After the mess in Indianapolis last weekend, the Race to the Chase heads back to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania for the running of the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. With six races remaining until the field is set for the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup, things continue to tighten up as the battle to remain in the top-12 goes on.

Last week, Kevin Harvick and his No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet team took the biggest hit in the standings after getting caught up in an accident and finishing a disappointing 37th. Harvick dropped four spots in the series standings to 13th, just two points outside the top-12 and behind Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammate Clint Bowyer.

Harvick has run well over the last few weeks, only to have promising runs ruined by poor luck. However, the team's current points position has not changed "Happy" Harvick's outlook.

"It doesn't really matter;" Harvick said of being outside the top-12, "you just race as hard as you can every week. We have had some really good cars since Sonoma but haven't been able to capitalize every weekend. We have had some bad weeks that have been out of our control. I am very confident in my team and I think we will do everything we can do to make the Chase."

One team that had a bad weekend beyond their control at Indy was the No. 17 team led by driver Matt Kenseth. The Roush Fenway Racing driver unfortunately showed just how dangerous the tire issue was last week when his right rear tire literally blew up less than fifty laps into the race. The exploding tire ripped apart the right rear quarter panel and left the No. 17 team with a disappointing 38th-place finish.

This week Kenseth looks to rebound and back up his top-10 finish in June at the 2.5-mile tri-oval. After dropping three spots in the standings to eleventh, Kenseth is only four points ahead of Bowyer and needs to be on his game from here on out if he wants to have a shot at this year's championship.

"We'll be looking to bounce back this weekend at Pocono," Kenseth explained. "Last weekend was a huge disappointment for us at Indy. We had a decent top-10 car, but with the tire issues we ended up finishing 38th. It was pretty frustrating all weekend. We unloaded pretty good, with high hopes for a good finish. So, blowing a tire like we did and tearing up our car was pretty embarrassing.

"This weekend we're looking to bounce back at Pocono, which has really been one of our tougher tracks. We're bringing back the same car we raced there earlier this year and hopefully we'll be able to better our seventh-place finish. A solid finish at Pocono would go a long way towards gaining some momentum in this stretch run leading up to the Chase."

Denny Hamlin is definitely a driver that knows what it takes to have a solid finish at Pocono. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver swept the Pocono races in 2006 and finished third there in June. Coming off a third-place finish at Indy, Hamlin looks to rekindle some of that magic while making his 100th Cup Series start.

"It's pretty amazing," Hamlin said of his career milestone. "I didn't realize it would be 100, but it's kind of fitting that it does come at Pocono. I'm excited about it. I don't know if any other driver has won on his 100th start or not, so I'm going to try to accomplish that."

June's winner at Pocono was Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne. Dominating the event, Kahne was able to carry his momentum from May over to June and rack up another ten bonus points with his win. Currently ninth in the series standings, Kahne hopes to find that momentum once again - and a seventh-place finish last week at Indy couldn't hurt.

"We've missed it a couple times in the last month as far as the finish, but we've had good points in all those races," the driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge explained. "The next six races are tracks that I've run well at in the past and look forward to going back to them again. If things go smooth and we don't have the wrecks and things that can happen in the sport, we should have a shot at making The Chase."

Brian Vickers is slowly watching his shot at making the Chase go up in smoke. In one year's time, Vickers and the entire Team Red Bull Racing organization have gone from battling to make races to fighting for a spot in the Chase. Unfortunately for Vickers, a blown engine last week at Indianapolis knocked the team back to fifteenth in the standings, 132 points outside of twelfth. Vickers was one of the strongest cars at Pocono in June and was runner up to Kasey Kahne.

"We have to worry about this Sunday. Indy is a tough one to swallow, especially when you're battling for the Chase. It (the Indy engine) seemed to be down on power early, and just got worse and worse and worse. We're not out of this thing yet, but we can't have this happen again. You're worried about going into the next race, and if it happens again, I don't know if we can overcome that."

Qualifying and pit strategy will be two key factors this weekend as the field takes the green at Pocono. As we saw in June, clean air and track position is king and the driver out front will be tough to beat. Anything can happen in the next six events that can truly shake things up in the Race to the Chase. Fifteen drivers gunning for twelve spots, who says this sport is boring"