With four races remaining before the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase begins, the battle around the cutline is one of the biggest storylines of the season. Denny Hamlin continues to lead the standings with 886 points and is closing in on the No. 1 seed, holding an 84-point advantage over Tyler Reddick. Behind them, however, the fight for the final Chase positions remains wide open.
Following the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Joey Logano climbed to 13th after another strong result, while Austin Cindric holds the final Chase spot in 16th with 518 points. Shane van Gisbergen sits 15th, 57 points above the cutline, and Ryan Preece occupies 17th with 480 points. Erik Jones remains in 18th with 474 points, just 44 behind the cutline.
Thanks for the submission!
With Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire and the finale at Daytona still to come, every race now carries major Chase implications. Several drivers are close enough that one strong finish, combined with a difficult afternoon for those around them, could quickly reshape the standings. Here are three NASCAR Cup Series drivers who still have a realistic chance of climbing above the cutline.
3 NASCAR Cup Series drivers who could still fight their way into the Chase
#3 Michael McDowell – No. 71 Spire Motorsports
Michael McDowell enters the final four-race stretch 20th in the standings with 442 points, leaving him 76 points behind Austin Cindric. While that is a sizeable gap, Indianapolis showed far more promise than his 18th-place finish suggests.
McDowell qualified sixth and spent much of the afternoon running near the front. He collected stage finishes of third and eighth, ranked among the race’s best on restarts and consistently looked capable of delivering a top-10 finish before late strategy dropped him back. Iowa has not been one of his stronger tracks, with an average finish of 25, but Spire Motorsports has made significant gains in 2026.
With Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez already comfortably positioned for the Chase, the No. 71 team can focus entirely on helping McDowell maximize points. The veteran last reached the NASCAR Cup Series postseason in 2023 and has the experience to capitalize in the final month.
#2 Brad Keselowski – No. 6 RFK Racing
Brad Keselowski narrowly missed the playoffs last season and now faces another uphill battle. The 2012 Cup Series champion sits 19th with 468 points, 50 behind the Chase cutline, after a season that has produced only two top-five finishes.
However, the No. 6 RFK Racing team finally appears to be building momentum at exactly the right time. Keselowski followed a seventh-place finish at North Wilkesboro with sixth at Indianapolis, giving him consecutive top-10 finishes after an 11-race drought.
More importantly, the remaining schedule suits him well. Iowa has been one of his better tracks, where he finished 10th in the inaugural Cup race before leading 68 laps and finishing third last season. He is also a three-time NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series winner there. If Keselowski can continue stringing together top-10 finishes, the 50-point deficit could shrink much faster than it currently appears.
#1 Ryan Preece – No. 60 RFK Racing
Among the drivers below the cutline, Ryan Preece has the clearest path into the NASCAR Cup Series Chase. He sits 17th with 480 points, only 38 behind Austin Cindric, and remains within striking distance with four races still to run.
Preece delivered one of the strongest recovery drives at Indianapolis, gaining valuable ground in the Chase battle. The upcoming schedule also works in his favor. Iowa Speedway produced one of Preece’s best runs last season, when he finished fifth, and he is already an O’Reilly Series winner at the short track. The margin remains narrow enough that one excellent race could completely change the Chase picture before the field heads to Richmond and New Hampshire.
Edited by Anurup Chakraborty
You must be logged in to post a comment Login