It's crunch time for several drivers seeking a shot at NASCAR's premier championship.
Today's Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, and next week's race in Richmond, Va., are the last two events to determine which drivers will vie for the Sprint Cup Series stock-car racing title.
The top 12 drivers in points qualify for the "Chase for the Cup," a late-season playoff during the last 10 races that decides the championship.
Going into today's race at the two-mile Auto Club Speedway oval, only the top two in points -- leader Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, who have dominated the sport this year with a combined 14 wins in 24 races -- are locked into the Chase.
The next three in points -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., reigning champ Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton -- can clinch Chase berths if they finish high enough in today's 250-lap race.
They're followed in points by Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon in ninth.
And rounding out the top 12 are Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. All three need strong runs in the Pepsi 500 to bolster their Chase hopes.
In turn, David Ragan and Kasey Kahne -- who are 13th and 14th in the standings -- hope today's race will vault them into the top 12 and Chase contention heading into Richmond.
Only 101 points separate 11th (Hamlin) from 14th (Kahne), and a driver can win as many as 195 points in a single race.
"This is an important weekend," said Bowyer, driver of the No. 07 Chevrolet prepared by Richard Childress Racing. "We have to try and be on our game here," but "this is the type of track we have been struggling with this year."
Even those drivers who appear secure in the Chase are taking nothing for granted.
"It feels good to have a little cushion for sure, but with my luck being so bad [this season] I'll never count any cushion as enough unless I'm locked in," said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Gordon, a four-time Cup champion and the only three-time NASCAR winner at Fontana, feels the same way. Gordon is without a win this year in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
"We came off such a great year last year" when he finished second to Johnson in the Chase, but this season "we just haven't had the runs, haven't had the cars and, when we did have the cars, we haven't been able to put it together" for a victory, Gordon said.
