CONCORD, N.C. — The NASCAR Cup Series season quickly approaches its end point, which only increases the pressure on the drivers best in position to contend for the championship.
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Chasing down leader Kyle Larson is becoming more of a longshot for the drivers ranked second through fifth in the standings. Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, and Ryan Blaney have to be almost perfect in the final four races while getting some help from the No. 5 team.
These drivers just need Larson to slip up after he posted an average finish of 2.8 in the first six Chase races.
Hamlin remains closest to Larson after Sunday night's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He is 49 points back after another race in which he missed out on stage points early due to a safety violation on pit road.
Hamlin finished fifth in the race, one spot ahead of Larson, but he scored nine fewer points. This kept him from cutting into Larson's lead.
"We've just got to execute better, be a little faster, all of the above," Hamlin said. "But ultimately we're giving it all we've got right now."
With four races to go, @KyleLarsonRacin continues to hold his commanding points lead. pic.twitter.com/OIWXosY3xJ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 12, 2026
Bell sits third in the standings after finishing second behind Briscoe in a photo finish that left him "in shock." He scored 18 stage points and left the track with 53 points, but this only moved him four points closer to Larson. He is still 51 points behind.
"It doesn't do any good in the grand scheme of things," Bell said. "I came in negative 55 — is that right — and I'm leaving negative 51. That ain't gonna do it."
Unlike Bell, Briscoe left Charlotte Motor Speedway optimistic about his championship chances. He won the race — his third of the season — and scored a race-high 68 points.
Briscoe moved to 65 points behind Larson. This is not a small amount, but it's much better than two weeks ago when he was 123 points behind.
"Look, I feel great about all the tracks we're going to," Briscoe said. "Phoenix is where I've been able to at least win my first Cup race, so I feel confident going there.
"Even just in the 19 cars, stats-wise, I would say we have been one of the worst cars — if you just look on paper at the finish — but we have passed so many cars and went from the back to the front I don't know how many times.
"I think we've blown five tires in two races there. So the end result doesn't always show great, but we've been really fast there. Talladega we were able to win last year.
"Martinsville to me is the big question mark for our group. We've been okay. We've just been a seventh to tenth place car and we're going to have to be better if we're going to go and contend. Homestead is a place I feel really good about. Just going to have to go perform the next four weeks."
Blaney sits on the edge after leaving Charlotte. He is mathematically still in contention for the championship, but he is also quite close to being eliminated at 85 points behind Larson.
The reason why the 2023 Cup Series champion is still "in it" is his past success at the remaining tracks. He has three wins at Talladega, two wins at Martinsville, and two wins at Phoenix in his Cup Series career. The majority of these wins have come in the Gen 7 era.
"I look forward to it, but I look forward to going no matter where it's at every week," Blaney said. "I think this team can do a great job at figuring out things when we need to, whether that's going to a track we've been successful at, or going to tracks we need to work at.
"They've done a really good job. Phoenix has been a good one for us, and hopefully it'll be a good one again next week."
The final four races of the Chase will take place at Phoenix Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
