JOLIET, Ill. — Based on history, the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship will produce pushing and shoving, ruined cars, and a whole lot of yelling and finger-pointing.

The third year of NASCAR’s three-phased, elimination-style, 10-race dash for the series title begins Sunday with the 400-mile race at Chicagoland Speedway. Drivers, start your aggression.

‘‘I just know for us, it’s kind of a one-way street,’’ Kevin Harvick, the 2014 champion, said of his approach. ‘‘You do what you have to do for your team, whatever that may be, and worry about the consequences later.’’

Kyle Busch, the 2015 champ, has led the most laps this season and is the top seed in the 16-driver field. He’ll also start Sunday’s race from the pole after Friday’s qualifying was washed out.

In last year’s Chase opener, Harvick shoved Jimmie Johnson after a contentious race. It was similar to Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski brawling in 2014 at Charlotte and Jeff Gordon and Keselowski exchanging blows at Texas.

Last year, bad blood between Joey Logano and Kenseth ended with Logano’s car rammed into the wall at Martinsville and Kenseth drawing a two-race suspension.

‘‘This is a mental game,’’ Logano said. ‘‘It is all about what is up in your head.’’

There have already been clashes over this championship race. Ryan Newman’s faint Chase hopes were dashed when Tony Stewart intentionally wrecked him in last weekend’s final qualifying race at Richmond. Newman ripped Stewart, saying he was ‘‘bipolar’’ and ‘‘should be retired the way he drives.’’ The two were called to a meeting Friday with NASCAR executives to smooth things over.

‘‘They’re trying to make sure they don’t have a scenario like what they had last year with Joey and Matt,’’ Stewart said.

That feud last year started at Kansas when Logano wrecked Kenseth. Then at Martinsville, with Kenseth out of the running to advance and nine laps down, he wrecked Logano to end his chances to move on.

The format has led to high tension and unpredictability since its 2014 debut. Jimmie Johnson, a six-time series champion, has yet to be in contention going into the final race.

‘‘It is shocking we haven’t made it past the second round,’’ he said.

Johnson, the No. 8 seed, is the highest-ranked Hendrick Motorsports driver with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota dominating the first 26 races. Practice times at Chicagoland seemed to show the gap is still there

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Erik Jones passed Elliott Sadler with nine laps to go and held off Kyle Larson to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. It allowed Ryan Sieg and Blake Koch to claim the final two spots in the Xfinity Series Chase for the championship.

Jones, 20, posted his series-high fourth win of the season to claim the top seed for the seven-race Chase. Jones won the Truck Series title last year and will move to Cup next year.