by Lee Spencer

Bowyer is 12th in the point standings, 76 points behind 11th-place Denny Hamlin. But things were quite different the last time NASCAR invaded Richmond International Raceway in May, as Bowyer won the spring fling and moved to a season-high fourth in the standings. However, the next five races were hardly kind to the driver of the No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet, as he had four finishes of 25th or worse. After becoming 2007's breakthrough kid, Bowyer found himself in the Chase cellar.

Over the next five races, he posted two top 10s and teetered in and out of the Chase Zone. Despite three top 10s leading into Richmond, the competition kept Bowyer from making up ground or increasing his lead.

On Friday at RIR, after all the drama of switching to the No. 33 Chevrolet next year and being quizzed for the last three weeks about his Chase hopes, Bowyer was spent.

The inquisition went something like this:

"Is it just business as usual?" one reporter asked.

"Yeah, it really is," Bowyer replied. "Just ready to go. You know, it's challenging, it's time to see what we're made out of."

"Do you race your own race? Do you race the racetrack or do you race David Ragan and Kasey Kahne," another reporter asked.

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"You try the best you can, expect that out of your team, and if we do that we'll be just fine," Bowyer replied.

"How much do you want to know on the radio about them," still another reporter fired off.

"I don't want to know where they're at," Bowyer replied.

Finally, a softball to warm the driver up: "Any comfort in that you run very well here?"

"Yeah, absolutely," Bowyer said. "This is my favorite racetrack, and I love racing here. You know, what better race to come to to try to put yourself in the Chase than one of your favorite racetracks? I'm just looking forward to it, trying to stay focused and go get 'em."

Bowyer tops the list when it comes to competitors on short tracks. He's the only driver in the Sprint Cup Series to score top-10 finishes on every track of less than a mile this season. While Denny Hamlin has led the most laps at short tracks, Bowyer has scored one win, two top fives, four top 10s and 640 points.

Crew chief Gil Martin is encouraged by the team's win in May — even though Bowyer slipped by Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the last lap. Martin has confidence in his driver and knows the team is solid.

"We have to race our race," the crew chief said. "We're looking ahead. We're looking at how to beat the No. 11 and 24. We're already in 12th place. It's up to the drivers behind to catch us."

Richard Childress Racing's senior driver Jeff Burton did not venture to presume what was going through Bowyer's mind. Burton remembers what it was like to be an "outsider" when he missed the Chase in 2005. Still, he knows how to add positive spin to Bowyer's predicament.

"Everybody deals with things differently," Burton said. "What is important to remember is that the reason you are in this position is because you and your team are pretty good. It's important to remember if you go out and do your job and it doesn't yield a result, then you didn't choke, you didn't screw up. It just didn't work out for you.

"You can't worry your way into a championship. You can't stretch your way into a championship but you can sure worry yourself and stretch yourself out of one. I think it's important to kind of relax about it. Don't look at it as the world coming to an end if you don't make it, look at it more in the frame of mind that if you do make it how great of a thing that will be."

Bowyer feels the pressure of competing against champions such as Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon was much more stressful than locking down the final position on Sunday.

"I like pressure," Bowyer said. "Pressure is good. There's no way of getting around it. But I'd rather be me in the Chase right now than them out of the Chase trying to figure out how to beat me at one of my favorite tracks."