Banks cash largest checks first. It may be your car payment or your house payment. We don't know.
Furthermore, Chase is now talking directly to other banks. When we scan another bank's check at one of our branches, the image of that check is sent to the other bank immediately, and the other bank releases the funds right then. The other banks tell us if that check is good or not, which means Chase has almost completely eliminated holds on checks.
And yeah, don't write checks you know you can't cash. Sometimes people wait a few days before they negotiate a check but don't depend on it.