NASCAR: Updated Chase Standings Following New Hampshire
The first round of the 2016 NASCAR Chase is 2/3 over and only one race stands in the way of the Chase field going from 16 drivers down to 12.
Sunday in New Hampshire Kevin Harvick punched his ticket into the second round of the NASCAR Chase after a late restart allowed him to get around Matt Kenseth and win the race. Harvick’s win puts him into the same category with Martin Truex Jr. who won the opening race of the Chase in Chicagoland. Although both of those drivers have nothing to worry about this weekend in Dover, the other 14 drivers in the Chase do.
Chase Standings After New Hampshire
Heading into Dover Kyle Larson will hold the final spot just above the cutline for the second round of the Chase. McMurray and Dillon are five points behind that spot and Stewart is 11 points outside of the cut. Buescher, who appears to be done, will enter Dover 30 points behind.
While Larson is on the proverbial hot seat, there are plenty of other drivers who cannot afford to have a bad day at Dover as it could knock them out the Chase. Kurt Busch (11th) is 15 points ahead of the first two drivers out of the Chase (currently) and Logano (6th) is only 21 points ahead of them. If anyone from 6th-12th in the points has a subpar day at Dover, it could knock them out of the Chase.
Kenseth will enter Dover with a 16-point cushion over the first two drivers outside of the cutline while Kyle Busch and Keselowski will have cushions of more than 30 points. For either of these three drivers not to advance, they would most likely have to have finishes outside of the top-30.
Don’t forget, the above numbers are assuming that a driver from 13th-16th in the points doesn’t win in Dover. If that were to happen, Larson’s current spot in the standings would be the first spot out of the Chase.
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