For me, it's the same as the 26 races before. This No. 17 team has done a really good job of taking it one race at a time all year. Do I look at the points? Sure. But, I don't dwell on them or think about the different scenarios or anything like that.

Here's what I know: If we can get the car as fast as we possibly can each week, have good pit stops, no part failures, and don't wreck, then we'll consistently have good finishes and things will take care of themselves. I know that first pays more points than second, second more than third, and so on.

We can't control how good other teams run, all we can control is how good our car is and how good the pit stops we have are and how good of race I run. I like the way our team is performing right now, but that doesn't guarantee us anything for the next 10 races. We have to continue to approach it one race at a time.

Crew chief Robbie Reiser and the guys have done a great job in the first 26 races. Overall, our cars this year have been better and more competitive than ever. We've been fortunate to win four races and close enough to win four or five more.

This is the first year where I've felt like we were capable of winning eight to ten races so far. Hopefully, we'll have a chance to win a few more. We're all excited about going into the Chase as the points leader, but we also know that they don't pay anything to the leader after 26 races. We have to continue to perform at the level we're at if we're going to compete for the championship in these final races _ and that all starts at Loudon this weekend.