While many have already narrowed this year's championship battle down to three drivers, the trio at Richard Childress Racing is hoping to throw a kink in those plans. With Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson stealing the spotlight, RCR teammates Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick all know they have to step it up, but are legitimate contenders for the championship.

"Our first goal was to get in the Chase and we've got that done," Burton explained following his sixth-place run in Richmond. "Now that we've got that done and we now have to find a way to step it up and the fact that Kyle and Jimmie and Carl have separated themselves, we have to find a way to answer that call and see if we can or not."

For Bowyer, simply making the Chase was once again a feat all of its own. Going into last week?s race at Richmond International Raceway, the No. 07 Jack Daniel's sponsored team was not locked into the Chase and would have to hold off both David Ragan and Kasey Kahne in order to secure a spot.

While the day got off to a good start, Bowyer fell back at one point, almost going a lap down to the leader and was in danger of missing the Chase. Thanks in part to Ragan's bad luck and a heck of a job by the crew to get the car handling better, Bowyer was able to come home twelfth and lock his place in the Chase.

With RCR announcing Casey Mears would join RCR in 2009, things seemed to become a bit unsteady for the No. 07 team. When Mears joins the team he will climb behind the wheel of the No. 07, while Bowyer will move over to the newly formed No. 33 General Mills sponsored ride. Whether this - coupled with running for the Nationwide Series championship - had any real affect on the team's ability to focus is up in the air, yet according to Bowyer, it didn't make things easy.

"It's been a tough summer for all of our team," a relieved Bowyer explained Sunday. "Just making the Chase is a big deal - we've been struggling and there have been a lot of things going on in our organization and our team in particular, and everybody stuck together.

"The last three weeks have been a step in the right direction," he added, "and with some momentum, I think we can do just fine in the Chase. We are going to a race [New Hampshire] that we won last year, and, you know, got the thing started on the right foot, so hopefully we can have a good run there and do just that."

With the field now reset for the final ten races, the RCR teammates find themselves fifth (Bowyer), seventh (Burton) and eleventh (Harvick) in the standings. Both Bowyer and Burton have one win a piece, while Harvick has come close on a number of occasions.

Despite being winless and a bit of an underdog, Harvick remains optimistic. "At this point I don't think there are really any favorites to win the championship," the driver of the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet explained. "I think we've proven we can beat the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and No. 99 (Carl Edwards) week after week. In my opinion, the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) is the car to beat right now. He's been the fastest car on the bigger racetracks and there's a lot more big race tracks than there are small race tracks in the Chase, and they've been good at Martinsville. So I think that the door is wide open to make something happen."

Burton also sees the door wide open for any of the twelve to make a move, especially at Talladega and Martinsville. Always a wild card event, Talladega is a date that each driver and team circle on the schedule, knowing the driver that makes it out of there in one piece has a good shot to take it all.

"I'm sure Talladega, everybody has their eye on Talladega," Burton explained, "that's obvious and Martinsville is going to be tough. They all pay the same points and they all mean the same. Those two are the ones that obviously stand out for pretty much guaranteeing some of us will be in something at those two races."

With all eyes focused on Busch, Edwards and Johnson, the opportunity is there for the RCR teammates to get back on the top of their game and make a run for this thing. If they can find what it takes to run like they did at Bristol in March - where they gave Richard Childress his first ever 1-2-3 finish - they will be definitely contenders for the championship.