This year's Race to the Chase continues to heat up as Richmond quickly approaches. Only three races remain until the twelve-man field for the Chase is set, and things continue to tighten up, especially after last week's race at Michigan. As the series rolls into Thunder Valley, expect the action to heat up as hot as the August night.

Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon each fell three spots in the standings after troubles at Michigan and look to smooth things out over the next three events. Each appeared to be in a fairly comfortable position, until struggles over the last few weeks have left them in danger.

Four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, who before last week was simply concerned about still being winless, now finds himself in the thick of the Race to the Chase. After running up front early last weekend, two slow pit stops mired Gordon mid-pack and racing hard. Contact with teammate Jimmie Johnson resulted in a cut tire and eventually a tore up race car. Gordon went on to finish a disappointing 42nd, falling to ninth in the standings.

Not having the season he imagined at the outset, the driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet has had one of the toughest seasons of his career. "I've had crazier years," Gordon explained. "But this is definitely been a frustrating year, up and down, and one that only challenges our whole team to see what we're made of and I don't see that as a bad thing."

That frustration was evident last weekend, as Gordon blamed his pit crew for putting them in the position they were in. A much different season than one year ago, Gordon still finds the good in the situation.

"We dropped positions in the standings, and now we have to enter the next few races with a different mindset," the four-time champion said. "Before, we were in a position where taking risks wasn't an option. We had a pretty comfortable margin on the transfer spot, and we didn't want to jeopardize that. We're not in that position anymore, so now we must go all out and see where we end up."

Another driver that seemingly pointed the finger of blame at his team was Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin. After losing an engine with just six laps to go, a very frustrated Hamlin said, "We came here with a new engine package and we're a bubble driver and we just make stupid choices. We just can't keep our cars together. We had dash malfunctions, the motor breaking. At this point we don't even deserve to be in this Chase."

This team is headed back to tracks they have suffered mechanical issues at after leading much of the events. Leading the field to the Green-White-Checkered finish at Bristol in March, Hamlin's Toyota sputtered as he had a problem with the fuel pick-up, relegating him to a sixth-place finish. At Richmond in May, Hamlin appeared to be en route to the weekend of his career until a flat tire took him out of contention at his home track.

Hamlin, who at one point was as high as fourth in the points, has struggled to produce consistent finishes.  Over the last ten races, the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota has five finishes of 26th or worse. What has kept him in contention is the fact in that same stretch of races he has two top-5s and four top-10s.

"It's hard not to look at the standings and check where you stand against the cutoff, but you but you can't let that force you to race a certain way," Hamlin explained. "If it makes you take less risks in terms of fuel mileage or things of that nature - that makes sense - but you have to race like you know how to race, no exceptions. It only ends up throwing you off."

One driver not letting his position in the Race to the Chase affect his outlook on things is Gillett Evernham Motorsports' Kasey Kahne. Poor finishes at Infineon, New Hampshire and last week at Michigan have dropped this team to eleventh in the standings, yet Kahne remains confident.

"To have a bad race in Michigan was disappointing with the points, but it is what it is," Kahne explained. "These things happen and they are out of your control. We've got three (races) to go and It's still very attainable to make the Chase. We'll just have to have some good races these next few weeks."

For the No. 9 Budweiser team, this seems to be more a problem of hitting a string of bad luck while others - such as Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth - are hitting their stride. If they can keep their composure and find the magic they had earlier in the year, things should be alright for this team.

Another team looking to find some of the year's earlier magic is Richard Childress Racing's No. 07, driven by Clint Bowyer. Much like Denny Hamlin, Bowyer has failed to find the consistency needed to secure a spot in this year's Chase. Over the last ten races, Bowyer has scored only one top-5 and three top-10s, while recording seven finishes of 20th or worse.

Currently on the outside looking in, Bowyer returns to a track he ran extremely well at in the spring. A third-place finish in March secured the one-two-three for RCR and showed Bowyer is a threat to win at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. In addition to his good run at Bristol, Bowyer will have one last shot at making the Chase at the track he scored his lone victory of the year at - Richmond International Raceway.

"We didn't have the best of runs last weekend at Michigan and I was really nervous about Michigan being a make it or break it track for us," Bowyer admitted. "To be honest we came out of there, and actually I think we're better off now then we were a week ago. With the No. 24 falling back a bit, and the No. 11, and the No. 9 as well, we've made some gains. The No. 6 has caught us from behind but these are three good tracks for us. We finished third in the Spring race at Bristol, and everyone knows that Bristol is a place where anything can happen. It's a bull arena and sparks can fly. It's important to us that we're going to tracks where we have confidence and a little bit of momentum. Two of those tracks we ran top-five in the Sprint so we're really looking forward to going back to those tracks. Richmond, the one before the cutoff, we won there last time so that's more confidence than any of the other places we've been to so hopefully that'll be a place we can go and get ourselves in the Chase, if we haven't done so already."

As Bowyer mentioned, sophomore sensation David Ragan has the chance to slip into this year's Chase much like Bowyer did last season. Seemingly out of no where, Ragan has been able to consistently score top-5s and top-10s to work his way into the picture. One of the most improved drivers of the year, Ragan knows he has to maintain this consistency in order to make his first Chase, but also doesn't want to back off and play it safe just yet.

Heading into this Saturday night's race at Bristol, Ragan admits he doesn't want to just "slip into" this year's Chase, he wants to earn his way into the elite field. "I feel bad if I just have an easy race and finish 10th," Ragan said of the upcoming race. "That's a good race, but I want to be up in the battle beating and banging and have some controversy at the end of the race. That's what it's all about. It's fun. That's what the fans love and that's what I loved as a fan watching the sport from years back."

Sparks are sure to fly this weekend on the short track in the hills of Tennessee. Not the same bump-and-run Bristol of the past, expect two-, and at times, three-wide racing through the corners and a variety of different strategies. Either way, teams chasing the Chase will have to come away from Bristol with a solid finish - and preferably a clean race car - in order to remain in the hunt. Things are sure to be jumbled up again before heading out west to California, so be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com to see who's still Chasing the Chase.