventh, Clint Bowyer eighth, andMarcos Ambrose ninth.

Busch made his move off the final restart with 43 laps, leavingJohnson behind on the bottom of the track.

"Giving up a win by not getting a good restart, I'll think aboutit tonight," Johnson said. "But big-picture wise, we'll take it."

Edwards, who won the Dover Nationwide race on Saturday, dominatedmost of the race until a pit road speeding penalty cost him a lap.Without that infraction, Edwards just might have won the race andmade it a weekend sweep.

"I definitely took myself out of position to fight for the win bydoing that,' Edwards said. "It's something that's painful."

Busch opened the Chase with a solid sixth at ChicagolandSpeedway, but struggled at New Hampshire and finished 22nd. He No.22 Dodge started second at Dover and he carried that over intoVictory Lane - and up the standings.

Busch, the 2004 champion, won his 24th career race and for thefirst time at Dover.

AP-WF-10-02-11 2222GMT