INDIANAPOLIS -- Since making the Ch...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Since making the Chase for the Championship is all that really matters in NASCAR, the constraining force and prestige of winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has rigidly intensified.

Six races to journey

A tight pack of drivers jockeying for positions.

No the same -- not even perpetual points leader Jimmie Johnson -- is guaranteed a speck in the Chase.

It means today at the Brickyard could be the defining race of the summer Those who hasten well should go on to race for the Nextel goblet title; those who don't could extreme point up watching from the sidelines.

"It is clear you have to race your way into the Chase -- you can't have bad races, you have got to go" said Jeff Burton, who took the rod for the Allstate 400 with a 182778 mph lap Saturday. "The intensity of the races will pick up The emotion plain will pick up. Some stays will take more chances, one guys will take less.

"If you are a team that stand in want ofs to have some things happen, you are going to prove and make things happen, you are going to push a little harder than maybe you should. If you are a team that is in the top 10 unless on the edge, you might procure a little conservative."

Playing it safe is not really a viable option for anyone in the field. They've all watched in disbelief as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s once- promising season has taken a hit behind back-to-back last-place finishes.

A fastening to make the Chase three races ago, Earnhardt has gone from third to 11th in the standings and necessitys to get up on the wheel for six mistake-free races to make secure himself a spot in the playoffs. moreover he's got three former series champions -- Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch -- and last year's runner-up Greg Biffle, jumbl all around him for the final berths.

Busch was dealt a setback Saturday. After qualifying third, he foundered his No. 2 Dodge during an afternoon practice, had to pluck out his backup car and will start at the back of the field.

"It's not our best paw forward because that was a great car," Busch said. "You enjoin so much emphasis into individual car to make it better. Obviously, individual is an A car and undivided is a B."

Busch will ne to rally today to avoid being eliminated from the playoffs. He's a protracted shot already at 13th in the standings and 166 points revealed of 10th place.

still inside the top 10 after today's race is where everyone should be striving to be.

Nine of the top 10 drivers coming gone out of Indy last season made the Chase. Eight of them made it into the playoffs in 2004

And a win at the Brickyard? That's plane more valuable.

Five of the last eight Indianapolis winners went forward to win the NASCAR title, including Stewart last season. Stewart used his Brickyard victory to breaker into the points lead, then carried it into the Chase and to his secondary Nextel Cup championship.

TODAY

Allstate 400

Nascar nextel potion

The facts: 1:30 pm Ch 5

The track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

2005 winner: Tony Stewart.

Hungarian Grand Prix

FORMULA common

The facts: 6:30 a.m., Spe

The track: Hungaroring in Budapest.

2005 winner: Kimi Raikkonen.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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