What Round of 8 contenders are saying ahead of cutoff

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- One race remains until we know which four drivers will comprise the Championship 4 and be racing for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Here's how the eight remaining championship-eligible drivers are feeling and what they're focusing on heading into Sunday's Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.)

Chase Elliott

Points below cutoff: -78


What he's saying: “It takes some talent to get 80 points back in two weeks, but we’ve achieved it. Certainly self-inflicted; I hate that I messed up last week as bad as I did, there’s really no excuse for that. But we’re in the position we’re in, we’re there, it’s reality and we certainly will have to win to have a shot next week. ... Just because we’re in a tough spot and it’s our last chance to make it to Homestead doesn’t mean it’s over. We still have an entire race on Sunday. ... But you just have to approach this week as a new one and know if we win on Sunday, we can race again next week and have a shot at it. It’s just not over until it’s over.”

Kyle Larson

Points below cutoff: -23


What he's saying: "I feel good. Obviously I’d feel a lot better if we were in the top four right now, but we can still get it done with a good points day if we want to have a shot. But we can go out there and win and make it to the final four that way. We’ve run well here the last few years so hopefully we have a good shot. ... I haven’t felt any pressure yet, really throughout these whole playoffs. Just kind of taking it week by week and treating it like it’s no different."

Ryan Blaney

Points below cutoff: -23


What he's saying: “We’ve got to win the race. We’re not in a must-win, but it’s gonna be hard to make up points on two guys that are in right now. We’re 23 out. That’s a lot of points. Those guys could have trouble. You never know how it goes, but it’s gonna be really hard for me to believe those guys aren’t gonna get any stage points all day and we’re gonna get 20 stage points. ... If something happens to those guys early in the race maybe you switch your mindset and say, ‘OK, we’ve got to beat the 42 and the 11 on points,’ but my thought is just trying to win.”

Denny Hamlin

Points below cutoff: -20


What he's saying: “I treat it just like I have most every other week. I just give 100% effort, and do all the work I possibly can going into the weekend that way I know I’ve left no stone unturned ... I think we’re going to try to qualify as good as we can and try to stay up front. If you stay up front and are leading the race, leading laps, finish good in the first stage, the pressure will shift to other people to have to protect points. You do everything you can to be up front the first stage, and then you kind of analyze where you are from there. Are you a winning car, are you going to stay there, or are you going to have to switch your strategy for the second stage to set yourself up to be up front to win the race?”

Joey Logano

Points above cutoff: +20


What he's saying: "Twenty points is nice, but the fact that you’re fourth in points means if one of those other four cars that are not in wins, you’re first out. The good news is we’re only a couple points from the 18 that’s right in front of us, so we have to race him to really kind of control our destiny. Really, winning the race is the best way to control your own destiny, obviously, but I like our position. It’s better than being outside looking in. I’d rather be on the inside still trying to move forward, so we’ll kind of have to wait and see.”

Kyle Busch

Points above cutoff: +22


What he's saying: “You just play it one race at a time and when you’re in the race, one lap at a time, one stage at a time and just try to figure out where you’re at and when it all comes down to the end, just figure out from there what you have to do. ... You have to be conservative in your efforts and what you do here this weekend. You can’t put yourself in a bad spot. Probably about ever, even if you’re second and you’re racing for the win, you can’t dive bomb the leader if you already know that you’re in. If it’s a desperation move where the leader – I don’t even know if the leader could be the 22 (Joey Logano) and we would be out, I don’t think we can be out. Just have to see how it goes and play it lap by lap.”

Kevin Harvick

Points situation: Locked into Miami


What he's saying: “I think as you look at our year it’s been a challenge in order to get where we are today, just to battle through the beginning of the year and get the ship turned around and in the right direction and really figure out exactly where we needed to be, what we needed to be doing, just totally different concepts than the things that we’ve done in the past and just those new concepts mindsets the way that you race, the way that you call a race, all those things that come together. I think the strength and experience of our race team has kind of carried the results that are in the finish column and the stages won and stage points and those types of things. As we went through the late summer and in the playoffs I feel like we obviously have got our cars back to being competitive and when I say competitive I mean able to lead laps without circumstances, and so we’ve been able to do that and so as long as we keep doing those types of things next week I think that you’ve got to be in it to win it and just have to see how it falls.”

Martin Truex Jr.

Points situation: Locked into Miami


What he's saying: "We’ve been working on Miami for a few weeks now so it’s definitely high priority, but I think preparation for this race really isn’t any different than any other weekend to be honest. Fortunately, we had a pretty good run in the spring. Had a good car and felt like we could play off of that. We didn’t have to do a whole lot of extra work. Homestead is a one-off race. We haven’t been there with this package and there’s a whole lot that goes into this package in general. They’ve been working pretty hard on it for quite a while now."