Welcome to new Chase, new car, New Hampshire (cont'd)

"Don't expect anything less than a fierce competitor out of me. I'm fired up and ready to fight for the championship."

Gordon, who finished second earlier this year at New Hampshire, seeks his fifth series championship. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt (both with seven) have won more titles than Gordon.

"I have an awesome team around me this season," said Gordon, who would've had a lead of 312 points in the old system. "We communicate so well and we are well-rounded in all areas. I have confidence that we will be a top contender week-in and week-out in these final 10 races, and it starts this weekend in New Hampshire."

Johnson concurs.

I guess in my mind I still feel like Jeff had such a great year that, he's probably the guy to keep our eyes on the most," Johnson said.

• Kevin Harvick. Can the Daytona 500 winner stop the bleeding? Harvick fell from first in the standings after his win in the season opener to 12th after California, the 25th race of the year.

"I think you have to do your own thing. You have to race as hard as you can," Harvick said. "Obviously, you have to find another level of intensity in the last 10 races. I think we will have to take some chances that we normally wouldn't take. If you don't, there's going to be somebody that beats you and take those chances and gets away with it.

"You know, you definitely are going to be at the maximum level of aggression. We are going to push cars and engines and everything else to the max."

Harvick who also won the 2007 Nextel All-Star Challenge, is the defending winner of this week's race at NHIS.

"We look forward to going to New Hampshire every year and this year is no different," said Harvick, who finished eighth there earlier this year. "We enjoy the racetrack since they put the progressive banking in. You can now race side-by-side and pass people and do the things you need to do to get toward the front."

• Clint Bowyer. It's been well-chronicled that Bowyer is the lone Chase participant without a victory on the season, or in his 63-race career. But he has been in the top 12 for 22 consecutive weeks and is the only Chase driver without a DNF through the first 26 races.

"Obviously, you have to watch your back and you can't have DNFs and win championships," Bowyer said. "But, I want to win a race for Richard [Childress, No. 07 car owner]. That's what I set out to do and that's what he pays me to do. He did me a pretty big favor three or four years ago when he hired me and I want to repay him."

Bowyer's worst finish of the season came earlier this year at New Hampshire (37th).

"We're still learning and we have to learn something every week that we can apply to the next week to make us better. We need to race hard and do everything we can to get to Victory Lane. That's what it's all about -- winning. We have to win races."

• Car of Tomorrow. NASCAR's new racecar will play a prominent role in the Chase, running in five of the 10 races beginning at New Hampshire. It will mark the 12th COT race of the season. The new car will race at a total of 16 events on the season -- with events still to come at Dover, Talladega, Martinsville and Phoenix -- before running the entire Cup schedule beginning next year.

Chevrolet has won nine of the first 11 COT races, six by Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson (three) and Gordon (two) are the only multiple winners.

"I am hoping that having a handful of COT races will work to our benefit," said Denny Hamlin, who won earlier this year at New Hamsphire in the COT.

"The playing field has definitely leveled a bit from earlier in the season when it seemed like [Joe] Gibbs and Hendrick had an advantage, but I still think our COT program is as good as any."

Hamlin has led 629 laps in the COT, including a race-high 179 at Darlington where he finished second. Hamlin has seven top-fives and nine top-10s in the COT.

"We won a COT race and challenged in others," Hamlin said. "In fact we took a brand-new car that hadn't turned a single lap anywhere to Richmond and finished sixth so we now have three cars that have led laps in COT races at our disposal for the Chase."

The Sporting News Wire Service contributed to this report.