Bubble battle visits Richmond

For Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers, the goal Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway is simple: win.

Each driver enters the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 on the bubble for one of the 12 spots in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, needing perhaps his best race of the year in the final event before the circuit’s playoffs.

Busch is 14th, 37 points behind Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, who holds the final Chase spot. Vickers is 13th, 20 points out of the Chase. Busch and Vickers are among 10 drivers with a realistic chance at claiming the eight remaining spots in the Chase. Entering Saturday’s race, only Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, three-time defending Sprint Cup winner Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin are safely in the Chase.

On the surface, it would seem absurd that Busch is entering Richmond not among those drivers. Not only was he the most dominant driver for much of 2008, but he also is tied this year with Mark Martin for the lead in wins with four. He is fifth in earnings, with more than $4.6 million in prize money. But a lack of consistency has come back to haunt him.

“If we win the race or if we win top 10 or even 14th, we did all we could do,” Busch said. “It’s not going to be Richmond that keeps us out. It’s going to be the rest of the year [when] we’ve had our struggles.”

The good news for Busch is that he won at Richmond earlier this year - the short track and aggressive style of racing has suited him well. If he qualifies for the Chase, he could be one of the favorites because each driver’s points are reset to 5,000 before 10 bonus points are awarded for each victory.

Vickers appears to be no fan of Richmond; he has just one top-10 finish in 10 races. Vickers’ problem this season is the opposite of Busch’s; he has 12 top-10 finishes but has crossed the finish line first just once.

“We had a lot of good races this year, but we’ve had a lot of mistakes - my part, team’s part, Toyota’s part,” Vickers said. “Everybody gets caught up in Richmond when it comes down to the Chase, especially when you’re on the bubble. It’s really not all about Richmond. … Every race leading up to Richmond pays the same amount of points.”

Vickers has shown great resiliency this year, most prominently Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he salvaged seventh place after breaking an axle during a pit stop. He has been one of the leading point-getters the past 10 weeks.

“Can we maintain that?” he said. “I don’t know. It won’t be easy. It won’t be easy to maintain that over a course of 20 weeks, but we’ve done it for 10. If we can make the Chase, do another 10, we win the championship. I know we’re capable of it.”