Will Graves, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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A glance at the 12 drivers competing in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship heading into this weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway (in order of points):

DRIVER: Jimmie Johnson

CHASE POINTS: first, 6,098

CAR: No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 15

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 17.7 (won in 2006)

LAST WEEK: All this and manners too? Johnson finished second at Martinsville and passed up a chance to bump eventual winner Denny Hamlin out of the way over the final laps, a move he used to win at the track during the spring.

CHASE CHATTER: "I wasn't just going to come in with the second-place car and take a cheap shot and pass him that way," Johnson said. "If I felt like I had a car to win the race, I would have been up there leaning on him some."

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DRIVER: Mark Martin

CHASE POINTS: second, -118

CAR: No. 5 Carquest/Kellogg's Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 43

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 16.1 (won twice)

LAST WEEK: Martin refused to crack, finishing eighth at Martinsville, but still lost 28 points to Johnson.

CHASE CHATTER: "You know, eighth-and seventh-place finishes, it doesn't look like that's going to be enough to go out here and win this championship," Martin said. "But there's still some racing left and a lot of things can change at Talladega."

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DRIVER: Jeff Gordon

CHASE POINTS: third, -150

CAR: No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 33

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 16.4 (won six times)

LAST WEEK: Spent part of the day trading paint with Juan Pablo Montoya and led 36 laps before a late-race caution cost him on a short run and finished fifth.

CHASE CHATTER: "We had the long run that we needed and drove all the way up (to the front) and then had the caution that we really didn't need," Gordon said.

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DRIVER: Tony Stewart

CHASE POINTS: fourth, -192

CAR: No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet

TEAM: Stewart/Haas Racing

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 21

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 13.8 (won in 2008)

LAST WEEK: Salvaged a ninth-place at finish at Martinsville, but has been unable to find the magic he had during the regular season and is almost out of it.

CHASE CHATTER: "Everything didn't fall the way we needed it to," said crew chief Darian Grubb. "It wasn't what we wanted. I think we had a top-four or five car."

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DRIVER: Juan Pablo Montoya

CHASE POINTS: fifth, -200

CAR: No. 42 Target Chevrolet

TEAM: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 1

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 5

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 18.6 (best finish: second in 2008)

LAST WEEK: Ran third at Martinsville, but biggest headline may have been ABC football analyst Bob Griese's slightly off-colour comment that Montoya was "out having a taco" the day before the race.

CHASE CHATTER: "I could say I spent the last three hours eating tacos, but I was actually driving a car," Montoya said. "But that's OK, I don't care."

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DRIVER: Kurt Busch

CHASE POINTS: sixth, -240

CAR: No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge

TEAM: Penske Racing

POSITION CHANGE: Minus 1

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 17

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 12.1 (best 3rd, four times)

LAST WEEK: An error on pit road cost Busch dearly about halfway through the race at Martinsville and he was never able to recover, finishing 17th to end any hopes of catching Johnson.

CHASE CHATTER: "I had to get too close to the wall to squeeze into our pit box and that really did us in," Busch said. "We lost about 15 spots and got caught up way back in the pack."

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DRIVER: Ryan Newman

CHASE POINTS: seventh, -312

CAR: No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet

TEAM: Stewart/Haas Racing

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 1

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 15

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 18.5 (best finish: third in 2009)

LAST WEEK: Qualified on the pole at Martinsville and led 23 laps before finishing seventh, his fifth top-10 finish in five Chase races.

CHASE CHATTER: "It was a good run for us," Newman said. "We kept our nose clean the entire day and ran up there with those guys that are running for a championship."

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DRIVER: Greg Biffle

CHASE POINTS: eighth, -350

CAR: No. 16 3M Scotch Brand Ford

TEAM: Roush Fenway Racing

POSITION CHANGE: Minus 1

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 13

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 23.8 (best finish: seventh in 2009)

LAST WEEK: Limped to 25th at Martinsville, a performance Biffle blamed on a lack of practice time due to poor weather on Saturday.

CHASE CHATTER: "We couldn't really do anything with our car," Biffle said. "With practice getting rained out yesterday it really hurt us. That happened in the spring, so that makes it tough. Someday when we get to test or practice here we'll be all right."

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DRIVER: Denny Hamlin

CHASE POINTS: ninth, -352

CAR: No. 11 FedEx Toyota

TEAM: Joe Gibbs Racing

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 2

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 7

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 18.9 (best finish: third in 2008)

LAST WEEK: A week after his dreams of a title vanished at Charlotte, Hamlin bounced back with a win at Martinsville as he held off Johnson to post his third victory of the season.

CHASE CHATTER: "It's kind of a fun power position to be racing around guys that are racing for a championship, and you have nothing to lose and all you're doing is going for a race win," Hamlin said.

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DRIVER: Carl Edwards

CHASE POINTS: 10th, -413

CAR: No. 99 Aflac Ford

TEAM: Roush Fenway Racing

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 10

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 24.5 (best finish: fifth in 2005)

LAST WEEK: Edwards' season in a nutshell? The final lap at Martinsville when his drive shaft broke, dropping him from 12th to 20th.

CHASE CHATTER: "I was trying so hard at the end," Edwards said. "We're at a point with our Aflac team in the Chase with not a lot to lose, so the guys worked hard. It just wasn't meant to be."

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DRIVER: Kasey Kahne

CHASE POINTS: 11th -439

CAR: No. 9 Budweiser Dodge

TEAM: Richard Petty Motorsports

POSITION CHANGE: Minus 2

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 11

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 23.5 (best finish, 2nd in 2006)

LAST WEEK: Kahne's roller coaster Chase continued, as a pair of incidents and a blown right front tire left him seven laps down and in 32nd place at Martinsville.

CHASE CHATTER: "This hasn't been a great track for us, so we need to work on that," Kahne said. "It was a pretty frustrating day."

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DRIVER: Brian Vickers

CHASE POINTS: 12th, -530

CAR: No. 83 Red Bull Toyota

TEAM: Red Bull Racing

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER TALLADEGA STARTS: 10

AVERAGE TALLADEGA FINISH: 19.7 (won in 2006)

LAST WEEK: After five weeks of Chase agony, Vickers managed to finish 11th at Martinsville, easily his best performance in the playoffs.

CHASE CHATTER: "It's no secret that it's not gone well for us lately in the Chase, and 11th at a tough place like Martinsville is a good start to getting back on track," Vickers said. "We could've run better and finished better, but we'll take it."