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Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet, smiles during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2008 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Now he's vowing to do the same.

"I am planning on just going out there and racing as hard as I can," he said. "I mean, you might not take a chance on fuel or a different pit strategy to win a race, but you really don't do much different."

Right behind Harvick is David Ragan, the surprise of the Chase contenders.

The second-year Roush Fenway Racing driver is having a remarkable season considering his rookie year struggles, and he's just 56 points out of 12th.

But Pocono could be the make-or-break race for Ragan, who has qualified 30th or worse in his three starts there and has never finished higher than 24th.

"I've struggled," he admitted. "But we've had some good runs recently, so hopefully we can build off of that momentum. We need to go there and get a good run — it's all about points and having solid finishes at this point in the season."

Behind Ragan is Brian Vickers, who is 132 points out after engine issues in Indy led to a 42nd-place finish. But Vickers can make some ground when the series returns to Pocono and Michigan over the next month. He was second at Pocono in June and followed it with a fourth-place finish in Michigan.

Beyond Vickers, the last driver with a chance — albeit an outside one — is Ryan Newman. The Daytona 500 winner is 16th in the standings with significant ground to make up.

He's also got to deal with finding a new job for next season: Newman said two weeks ago he's leaving Penske Racing at the end of the year, and he's believed to be the top candidate to join Stewart's new team.

But Newman, who finished 13th in Indy, also wants a strong close to his Penske career.

"We had a really good points day at Indianapolis, and that's what we need right now," he said. "Our goal is to get the No. 12 Dodge into the Chase, and to do what we can to have solid runs without any issues for the next several races. We have to take that mentality and the momentum we have into this weekend's race and have another good one."