Five races into the 2026 Chase for the Championship, one thing has become remarkably consistent: nobody is repeating in Victory Lane. Jamie Dyke won Darlington. Stephen DiCaprio answered at Gateway. Donald Hardison Jr. took Bristol. Ron Blackman won Kansas.
And now Dave Smith has joined them.
Smith broke through Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, winning the South Point 400 with 253 race points and earning his first career Victory Lane Racing NASCAR Cup Series victory. Chevrolet collected its 12th win of the season.
Five Chase races. Five different winners.
But while the winners keep changing, one driver is beginning to establish himself atop the championship standings.
DiCaprio Answers Kansas With a Runner-Up Finish
Stephen DiCaprio arrived in Las Vegas still leading the championship despite a disastrous 48th-place finish at Kansas.
His response was exactly what a championship leader needed.
DiCaprio finished second, scoring 45 points and immediately erasing the memory of Kansas.
Dan Clarke finished third, Cody Zeeb fourth, Steve Ruth fifth, Malachi Hammerle sixth and Jay Smogolski seventh in a Chase-heavy group directly behind race winner Dave Smith.
The result keeps DiCaprio atop the standings with 2,259 points and gives him a 12-point advantage over Ruth.
Even more impressive is what DiCaprio has done across the Chase as a whole.
His first five playoff finishes:
8th — 1st — 3rd — 48th — 2nd
Despite the Kansas disaster, his 12.40 Chase average is the best among the championship contenders. That is a championship-caliber response to adversity.
Ruth Moves to Second
Steve Ruth continues to hang around exactly where he has been all season: near the front.
The regular-season champion finished fifth at Las Vegas, his best result since finishing sixth in the Chase opener at Darlington. That was enough to move Ruth ahead of Jamie Dyke and into second place in the standings.
The championship top three now reads:
1. Stephen DiCaprio — 2,259
2. Steve Ruth — 2,247 (-12)
3. Jamie Dyke — 2,234 (-25)
Ruth's five-race Chase average sits at 17.60, while Dyke is at 19.00.
The gap isn't large, but for the first time since early in the Chase, Dyke has some real ground to make up.
Dyke Loses Ground
After opening the Chase with his Darlington weekend sweep, Jamie Dyke has yet to recapture that early momentum.
His Chase finishes since winning Darlington are:
33rd — 14th — 29th — 18th
Las Vegas wasn't a disaster, but when the championship leader finishes second and your closest rival finishes fifth, an 18th-place run becomes expensive. Dyke entered Vegas only nine points behind DiCaprio. He leaves 25 behind and has fallen from second to third.
With five races remaining, he's absolutely still in the championship fight — but the margin for another mediocre afternoon is getting smaller.
Kamy and Malachi Keep Applying Pressure
Behind the top three, the battle has tightened considerably.
Kamy Miller finished 15th at Las Vegas and moved into fourth place with 2,186 points.
Malachi Hammerle finished sixth and climbed to fifth, only one point behind Miller.
Their Chase numbers are among the strongest in the field.
Kamy's first five finishes are:
3rd — 3rd — 15th — 28th — 15th
Her 12.80 Chase average trails only DiCaprio.
Hammerle has been more volatile — 39th, 2nd, 40th, 3rd, 6th — but the good races have been extremely good. His Chase average has improved to 18.00, and he's now only 74 points behind the leader.
Neither is close enough to simply wait for DiCaprio to stumble. But both remain very much alive.
Vegas Was Brutal for Several Contenders.Not everyone survived Nevada cleanly.
Greg Miller finished 39th. Kirk Hunter was 41st. Dawn Keller finished 44th. Mathew Steinfels was 38th. Steve Stone finished 33rd. The damage shows immediately in the standings.
Greg drops two spots to sixth and is now 81 points behind DiCaprio. Hunter plunges four positions to 13th. Keller drops three positions to 14th. Stone remains 15th. Steinfels remains 16th and is now 163 points behind the championship lead.
The longer-term numbers are even more concerning.
Steinfels now has a 39.80 Chase average with finishes of 34th, 35th, 46th, 46th and 38th.
Steve Stone's Chase average is 29.40.
Kirk Hunter's is 32.40.
Dawn Keller's is 30.20.
And Greg Miller's last-10 average has slipped to 24.30, nearly five positions worse than his 19.52 season average.
Five races remain, but for that group, the comeback needs to start immediately.
FIVE TO GO
The championship standings after Las Vegas:
1. Stephen DiCaprio — 2,259
2. Steve Ruth — 2,247 (-12)
3. Jamie Dyke — 2,234 (-25)
4. Kamy Miller — 2,186 (-73)
5. Malachi Hammerle — 2,185 (-74)
6. Greg Miller — 2,178 (-81)
7. Andrew Thornton — 2,172 (-87)
8. Cody Zeeb — 2,168 (-91)
9. Jay Smogolski — 2,157 (-102)
10. Dan Clarke — 2,143 (-116)
11. Al Allison — 2,130 (-129)
12. Rob Kuczmarski — 2,125 (-134)
13. Kirk Hunter — 2,123 (-136)
14. Dawn Keller — 2,119 (-140)
15. Steve Stone — 2,108 (-151)
16. Mathew Steinfels — 2,096 (-163)
Next comes Charlotte, followed by Phoenix, Talladega, Martinsville and Homestead.
There are still 325 race points available to a driver who wins all five. Nothing is decided.
But after five Chase races, Stephen DiCaprio has now finished inside the top eight four times, leads the field in Chase average, and owns a 12-point advantage over the regular-season champion.
The target on the No. 6 car is getting bigger.
Five races remain. And everyone is chasing DiCaprio.
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