Heading into Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon knew that he would need to win at least two of the final eight races before the cutoff to keep any hope alive of capturing the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup. At the end of Sunday's race, Gordon will still need to win a minimum of two races to have a prayer ... but now has just seven races left to do so.

Gordon had a strong showing but finished in sixth place, while Kasey Kahne edged out Denny Hamlin to capture the checkered flag and move into Wild Card position. Matt Kenseth finished in 13th place and remains the overall leader in the Sprint Cup Series.

Here are the full results for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway:

1. Kasey Kahne
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Kevin Harvick
9. Greg Biffle
10. Ryan Newman
11. Martin Truex Jr.
12. Tony Stewart
13. Matt Kenseth
14. Joey Logano
15. Brian Vickers
16. Kyle Busch
17. Paul Menard
18. Carl Edwards
19. Marcos Ambrose
20. Jamie McMurray
21. Jeff Burton
22. Sam Hornish Jr.
23. Bobby Labonte
24. Kurt Busch
25. Juan Pablo Montoya
26. Regan Smith
27. David Gilliland
28. Aric Almirola
29. Landon Cassill
30. Travis Kvapil
31. Ken Schrader
32. Stephen Leicht
33. David Reutimann
34. David Ragan
35. David Stremme
36. Casey Mears
37. Josh Wise
38. Joe Nemechek
39. Dave Blaney
40. Michael McDowell
41. Scott Riggs
42. Kelly Bires
43. JJ Yeley

For more on the Bay Area drivers and their chase for the Cup, stay tuned to this StoryStream. For all news and information regarding the 2012 Sprint Cup Series, please visit NASCAR Ranting & Raving or check out SB Nation's dedicated NASCAR hub.