After five drivers who started the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season's second race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) inside of the playoff picture dropped out in that race, three drivers who started the season's third race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) inside of the playoff picture dropped out in that race as well.
The chaos at the cut line continued in the season's fourth race at Phoenix Raceway, as three drivers who began the Straight Talk Wireless 500 above the provisional cutoff now find themselves on the wrong side of it.
Full Phoenix race results can be found here.
Spire Motorsports' Daniel Suarez had the worst drop. He started the 312-lap race around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) Avondale, Arizona oval in seventh place in the point standings, and with a fourth place starting position, he was in prime position to get even further above the cutoff.
But Suarez was involved in multiple incidents, and he was ultimately scored in 30th place with a DNF, dropping him to 17th in the standings, two points below the cut line.
Front Row Motorsports' Zane Smith and RFK Racing's Ryan Preece were also involved in incidents after starting the day 14th and 16th in points, respectively. Preece finished in a solid 13th, but his lack of stages points resulted in a drop to 18th in the standings, eight points below the cutoff. Smith was scored 27th with a DNF and dropped to 19th, 15 points out.
The three drivers who vaulted their way into the top 16 in this race were a trio of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates in Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, and Denny Hamlin, who finished second, fourth, and fifth, respectively. Entering the race, Joe Gibbs Racing didn't have a single driver inside the top 16.
Bell jumped from 24th to a sixth place tie with a second place finish, Gibbs jumped from 17th to 15th with a fourth place finish, and Hamlin jumped from 23rd to 12th with a fifth place finish.
Teammate Chase Briscoe's disastrous season continued with yet another DNF, and after dropping out of the top 16 at COTA, he now finds himself all the way down in 33rd of 36 full-time drivers.
Here's a look at the updated playoff picture after Sunday's race, which saw Team Penske's Ryan Blaney find victory lane and cut the lead of 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick down to 60 points after Reddick became the first driver in the 78-year history of the Cup Series to win three straight races to start a season.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture after Phoenix
Rank | Driver | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 225 | 127 |
2 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 165 | 67 |
3 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 153 | 55 |
4 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 128 | 30 |
5 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 116 | 18 |
6 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 113 | 15 |
7 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 113 | 15 |
8 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 111 | 13 |
9 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 111 | 13 |
10 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 109 | 11 |
11 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 108 | 10 |
12 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 107 | 9 |
13 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 104 | 6 |
14 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 103 | 5 |
15 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 101 | 3 |
16 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford | 100 | 2 |
17 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 98 | -2 |
18 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 92 | -8 |
19 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 85 | -15 |
20 | Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 81 | -19 |
21 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 76 | -24 |
22 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 75 | -25 |
23 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 74 | -26 |
24 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota | 72 | -28 |
25 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 66 | -34 |
26 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 65 | -35 |
27 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet | 64 | -36 |
28 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 59 | -41 |
29 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 56 | -44 |
30 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 52 | -48 |
31 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet | 50 | -50 |
32 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford | 50 | -50 |
33 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 47 | -53 |
34 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 45 | -55 |
35 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet | 42 | -58 |
36 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 23 | -77 |
Will any of the top 16 drivers in the current playoff picture drop out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway? Fox Sports 1 is set to provide live coverage of the Pennzoil 400 starting at 4:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 15. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!