Denny Hamlin saw his Cup Chase prospects take a tumble after his engine malfunctioned late in the race on Sunday at Michigan. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

BROOKLYN, Michigan -- The pressure is increasing for some of NASCAR's biggest names as the Sept. 6 cutoff for The Chase nears, and that pressure was never more evident than at Michigan International on Sunday.

Denny Hamlin, once a prime contender for the Sprint Cup title, is close to falling out of the Chase. After his Toyota engine blew up just six laps from the finish in Sunday's 3M Performance 400, "Ham Bone" dropped to 39th in the race. He also believes his chances of making the 12-driver Chase field went up in smoke, too, as he is just 26 points ahead of Clint Bowyer, who's 13th in the standings. "At this point, we don't deserve to be in the Chase," Hamlin said in the garage area.

He's not the only one feeling the heat as the series heads to Bristol for Saturday night's demolition derby on the high-banked short track. Jeff Gordon's next-to-last finish at Michigan dropped him from sixth to ninth in the standings and he is only 56 points out of 13th place. Without a victory this season and only three races left in the so-called regular season, the four-time champion has good reason to feel uneasy about his chances at making The Chase. At least now, however, Gordon knows he has to go out and race with a purpose rather than playing the points game and taking it conservative.

"I'm relieved because we've been [saying] every week, 'Well, we can't take too big of a risk but we got to push hard enough,'" Gordon said. "I'm relieved. Now we just don't worry about anything. We can just drive as hard as we can, do anything we possibly can, and just go all out and we'll see where we end up."

Where Dale Earnhardt, Jr., ended up Sunday was 23rd after his car went completely sideways coming out of a turn and smacked the wall. He had been in the front three times for 43 laps at the 2-mile oval where he won in June.

"Yeah, I can drive 'em man, they're just hard to drive like that all day," Earnhardt said. "I ran fifth all day and maybe better than that at some parts of the race, and I'm a good enough driver. I should have finished somewhere around there with that car.

"I don't know. For me it's been the same old story," he added. "We show up fast but we can't put a whole race together. So we've got to do some homework. We've got to science it out and figure out what the heck is going on, because we are sure fast when that race starts. But I've been like that my whole career."

Fourth in the standings, Earnhardt is certainly safe in the Chase, although nobody has mathematically clinched a spot yet. And with the prospect of a crashfest at Bristol, the standings could be scrambled by the end of the week.

Busch Whacked

Kyle Busch finished second to Carl Edwards on Sunday but admitted, uncharacteristally, he was no match for the race winner.

With four drivers from Roush Fenway Racing in the top five, Busch felt like he was in a "four-on-one" back alley fight. "All the Roush cars tend to run well at these mile-and-a-half and two-mile race tracks," Busch said. "They have something working for them. It's going to be hard to beat that 99 (Edwards) and we found that out again today.

"I'm happy we ran that good and there is something to build on, but we're still not as good as those guys for some reason."

Busch leads the series with eight victories but Edwards is closing after his fifth of the season. With three races left in the regular season, if Edwards wins all three, he would tie Busch in bonus points.

Busch still has a 222-point lead over Edwards in the standings, but the points will be reset when The Chase begins at New Hampshire on Sept. 14.

"We were about the best car at the end to keep up with the 99," Busch said. "We weren't able to win today, but somebody else has to take it every once in a while.

Edwards: 'I'm the best race driver that ever lived'

After winning Sunday's race, Carl Edwards was asked what it does for his psyche to beat Kyle Busch at this stage of the season.

Edwards delivered with one of the best responses to a question this year.

"My psyche and mentality is pretty much fixed on I'm the greatest race-car driver that ever lived," Edwards said. "Know what I'm saying? That's what David Pearson told me, that if you don't believe that, you don't belong in a race car.

"Deep down, you really have to believe in yourself, and I think everyone who performs at a high level in every sport does. I was watching the Olympics and it struck me -- you see individuals that achieve so well and they achieve such great things, and there are all the other folks who don't. And just having the guts to go out there and jump in the water and swim or go run 100 meters in front of the whole world and compete, you know you have the chance to lose, but you just have to do the very best you can. That's all you can do."

Crew chief Bob Osborne was asked the same question and came back with a more self-deprecating response.

"Actually, I don't think I'm the best crew chief out here," Osborne said.