The first of four non-oval races on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is in the books following Sunday's DuraMAX Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
Of course, NASCAR has yet to visit a "normal" oval through the 26-race regular season's first three races, with Daytona International Speedway and EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) having led things off with back-to-back drafting races before Sunday's road course action. So there are still those who would argue that nobody really knows where things stand after three weeks.
But every point counts under NASCAR's new postseason format, which was introduced before the start of the season and eliminated the "win and in" nature of the previous format that had been in place since 2014.
Just like there were after the Atlanta race, several drivers who entered Sunday's 95-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.4-mile (3.862-kilometer) Austin, Texas road course above the playoff cut line, which is simply the line between the 16th and 17th place drivers in the point standings, dropped below it.
3 drivers drop out of NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture at COTA
Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain started the day 11th in points, and he even won the first stage to move up into a tie for 10th. But a loose wheel in stage three resulted in a 35th place finish, and he dropped to 20th in points, placing him eight points below the cut line.
Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson started the day tied for 12th in points, but a disappointing 19th place finish after an incident resulted in him dropping to a 17th place tie with Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs and Kaulig Racing's Ty Dillon. They are all three points below the cutoff.
Then there was Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe, who bounced back from his Daytona 500 DNF to ascend above the cut line with a second place finish at Atlanta. But another DNF at COTA due to a transaxle issue dropped him from a 15th place tie in points all the way down to 27th, where he's now 23 points below the cut line. Two of his three races so far this year have resulted in just one point scored.
As for the three drivers who moved up above the cut line, they include Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger, who moved from an 18th place tie to eighth (+21 above the cut line) with a ninth place finish (bolstered by stage points), Front Row Motorsports' Michael McDowell, who moved from that same 18th place tie to ninth (+18) with a fifth place finish, and Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson, who moved from 21st to 15th (+8) with a sixth place finish.
Here's a look at the full updated playoff picture after the COTA race.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture after COTA
Rank | Driver | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 186 | 121 |
2 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 116 | 51 |
3 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 114 | 49 |
4 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 100 | 35 |
5 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 90 | 25 |
6 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 90 | 25 |
7 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 87 | 22 |
8 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 86 | 21 |
9 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 83 | 18 |
10 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 82 | 17 |
11 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 81 | 16 |
12 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford | 78 | 13 |
13 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 76 | 11 |
14 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 75 | 10 |
15 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 73 | 8 |
16 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 68 | 3 |
17 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 65 | -3 |
18 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 65 | -3 |
19 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 65 | -3 |
20 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 64 | -4 |
21 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 63 | -5 |
22 | Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 61 | -7 |
23 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 60 | -8 |
24 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 59 | -9 |
25 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota | 53 | -15 |
26 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet | 49 | -19 |
27 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 46 | -22 |
28 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford | 45 | -23 |
29 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet | 40 | -28 |
30 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 39 | -29 |
31 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 39 | -29 |
32 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 37 | -31 |
33 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet | 37 | -31 |
34 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 35 | -33 |
35 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 32 | -36 |
36 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 23 | -45 |
Race number four on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Straight Talk Wireless 500, and it is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Phoenix Raceway starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 8. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action!