With field reduced, Chase set to move to next level

DOVER, DE - The opening round of NASCAR's new elimination-format for the Chase for the Sprint Cup is in the books, and when the checkered flag waved at the end of the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, 12 drivers moved on while four drivers were on the outside looking in as the first drivers to be eliminated from championship contention.<br /> <br /> Jeff Gordon punched his ticket into the second round with his first Dover win since 2001, joining previous race winners Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, while A.J. Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola came up on the losing end of the Chase field as the bottom four drivers in the points in a field of 16 championship hopefuls.<br /> <br /> Such was their fate at the end of the first of four rounds in NASCAR's new Chase for the Sprint Cup format.<br /> <br /> The opening round, dubbed the "Challenger Round" pitted the top 16 drivers through the first three races of the 10-race Chase, starting with Chicagoland Speedway before moving onto New Hampshire Motor Speedway and concluding at Dover.<br /> <br /> The top 12 drivers in points following Sundays race advance to the next three-race round, called the "Contender Round", where their points will all be reset to 3,000 points each.<br /> <br /> After the next three races, the field will be whittled again to down just eight driver to move onto the "Eliminator Round", following which just four drivers will move on to compete for the title at Homestead on Nov. 16.<br /> <br /> While the first seven spots were virtually locked in to advance past the opening round, the pressure was on the drivers bringing up the rear, with nine drivers potentially on the bubble.<br /> <br /> The drivers feeling the most heat in Sunday's race were Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin, with Kahne hanging on to the 12th and final spot and Hamlin trying to claw his way into the top 12.<br /> <br /> After a disastrous finish in New Hampshire last weekend, Denny Hamlin needed a strong run to grab the last spot to advance to the next round and delivered with a 12th-place finish to move up to 11th in points, while Kahne overcame some pit road miscues and fought his way back from four laps down to finish 20th and take the final transfer spot by just two points over Allmendinger.<br /> <br /> It was so close that even at the checkered flag, Kahne didn't know for sure if he was in.<br /> <br /> "Kenny (Francis, crew chief) started telling me we were tied for 12th and this was with 30 to go," said Kahne. "Then he would tell me we were one point in and then maybe two points in, and then he wasn't positive. Then I started getting a little bit worried, so it was intense inside the car."<br /> <br /> Kahne's good fortune was heartbreak for Allmendinger, who suffered the biggest drop among the drivers on the bubble

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