RICHMOND, Va. -- The Chase is here ... and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in it.

It wasn't easy. He didn't win a race. The season has had its ups and downs. His No. 88 Chevy staggered through the final regular-season races. But he made it. Ten drivers make it by Sprint Cup point standings, and Earnhardt Jr. was the 10th.

He's got his shot. He has 2,000 points. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick have only 12 more. Over 10 races, those 12 points don't amount to very much. If Earnhardt can get his team back in gear, he can win the championship.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have made Earnhardt a 40-1 shot. The winner of the past five, Jimmie Johnson, is 3-1.

"We'll just go see how we can do in the Chase," said Earnhardt after scrambling to finish 16th in the Wonderful Pistachios 400.

"I'm proud to be in the Chase," he added. "I feel like I'm a good enough driver to be in the Chase. My team is good enough to be there. ... Had we been more conscious and smarter at certain times, we wouldn't have had to even worry about it this weekend.

"But we're a good team, and I'm proud to carry my sponsors and HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) in the Chase and represent them. We're going to work real hard, and hopefully we do a good job."

This is Earnhardt's fourth appearance in the Chase, which began in 2004. He finished fifth that year and also in 2006. In 2008 he brought up the rear, finishing 12th.

"We've got to run a different setup than what we ran in the last six (regular-season) races, frankly," Earnhardt conceded. "We had a pretty good run at it going through the first 15 races, and for whatever reason, we sort of fell off and forgot some things, or over-engineered something.

"We'll go in there with a good attitude."

Earnhardt recently signed a contract extension that will keep him with Hendrick Motorsports through 2017.

"I'm in the Chase, and I've got an opportunity to run for the championship," he said. "I've got an opportunity to compete and improve my points position and improve the overall payout.

"You've basically got to hold it together the last 10 races and don't do anything stupid and settle some scores. ... I'm pretty proud of what we've been able to do all year."