NASCAR: Full playoff picture at the summer break

There are no NASCAR Cup Series races during either one of the next two weekends. How does the playoff picture look at the summer break?

The NASCAR Cup Series ran its final race until Sunday, August 8 this past Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and this race, the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, produced an upset winner in Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola.

Prior to earning what was just his third career victory and his first since he won at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2018, Almirola sat all the way down in 27th place in the point standings, effectively in a must-win situation as far as the playoffs were concerned.

He delivered that win, and in doing so, he shook up the playoff picture.

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Almirola is one of 13 different drivers to win at least one of the 26-race regular season’s first 22 races, and he can make that claim despite the fact that he still sits down in 24th in the standings.

Right now, on points, the playoff cut line is between the 12th and 13th place drivers. The three highest non-winners rank first, 10th and 12th in points, and the drivers who rank 14th, 15th, 19th and 24th have all locked themselves into the four-round, 10-race postseason, provided we don’t get more than 16 different winners before the regular season ends.

Here is a look at the full playoff picture with four races remaining in the regular season.

Rank – Driver – Points (Behind) – Wins, Playoff Points
1 – Denny Hamlin – 874, 5 playoff points
2 – Kyle Larson – 861 – 4 wins, 32 playoff points
3 – Martin Truex Jr. – 696 – 3 wins, 19 playoff points
4 – Alex Bowman – 637 – 3 wins, 15 playoff points
5 – Kyle Busch – 740 – 2 wins, 14 playoff points
6 – Chase Elliott – 736 – 2 wins, 11 playoff points
7 – William Byron – 749 – 1 win, 8 playoff points
8 – Joey Logano – 733 – 1 win, 8 playoff points
9 – Ryan Blaney – 689 – 1 win, 9 playoff points
10 – Brad Keselowski – 676 – 1 win, 7 playoff points
11 – Kurt Busch – 552  – 1 win, 8 playoff points
12 – Christopher Bell – 532 – 1 win, 5 playoff points
13 – Michael McDowell – 448 – 1 win, 5 playoff points
14 – Aric Almirola – 377  – 1 win, 5 playoff points
15 – Kevin Harvick – 673 (+82), 0 playoff points
16 – Tyler Reddick – 596 (+5), 1 playoff point
————PLAYOFF CUT LINE————
17 – Austin Dillon – 591 (-5), 0 playoff points
18 – Chris Buescher – 475 (-121), 1 playoff point
19 – Matt DiBenedetto – 453 (-143), 1 playoff point
20 – Ross Chastain – 452 (-144), 0 playoff points
21 – Bubba Wallace – 426 (-170), 1 playoff point
22 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 424 (-172), 0 playoff points
23 – Daniel Suarez – 401 (-195), 0 playoff points
24 – Chase Briscoe – 377 (-219), 0 playoff points
25 – Erik Jones – 360 (-236), 0 playoff points
26 – Ryan Preece – 357 (-239), 0 playoff points
27 – Ryan Newman – 354 (-242), 0 playoff points
28 – Cole Custer – 337 (-259), 0 playoff points
29 – Corey LaJoie – 269 (-327), 0 playoff points
30 – Anthony Alfredo – 222 (-374), 0 playoff points
31 – Josh Bilicki – 107 (-489), 0 playoff points
32 – Quin Houff – 96 (-500), 0 playoff points

NOTE: Denny Hamlin is listed at number one, despite the fact that he has not won yet, because of the fact that the 16 playoff spots go to the regular season champion and then the next highest 15 drivers on wins, with points serving as the tiebreaker among the drivers with the same number of wins.

And if the playoffs started today, here is how the 16-driver playoff field would look entering the round of 16, factoring in the additional playoff points that are awarded at the end of the regular season to the drivers who finish in the top 10 in the point standings.

Rank – Driver – Points (Behind)
1 – Kyle Larson – 2042 (0)
2 – Martin Truex Jr. – 2023 (-19)
3 – Kyle Busch – 2021 (-21)
4 – Denny Hamlin – 2020 (-22)
————CHAMPIONSHIP 4 CUT LINE ————
5 – Chase Elliott – 2017 (-25)
6 – William Byron – 2016 (-26)
7 – Alex Bowman – 2015 (-27)
8 – Joey Logano – 2013 (-29)
————ROUND OF 8 CUT LINE————
9 – Ryan Blaney – 2012 (-30)
10 – Brad Keselowski – 2009 (-33)
11 – Kurt Busch – 2008 (-34)
12 – Christopher Bell – 2005 (-37)
————ROUND OF 12 CUT LINE————
12 – Michael McDowell – 2005 (-37)
12 – Aric Almirola – 2005 (-37)
15 – Kevin Harvick – 2001 (-41)
15 – Tyler Reddick – 2001 (-41)

Watkins Glen International is scheduled to host the next race on the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule on Sunday, August 8, with that race being the Go Bowling at The Glen. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.