BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Team owner Roger Penske left Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night confident his drivers, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch, would have plenty of chances the rest of this season to race for wins, no matter if either of them makes the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

And while the outcome of Saturday's Sharpie 500 reinforced the fact that, in 14th and 12th position in the standings, respectively, Newman and Busch's fates for the Chase might already be settled.

Everyone at Penske Racing is keen to prove in the season's final 12 races -- half of which feature the Car of Tomorrow -- that they'll be contenders.

That might have to hold them over until 2008, when the COT becomes "TOC" -- The Only Car in use in Nextel Cup.

Despite Busch's sixth-place finish Saturday night and Newman's seventh -- the Penske veteran's fifth consecutive COT top-10 -- they remained right where they were coming into Bristol, and Newman remains 175 points out of a qualified spot for the Chase.

"That's not frustrating -- it's frustrating if you're running good and you blow up, but having a good run is not frustrating," Newman said. "It was a good finish, but like I said before Michigan, we can't expect to make up so many points in three or four races.

"We still have a shot at it -- mathematically we still have a chance, so we just give it the best shot we can each and every lap and hopefully it's good enough. It's good enough in my eyes -- but whether or not it's good enough to make the top 12, we'll see."

Newman has been in the top 15 in the standings, in fact, since the Michigan race in June -- nine races ago, when he was only 75 points behind 12th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. With two races remaining until the cutoff to the Chase, Newman knows his team's making it is a tall order.

But the next two weekends, at California Speedway and the Richmond short track, according to Bristol winner Carl Edwards, might not be easy to take for either Busch or Martin Truex Jr., who's 11th and only eight points clear of Busch in the standings.

With his fifth-place Bristol finish, Earnhardt shaved the margin to Busch to 158 points, while Newman is 17 points behind Earnhardt.

"If I were 158 points ahead of 13th in 12th position, I'd still be having trouble sleeping at night [because] it's not done -- and until it's done, it's not done," Edwards said. "I think the last spot is still up for grabs. I believe you can gain 140-some points on someone in one race [actually 161 points], so two bad races for Kurt would be rough.

"Anything can happen and the two racetracks we're going to -- California is hard on engines and Richmond is just plain hard, so you never know." (Continued)