INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The money is big and the prestige for winning the Brickyard 400 at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway even bigger.

But many drivers covet a victory here Sunday for a much more important reason.

“Winning this race could be a real springboard for somebody trying to get into the championship battle,” said two-time Brickyard winner Dale Jarrett.

Under NASCAR’s new title format in the Nextel Cup series, only the top 10 drivers after the 26th of 36 races will be eligible to win the lucrative championship.

The race winner Sunday will earn more than $400,000, but the series champion will walk away with $5.28 million, just from series points fund. Overall, including contingency awards from sponsors, the title will be worth close to $10 million for the champion.

Most of the drivers bidding for a spot in what NASCAR calls the “Chase for the Cup,” prefer to talk about taking the last six events before the 10-race championship playoff one race at a time.

But there is little doubt Sunday’s 400-mile event could play a key role in determining which drivers eventually get the shot at the big prize.

“Every race is crucial at this point,” said Jeremy Mayfield, 11th in the standings and only 40 points behind 10th-place Kevin Harvick, the defending Brickyard champion. “You need to finish in the top 10 or the top five and you need to build momentum that can carry you into the last 10 races.

“That’s why this race is so important. Nobody with a chance at the top 10 can afford to lose a lot of points right now.”

Ryan Newman, eighth in the standings and only 52 points in front of Harvick, echoed Mayfield and Jarrett.

“Mathematically, these races are all the same, but it’s getting to be crunch time as far as gaining and losing points,” Newman said.

Series leader Jimmie Johnson and the rest of the top six in the standings look to be all but guaranteed spots in the championship chase, but only 194 points separate sixth-place Kurt Busch from 15th-place Jamie McMurray.

Busch knows firsthand how quickly momentum can turn.

He felt pretty secure in the points race after winning two weeks ago in New Hampshire. Then a broken transmission sent him tumbling to 26th place last Sunday at Pocono, costing Busch one position in the standings and moving a handful of drivers within striking distance.

Mark Martin, 13th in the standings, but 89 points behind Kenseth, has also seen the momentum shift in a hurry.

“For a while, we were totally out of it,” he said. “Then we had a couple of good races and we were in it. Then we had a bad race and we were out of it. Then we had another good race and we were in it. I don’t even want to go there.”

“We may make it, we may not. I want to approach this race like the championship chase is out of the question for us. I don’t want to be disappointed.”

So Martin, coming off a second-place finish at Pocono – after running 24th and 14th in the two previous races – has only one goal at Indy: to win.

“Winning solves a lot of problems and gives everybody on the team a lift,” said Martin, who got his 34th career win earlier this season at Dover. “The next race on the schedule is the Brickyard 400 and that’s the one I want to win. Next week, it will be the race at Watkins Glen.”

AP-ES-08-06-04 1653EDT