The Associated Press

LONG POND, Pa. - Jeremy Mayfield would love to hover among the top five in the NASCAR Nextel Cup points standings. Yet as the mad dash toward qualifying for the series' 10-race chase for the championship heats up, Mayfield likes his spot.

Mayfield enters Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 11th in points, 106 behind 10th-place Ryan Newman. Seven races remain for drivers to earn a spot among the 10 who will participate in the 10-race championship.

Mayfield, though, hardly seems worried about missing the cut. He said there was more pressure on Newman or Kevin Harvick, who is in ninth place and 111 points ahead of Mayfield.

"The guys that are eighth, ninth and 10th, I think they're going to be a little more patient and not try to make any mistakes, whereas we feel like we've got nothing to lose," Mayfield said. "We've got to run hard and gain all we can every week."

Pocono might be the track where Mayfield makes his move.

He has won at Pocono Raceway twice - including his first career victory - and was second there six weeks ago in the Pocono 500. Mayfield has four top-fives and eight top-10s at the track in 20 starts.

"I think we're sitting in a pretty good spot right now," he said. "Other than being in the top five, I'd rather be where we're at rather than worried about somebody trying to move in on us."

INDY RACING LEAGUE: The wide two-mile oval of Michigan International Speedway will be a welcome sight for the fastest IRL drivers.

The asphalt track, which hosts the Michigan Indy 400 on Sunday, should result in speeds approaching 220 mph. That's a stark contrast from last week's race at Milwaukee, where the fastest laps on the tight one-mile track clocked in at about 160 mph.

"The teams running in front are the ones looking forward to running at Michigan," said Alex Barron, last year's Indy race winner on the D-shaped oval at Brooklyn, Mich. "That track ... you go flat out pretty much the whole time. It's a fun game to play. You swap places every lap or every other lap."

Barron won last year's race by less than a car length over Sam Hornish Jr., posting the fastest winning average speed in circuit history at 180.917 mph. They'll be among a field of 22 drivers beginning practice today for the Michigan race.