Kyle Busch became the youngest winner in Cup Series history last year at California. Credit: Autostock

Busch takes forthright position to California

Driver beware, Kyle Busch.

With only two races to go before the Chase, fourth place in the standings might seem like a good place to be. Then again, the drivers holding down the fourth spot the past two weeks each encountered misfortune and tumbled in the points.

Busch returns to California Speedway this Sunday looking to repeat as champion of the Sony HD 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC) and secure his place in NASCAR's playoffs.

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But only 48 points separate him from 10th-place Mark Martin, who held fourth place last week. And only 138 points separate positions four through 11. It's possible 11th-place Kahne could move as high as fourth after California.

"It's nerve-wracking," Busch admits. "When we got into the media center for the press conference last weekend at Bristol, I took a look at the points and it's just scary how tight they are. I think we dodged a bullet at Bristol with a second-place finish and I'm just glad we're heading to two tracks where we've done well."

Busch's victory a year ago was his first in the series. He finished 10th at California earlier this year.

"It's a good feeling heading back to the track as the defending winner," Busch said. "The bad side is that you finish in anything other than first and it's kind of a letdown. We've had OK runs on the mile-and-a-half tracks this season so we just want a solid top-10 finish."

For the past two weeks it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who Kasey Kahne was trying to catch. Now it's Martin. But Kahne lost ground at Bristol, falling 90 points out of 10th place.

Kahne knows it's going to take some good luck on his part, which means bad luck on someone else's behalf, in addition to a solid effort from his own car in order to have a chance.

"Our objective is to make the Chase. Two things must occur for that to happen," Kahne said. "First, we have to have two good races -- wins would certainly help, but we definitely need top-five finishes. Then, a driver sixth through 10th in the standings must have a problem.

"A 100-point swing can happen in one race. We still have two opportunities to get in the Chase. We just have to do our part to put the No. 9 Dodge Charger in a position to take advantage of every opportunity."

Martin dropped six spots last week and the race before that Jeff Burton went from fourth to ninth.

"We need and opportunity and then take advantage of it," said Kahne, who finished fourth there earlier this year. "We're confident we have a car capable of winning at California. We've run well there, qualified on the pole, had a couple of top-five finishes and led laps."

Martin knows how to run up front at California, too. He has a 13.8 average finish in 12 career starts and was ninth in the first race there this year.

"We had a really tough outing last weekend at Bristol, but that is not something that we can worry about now," Martin said. "Our task is to focus on the next race and that race is this weekend at Fontana, and we are going into the race needing a strong run and a good finish. It's really a track that fits into our strong suit and we are hoping for a good finish this weekend.

"The point race is really close right now, and we need to go there and beat all those guys around us and hopefully leave there one step closer to locking in our place in the Chase."

Matt Kenseth goes for his third consecutive win in a car he has taken to Victory Lane twice before this season, including once at California and most recently at Michigan.

"We've run pretty good at the 2-mile tracks this year, and that's largely thanks to this car, No. 323 [chassis], that Robbie [Reiser, crew chief] and the guys built," Kenseth said. "There's a lot of enthusiasm on this team right now. They're getting the job done and we'll be looking to do the same this weekend."