CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There was little doubt that Kyle Busch and crew chief Adam Stevens could be successful together. The duo won 19 of their 52 Xfinity Series races, so chemistry clearly wasn’t a problem.

Still, Joe Gibbs Racing couldn’t guarantee that Stevens would immediately excel in his promotion to the Sprint Cup Series.

And, when Busch was injured a day before the Daytona 500, Stevens was given a setback that could have derailed the No. 18 team for the season.

Instead, Stevens plugged away with three different drivers and had the team ready for Busch’s return in May.

Now they are coming off a Brickyard 400 victory on Sunday — their third consecutive Cup win and fourth in the last five races going into Pocono this weekend.

“I appreciate Adam being able to hold everybody together for 11 weeks,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “That’s hard to do. You think you’re probably out of the Chase? You look at them and look at their eyes, there was no backing up.

“We talked about, ‘Hey, if we get Kyle back, we’ve got a chance.’ But everybody here would have probably said it’s probably not a good one, including me. It’s just worked out unbelievably.”

Busch is now within reach of the top 30 in the Sprint Cup standings. Should he crack that mark, he can earn a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Busch admits they’ve exceeded their expectations.

“We just wanted to come back and get back into a rhythm of things and finish top-20, finish top-15, get to some top-10s,” Busch said. “But right when I did come back, I felt ready to go. I didn’t want to come back and not be ready to contend for race wins.

“Gelling with Adam Stevens and just getting used to him as a crew chief, obviously I’ve worked with him on the Xfinity side, but never at the Sprint Cup level. This is an entirely different game up here, but it’s all worked, and we’ve certainly exceeded our expectations.”

Indycar championship

For the first time since the season-opening race, IndyCar could have a change atop the points standings at the end of the weekend.

Juan Pablo Montoya has led the standings the entire season and takes a 42-point lead into Mid-Ohio this weekend.

There are 54 points available, so it’s possible that Montoya could lose his lead with a bad race.

What’s surprising is that he could lose it to Graham Rahal.

Of the 13 drivers still mathematically eligible, Rahal is perhaps the biggest surprise.

He had a miserable 2014 season with just one podium finish and he was 19th in the final standings.