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The Top Five: Breaking down the Bristol night race

Five thoughts after Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway…

1. Again…MORE SHORT TRACKS!

The next time someone asks me what I like about NASCAR, I’m just going to point to this year’s racing at Bristol.

NASCAR was at its best on Saturday night. There were great battles for the lead all night, fantastic moves throughout the field, unpredictable outcomes, high emotions and almost too much to keep track of at times.

It was fun! Three hours of pure entertainment that never got boring and had intriguing subplots from the opening laps.

Is it being greedy to ask for more?

“Bristol is an awesome place,” Kyle Larson said afterward. “If we could race here every Saturday and Sunday, our grandstands would be packed, our TV ratings would be very high. Let’s build more Bristols.”

Amen! For all the talk of what ails NASCAR and how it could be better, the issue so often comes down to the tracks themselves. And it continues to feel like more short tracks could solve a lot of NASCAR’s problems.

Yet the reality of adding more short tracks seems so unlikely at the moment.  Instead, NASCAR is locked into this intermediate track racing and now has seemingly come up with a solution to slow down the cars in order to put on a better show next season.

Ugh.

If only someone in power could slam their fist down on the table and say, “NO! Enough. That’s not what we need. The real solution is to shake up the schedule and start going to more short tracks.”

No, it wouldn’t change things overnight, but 20 short track races per season sure would do a lot for the health of the sport.

The problem is it’ll never happen. It’s a pipe dream at this point. So we just have to somehow accept there’s only two more short track races for the rest of the year.

Sigh. At least we had Saturday night.

2. Kurt makes case for No. 4

Any race winner who isn’t part of the Big Three at this point is going to spend a week being the focus of the “Are they the fourth driver?” storyline.

It just happened with Chase Elliott after Watkins Glen. Now it’s Kurt Busch’s turn. Kurt, c’mon down! You’re the next driver to get the spotlight as No. 4!

But “Who is the fourth?” is a valid question because it seems so up in the air, doesn’t it? I have no idea who would be the last driver at Homestead if all of the Big Three were to advance.

Elliott? Busch? Clint Bowyer? Denny Hamlin? Larson? Those seem to be the top candidates, but that’s a lot of drivers for one spot.

Seriously though, it might very well be Busch. He has playoff experience, is still at the top of his game and Stewart-Haas Racing continues to show it’s consistently the best team at this point in the season.

But there’s also a chance by the time you read this column in a couple weeks, we could all be focused on someone else.

3. Common sense, please

I totally get that people were angry with Kyle Busch for wrecking Martin Truex Jr. while going for second place in the final stage.

But to say he did it on purpose? C’mon, guys.

There would be absolutely no logic or reason for Busch to suddenly wreck Truex, his pseudo-teammate (Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row share information and debrief together) and fellow title contender (how dumb would it be to start a feud at this point in the season?).

It wasn’t a battle for the lead and it wasn’t a bump-and-run situation, because there were still plenty of laps to go. Busch just screwed up. I would bet almost any amount of money he didn’t do it on purpose.

He said as much after the race, though surely not everyone will take his word for it.

“I crashed the 78, so that was my bad, totally,” he said. “Totally misjudged that one just coming off the corner. Knowing there were still plenty of laps left, I wasn’t even in a hurry and I just misjudged it by four or six inches, whatever it was and I clipped him there and sent him for a ride.

“He knows that wasn’t intentional at all and we’ve worked really, really, really, really well together these last two or three years and that shouldn’t ruin anything between us.”

Busch and Truex crew chief Cole Pearn have a good relationship as well, so again — while the 78 team might be mad in an emotionally charged moment, they surely know it was unintentional.

“Maybe I’ll send them a sorry cake to the Denver shop for the guys having to work extra,” Busch said. “They’ll probably throw that (car) away anyway, but it ruined their day from being able to get a win or even a second.”

4. You’re ruining it for everyone, you idiot

After the race, Kyle Busch walked out of the infield tunnel and up the ramp to where drivers get in their golf carts. Fans typically line the chest-high fence there for autographs, and Busch actually stopped to sign a few despite his sour mood.

As he got in his golf cart, though, a fan went after Busch. According to several eyewitnesses, the fan gave Busch some not-so-friendly pats on the arm before reaching into the golf cart and making much harder contact. That brought Busch out of the cart to defend himself, and the two men were chest to chest as public relations woman Penny Copen stepped in between them. Police then arrived to detain the fan.

As if it wasn’t obvious, that is a totally unacceptable situation. No fan should ever, EVER confront a driver after the race. Between this and the guy who accosted Denny Hamlin on pit road at Martinsville last year, everyone is walking a fine line. It’s not going to take much for fans to completely lose access to the drivers, which is something that has made NASCAR great over the years.

Busch, no matter how much you may dislike him, shouldn’t need to be fearing for his safety when he’s leaving a racetrack. This is ENTERTAINMENT, after all. The drivers are putting on a show. It’s not some political demonstration where two sides clash in the streets.

Don’t make NASCAR bring in riot police to get drivers out of the track. If you see this start to happen at a track, don’t be afraid to alert security. You’re not snitching, you’re saving your fellow fans from losing valuable access to the stars of the sport.

5. Playoff picture

This is turning into such a weird season. Not only have three drivers dominated at the top, but there’s virtually zero points drama at the bottom when it comes to the playoff bubble.

I can’t remember if there’s been a cutoff race where it was only win-and-in, but this year’s Brickyard 400 is shaping up to be that way.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. missed a chance to capitalize on his best track, pitting under green twice with problems Saturday to finish five laps down while Alex Bowman snagged a top-10.

That leaves Stenhouse a whopping 79 points behind Bowman for the final spot with two races left.

Even if someone else wins Darlington or Indy — like a Daniel Suarez or Ryan Newman — there still won’t be much playoff drama with the points. That’s because Bowman is 32 points behind Jimmie Johnson for the 15th playoff spot, which is where the line would move to.

This storyline is not a huge deal — since whoever is the last person in the playoffs isn’t going to beat the Big Three anyway — but it’s kind of odd to see the standings look this way.

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Martin Truex Jr.’s future with Furniture Row Racing remains unsettled

It’s still not clear what team Martin Truex Jr. will race for next year, which is quickly becoming one of the season’s most surprising subplots.

Truex is the defending Cup Series champion and has already won four times this season, so performance clearly isn’t an issue. And yet, here he is in mid-August — the traditional heart of Silly Season — with no contract for 2019.

So what gives?

“Right now, we need sponsorship,” Truex said of Furniture Row Racing. “That’s as simple as it gets. So it’s hard to say. Is there a 50 percent chance we get that in the next couple weeks, or is there 100 percent or 2 percent? I don’t know. I can tell you everything really is based upon that.”

No. 78 team sponsor 5-Hour Energy announced it was leaving the sport in July, which means Furniture Row must find a replacement (all indications are team owner Barney Visser feels he’s spent enough of his own money funding the team in the past) to be paired with Bass Pro Shops.

Truex said it was “hard to put a number” on the chances he’d be back in the 78 car next year, which speaks to the complications of the economic climate in NASCAR. While NASCAR continues to promote the positives about the state of sponsorship, the reality is Truex and seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson both need new sponsors for 2019.

And without a replacement sponsor, it’s hard to sign a driver to a new contract. After all, where would the money come from?

“I’m starting to hear rumors,” Truex said in acknowledging the growing Silly Season talk about himself. “That’s kind of how it works in this sport. I’ve been in this position before.

“I’ve got a great team. Barney has done a lot for my career and it’s something we all want to keep going. We just need a little bit of time to let the dominoes fall in place and see if we can keep it going. If not, I have to figure it out from there.”

Furniture Row issued a statement to SportsBusiness Journal earlier this month saying “not fielding a team in 2019 is not an option.” But until a new sponsor is found, there seems to be an unknown about what the future looks like.

All of it has likely caught even Truex by surprise. As recently as July, a confident Truex indicated he and the team weren’t in a hurry to get a deal signed.

“It’s not really a pressing issue for me,” he said the week after 5-Hour’s announcement last month. “I know what the team wants. I know where we’re all at. It’s not like I’m nervous they’re going to sign somebody else or I’m going to be searching for a ride. It’s nothing like that. It’s more just trying to focus on racing and feeling like it will get done when it gets done.”

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The Top Five: Breaking down the Watkins Glen race

Five thoughts after Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International…

1. The Amazing Chase

It’s just one win, and on a road course at that. So we probably shouldn’t view Chase Elliott’s first career victory on Sunday as some sort of watershed moment.

On the other hand, it’s tempting to think this changes everything.

Elliott has been living under a dark cloud — one created in his own mind — when it comes to his racing in the Cup Series. At times he has clearly felt inadequate and undeserving of even having his ride. That might sound crazy, but Elliott possesses a competitive mindset in which he knows what he is capable of — and feels he’s letting people down if he does not live up to it.

This bleeds through in everything he does, because it’s as if he doesn’t feel he’s even earned the right to act like he belongs until he proves he does. And in his mind, he should have proved it a long time ago.

Whatever any of Elliott’s critics have said about him? He already has thought those things about himself, so he’s more likely to agree than be offended. He believes driving for Hendrick Motorsports requires winning races and championships, and anything less is simply unacceptable.

So over these last few years, as wins have slipped away, Elliott hasn’t wanted to hear anyone’s words of consolation. Eight second-place finishes? Nice for some people, but not satisfying for him. He had to win.

On Sunday, though, there was a sense of real relief. He’s now a winner in the Cup Series. He gave Hendrick Motorsports its 250th victory. He is ready to take the torch as the face of the team in the future, ready to seize upon this confidence and win more.

He can and will — and must, in his mind.

“Definitely relief I would say would be one way to describe it,” he said. “I’ve left these races pretty down over the past couple years at times and had some great opportunities.

“I learned a lot about myself the past couple years. I’ve learned a lot racing in general. I felt like the end of last year I was probably (more) at the top of my game than I’ve ever been racing as a race car driver in general. … The past few weeks have been encouraging and I feel like we’ve been running more like we did last fall, which was really nice.

“No reason why we can’t do that more often.”

This really could be the type of situation where Elliott the high achiever takes those almost races and turns them into wins on a regular basis. He’s already elevated Hendrick beyond where its cars were typically running over the last couple years. Now that the team seems to be turning a corner as a whole? Well, it could just be the beginning for him.

Welcome to Chase Elliott’s world, everyone.

2. What if…

As great as Sunday turned out to be for NASCAR as a whole, let’s talk about what would have happened if things had gone sliiiiiightly differently.

Imagine for a moment if Elliott had blown Turn 1 on the final lap, allowing Truex to pass him (and not run out of gas, just for the sake of this scenario).

First of all, it would have been a masssive gut punch for a lot of NASCAR fans. A member of the Big Three would have won yet another race, and while snatching it from the driver who seems to have the largest support in the fan base at that.

Meanwhile, it would have been a tough blow for Elliott’s career overall. His reputation as a driver who was unable to close out races would have had a signature lowlight and it would have become that much harder to overcome those demons.

Honestly, it would have been uncomfortable to watch for both those on TV and in person.

Instead, Elliott not only got a win — but it was a resume-building one. He beat the best in the sport — passing Kyle Busch earlier in the race and then holding off Truex at the end — in a straight-up, non-fluky way.

How he did it is just as important as the fact he did it at all, in Elliott’s case.

“That’s just satisfying as a racer when you’re able to go and race with the guys who are dominating this deal right now — and actually be a legit contender and not back into one,” Elliott said. “That’s pretty cool.”

3. Road courses are back!

A ho-hum Sonoma race in June made me doubt my love of road courses for a moment there, but…phew! Watkins Glen brought it all back in a major way.

Damn, that was some good stuff! I’m not sure how anyone could watch that race and be bored or dissatisfied with their time investment in any way. Even when Busch was out front and building a lead in Stage 2, there was still entertaining and action-packed racing taking place.

As many have noted over these last few years, double-file restarts completely changed the quality of racing at road courses. These circuits put on a phenomenal show these days, maybe the best product NASCAR has to offer. Yes, consistently better than even short tracks at times.

One reason is they check all the boxes fans are concerned about. Fans are tired of hearing about aero (not much of a factor here) and inspection (35 of 37 cars passed on their first try) and they desire close racing (got it), lead changes (yep), passing (oh yeah) and a showcase for driver skill to come through (no doubt).

I’m not sure how the Roval will turn out this fall, but at least we get a shot to see one more Cup race in that style this season — and several more lower-series races. I wish there were even more road races on the schedule, but maybe someday.

By the way, that race was only 2 hours and 13 minutes — the shortest full-distance points race of the year. Do races need to be 3.5 hours to be enjoyable? Clearly not.

4. The remarkable Kyle Busch

It’s too bad so many fans can’t stomach Busch, because that seemingly stops them from being able to appreciate what he can do in a car every single week. I get much of it has been self-inflicted over the years with his attitude, but Busch might be the most purely talented NASCAR driver — ever.

Just look what he did during the final run on Sunday: After a fueling mishap, Busch restarted 31st and then drove all the way back to third. Third! He was passing the best of the best like it was nothing. That is insane!

Imagine if Busch was as well-liked as Elliott and people were going crazy over all his moves instead of hating on them. I honestly believe NASCAR would be a much different place in terms of popularity, because people would be tuning in for the Tiger-like dominance effect.

Alas…

5. Points picture

As always, the last item of the Top Five looks at the regular season points picture.

Elliott became this season’s eighth different winner, which means there are currently eight playoff spots available on points.

Those are currently held by Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman.

Honestly, there’s not much drama in the points right now — and with only Michigan, Bristol, Darlington and Indianapolis remaining, there might not be another new winner to shake it up.

The closest points battle is between Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but they have more than an entire race’s worth of points between them (62!). And Paul Menard is 72 points behind Bowman, so he’s not close either.

Daniel Suarez, for all the gains he’s made lately, is still 89 points behind Bowman. He’ll have to win to make it.

If there were to be a new winner outside the top 16 in the last four regular season races, that would move the line up to Jimmie Johnson as the cutoff. The seven-time champ is currently 40 points ahead of Bowman, so he should be safe either way.

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Friday notebook: New Hampshire

Here’s a roundup of the conversation that took place Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway…

— Kyle Larson wants NASCAR to stay out of the dirt game

Despite the success of the Eldora Truck race leading some in the NASCAR world — including Tony Stewart — to stump for an Xfinity or Cup show on a dirt track, Kyle Larson doesn’t think it’s a good idea.

“Tony is probably going to get mad, but I would like to see it just stay as it is,” Larson said. “I wouldn’t like to see Cup on dirt.  To me, Cup belongs on pavement and real road course tracks.

“If we went to Eldora, yeah, I would be excited because I would be really fast and I feel like I would definitely have the best shot to win. But at the same time, I think we are fine not going there.”

Why not? Well, Larson seemed to indicate it wouldn’t be a very good show.

“Maybe if Goodyear could make a way better tire and us be actually able to use the horsepower — or even more horsepower in our Cup cars — on a dirt track, I think it would be a lot more fun,” he said. “I don’t really know how to answer the question without making people mad.”

— Denny Hamlin says schedule changes are a fantasy.

People have been chiming in with their opinions on possible schedule changes this week (more short tracks, dirt and road courses among the proposals), but Denny Hamlin says the whole conversation is pointless.

Asked about racing on Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Hamlin said he’d “love to,” but…

“Honestly, none of this is ever going to happen,” he said. “Not until these tracks and NASCAR get together and are willing to make changes. No track is going to give up tens of millions of dollars every time the race cars show up at the racetrack, so it’s going to have take a bold change.

“It’s going to have to take someone way high up saying, ‘We’re making changes and this is what we’re going to do,’ for it to happen. But it definitely won’t happen in the next few years until that contract (through 2020) is over with.”

— Martin Truex Jr. wishes 5-hour decision had come sooner

Defending Cup Series champ Martin Truex Jr. said he wasn’t totally surprised by the decision for sponsor 5-hour Energy to leave the sport — company executives had been “on the fence for awhile,” he said — but the timing leaves Furniture Row Racing in somewhat of a bind.

“I wish it didn’t take quite as long as it did and (it) kind of puts us in a tough spot now,” Truex said. “… I don’t see (team owner) Barney (Visser) putting Furniture Row back on the car and doing that. I don’t know that he can make that work anymore. So we’ll see where it goes from here.”

Truex said he was optimistic the team would be able to find a new sponsor and also still plans to sign a contract extension with the team (his current deal expires at the end of the season). But despite the typical Silly Season months starting to arrive, Truex said he wasn’t too concerned with a contract yet.

“It’s not really a pressing issue for me,” he said. “I know what the team wants. I know where we’re all at. It’s not like I’m nervous they’re going to sign somebody else or I’m going to be searching for a ride. It’s nothing like that. It’s more just trying to focus on racing and feeling like it will get done when it gets done.”

— Joey Logano says New Hampshire could be a case study for tracks having one race.

NASCAR has oversaturated markets like Pocono, Michigan and Kansas by running two races per season at those tracks. Joey Logano is wondering how New Hampshire will respond to having its calendar reduced.

“I think if you go to a racetrack once, it makes it more of an event,” he said. “This weekend will be a great test to see how that works as Loudon goes from two to one. When you think there are two races and you’re a fan that can only afford to go to one, you’re most likely going to choose the playoff race here.

“So it will be interesting to see what the stands look like on Sunday, because now it’s an event. You can’t miss this one and have a chance to go to the next one.”

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News Analysis: 5-hour Energy leaving NASCAR, Furniture Row

What happened: 5-hour Energy, one of the main sponsors for Martin Truex Jr. at Furniture Row Racing, announced it would be leaving the team — and the sport — at the end of this season in what it termed a “business decision.”  5-hour joined Truex’s No. 78 this year after being the full-season sponsor on Erik Jones’ No. 77 last year. Prior to that, 5-hour was linked with Clint Bowyer during his time at Michael Waltrip Racing and HScott Motorsports (2012-16).

What it means: Even winning at a frequent rate doesn’t ensure continued sponsorship anymore. Truex is coming off a championship season and has been one of the “Big Three” drivers with four wins already this year. And yet, for whatever reason, 5-hour decided it was time to spend its marketing dollars somewhere other than NASCAR. That’s a discouraging sign, especially since Monster won’t be the Cup Series title sponsor for much longer and thus would have freed up 5-hour to go wherever it wanted.

News value (scale of 1-10): Seven, for a combination of reasons. Truex is a big-name driver losing a big-name sponsor, for one. But it’s also newsworthy that yet another major sponsor is departing from NASCAR after spending a couple hundred million dollars in the sport over seven seasons at the Cup level. It’s yet another punch in the gut for those hoping NASCAR’s slide will end soon.

Three questions: Can Furniture Row find a replacement, or will team owner Barney Visser have to put his company on the hood again? Does this end the speculation Furniture Row could re-expand to a second car next season? What does it mean for NASCAR when a company stops spending its money altogether instead of just staying involved at a reduced commitment level?

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The Top Five: Breaking down the Sonoma race

Five thoughts after Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway…

1. Trick Play

Rodney Childers climbed down from the pit box with his headset still on, bent down to tie his shoes and tapped the button on his radio.

“I kind of let everybody down,” he told driver Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team.

“All good,” Harvick replied. “Always want to win, but that stuff happens.”

“That stuff” was getting duped by an unusual case of trickery that likely cost Harvick the race on Sunday.

Here’s how it went down.

The No. 4 was the fastest car — as has been the case so often this season — with Martin Truex Jr. as the second best.

With that in mind, Truex crew chief Cole Pearn pulled off an Oscar-worthy performance to try and lure Harvick into the pits. He told Truex to pit and had the crew jump on the wall like a pit stop was about to happen, then called Truex off.

It didn’t work the first time. So then Pearn tried it again — he told Truex to pit, then reversed the call before Truex came down pit road. Truex had no idea what was going on (there was no code language or anything), but just knew to trust his crew chief.

This time, Pearn’s ploy worked. Childers — who was scanning the No. 78 team’s radio — took the bait and called Harvick to the pits earlier than originally planned, which opened the door for Truex to then stay out longer.

In turn, that gave Truex an advantage late in the race with fresher tires, which he used to easily pass Harvick.

“We’re in California — they went to acting school this week,” Truex said with a grin. “They were in L.A. for a couple days on the off weekend learning how to do screenplays and such.”

Furniture Row Racing president Joe Garone said he was aware of what Pearn was trying to do and termed it as a “flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” call when it appeared the No. 4 car was going to win out if the race went green.

“Obviously the first time we called it, it didn’t work,” Garone said. “So it was really cool that we were able to call it the second time. What a great move by Cole.”

Pearn downplayed the move and said it was just a product of road-course racing. where a fake-out has a longer window of opportunity to work. Childers echoed that sentiment, saying road courses are the best place to try a move because “you’ve got time to react.”

Unfortunately for Childers, he did react — even though he had been determined not to let another team influence his strategy.

“I’ve been preaching for two days to not worry about what everybody else was doing,” he said. “… We could have just turned the scanners off altogether and just ran our race. Probably would have been better off.”

Harvick, though, gave Childers his full support. He walked over to the crew chief and patted him on the back afterward, and the two spent several minutes speaking to one another.

“He shouldn’t beat himself up over a pit call,” Harvick said.

2. Fair game?

Was Pearn’s fake-out a cheap move? Childers didn’t think so at all and instead tipped his hat to the No. 78 team, even going to victory lane to offer his congratulations. As we’ve seen several times this season, the No. 4 team shares a mutual respect with both the Nos. 18 and 78 teams, which make up the big three contenders of the season (they’ve won 12 of the 16 races so far).

“That’s really why I like racing those guys the most — the 18 and the 78,” Childers said. “Those guys are really good at what they do. They make all of us better. And we make them better every week. It’s awesome what they did and I have to congratulate them for that.”

It’s refreshing that although the top three teams keep running up front together each week, there’s no bad blood between them. Sure, a bitter rivalry would be fun — very fun, actually. But it’s also cool to see the mutual respect and sportsmanship that exists.

After all, Pearn noted, they’re just playing a game.

“We have a great relationship,” Pearn said of Childers. “I respect him a lot, and I feel like he does the same. Him and Martin worked together back at MWR, so they’re good friends. I always try and congratulate them when they win, and he always does it when we win.

“There’s plenty of days where they’re going to be up. Kevin Harvick is an awesome race car driver, and I’ve got a lot of respect for him. I think it’s pretty cool to be able to race them like we do.”

3. Unusually calm

There were the fewest “natural” cautions (yellow flags other than stage breaks or competition cautions) in track history on Sunday. The only yellow flag other than the end of Stages 1 and 2 was for AJ Allmendinger’s car on the track after he blew an engine.

So what’s up with that?

For one thing, drivers say the field has gotten more skilled at road racing. Truex pointed to the Xfinity and Truck Series running more road courses, which means the younger drivers have a chance to get used to that type of racing by the time they reach Cup. Meanwhile, the Cup guys have raised their game as well.

But another reason is stage racing. It’s had a profound impact on road courses because the races turn into more of a strategy play than a straight-up, head-to-head battle. When the field gets spread out while using various strategies, there’s less chance for a wreck and no one is pushing the issue.

Still, that doesn’t mean NASCAR needs to change anything or suddenly get rid of stages at road courses. It’s much better to have a consistent race format for each week of the season than get into the business of tweaking it at certain venues in the name of entertainment.

That might produce some Formula One-type races at times —where strategy seems to prevail over all else — but it’s not like it happens every week.

4. ‘Dinger’s Despair

We all know there are pretty much two shots for Allmendinger to make the playoffs each season: Sonoma and Watkins Glen. And while Allmendinger has a decent track record at the Glen, Sonoma has been a nightmare.

Something always seems to either break on the car or Allmendinger loses his cool when faced with mid-race adversity. That’s why the talented road racer has more career finishes of 35th or worse at Sonoma (five) than top-10 finishes (two).

In that sense, his team’s strategy Sunday was puzzling. With Allmendinger in agreement, the 47 team had its driver stay on track for stage points while the other leaders pitted late in Stage 1. Allmendinger ended up winning the stage and got 10 stage points — but for what?

The driver entered the race 23rd in points. He’s not racing for points; he’s racing for wins.

After that decision — with all his track position lost and now tasked with trying to come through the field — Allmendinger made a mistake, missed a shift and blew his engine.

Race over.

The whole sequence just didn’t make sense, and it turned into another deeply disappointing day for the ‘Dinger.

5. Points Positions

In this unusual NASCAR season — perhaps historically so, with the fewest winners through 16 races since 1978 — one item in the Top Five will be a weekly look at the point standings.

After all, this playoff field is shaping up to have the most drivers getting their playoff spots on points since the start of the Win-And-In Era.

With Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon outside the top 16 in the standings, that moves the cutoff position to 15th in points — which is currently Alex Bowman. He’s safe by 17 points over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and by 25 points over Paul Menard.

Erik Jones has a 13-point lead over Bowman (and thus a 30-point cushion to Stenhouse). After that, the cutoff isn’t really close because Chase Elliott is another 35 points ahead of Jones and therefore 65 points inside the cutoff.

The winless drivers who would make the playoffs right now are Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, Elliott, Jones and Bowman.

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The Top Five: Breaking down the Pocono race

Five thoughts following Sunday’s Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway…

1. Three’s Company

Every NASCAR fan knows two drivers have been the best this season: Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. They’ve combined for nine wins, 50 playoff points and approximately two gazillion laps led.

Quietly, though, Martin Truex Jr. has been close all season — just not quite with “winning speed,” as he put it last week.

But now, after winning Sunday at Pocono? It suddenly looks like Truex is right there with the top two.

“I would say we had winning speed today for sure,” Truex said. “… Today was the first weekend in awhile — even though we’ve been finishing good — that everything made sense. We had a game plan and everything went the way we thought it would, and it was just a smooth weekend. It felt like we were doing all the little things right.”

Yes, clean air and track position benefited the No. 78 car late in the Pocono 400. Busch couldn’t track him down despite having four fresher tires.

But as crew chief Cole Pearn noted, Truex was running third in Stage 1 and was able to pass both Busch and Harvick for the stage win. And in the final stage, the trio was running nose to tail — just unable to make any passes because they were all so close in speed.

So to Pearn and Truex, that showed the 78 car has made gains.

“It hasn’t come without hard work, I promise you that,” Pearn said.

With 14 races down, three drivers have hogged 11 of the wins. Only Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer and Austin Dillon have gone to victory lane aside from those three (and two of those were superspeedway wins).

It’s been the Busch and Harvick show until now, but it seems they might have to make some room on the marquee.

2. Truex 2017 vs. Truex 2018

Truex being a low-key guy can kind of fool you into thinking he’s more chill about the racing than he really is. Actually, he knows what’s up.

For example: Truex was able to rattle off a stat about the number of quality passes he made in the Coke 600 (91) and knew the precise number of races where he’s had crashes vs. races that resulted in top-fives (four vs. nine).

That’s a pretty solid point that has been lost in the wake of Harvick and Busch’s dominance. Truex already has nine top-fives (every race he didn’t crash) and didn’t get his ninth top-five last year until Watkins Glen.

So in Truex’s mind, the No. 78 team’s performance hasn’t been that far off what it was in his 2017 championship season. The difference is the amount of adversity it has had to overcome in some races — like on pit stops, for example.

“We’ve had more battles this year,” Truex said. “Last year, it was almost like we couldn’t do anything wrong. This year, we’ve had to really work a lot harder for it, but I feel like we’re still right there, and today was a perfect example.”

As the summer goes on, it may turn out Truex is able to firm up his playoff points and go on a similar run to what he did last year. If it’s circumstances that have been holding him back, then watch out.

“Sometimes you can have the best of everything, and if things don’t go your way it’s impossible,” he said. “Today we did all the little things right and had a little bit of luck on our side as well, and that’s what it takes at this level.”

3. Poconope

Cup and Xfinity used two completely different aero packages this weekend, with a speed difference of roughly 20 mph. Either way, the result was the same: Once the leader got into clean air, he was hard to pass.

Busch had four fresh tires and two late restarts to try and get the lead from a driver who was on older tires, but he couldn’t do it. Track position won out.

“It was a little disappointing the tires didn’t mean anything more than they did there at the end,” Busch said. “Guys that had 10, 11 laps on their tires were able to still outrun us and beat us (despite) us having fresher rubber. Clean air was king.”

Look, here’s the thing: As much as everyone talks about rules packages or tires or whatever it may be, it’s pretty difficult to put on an entertaining show when you’ve got a track with mind-numbing straightaways (long enough to land an airplane!) connected by turns that weren’t exactly designed to promote passing.

Maybe it’s just that Pocono, for its odd charms, isn’t conducive to great racing. Side-by-side action and passes for the lead can happen here — especially on restarts — but they’re often the exception rather than the rule.

4. More work to do

Chevrolet put three drivers in the top seven (and five in the top 11) at the Coca-Cola 600, which sparked conversation about whether the manufacturer was starting to make gains.

After Pocono? Well, hold that thought.

Kyle Larson finished second, but he was the only Chevy in the top seven. Jimmie Johnson seemed to be getting a bit closer to contention (and drove his butt off), but he still only finished eighth.

Once again, the Fords and Toyotas collectively seemed to be a step ahead of the Chevrolet teams — as has been the case all season.

However, there’s some good news for Chevy: With 12 races until the playoffs are set, four Chevy drivers are in the top 16. That’s not terrible. Kyle Larson is ninth in points, Jimmie Johnson is 12th and Chase Elliott is 13th — plus there’s Dillon’s victory that already gave him a playoff spot.

In addition to that, Alex Bowman is only nine points behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for the final position on points.

So even though a Chevy driver hasn’t won since the Daytona 500, the manufacturer might still end up in decent shape when it comes to potential playoff representation.

5. Up next

It’s been all about two drivers dominating the season, and now there might be three — as we mentioned above.

But wait! What if there was a FOURTH driver in the title hunt? Well, if there was someone else to challenge the frontrunners, it would be Larson (although he’s not out there saying that yet).

“I’m the only one that doesn’t have a win in the front four,” he said. “Three of those guys are definitely head over heels better than the rest of us, but I think from fourth- to sixth- or seventh-best car, it’s pretty close.”

But what if he did have a win? This seems like a good time to mention his name, because next week’s race is at Michigan — a 2-mile track. And guess what Larson’s record is in the last five races on 2-mile tracks (Michigan and Fontana)? The answer is first, first, first, first, second — including three straight wins at Michigan!

So at this time next week, the conversation might be all about how it’s four drivers who seem to be head and shoulders above the rest — not just two (last week) or three (this week).