NASCAR Barometer: Truex Goes Two for Three

Martin Truex Jr. picked up his second win in the opening three-race round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The Furniture Row Racing driver has been a contender for the win in each of the three races so far in the Chase and he cruises into the second round of eliminations by taking two wins in the first three races of the format. The small mistakes that kept this team out of Victory Lane earlier this season appear completely behind them now, which is the perfect time for this team to be fighting at the top of its game. Truex now has four wins so far this season and heads back to Charlotte where he thoroughly dominated the 600-mile race earlier this season. He led 392 of the 400 scheduled laps in May, and with two wins in the last three races he should again be a driver fantasy players focus on early this week.

UPGRADE

Martin Truex Jr. – For the third consecutive race, Truex demonstrated that he's going to be a driver to overcome in the Chase. The No. 78 was one of the fastest cars throughout the afternoon in Dover and he returned to the front after Jimmie Johnson ran afoul of pit road regulations. He held on to that top position from there, virtually until the finish in a performance to remember on Sunday. This week the series returns to the scene of Truex's most convincing win. He easily won the 600-mile race earlier this season and he's riding high on confidence as the Chase faces its first race with 12 contenders remaining. This team seems to be over the niggling problems that kept them away from victory earlier this season and are serious title contenders.

Chase Elliott – Yet again, Elliott showed that he's a driver for fans to continue following throughout his early years. His driving ability in his rookie season shows well beyond his years, and another mature performance last week in Dover earned him the right to continue his dreams of winning the championship in his rookie season. He finished third on Sunday, which was his second consecutive top-five finish at the track as well as his second top-five in the last five races. This driver continues to show signs that he'll make a visit to Victory Lane before this season is over, and fantasy owners who haven't been taking this driver seriously every week to this point need to start paying attention.

Brad Keselowski – Yet again, Keselowski was able to turn an otherwise disappointing weekend into a top finish. The Penske Racing driver was clearly behind the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, but he did what was necessary to work his way into a top-five finish at Dover. That type of performance has been the hallmark of the No. 2 team, and consistency like this could lead him directly to another Sprint Cup championship. Prospects actually appear brighter for the No. 2 team in this round of the Chase, too. Keselowski has three consecutive Charlotte top-10 finishes and last won at the track in 2013. Fantasy owners would be wise not to count out Penske, and Keselowski in particular seems to be carrying the banner as the season races to its finish.

Kyle Busch – It may have been a quiet finish, but Busch did a wonderful job on Sunday to lead 102 laps en route to a runner-up finish at Dover. The performance was more than enough to see the defending champion through to the next round of the Chase, and his ability to remain in the hunt should be enough to make every other contender nervous. At Charlotte this driver has 10 top-five finishes from 25 career starts. It's time that Busch scores a points win at Charlotte, and this could be the week he gets that job done. He has four consecutive top-10 finishes heading into this Saturday's race, and is destined to be a driver whom no one can count out in this championship format.

DOWNGRADE

Jimmie Johnson – Yet again, the No. 48 encountered trouble when all things seemed to be going the right direction. Johnson was leading Sunday's race in Dover with a solid opportunity to win to advance to the next round of the Chase when NASCAR called a penalty on the team for crew members being over the wall too soon. Careless mistakes like that have prohibited Johnson from escaping the slump that has plagued him most of the 2016 season. After serving his penalty, he dropped from the lead to one lap down. He came back to finish seventh, which barely keeps his Chase alive. Johnson has seven Charlotte wins with his latest triumph at the circuit coming from pole position in 2014.

Jamie McMurray – Despite making the Chase for the second time in his career, McMurray's hopes of continuing his championship fight evaporated when his engine expired in Sunday's race. The No. 1 machine started to have trouble a few laps before the engine finally gave way to record a DNF for McMurray. His championship fate was sealed with a 40th-place finish on Sunday. The disappointment of falling out of the Chase could be tempered with a return to the track where McMurray has won twice, but with the lack of the ability to dominate in any race so far this season it would seem a distant probability that McMurray could resurrect his competitiveness this week.

Kevin Harvick – Hero to zero was Harvick's story in Dover. The winner two weeks ago became the first notable failure when a track bar failure took him out of the running. By the time the afternoon was over he was classified in the 37th position, which would have been the final nail in the coffin had he not won two weeks ago in New Hampshire. For that, Harvick must be breathing a huge sigh of relief. With back-to-back runner-up finishes at Charlotte it isn't inconceivable that the former champion can recover completely to take another Chase win this week. Fantasy owners should pay close attention to what Harvick does in practice and qualifying this week.

Kyle Larson – An early loss of power put Larson a lap down to the leaders and well out of contention for the win on what should have been one of his most confident circuits on the schedule. Compounding that issue was the fact that the team had too many crewmembers over the pit road when trying to solve the issue, dropping him further behind in the all-important race to move to the next round of the Chase. Larson's Chase hopes are over, and this week the schedule poses a circuit where he has just one top-10 finish in six tries. Larson's bad luck in the Sprint Cup series has been above average, but he can still fight finish fifth in the standings before the season is complete.

Ryan Blaney – A top-10 finish at Dover earlier in the 2016 season meant nothing to Blaney last week. The driver suffered a right-front tire failure at the quarter-distance mark and was behind the leaders for the remainder of the afternoon, ultimately finishing a terribly disappointing 38th. That result was Blaney's second finish outside of the top 30 in the last five races, and signals that he continues to be a risky play until the team's consistency is no longer in question. In three Charlotte efforts Blaney has yet to score a top-10 finish. In fact, he has just one top-15 result, and his chances of scoring a win in his rookie season appear to be fading quickly.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

Austin Dillon – After scoring just one top-20 finish at Dover in his Sprint Cup career, Dillon was able to sneak into the final 12 in the 2016 championship with an eighth-place finish on Sunday. It was an entirely unpredictable performance for the Richard Childress driver, as he snuck through the standings to be able to survive to fight another day in the championship battle. Not only was it his best ever Dover finish, but it enabled him to appear in the final 12 in the Chase for the first time in his career. This week he must focus on improving in Charlotte. In five career tries at that track he has just one top-10 finish, and will need to continue to outperform his career averages to continue his championship fight in 2016.