NASCAR What If: The 2011 Chase Under 2015 Rules
Round One Elimination
In the opening round of the chase Stewart won twice and Kurt Busch won once which allowed them both to advance. After the first three races of the chase 12 drivers moved on and four missed the cut as seen below, the drivers are ranked according to the points they had after the first three races even though points reset before the next round.
- Tony Stewart
- Kurt Busch
- Kevin Harvick
- Carl Edwards
- Brad Keselowski
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Jeff Gordon
- Regan Smith
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Ryan Newman
——————————————————–
- 13th – Paul Menard (-2)
- 14th – AJ Allmendinger (-3)
- 15th – Marcos Ambrose (-4)
- 16th – Denny Hamlin (-24)
The 2011 chase would have been one of the closest in history to this point after the first round. Newman took the 12th spot in the second round but he did so by only two points and there were three drivers within four points of that spot.