1. Jimmie Johnson ... 6,149 points
2. Denny Hamlin ... 14 points behind Johnson
3. Kevin Harvick ... 38 points behind Johnson
OK, so let's look at the final laps.
On the restart with 4 laps to go ... Johnson was 2nd, Harvick was 13th and Hamlin was 18th.
With two laps to go ... Harvick was 2nd, Hamlin was 10th and Johnson was 18th.
At the finish: Harvick was 2nd, Johnson was 7th and Hamlin was 9th.
OK, so what does this mean?
In the last two laps Johnson went from 18th to 7th _ that's gaining 37 points. Think about that. Harvick trails Johnson by 38 points. Imagine if Johnson had stayed 18th and Harvick and Hamlin finished where they did.
That said, Harvick went from 13th to 2nd in the last 4 laps. That's a gain of 46 points. That's with a car with its front looking like the nose of a boxer after Marcos Ambrose had spun in front of Harvick earlier in the race and Harvick hit him.
As for Hamlin, he didn't move much. A key, he said, was that he had Mark Martin pushing him but when they passed Johnson, Martin's help went way. It's understandable. As Hamlin said: "As soon as we passed the 48, he stopped pushing and that's teamwork. That's what I would expect of a teammate. We were in a bad spot. We weren't around our teammates when it counted right there at the end.''
Anyway, just think of those moments as these final 3 races play out. Big point swings in the final laps and that could be key as this Chase progresses.