With only four races left before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is set, those drivers battling it out for the final spots in the Chase have their minds set on Michigan this weekend. A track in which fuel mileage is almost a certain factor, the drivers from sixth to fifteenth in the standings hope their gambles late in the going move them closer to a solid Chase berth.

The man currently on the bubble in the twelfth-spot in the standings is Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth. This team’s up-and-down season has produced two wins, but the No. 17 Ford Fusion has only one top-10 in the last nine races. With fifty-eight points separating him and Kyle Busch in thirteenth, Kenseth is headed to one of his best tracks on the circuit. Two wins, nine top-5s and thirteen top-10s give Kenseth a 9.6 average finish on the 2-mile D-shaped oval, better than any other driver fighting to make the Chase.

“We have to get better than we are right now,” Kenseth admitted as he looked towards this weekend’s Carfax 400. “We are running around 15th every week and if that will get us in the Chase, we'll make it, but we have to continue to get better and get our cars better and start finishing better if we are going to be competitive down the road."

With Kenseth’s focus set on improving his overall performance, Kyle Busch is focused on doing all he can to be a part of this year’s Chase. One of the favorites heading into the 2009 season, few would have imagined at this point in the year that Busch would be fighting to get back inside the top-12.

Sitting fifty-eight points behind Kenseth, the kid they call ‘Rowdy’ is looking at the bigger picture heading towards the Chase. Michigan is not Busch’s best track – he has only one top-5 and three top-10s in nine tries – but he is optimistic heading to Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond.

“It all comes down to performance and how you finish on Sunday and the points you get,” Busch explained. “So when you look at who's in the Chase and who's going to fall out, man, it's hard too look at someone whose going to fall out. (Greg) Biffle and Kenseth - I mean, (Matt) Kenseth has been in it every year, so you can't count on him even though he's fighting for a spot. You know Biffle, he runs strong in these next tracks that we go to. One of his best ones is Michigan and I think he runs well in Atlanta. But Bristol and Richmond, you know, those other two, those are our tracks. You know we run really well at those tracks. Bristol, you never know what can come out of that place, so it's a hard one, too."

A driver that remains worried about being the one that falls out of the top-12 is veteran Mark Martin. Despite having a stellar year with four wins, six top-5s and eleven top-10s, early season struggles and three DNFs have put Martin in the situation he now finds himself, sitting in eleventh with just four races before the Chase field is set.

With a thirty-one point buffer over former teammate Kenseth in twelfth, Martin is using his pessimism as a motivational tool as he prepares for his run at NASCAR’s post-season.

“In my head, I’m always 13th. I’m always on the outside looking in,” Martin admitted. “I don’t ever want to get comfortable or think we’re safe. You can’t count on that until the end of the race at Richmond (Va.). We had a rough weekend at Watkins Glen (N.Y.). We didn’t expect that, and that’s why you can’t get comfortable. One race and you’re right back there fighting to stay in.”

Sitting ninth in the standings with a forty-two point cushion over twelfth, Ryan Newman echoes Martin’s comments. Despite racing at one of his favorite tracks – Newman has two wins, four top-5s and four top-10s at MIS – the Stewart-Haas Racing driver knows nothing is guaranteed, especially considering he has not finished in the top-10 at Michigan since his victory in 2005.

"I know the guys who are breathing down our neck for the top-12 are really good guys, competitiveness-wise,” Newman pointed out.  “I’m not comfortable. Our team's not comfortable. I don't think you can ever really get comfortable. It's racing. You never know what the situation is going to be each week. You can have the best-prepared, fastest racecar and something can happen. There are pitfalls in this sport, and you just never know. But what we do know is what we need to do to put ourselves into the Chase, and that's to perform these final four races.”

The next four races will test the strengths and confidence of those drivers fighting to be a part of what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive years in recent history. These track each present different challenges and personalities and they will require each member of these teams from the driver to the spotter to the gas man to be on the top of their game, otherwise they will find themselves packing up and going home at the end of the night in Richmond while twelve others celebrate making it into the Chase.

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