With nine of the ten races in the 2008 Race to the Chase, all the focus is centered squarely on the 3/4 –mile short track in Richmond, Virginia. After nine weekends of hard racing and ups and downs, things are still up in the air as to who will be in that final transfer spot for this year’s Chase.

While the story at the top of the standings revolves around the battle between Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, the fight to make the Chase is the sole concern for three drivers. Clint Bowyer is the man with everything to lose, while David Ragan and Kasey Kahne will have to run the races of their careers and have a bit of luck on their side in order to clinch a spot.

Bowyer, who some say snuck his way into last year’s Chase, is the man on the hot seat heading into the final race before the twelve-man field is set. Luckily for the Richard Childress Racing driver, there is no better track to be heading to that Richmond. Bowyer took the win at Richmond earlier this year, after Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. tangled late in the race.

“That’s the light at the end of the tunnel,” Bowyer said of Richmond. “It’s a huge confidence booster to know that the last time we were there, we ran well. Granted, circumstances played in our favor and certainly played a role in that win but we came from a long ways back and had a really good car. I’m looking forward to qualifying better this time and showing them what we’ve really got. Once we got up front in May, the car handled much better so, hopefully, we can start closer to the front this time.

Heading into this weekend’s crucial race, the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s team has elected not to bring that race winning chassis in an effort to go back-to-back. Instead it has chosen the car they used to win last year’s first race of the Chase in New Hampshire, proving they were a serious threat for the title

Finding themselves right on the cusp of making the Chase, Bowyer sits only 17 points ahead of Ragan in thirteenth and 48 points ahead of Kahne in fourteenth. This team could clinch a spot in the Chase – regardless of how Ragan and Kahne finish – by winning the race, or by finishing second or third and leading the most laps. At a track where he has an average finish of 8.8 and has never finished worse than 12th (twice), things need to go exactly as planned in order for this team to stay ahead of the curve and lock themselves in this year’s Chase.

One thing Bowyer will have to stay ahead of Saturday night – weather pending – is the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion of David Ragan. This young hot shoe has turned a lot of heads in his sophomore season and has the chance to surprise a few more. Currently only 17 points behind Bowyer in twelfth, Ragan enters this weekend’s events with momentum on his side and nothing to lose.

Since the Race to the Chase began nine races ago at New Hampshire, Ragan has scored three top-5s, five top-10s and has jumped from 17th in the standings to the spot he’s at right now. In order to make the Chase, the kid from Georgia has to beat both Bowyer and Kahne. Ragan needs to win the race and lead the most laps in order to clinch a spot with no worries. If he can’t do that, he will have to beat the No. 07 team by at least eighteen points – which relates to around four to six positions.

“The bottom line is we’ve got to go out there and beat these guys,” Ragan explained. “There’s no other way around it. We can’t count the other teams to have problems or issues throughout the race. We’ve got to make sure that we’re on our toes, that we don’t have any mechanical failures, we don’t have any screw-ups in the pits and also on the race track, and also Richmond’s been a good race track for us in the past, we’ve had some success there. I wish we could’ve run a little better in California, but we were pretty much able to maintain the same differential getting into the final 12. So, the bottom line is we’ve just got to go to Richmond, run as hard as we can, and when the checkered flag falls, hopefully, we’re in front of the 07 and 9 car.

For Kasey Kahne, the road to the Chase has had a few potholes. Despite four top-10s in the Race to the Chase and two wins during the ‘regular’ season, Kahne has fallen outside the top-12 thanks to a pair of back-to-back 40th-place finishes. A blown engine at Michigan and a wreck at Bristol dropped the driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge from 8th in the standings to 14th, a significant 48 points behind Bowyer in 12th

Kahne has had success on the short-track at Richmond in the past. In nine starts, the Washington-native has one win, two top-5s and five top-10s, including his tenth-place finish earlier this year. It will take a dominating performance, followed by a win, coupled with back luck for both Bowyer and Ragan in order for this team to have a shot at making the Chase – in reality; it’s a long-shot

The situation Kahne finds himself in serves as a lesson to every team in the garage that wins do not equal an automatic Chase berth. So far in 2008, Kahne has visited Victory Lane twice – not to mention the win in the All-Star Race. Despite those finishes, the consistency needed to contend for the Chase has not been there. Six finishes of 30th or worse have crippled this team enough to allow both Bowyer and Ragan to pull away.

After the disappointment of last year, where Kahne finished 19th in the final standings, 2008 has been nothing to cry about. Given their situation, Kahne understands the only thing this team can do is to go out and leave everything on the race track

“I am looking forward to it,” Kahne said. “I think we just come in and really just do the best job we can. We’ve been put in a position and all we can do is do our best and hope that it works out for us, and see how the points end up at the end of the night. Really, if we run our race, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to make it into the Chase.”

For the last nine weeks, teams and drivers have focused solely on running well, winning races and making this year’s Chase. This weekend all of that work will pay off and at the end of the race, only one of these teams will be celebrating with the eleven other drivers that will make up this year’s Chase field.

For the other two, the season does not end at Richmond. With ten races to go in the 2008 season, they will need to stay on the top of their game in order to finish the year off on a good note. We’ve seen drivers and teams in the past – namely Tony Stewart in 2006 – hit their stride after missing the Chase and dominate the next ten races.

Either way, Saturday night is sure to be a show any Hardcore Race Fan will not want to miss. Be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com for all of the latest news and updates live from the Richmond International Raceway.

And remember…next week, the Chase is on.