Kasey Kahne did everything right, yet it did little to help his championship hopes. Kahne put on a dominating performance Saturday night to complete a season sweep at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, passing track favorite Jimmie Johnson with 26 laps go and pulling away for the victory.

But the win — his series-leading sixth of the season — hardly moved him in the Chase for the championship standings. He’s eighth, 160 points out with five races to go before the Nextel Cup is awarded.

“We’re making ground now. We had trouble at the start, but we’re down to 160, we’ve cut it just about in half,” Kahne said. “We’re doing everything we can, but I think we definitely have the team to do it.”

Although several Chase contenders had horrible nights — including Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon — Jeff Burton is proving to be an excellent points racer and retained his spot atop the standings in spite of a pit road miscue. He finished third and leads Matt Kenseth by 45 points.

Kahne led 134 laps to grab the win, the Dodge driver’s second this season on the 1.5-mile track. He also nipped Johnson to win the Coca-Cola 600 in May.

Johnson, winner of five of the past eight races at Lowe’s, finished second again. He moved up one point to seventh in the Chase standings, but is still 146 out.

Still, the top half of the standings are still pretty tight, and only 106 points separate Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished fourth on Saturday night and is fifth in the standings.

Earnhardt then marveled at what Burton — the driver who couldn’t find his way to Victory Lane for almost five years before this season — has been able to accomplish.

“I couldn’t catch up to the Ice Man, Jeff Burton,” Earnhardt said. “He’s not indestructible, but he’s doing a great job. He’s been doing it for years. He knows what it takes.”

Mayhem broke out 91 laps from the finish during a round of green-flag pit stops.

First, Kevin Harvick was caught speeding on pit road. Then Burton, his teammate, stalled exiting his pit stall. As his crew was frantically trying to jump-start Burton by pushing him down pit road, Harvick headed that way to serve his speeding penalty.

Meanwhile, out on the track, Martin was attempting to pass J.J. Yeley on the inside when the rookie cut down toward pit road. The contact sent Martin’s car skyrocketing across the track — it was off the ground when it hit the wall — and came to a stop in a crumpled heap that crippled his chance at taking over the championship standings.

Martin had flirted with the points lead all night, shifting back and forth from first to second in the standings before the accident snapped his streak of 37-straight races running at the end. He finished 30th, and is now fourth in the standings, 102 out.

“The championship is not really something that’s meant to be for me ever,” he said. “It’s not gonna beat me down. I’m having a good time. I’m having a blast.”

When the race restarted with 83 to go, Burton was a lap down, Harvick was two down, and the championship chase was a whole lot tighter.

But the two Richard Childress Racing teammates worked their way back toward the front to salvage the night and their spots in the standings. Harvick wound up 18th and is third in the standings.

AP via Yahoo

RESULTS:

Pos St # Driver Sponsor Car Pts Status Laps

1 2 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 190 Running 334
2 10 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 175 Running 334
3 6 31 Jeff Burton Cingular Wireless Chevrolet 165 Running 334
4 16 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Chevrolet 165 Running 334
5 21 43 Bobby Labonte Bugles Dodge 160 Running 334
6 18 5 Kyle Busch Delphi Chevrolet 155 Running 334
7 39 96 Tony Raines DLP HDTV Chevrolet 151 Running 334
8 28 99 Carl Edwards Office Depot Ford 147 Running 334
9 30 01 Joe Nemechek Centrix Financial Chevrolet 138 Running 334
10 25 25 Brian Vickers GMAC Chevrolet 134 Running 334
11 13 14 Sterling Marlin Ginn Clubs & Resorts Chevrolet 135 Running 334
12 3 42 Casey Mears Texaco/Havoline Dodge 127 Running 333
13 31 20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot Chevrolet 124 Running 333
14 11 17 Matt Kenseth Carhartt Ford 126 Running 332
15 12 40 David Stremme Coors Light Dodge 118 Running 332
16 20 66 Jeff Green Best Buy Chevrolet 115 Running 332
17 1 10 Scott Riggs Stanley Tools/Valvoline Dodge 117 Running 332
18 5 29 Kevin Harvick GM Goodwrench Chevrolet 109 Running 332
19 14 4 Todd Bodine Lucas Oil Chevrolet 106 Running 331
20 38 32 Travis Kvapil Tide/Downy Chevrolet 103 Running 331
21 43 44 Terry Labonte GMAC Chevrolet 100 Running 331
22 32 45 Kyle Petty Tire Kingdom Dodge 97 Running 330
23 8 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet 99 Running 329
24 41 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 96 Engine 301
25 19 7 Robby Gordon Menards Chevrolet 88 Running 300
26 36 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Dodge 85 Running 278
27 15 12 Ryan Newman Alltel Dodge 82 Running 272
28 22 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Chevrolet 79 Running 265
29 40 18 J.J. Yeley Interstate Batteries Chevrolet 76 Accident 258
30 7 6 Mark Martin AAA Ford 73 Accident 239
31 26 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 70 Running 216
32 42 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 67 Running 208
33 35 38 David Gilliland Sam’s Club Ford 64 Accident 161
34 27 26 Jamie McMurray IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford 61 Engine 160
35 4 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 63 Accident 124
36 9 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge 55 Accident 115
37 33 16 Greg Biffle National Guard Ford 52 Engine 111
38 23 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA Dodge 49 Accident 102
39 37 06 Todd Kluever Post-it/3M Ford 46 Accident 45
40 17 21 Ken Schrader Motorcraft/USAF Ford 43 Accident 45
41 34 88 Dale Jarrett UPS Ford 40 Accident 32
42 24 49 Mike Bliss whatsonline.com Dodge 37 Accident 1
43 29 72 Mike Skinner Dutch Quality Stone Dodge 34 Accident 1