Drivers are scrambling for spots in NASCAR's Chase as the end of the regular season nears

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Erik Jones knew the reality of his situation heading into the NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway. Jones came into the weekend 18th in the standings, 44 points behind 16th-place Austin Cindric for the final spot in The Chase that determines the series champion. The 350-lap race Sunday was the first of the final four races of the regular season, and Jones was running out of time.

“One more bad week where we lose any ground, and it’s going to be pretty insurmountable,” Jones said. Then Jones, who started 10th, got taken out four laps in when Tyler Reddick’s car slid into him, sending both cars into the wall and ending the day for both drivers. Reddick knew the damage he had done.

“If I’m going to take myself out, that’s one thing,” Reddick said. “But I took out a (Toyota) teammate who needed a good day.” Such is life in the closing stretch of the regular season, where one bad finish or one good finish can change fortunes. Denny Hamlin leads the standings with 923 points, 103 points ahead of Ty Gibbs, who won Sunday’s race just ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell.

Only four drivers have wrapped up Chase spots: Hamlin, Gibbs, Ryan Blaney (813) and Reddick (803). Ryan Preece is the first driver below the cutline at 497 points. Ross Chastain jumped three spots after his seventh-place finish at Iowa, moving into 18th place at 479 points.

Brad Keselowski is one point behind Chastain. Other than maybe the last one or two spots, the biggest scramble now in this final month could be for seeding. Points for the top 16 drivers will reset after the Aug.

29 regular-season finale at Daytona. The regular-season champion will be the top seed and start The Chase with 2,100 points, the second seed will have 2,075 points and the third seed will have 2,065, with a five-point drop for each seed after that. “You have all these other little battles going on, like the battle from sixth to 11th or 12th right now is really, really tight and that’s exciting,” said Blaney, who finished third Sunday.