Whoa! Points Change a Bunch at CMS

Nothing like a race at Charlotte Motor Speedway to flip the points race squarely on its head.

The Coca-Cola 600 was at times intriguing, confounding, frightening and evolving, with a bunch of good cars wrecked over the course of 400 laps and 600 miles.

For a couple of drivers, decent finishes meant a stop to the bleeding that threatened their paths to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Tony Stewart finally got to single digits in finishing order, coming home seventh. That boosted him to 20th in the points, 44 out of the top 10. He has just two top-10 finishes in 12 starts, but has 41 victories after May 31 in his career.

Denny Hamlin jumped from 27th to 24th in the points, 97 out of the top 10 despite missing five races with a fractured back. He gets to the top 20 and wins a couple, he's a lot closer to the Chase than he was after Auto Club ended.

Martin Truex Jr. is back in the top 10 after finishing ninth on Sunday, leaping five spots in one race. Those he leaped over--Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola among them--had a bad night at the old Charlotte layout.

Race winner Kevin Harvick is now 7th, up three spots, and RCR teammate Paul Menard also advanced three spots to eighth. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. slipped to sixth from fourth, Keselowski is on the express elevator out of the Chase in 10th from seventh, Kyle Busch grenaded another engine to fall to 11th from eighth, and Jeff Gordon fell all the way out of the top 12 to 15th after crashing.

Keselowski can't wait for crew chief Paul Wolfe to get back on the box after his supension, having three finishes of 32nd or worse in the last four races. 

Dover is not the place to be timid, either. Expect the points to continue to roller-coaster their way toward Richmond.