(AP) -- NASCAR trotted out eight drivers Thursday who are all mathematically eligible to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
In reality, Saturday night's "regular season" finale is a race between Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon for the final berth in the 12-driver field.
The two wild card berths are both technically open.
But with two wins on the season, Kasey Kahne is in strong shape to lock one of them down.
So Busch and Gordon talked as if it's just down to them for the last slot.
Busch can clinch a berth by winning the race, or by losing 12 or fewer points to Gordon. It doesn't hurt that Richmond is one of his best tracks.
He's a four-time winner at Richmond, and his May win here is his only victory this season.
He's got an average finish of 4.7 and has 13 top-10s in 15 career starts. With that track record, he didn't seem too stressed Thursday.
Gordon only makes it into the Chase by finishing 13 points ahead of Busch.
And, a week after failing to knock Denny Hamlin out of the way at Atlanta for what would have been a crucial victory,
Gordon is vowing to do anything needed to make the Chase.
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