Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway delivered plenty of drama for drivers battling on the Chase bubble.

With a new surface and reconfiguration at the 1.5-mile oval, drivers and teams alike were unsure what to expect, but less than 15 laps into the race, they had an idea of what could happen. On Lap 10, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. got into the wall exiting Turn 4. Entering Turn 3, Stenhouse appeared to have a flat right front tire and slammed the outside wall, ending his night before the competition caution.

Love tough tracks and low downforce just caught me off guard late exit. We will go get um at Loudon — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (@StenhouseJr) July 10, 2016

Following his 40th-place finish, the two-time NASCAR XFINITY Series champion finds himself 50 points out of the Chase. With only eight races until the playoffs, Stenhouse will likely need his first career Sprint Cup win to make the Chase.

A restart on Lap 89 resulted in the next Chase-altering dustup. Entering Turn 3, rookies Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott were forced three-wide with Martin Truex, Jr. Blaney’s No. 21 Ford was stuck in the middle and appeared to get loose. As a result, Blaney got into the left rear quarter panel of Elliott, sending both drivers careening into the wall. After running as high as fourth, Blaney was relegated to a 35th-place finish and Elliott wound up 31st, 59 laps off the pace.

“Just got three-wide, had a bad corner there in [Turn] 2 and got us bottled up,” Elliott said. “… I guess Ryan [Blaney] just got loose and got us, but that is racing.”

“That restart was pretty hectic from the beginning with the 78 [Truex] getting loose and it kind of put everybody in a bad spot, and it wound up with us being in the middle of three-wide into three,” Blaney said. “It’s so hard to get into that corner all night with a car close to behind you and outside of you, and no one lifting either … We were both very fast tonight and it’s just a really unfortunate deal.”

Blaney entered the Bluegrass State as the last driver in the Chase, four points ahead of Jamie McMurray. He now finds himself 24 points behind McMurray for the final spot. Elliott, who has been nothing short of sensational in replacing Jeff Gordon, came to Kentucky with a 73-point cushion. The 2014 XFINITY Series champion now sits 53 points ahead of the cutoff.

Speaking of McMurray, the 2010 Daytona 500 winner came home seventh thanks to fuel strategy. The No. 1 Chevy was as high as second until McMurray reported a tire issue on Lap 192, and came in for an unscheduled pit stop. McMurray was as far back as 17th during the race’s final run before making the most of the Sunoco fuel in his tank. Thanks to a successful strategy play and a fast car, Jamie Mac now finds himself 10 points up on Trevor Bayne for the last Chase spot.

Perhaps the best fuel strategy play of all was utilized by Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman. Knowing they likely didn’t have a car that could win on speed alone, crew chief Luke Lambert had his driver save fuel through the final run of the race. As the checkered flag flew, Newman found himself in third place, saving enough fuel to pick up his best finish of the season, extending his gap on the cutoff from 16 to 24 points.

Ran out of gas with a lap to go. Happy/LUCKY to get 13th. Great car at times. Tested @NHMS so looking forward to next weekend. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) July 10, 2016

As the Sprint Cup Series heads to Loudon, there are now seven drivers separated by just 51 points, including Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who remains the only winning driver from 2015 without a trip to Victory Lane in 2016.

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