Truex earns valuable second-place

Martin Truex Jr. needed to finish second in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway as much as Kurt Busch needed to win it.
Truex and Busch are 11th and 12th in the Cup standings and have the final two spots in the Chase.
But Truex actually lost ground to Busch. Truex came in with a 48-point lead over Busch for 11th place and left with a 33-point advantage.
"Yeah, it's kind of odd," said Truex, driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc. "You think second is a good day but the guy that you're racing finishes ahead of you so it's just like at Pocono when Junior finished second to Kurt so the 2 is on their game right now. For sure we can't afford any mistakes and it will be kind of odd that we'll have to race the 8 for the last spot maybe but it is what it is and we're looking forward to it."
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Truex's teammate, is 13th in the Cup standings. Ryan Newman, Busch's teammate at Penske Racing, is 14th in the Cup standings with three races to go before the Chase starts.