Tony Stewart's wreck at Loudon cost him a shot at the Nextel Cup title. Since the accident, Stewart's consistency has helped him remain in the Chase. Credit: Autostock

Chase Line: Darlington

With all the hoopla surrounding ...

... something has been forgotten, and that something has been Tony Stewart.

Race Line: Darlington Ryan Newman 7-1  Jimmie Johnson 7-1  Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8-1  Jeff Gordon 8-1  Matt Kenseth 10-1  Tony Stewart 12-1  Elliott Sadler 12-1  Kurt Busch 12-1  Mark Martin 15-1  Jeremy Mayfield 20-1

Stewart hasn't run great, and when you don't run great, you tend to stay under the radar, and that is exactly what Stewart has done.

But what Stewart has also done is run consistently, and although no one has noticed, Stewart hasn't been out of the top 15 since his run-in with Robby Gordon at Loudon.

Stewart was caught up in a crash early at Loudon when Robby Gordon tangled with Greg Biffle. That incident alone caused a few people to write Stewart off, as Kurt Busch surged to the lead with a victory.

Tony Stewart

Stewart had led a chunk of the race before the accident.

That incident at Loudon meant that Busch gained 139 points on Stewart. With Busch's engine failure at Atlanta, Stewart and Busch have been in a dead heat the last seven races.

Clearly, Stewart should be in title contention, but he has little chance now. He's only 142 points out of the lead, but the possibility of jumping over five drivers to win the title is a remote one indeed.

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Stewart's year is tough to decipher. He has not run badly all year, but yet, he has scored just nine top-five finishes. That is half of his top-10 total of 18, and in every year until now, the majority of Stewart's top-10 finishes have been top-five runs.

But Stewart is completing laps at a high rate, as he's logged more laps this year than his championship year of 2002.

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Most of the credit goes to reliability, because Stewart hasn't had an engine failure this year.

It hasn't been a good season for Joe Gibbs Racing -- they are certainly suffering an off-year after their titles in 2000 and 2002 -- but Stewart's record this year shows how well he does under adversity.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. did more than just win at Phoenix -- he won and led the most laps. Jeff Gordon had led 100 laps and seemed destined to get the five-point bonus, but Earnhardt Jr.'s late pass with with under 10 laps to go prevented that from happening.

Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. are separated by just six points with two races to go.

Busch leads Gordon by just 41 points, and half of that lead is directly attributable to bonus points.

Since the Chase started, Busch has been better than anyone at leading laps, as he has racked up 45 bonus points over the eight races.

In contrast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has scored 35 bonus points, and Gordon and Johnson only have 25 each.