The race to the Chase for the Sprint Cup came down to the very last lap of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Denny Hamlin led the most laps on his home track in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota and took the checkers for his second win of the season.

“They better watch us. This team is dangerous,” Hamlin said in Victory Lane.

Despite Hamlin’s domination during the race, the focus was always on who was in and who was out of the chase.

Going into tonight’s race, former Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth was in the bubble position with only a 20-point advantage over 13th place Brian Vickers. Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer were also in position to possibly make it into the top-12.

Bowyer was eliminated early and Kenseth struggled from the beginning, but Busch and Vickers battled throughout the event for that coveted 12th place berth.

In the end, Vickers got the spot by 8 points over Busch, the smallest margin in the history of the Chase.

As Vickers crossed the start/finish line in 7th place, two spots behind Busch who finished 5th, he knew he had the Chase spot and he showed his excitement over his radio with a very enthusiastic “hell yeah”.

“It was team determination,” he said of the effort to make the Chase. “We picked a good night to figure this place out…I’m so proud of everybody.”

Busch was openly disappointed that he will not have a shot at the championship this year despite having four wins.

“That’s not 8 points that we sacrificed tonight,” he said. “It’s a conglomerate of points that we sacrificed all year…we didn’t have the best of years to be consistent and unfortunately that bit us.”

This is the first time since the inception of the Chase that Kenseth will not be in it.

“We just haven’t ran good enough,” Kenseth said. “The way we are running and operating right now, even if we made it we wouldn’t be able to run for the championship."

Kurt Busch finished second to Hamlin followed by Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin who are also in the Chase. Kyle Busch finished 5th in front of Bowyer and Vickers. Sam Hornish Jr., Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-10.

Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin were locked into the Chase prior to Richmond. Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Montoya, Greg Biffle and Vickers are the remaining drivers eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

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