The six biggest surprises of the Chase for the Sprint Cup so far

6 biggest Chase surprises

Hard to believe, perhaps, but Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway will mark the halfway point in the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Following are the six biggest surprises so far in the first four races Chase:

Young money out early

In the last three races of the Sprint Cup regular season, Kyle Larson won at Michigan, finished third at Darlington and was runner-up at Richmond. He was the hottest driver coming into the Chase, but never finished better than 10th in the Round of 16 and was quickly eliminated.

Dillon still in the hunt

Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon was the lowest seed to advance out of the Round of 16. Dillon came into the Chase as the No. 15 seed, but made it to the Round of 12 despite a best finish of eighth with no laps led in the first three Chase races. But he’ll have his work cut out for him after a 32nd-place finish at Charlotte.

The Charlotte calamity

Who could have predicted that so many good drivers would encounter serious problems at Charlotte Motor Speedway? Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, two of the Chase favorites, had engine failures, while Joey Logano and Kyle Busch had front-tire issues and a bunch of Chase drivers got taken out in a crash on a late-race restart.

No JGR wins yet

In the 26-race Sprint Cup regular season, all four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers won at least twice, with the team scoring a total of 11 race victories. In the Chase, Matt Kenseth has had a pair of runner-up finishes and three top fives, while his JGR teammate Kyle Busch has finished eighth or better in all four races. And while Martin Truex Jr. won two of the first three Chase races, it’s a bit of surprise that a JGR car hasn’t visited Victory Lane yet.

Hendrick cars are fast

After a terrible summer and a long winless streak, the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets have picked up steam across the board. Not only did Jimmie Johnson score a dominating victory at Charlotte, he has led the most laps in the playoffs so far. Chase Elliott has a pair of third-place finishes and after missing the Chase, Kasey Kahne has averaged a 7.75 finish in the four Chase races so far. Alex Bowman has run well in the No. 88, too. We’ll see if this continues through the Chase. Photo: Robert Laberge

No miracle run for Stewart

In his last full season as a Sprint Cup driver, Tony Stewart seemed poised to make the kind of improbable championship run that he did in 2011, when after going winless in the regular season he won five of 10 Chase races and his third title. Alas, it was not to be. Stewart didn’t have a single top-1o finish and was eliminated in the first round of the Chase.