LONG POND, Pa. -- Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer had been playing a bit of musical cars with the highly-coveted 12th spot in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series Race to the Chase.

As of late, both Harvick and Bowyer, depending on who slips up or gains ground, have traded places multiple times as the 12th-ranked driver in the points race, the last position to qualify for the Chase.

The competition between the two teammates has remained close since the July race at Daytona International Speedway as both take turns as the one looking outside the Chase and vice versa.

Be it one teammate looking inside or the other out, the match ended Sunday during the Pennsylvania 500. Advantage: RCR as both teammates -- Harvick and Bowyer -- are in the theoretical Chase, for now at least.

Five races remain until the cut-off event at Richmond International Raceway in September.

Harvick's most recent turn to be the one looking outside the top 12 came after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard last weekend. The driver was a victim of Kurt Busch's accident and finished 37th, dropping him to the 13th position in the points race. Bowyer capitalized and moved up one spot to 12.

Sunday at Pocono Raceway, a fourth-place, comeback-style finish after a Lap 1 spin for Harvick drove the driver up two positions to 11th (watch video).

"We don't give up, I can promise you that," Harvick said.

Harvick protected the car and continued to work towards a strong finish, despite a more than 40-minute red flag rain delay.

"We stick in there and fight, even when they tell us we're done," Harvick said. "To come to Pocono and finish in the top five is a huge accomplishment for me."

Harvick found himself outside the top 12 last season after the July Daytona race, recovered and entered the 2007 Chase with little cushion in 11th position. But, Harvick said he tries not to dwell on the mathematics of the game. He's "Happy" as long as he and his team are within striking distance.

"I don't really follow that too closely just for the fact that you go out and race as hard as you can and you want to try to win every week, and if you can't win, do the best you can," Harvick said. "And wherever that puts us is what you do. So we wouldn't do anything different even if we were counting points."

At the same time, just five races remain in deciding the field for the Chase and Harvick, as well as the rest of the drivers floating around the 12th spot, can't afford any more mistakes; that includes his teammate Bowyer.

“

If we do what we are supposed to do, we will be just fine. But definitely, we are in the crunch zone and we need to get out of it.

”

CLINT BOWYER

He too benefited from a strong run Sunday finishing sixth, retaining his 12th place position in the point race.

"It was kind of weird. Just track position with this car is everything. We had a flat right there at the beginning, I didn't qualify very well, and that didn't help anything," Bowyer said. "We have to work on our qualifying program and still have to work on our big track program. You have to take these good finishes when you can. Obviously I hated to give up that to Harvick. Even [David Ragan] beat us. We just have to get better."

Bowyer said he's familiar with the high-pressure situation of the 12th spot; it makes you the vulnerable man on the track.

"It's crunch time. We've put ourselves in a situation," Bowyer said. "We were running well at the beginning of the year then got to struggling on these big tracks, got to chasing our tails a little bit so to speak."

Bowyer proved last season he was capable of getting the job done in 2007, landing his first Cup victory at Loudon and making the Chase in his sophomore season.

"If we do what we are supposed to do, we will be just fine," he said. "But definitely, we are in the crunch zone and we need to get out of it."

If he gets out of it, Harvick seems to go in it. The position the two teammates are in now is similar to where they were heading into the Chase last year.

Bowyer is optimistic about climbing higher into the point standings in light of the tracks that lay ahead.

"We are excited about it," Bowyer said. "At least we have a shot at this thing and that is all you can ask for. There is a lot of pressure on everybody. There are still five races to go, a lot can happen. Just have to be smart here and not get too excited but it is time to get going."