Remaining drivers eager for Martinsville

In part because those eight survived a second dangerous round that was capped with a "please-just-let-me-get-through-Talladega-without-wrecking" finish to the three-race segment.

"If I never have to come back to Talladega, I'll be fine with that," Gordon said after a 26th-place finish in Sunday's Geico 500. "I'm just excited about our chances to get to Homestead, and those chances come in these next few races -- Martinsville, Texas (and) Phoenix. Those are great tracks for us."

Harvick overcame a spin on pit road as well as contact in an earlier on-track incident to finish ninth at Talladega. Earlier this year, he won at Phoenix and was seventh at Martinsville. An engine issue saddled him with a 42nd-place finish at Texas.

"Our Martinsville car was built specifically for (there)," crew chief Rodney Childers said. "We ran it there in the spring and I think we were good enough to win the race, we just had that chain break on the left rear. Every time we would pit, we would come out 10th and drive back up there. So we run good there."

Childers said the plan is to take the same car to Texas that Harvick won with at Charlotte just two weeks ago; the car for Phoenix was run at Loudon, where the Stewart-Haas Racing driver led the most laps en route to a third-place finish.

"So I feel good about what we're taking and our preparation and all that," Childers said. "We just have to go execute now over the next few weeks and try to make it to that last round."

Keselowski, outside the top eight in points, came into Sunday's race at Talladega needing a victory to advance to the Elimination round. He got it, and now he and crew chief Paul Wolfe can focus on what lies ahead.

"I think we're in a really good spot for these next four races, but we've got to still execute," Keselowski said after collecting his sixth win of the season.

"We're in a very good position. It would be nice to go to Martinsville and win, get a grandfather clock, have three weeks to really think about Homestead. That's my mentality moving forward.

"But if that doesn't happen, we still have any one of these four tracks, which I think are good tracks for us."

Newman, along with Kenseth, has continued to advance through consistency and an uncanny ability to avoid the one bad race that could end his team's Chase hopes.

But wins remain the target, he said.

"I think winning in one of the next three races is the most important win that you could have," the Richard Childress Racing driver said. "Just to give yourself the best shot at Homestead."


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