NASCAR penalties completely reshape point standings

Following the latest NASCAR Cup Series penalties, here is a look at the full point standings heading into Sunday night’s dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Just a week after seeing an appeals panel overturn the 100-point and 10-playoff point penalties they had issued to the four Hendrick Motorsports teams and their three active full-time drivers, NASCAR again dropped the hammer on Rick Hendrick’s team.

The sanctioning body took Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet and William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet to the R&D Center after Sunday afternoon’s race at Richmond Raceway.

While it took a little bit longer than usual for NASCAR to release their findings, they announced on Thursday that both cars were found to have a “greenhouse violation”. As a result, they docked both drivers and both teams 60 points and five playoff points.

Now Trackhouse Racing Team’s Ross Chastain is once again the points leader, with Bowman having dropped from the lead to seventh place.

This marks the second time in four weeks that Bowman has lost the points lead away from the race track. He has led the series in average points scored per race since the season’s fourth race at Phoenix Raceway, after which the initial 100-point and 10-playoff point penalties were issued for the hood louver issue.

Additionally, this week saw Denny Hamlin’s 25-point penalty upheld. He was penalized not after intentionally walled Ross Chastain at Phoenix Raceway, but after he admitted to doing it intentionally.

And while Hendrick Motorsports and their drivers had the points portion of all of their hood louver penalties overturned, Kaulig Racing were not as fortunate with the 100-point penalty issued to Justin Haley. However, that penalty did get reduced to 75 points, bringing Haley’s point total from one single point (101 without the penalty) back up to 26.

In other words, the standings have changed multiple times — 12 times in total — over the last four weeks stemming from off-track situations.

Here is what the updated standings look like.

Rank – Driver – Points (Behind)
1 – Ross Chastain – 259 (0)
2 – Christopher Bell – 229 (-30)
3 – Kevin Harvick – 227 (-32)
4 – Joey Logano – 222 (-37)
5 – Kyle Larson – 222 (-37)
6 – Kyle Busch – 215 (-44)
7 – Alex Bowman – 203 (-56)
8 – Martin Truex Jr. – 198 (-61)
9 – Brad Keselowski – 196 (-63)
10 – Ryan Blaney – 188 (-71)
11 – Denny Hamlin – 188 (-71)
12 – Tyler Reddick – 187 (-72)
13 – Austin Cindric – 175 (-84)
14 – William Byron – 168 (-91)
15 – Chris Buescher – 164 (-95)
16 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 161 (-98)
17 – Daniel Suarez – 158 (-101)
18 – Michael McDowell – 156 (-103)
19 – Corey LaJoie – 155 (-104)
20 – Ty Gibbs – 147 (-112)
21 – Chase Briscoe – 122 (-137)
22 – Bubba Wallace – 118 (-141)
23 – Todd Gilliland – 117 (-142)
24 – A.J. Allmendinger – 113 (-146)
25 – Erik Jones – 105 (-154)
26 – Austin Dillon – 105 (-154)
27 – Aric Almirola – 94 (-165)
28 – Ryan Preece – 88 (-171)
29 – Noah Gragson – 87 (-172)
30 – Harrison Burton – 84 (-175)
31 – Cody Ware – 65 (-194)
32 – Chase Elliott – 49 (-210)
33 – Ty Dillon – 37 (-222)
34 – B.J. McLeod – 27 (-232)
35 – Travis Pastrana – 26 (-233)
36 – Justin Haley – 26 (-233)
37 – Jenson Button – 19 (-240)
38 – Jordan Taylor – 16 (-243)
39 – Jimmie Johnson – 11 (-248)
40 – Kimi Raikkonen – 8 (-251)
41 – Conor Daly – 1 (-258)

Based on recent trends, by this coming Easter Sunday’s race, these standings will probably be totally obsolete, as B.J. McLeod will probably by leading Jenson Button and Jimmie Johnson after NASCAR decides to issue another set of penalties.

Here is how the standings look in terms of true points scored through seven races in a world without points penalties.

Rank – Driver – Points (Behind)
1 – Alex Bowman – 263 (0)
2 – Ross Chastain – 259 (-4)
3 – Christopher Bell – 229 (-34)
4 – William Byron – 228 (-35)
5 – Kevin Harvick – 227 (-36)
6 – Joey Logano – 222 (-41)
7 – Kyle Larson – 222 (-41)
8 – Kyle Busch – 215 (-48)
9 – Denny Hamlin – 213 (-50)
10 – Martin Truex Jr. – 198 (-65)
11 – Brad Keselowski – 196 (-67)
12 – Ryan Blaney – 188 (-75)
13 – Tyler Reddick – 187 (-76)
14 – Austin Cindric – 175 (-88)
15 – Chris Buescher – 164 (-99)
16 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 161 (-102)
17 – Daniel Suarez – 158 (-105)
18 – Michael McDowell – 156 (-107)
19 – Corey LaJoie – 155 (-108)
20 – Ty Gibbs – 147 (-116)
21 – Chase Briscoe – 122 (-141)
22 – Bubba Wallace – 118 (-145)
23 – Todd Gilliland – 117 (-146)
24 – A.J. Allmendinger – 113 (-150)
25 – Erik Jones – 105 (-158)
26 – Austin Dillon – 105 (-158)
27 – Justin Haley – 101 (-162)
28 – Aric Almirola – 94 (-169)
29 – Ryan Preece – 88 (-175)
30 – Noah Gragson – 87 (-176)
31 – Harrison Burton – 84 (-179)
32 – Cody Ware – 65 (-198)
33 – Chase Elliott – 49 (-214)
34 – Ty Dillon – 37 (-226)
35 – B.J. McLeod – 27 (-236)
36 – Travis Pastrana – 26 (-237)
37 – Jenson Button – 19 (-244)
38 – Jordan Taylor – 16 (-247)
39 – Jimmie Johnson – 11 (-252)
40 – Kimi Raikkonen – 8 (-255)
41 – Conor Daly – 1 (-262)

Most notably, nobody in the top 10 holds the same spot in both lists, and playoff drivers in the top 10 each score additional playoff points (15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) to start the playoffs. These recent penalties don’t just affect the penalized drivers.

Tune in to Fox at 7:00 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Food City Dirt Race from Bristol Motor Speedway, and keep your eye on the drivers who you think could be the next to see the points they earn in that race completely wiped out during the ensuing week. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now!