The A's fight elimination at Dover

WHEN THE Chase began, first-time Chasers A.J. Allmendinger and Aric Almirola (the A's have it!) were considered the two most likely to be trimmed from contention when the 16-team driver field was reduced to 12.

Following the third Chase race, Sunday at Dover, Del., the Daring Dozen will move on, led by Team Penske's Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, winners of the first two Chase races. That leaves 10 spots available in the next round.

Entering Dover, Allmendinger is 10th in points, Almirola is 16th. Since only 12 points separate the drivers eighth through 16th in points, Allmendinger and Almirola still have a chance to continue as Chasers. Allmendinger has three top-10 finishes at Dover; Almirola has one top-10.

"Three out of the last four races we've had top-10s," Almirola said, "and at Chicago [first Chase race], we were running sixth with 30 laps to go before our engine [trouble; he finished 41st]. We've been doing a really good job of running competitively, and so we've got to go to Dover and do the same thing.

"If we run in the top 10, top five, we're going to put a lot of pressure on those guys that are just in front of us on points, and hopefully we'll pressure them into making mistakes."

A major challenge for all the Chasers except Keselowski and Logano is racing aggressively while also racing smart.

"It's not going to do me any good to try harder; I try as hard as I possibly can every week," said Almirola, a 30-year-old Floridian of Cuban descent. "Maybe [I'll] take a little more risk on like restarts and stuff. I did that at Loudon [N.H.] when it got close to the end. I took a couple risks on some restarts and went on the outside. I think one time I was outside of four wide and made a few passes that way.

"There's times when you realize, 'Hey, I need to be aggressive if I'm going to get some spots here and get a good finish,' and I think the same will hold true at Dover."

As much as Almirola, who drives the No. 43 Ford, wants to stay in Chase contention, he is aware his Richard Petty Motorsports team has made its mark this season.

"We can't lose sight of the fact that even if we don't transfer to the next round, we still can race for fifth in points, and we have to keep that in mind," Almirola said. "We can't just go to Dover and throw a Hail Mary and it's either win or finish 43rd, because if we don't win and we finish 43rd, then we're pretty much going to guarantee that we're going to finish 16th in points, and we don't want to do that.

"We still have the capability of going up in points all the way up to fifth. There's still a bigger picture in mind even if we don't transfer, but we do desperately want to transfer. So we'll take necessary risks, but we're not going to take crazy risks just to try and transfer to the next round if the reward is not there."

Here are the career Dover records of other Chasers, in order of the points standings:

Keselowski, one win; Logano, two top-five finishes; Kevin Harvick, three top-fives; Jimmie Johnson, track-record nine wins; Kyle Busch, two wins; Dale Earnhardt Jr., one win; Jeff Gordon, four wins; Matt Kenseth, two wins; Carl Edwards, one win; Kasey Kahne, one top-five; Ryan Newman, three wins; Denny Hamlin, three top-fives; Greg Biffle, two wins; Kurt Busch, one win.

Following the Dover race, points for the remaining 12 Chasers will be reset at 3,000. They'll be listed in their points position after Dover.

Logano has signed a contract extension with Team Penske to continue driving the No. 22 Ford in the Cup series. He'll also race in the Nationwide series.

Michael Carter-Williams, the Sixers' point guard who is the NBA's reigning rookie of the year, will serve as grand marshal for tomorrow's Nationwide Series race at Dover. Elena Delle Donne, the WNBA Rookie of the Year last season from the University of Delaware, will serve as the honorary starter. Delle Donne just completed her second season with the Chicago Sky. Ex-Eagle Brian Mitchell will be the grand marshal for Sunday's Cup series race.

* A K&N series race is scheduled for today at 5 p.m.