For two consecutive races, the 16 drivers inside the provisional NASCAR Cup Series "Chase" playoff picture were the same, after there had been some sort of change after each of the season's first six events.
Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen entered Sunday's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway as the 16th and final driver above the cut line, and given the ongoing struggles of the Justin Marks-owned team, coupled with van Gisbergen's own continued struggles on ovals, it always felt inevitable that SVG would drop out of the top 16.
He did indeed drop out with a 34th place finish at Kansas, his third finish of 34th or worse in the five most recent races, and it was Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe, who had a historically bad start to the season, who vaulted his way into the top 16 with a surprise third place effort following a call to take four tires during the race's final caution.
However, Briscoe isn't on the cut line; that distinction now goes to Spire Motorsports' Daniel Suarez.
Daniel Suarez now the last driver in
Suarez occupies the 16th and final postseason spot by 13 points above Team Penske's Austin Cindric. The driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet hasn't exactly been flashy, but he has to be liking where he's at, just past the one-third mark of the 2026 season.
The 10th-year driver effectively fell backwards into a team on the up after being dropped – basically fired – by a team clearly on the decline.
He's 32 points ahead of former teammate van Gisbergen, 46 points ahead of former teammate Ross Chastain, with whom he engaged in a brief scuffle after the mid-March race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and about a million (okay, 118) points ahead of rookie Connor Zilisch, the much-hyped "next Jeff Gordon" who replaced him yet only sits 33rd in the standings with fewer total points (92) than that deficit itself.
For all that talk about Suarez supposedly racing the Trackhouse drivers differently to start the season out of spite, he seems to be finishing differently than they are too: better.
Suarez has just two top 10 finishes this season, but he has just two finishes outside of the top 20. In a season that has seen the traditional top-tier organizations separate themselves, following four years of parity to begin the Next Gen era, he has met, if not exceeded, expectations.
And exceeding those expectations by being consistent, which is what the new postseason format rewards, is exactly what he needs to be doing.
Spire Motorsports actually have two drivers inside the provisional playoff field, with Carson Hocevar sitting 12th, 40 points to the good, following a strong start of his own. Michael McDowell is within striking distance, 36 points on the outside.
Will there be another shakeup after Sunday's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, a track known for producing chaos? Fox is set to provide live coverage starting at 3:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!
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