NASCAR finally has a different points leader

Nobody has more points than Denny Hamlin, but he is now joined at the top of the NASCAR Cup Series point standings with three regular season races remaining.

Ever since the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season’s second race at the Daytona International Speedway road course back in February, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin has sat atop the point standings.

While there have been 13 different winners through the season’s first 23 races, Hamlin has yet to find victory lane since he won at Talladega Superspeedway last October.

Even still, he had a triple-digit lead in the point standings at one point earlier in the season.

Hamlin still sits atop the point standings with three races remaining in the regular season, but now he has company.

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Following Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, Hamlin is tied with Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson with 917 points.

Entering this 90-lap race around the eight-turn, 2.454-mile (3.949-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Watkins Glen, New York, Hamlin had a 13-point lead over Larson. But Larson scored 16 stage points as well as 40 points for winning the race while Hamlin only managed 11 stage points and 32 for a fifth place finish — still a more than respectable total.

But without a win, it was always going to take more than a “respectable total” from Hamlin week in and week out to be able to hang on to his points lead, and now Larson, a series-leading five-time winner in 2021, has a share of it as well.

Hamlin’s streak atop the standings sits at 22 races, but that streak is now very much in jeopardy. In fact, because Larson has more wins, he is currently considered the official leader.

WynnBET lists Larson as the favorite to win the 2021 championship at +260 (bet $100 to win $260), while Hamlin is listed in a tie for third at +800 (bet $100 to win $800).

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Prior to Sunday’s race, the only other points leader of the 2021 season had been Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, who led after the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

He is no longer even above the playoff cut line, having dropped out of the top 16 in the final race before the summer break at New Hampshire Motor Speedway back in mid-July.

The remaining three regular season races are scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 15 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Sunday, August 22 at Michigan International Speedway, and Saturday, August 28 at Daytona International Speedway.

Who will win the 2021 regular season championship and claim the 15 playoff points that come with that title, as opposed to the 10 playoff points that come with a runner-up finish?