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Tony Stewart has won four of the first eight races in the Sprint Cup Chase, yet he’s not leading the points.

Carl Edwards, winless in the Chase, is leading.

So is NASCAR’s new points system working?

Series officials moved to a simplified scoring system before this season, with the winner receiving 43 points, second receiving 42 points and on down to one point for last, 43rd spot.

Yet questions arose back in January that a poor finish would hurt more in this points system than in the previous points system because it would be harder to climb back up due to the smaller points differential between positions.

That’s why Stewart trails by three points heading into Sunday’s race at Phoenix.

While he’s won four races, he’s still paying for his 25th-place finish at Dover and 15th-place finish at Kansas. Edwards’ worst finish in the Chase is an 11th at Talladega. Edwards is leading the points because of his consistency. Even without a win, he’s averaging a 5.6 finish per Chase race — not far off Jimmie Johnson’s record average finish of 5.0 when he won the 2007 title.

Had NASCAR not changed the points system this year, Stewart would have a nine-point lead heading into Phoenix.

Don’t tell Stewart that.

“I’m going to be real disappointed if people are trying to make a story out of a guy that’s got four wins isn’t leading the points,” Stewart said after his Texas win Sunday. “It’s about 10 weeks.

“You’ve got to be good for 10 weeks. You can’t just sit there and say, 'You can throw it all away to try to win a race and get there.’ ”

So could this Chase be proof enough for NASCAR to alter its points system in the future?

When asked in January about that, NASCAR Chairman Brian France said: “I think we try to put the right balance every year forward that, as I said, rewards consistency, takes the steps towards making winning more important, but not to be too out of balance and creates dramatic moments that everybody likes to see.”

BACK HOME: Rick Hendrick was released from a Charlotte hospital Monday and is back home as he recovers from injuries suffered last week when the private plane he was in lost its brakes upon landing at Key West (Fla.) International Airport and ran off the runway. Hendrick suffered four broken ribs and a broken clavicle.

NOT ENCOURAGING: Brad Keselowski was asked on a conference call with reporters Tuesday if Phoenix’s repaved and reconfigured track will develop a second groove. His response was simple:

“No.

“That’s about the only way I can answer that. I feel bad. The championship may very well come down to a car that gets the outside lane on the restart at Phoenix. ”

PIT STOPS: The chassis Carl Edwards will use this weekend at Phoenix is the same one he’s raced twice this season — both times at New Hampshire. He finished eighth and 13th in those races. ... Clay Campbell, president of Martinsville Speedway, will sit atop the track’s entrance sign Dec. 9 in an effort to raise at least $20,000 for the Martinsville Speedway Children’s Foundation. He raised $24,837 doing that last year. The track’s toy drive is Dec. 10.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com