Now that 11th-place Greg Biffle has distanced himself from the rest of the Chase bubble thanks to his win at Pocono last week, 12th-place Clint Bowyer occupies the only remaining playoff spot that could be realistically taken by another driver.
Just 34 points ahead of Mark Martin, Bowyer said he knows the final five races before the Chase are time for him to "get up on the wheel and make things happen."
To that end, Bowyer said he can't worry about any feuds between other drivers on the track – he needs to take care of his own business.
"If you are worried about somebody else's fiasco and getting tangled up in that, you're not worried about what you need to be doing, which is finding speed and a good finish at the end of the day," Bowyer said Friday at Watkins Glen. "In the position we are in, we're only (34) points ahead of (Martin). We've got to be able to get every position possible."
Bowyer said the goal for Watkins Glen is to somehow escape with a top-10 finish, even though the Richard Childress Racing driver acknowledged he's had limited success at the central New York road course.
Though Bowyer finished ninth in this race last season, he has an average finish of 15.5 here.
"I think if we get out of here with a top-10 finish, that is going to set us up good for (the) last four races before the cutoff," he said. "We have some good racetracks for us – Bristol is one of my good ones; Richmond is another one of my best tracks.
"If we can get out of here (with a good finish), I'm pretty excited about the last four."