Following an emotional rain-shortened win from Daniel Suarez in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series has officially reached the halfway point of the regular season.
As the series heads to the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee, for the running of the Cracker Barrel 400 on Sunday night (7 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), it is time to start paying even more attention to the Chase picture.
While a lot of the drivers in the bottom half of the standings were expected to be there, others had much higher expectations and have fallen short of them so far. With that in mind, here are three drivers who have disappointed through the first 13 races.
Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford, 18th place
Even though Logano won his third Cup Series title in 2024 and finished seventh in points last season, the three-time champion has produced the two worst average finishes of his Team Penske tenure in the last two campaigns.
It has been even worse this season with a 21.3 average finish and just four top 10s. Until a much-needed eighth-place finish at Charlotte, Logano had four straight finishes of 30th or worse, a slump not seen from the Middletown, Connecticut, native since his rookie season in 2009.
Logano is currently 29 points behind Ryan Preece for the 16th and final Chase spot as things stand. He can easily make up that kind of ground, but the inconsistent results and lack of pace most weekends pose some concerns going forward.
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, 23rd place
It has been no secret this season that the entire Trackhouse organization has been searching for speed in each of its three cars. Chastain is no different after a final stage crash in the Coca-Cola 600 gave him a third consecutive finish outside the top 25 and a fifth result of 20th or worse in the last six races.
Even though his teammate Shane van Gisbergen showed pace at Charlotte with an 11th-place finish, Chastain was never able to put himself in contention as the defending winner of NASCAR’s longest race.
With just two top 10s — both of which came at superspeedway tracks, Atlanta and Talladega — Chastain’s average finish (21.2) is by far his worst at Trackhouse, leaving him 23rd in points after 13 races. If there is a silver lining, Chastain is a previous winner in the “Music City,” so Nashville could be a season-defining race for him.
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 32nd place
Bowman missed four consecutive races earlier this season after dealing with vertigo symptoms. He faced a tall task to contend for a Chase spot when he made his return at Bristol, but with four finishes of 17th or worse in his last six races, Bowman has only improved his points position to 32nd, a whopping 156 points below Preece.
Bowman is an eight-time winner at HMS and won a career-high four races in 2021, a clear sign of a driver who is more than capable of being one of the 16 Chase-eligible drivers. However, he has not won since the 2024 season and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last season.
Throw in the fact that rising prospect Corey Day, who continues to impress in the HMS No. 17 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series entry, and Bowman’s future with the organization could be in jeopardy after a disappointing stretch to begin the season.