Chase for Cup creates surprises

A quarter of the races that determine which drivers make NASCAR’s Chase for the Nextel Cup playoff are in the books, with some unexpected results.

The top 12 drivers in points after 26 events will compete in the final 10 races to determine the series champion. Tonight’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 on the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway is the eighth event.

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon leads the points for Hendrick Motorsports, and will start on the pole tonight.

He’s also still looking for his 76th victory, which would tie him with the late Dale Earnhardt. But Gordon has never won here in 16 Cup starts, and he hasn’t won at all since his victory last July 9 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Gordon is followed in points by Jeff Burton of Richard Childress Racing and 2003 series champ Matt Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing.

Gordon’s teammate Jimmie Johnson -- the reigning title-holder -- is fourth, with three wins already this year.

All were in the Chase in 2006, so their strong starts this year aren’t surprising.

But they’ve also shown an ability to adapt quickly to NASCAR’s new Car of Tomorrow, which is being phased into the Cup series over the next three years and will be used for the third time tonight. The same can’t be said for several other drivers.

Here’s how some are faring:

* Kasey Kahne won a series-high six races last year and finished eighth among the 10 drivers in the Chase. (The format was expanded to 12 drivers this year.)

Most expected the Dodge driver for Evernham Motorsports to be a shoo-in for the Chase this year too, but he’s mired in 33rd place with only one top-10 finish.

Kahne said he hasn’t lost his confidence.

“It’s just a matter of trying to do everything right on my side of things,” he said. “As the year goes on, hopefully the cars get faster.”

* Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer, two second-year Cup drivers, refuse to succumb to a sophomore jinx and are fifth and sixth in points, respectively.

Bowyer, who drives the No. 07 Childress Chevrolet, said it’s a combination of his “being a lot more comfortable” in the series, especially now that he’s seen tracks more than once, and his team “bringing good cars to the track every week.”

* Jamie McMurray is finally showing the strength that NASCAR watchers long expected of him.

The Roush Fenway driver won his second Cup start in 2002 and hasn’t visited Victory Lane since. But this year he has four top-10 finishes in the No. 26 Ford Fusion and is 10th in points.

McMurray largely credits Larry Carter, who became his crew chief in the off-season. Carter “always keeps a good attitude [and] it rubs off on all the other guys on the team,” McMurray said.

* After a fast start in the season-opening Daytona 500, the Robert Yates Racing cars are sputtering.

Riverside native David Gilliland put his Ford on the pole at Daytona and finished eighth in the season opener. But that was his only top-10 finish this year, leaving him 27th in points.

His teammate, veteran Ricky Rudd, ended a one-year hiatus to race again but hasn’t fared any better. He’s 30th in points.

* Juan Pablo Montoya is quietly starting to flex his muscle.

The former Formula One driver and Indianapolis 500 winner, now in his first full year in the Cup series, is 13th in points -- just outside the cutoff to make the Chase. His teammate, David Stremme, is 12th.

Montoya has two top-10 finishes in the No. 42 Dodge owned by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. And he’s considered a favorite to win this year’s two Cup races on road courses, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and Watkins Glen in New York.

* Kenseth is in title contention again despite starting in a hole.

He was one of several drivers docked championship points -- 50 in his case -- before the season started because their teams made unapproved changes to their cars for Daytona 500 qualifying.

But Kenseth won the next week at the California Speedway in Fontana, just missed winning last week at Texas Motor Speedway and has four top-five finishes overall.

“We’ve been able to make up a lot of points,” he said. “It’s been a great start to the season.”

* Not so for Toyota’s seven drivers. They’re struggling to be fast enough merely to enter each race; only three will start tonight and one, 1999 title winner Dale Jarrett, made the field only by using a past champion’s provisional starting spot.

Regardless, there’s still a long way to go. And the Car of Tomorrow, which continues to flummox many drivers, will be used 14 more times this year.

“It’s a huge work in progress,” Burton said of the car. “There are a lot of questions to be answered this weekend. We’re either going to leave here a whole lot smarter or a whole lot more confused.”

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Bowyer won a stirring duel with Kenseth, taking the lead with 14 laps to go and holding on to win the Busch Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Kenseth, who won the Busch race last weekend in Texas, appeared on the way to another victory when he made a strong pass on the outside to take away the lead from Bowyer 31 laps from the end of the 200-lap Bashas’ Supermarkets 200.

Kenseth started to pull away, but Bowyer didn’t give up. He moved his Chevrolet behind Kenseth’s Ford by Lap 180 and pulled off the same outside pass as Kenseth to regain the lead for good on Lap 187.

Kenseth got one more shot when Stephen Leicht’s flat tire brought out the 10th caution flag of the night on Lap 188 and bunched the leaders. But Bowyer managed to keep Kenseth behind him until a three-car crash on the final lap ended the race under caution.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

james.peltz@latimes.com