Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Four more drivers clinch Chase for Sprint Cup spots after Watkins Glen

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

Jerry Markland

Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards each clinched spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup after Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen.

All four made it because there is no chance a winless driver can be the points leader after the season’s 26th race and claim a Chase spot.

With the addition of those four drivers, 10 drivers have clinched Chase spots. Kyle Busch, who has four wins, became Chase eligible after climbing into the top 30 in points Sunday but has not yet secured a Chase spot because he could fall out of the top 30.

This marks the third time Truex will have made the Chase. He clinched a Chase spot in 2007 and 2012. He also earned a spot in 2013 but was penalized as part of the Michael Waltrip Racing scandal at Richmond International Raceway and dropped from Chase contention. This marks the second time in the last three years that Furniture Row Racing, a single-car team, has made the Chase.

Keselowski, the 2012 champion, has now made the Chase in four of the last five years.

This will be the ninth time in the past 10 years that Hamlin has been in the Chase.

Edwards is in the Chase for the third consecutive year.

Previously, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch had clinched Chase spots.

Sign up to play the $16 Million Perfect Grid Challenge

Follow @dustinlong