How some of NASCAR's biggest stars were eliminated from the Chase

Brad Keselowski secured the final berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, roaring to victory Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in a must-win situation.

On the outside looking in before the race began (10th of 12 drivers in the points), Keselowski maneuvered through two pressure-packed green-white-checkered finishes at the GEICO 500 in a figurative "win or go home moment. (Except in this case, no one is literally going home, all drivers — Chase contenders or not — will be back next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

Now the 2012 champion has a shot at a second NASCAR Sprint Cup title. But other big stars weren't so lucky:

JIMMIE JOHNSON

The six-time champion has never finished a season lower than sixth since becoming a full-time driver in 2002.

-- Mission: Win or go home.

-- Sunday: Johnson led a race-high 84 laps, but faded from inside the top 10 to 24th on the final restart.

-- Now what: Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus need to figure out why the new rules package threw them off this season and get a head start on next year, when the six-time champion will try again to tie Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty's titles record.

-- Quote: "Today we went down swinging. We had a chance and came up short."

DALE EARNHARDT JR.

NASCAR's most popular driver 11 consecutive years will have to wait year for his first title.

-- Mission: Win or go home.

-- Sunday: Earnhardt crashed on the first green-white-checkered attempt and finished 31st.

-- Now what: The team can still give crew chief Steve Letarte a lovely parting gift with a win in the next four races before he leaves for a TV job next season. And there's always another fan-awarded trophy to pick up for the 11-time Most Popular Driver.

-- Quote: "I'm not retiring or anything, so we'll try next year. We've had a good season, got a lot to be looking forward to. Definitely not gonna get too tore up about it."

KASEY KAHNE

Earned a miracle win in the penultimate race of the regular season to make the Chase but couldn't get another.

-- Mission: Kahne came into the race with just a one-point lead over ninth-place Matt Kenseth, so he needed to stay ahead of Kenseth and hope one of the bottom three drivers didn't win the race.

-- Sunday: One of the bottom three drivers won the race. Brad Keselowski's victory earned him an automatic bid into the next round, which took away the final spot on points -- which would have belonged to Kahne.

-- Now what: Kahne and his No. 5 team have been inconsistent all season – they have only three top-five finishes – so some positive results are needed to gain momentum going into 2015.

-- Quote: "I knew exactly what I needed. I knew I was within one point of one guy going into the weekend."

KYLE BUSCH

Has more victories in NASCAR's top three national series than any active driver but still looking for his first Cup championship.

-- Mission: Finish 24th or better and he'd be in the next round of the Chase no matter what.

-- Sunday: Busch got involved in a crash of backmarker drivers and finished 40th, sending him from second in the standings to out of the Chase altogether.

-- Now what: Busch, whose partnership with crew chief Dave Rogers might only have four races remaining, can still pick up a win to make himself feel better about getting eliminated. But it probably won't help much.

-- Quote: Busch declined to comment.

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