LAST COULD BE BEST IN THIS CHASE.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK MOTOR SPORTS

The way things are going in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Chase for the Championship, the driver who saves his best race for last is going to win this thing.

The race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia on Sunday shuffled up the Chase drivers pretty well. Jeff Burton went from leading the Chase to fifth place.

Matt Kenseth turned an 11th-place finish in the race into a first-place spot in the Chase.

Jimmie Johnson made up four places and sits in third. Kasey Kahne was the only driver to maintain his position in the Chase standings, eighth.

The top eight drivers are separated by 99 points with four races to go.

After the Martinsville race, Kevin Harvick moved into second place in the Chase, 36 points behind Kenseth. And if the driver with the best results late in the season has the advantage, Harvick has to be afavorite to win the Chase.

The race at Phoenix International Raceway is the second-to-last on the schedule. It's a race Harvick won in April.

``We've always run really well at Phoenix, and to have won the race there earlier in the year is something that we're obviously looking forward to,'' said Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Richard Childress Racing. ``I have always run a lot of races at Phoenix, in the Trucks and the Busch cars and Southwest Tour cars and all the different divisions.''

But Phoenix is three weeks away, and the way things have been going, anyone could be leading the Chase when it comes around.

Next up is Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Harvick won the first race of his Cup career in 2001, when he took over the car and team of the late Dale Earnhardt. It was the third start of Harvick's Cup career and a race that is still strong in his memory.

``We have had some fairly good success in Atlanta, obviously winning our first race there,'' Harvick said. ``Under the circumstances that we did, and performed as a team, we won't ever forget that moment, just because of everything that went on. I think when you start thinking about it, it brings those same chills back to you ...''

Harvick said racing in the Chase reminds him of wrestling in high school. The pressure to advance in a wrestling tournament is about equal to progressing through the Chase, he said.

``I'd say that the most intense thing that I've done like this in my life is probably back in high school when we wrestled week to week and you wrestled match to match, just to try to keep going in tournaments,'' Harvick said. ``That would probably be the closest relation that I could come to in the current situation.''

Going back to Atlanta is stirring some emotions in Harvick that he hasn't had in a while. He said preparing for this race, the first one in Atlanta for Harvick as a Chase participant, is similar to his first one five years ago.

``For us I think it lights that fire back up because you want that feeling,'' Harvick said. ``I think this situation is very close to that situation, just in a whole different way. Those are the kind of situations as professionals that you dream about and you look for the opportunity to take those moments and try to capitalize on them.''

Schendel's attempt overshadowed

Tim Schendel, fresh off his win in the NASCAR Elite Division portion of the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway, will attempt to qualify for the Busch Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday.

Schendel, a driver from Sparta, Wis., and the Midwest Series champion, will be driving a Chevrolet owned by Mac Hill Motorsports. He will also no doubt be overshadowed by the Busch Series debut of Juan Pablo Montoya, the Formula One driver and former Indianapolis 500 champion driving for Chip Ganassi.

Montoya is preparing for his first season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. He will be driving for Ganassi and entered in the Daytona500 in February.

Eric Holmes, the only driver in the Showdown to qualify for the Elite Division and Grand National Division races, was on his way to a pair of top-five finishes when he crashed on the last lap of the Grand National race.

Holmes, a driver from Escalon, finished fourth in the Elite Division race dominated by Schendel, who led 112 of the 130 laps.

In the Grand National Division race, Holmes, the West Series champion, was battling Matt Kobyluck and Sean Caisse for the lead. But on the last turn of the race, Holmes and Caisse tangled. Holmes went into the wall. Caisse spun through the turn and held on for a second-place finish.

Holmes never crossed the finish line and went from challenging for the win to 19th-place.

Kobyluck was one of 11 drivers in the Grand National Division race using a new spec engine NASCAR will offer to the West Series and Busch East Series teams in 2007.

The spec engine was introduced this season as a cost-saving alternative for NASCAR Grand National Division teams. NASCAR is touting the engine as an option that includes a closely specified set of components to limit costs, while providing competitive performance and durability.

This was Kobyluck's fourth Showdown start. He finished second in his previous two Showdown races.

``It was an awesome win. When you can compete against 29 other top drivers in the country and pull off a win, it has to be the biggest achievement of my career,'' said the 36-year old Kobyluck, who finished fifth in the 2005 Busch East Series standings. ``We bailed it down into the first corner on the restart and kept it wound up on the outside. There was no way I wasn't going to get this win.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1) Kevin Harvick moved into second place in the Chase standings after last week's race in Martinsville, Va.

Streeter Lecka/Associated Press

(2) SCHENDEL

Box:

(1) THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

(2) Etc.