For the first time since 2017, there is a race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval on the NASCAR Cup Series postseason schedule, after the Roval hosted one race each season from 2018 to 2025. It did so on seven of those eight occasions as the only road course in the playoffs.
Heading into Sunday's 267-lap Bank of America 400 at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina oval, Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is the points leader, with a 40-point advantage over Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin in second place.
Hamlin has scored more points than any driver this year if you exclude the post-regular season reset, but he has gone backwards every single week since the postseason began, starting when his regular season championship-winning margin of 89 was reduced to a 25-point lead based on the predetermined points reset values.
All 16 playoff drivers are still mathematically eligible to win the championship, and that is guaranteed to be the case after the Bank of America 400 as well. Here is how things look heading into Charlotte.
NASCAR playoff standings before Charlotte
Rank | Driver | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 2318 | 0 |
2 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 2278 | -40 |
3 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 2263 | -55 |
4 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 2247 | -71 |
5 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 2238 | -80 |
6 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 2234 | -84 |
7 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 2212 | -106 |
8 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 2208 | -110 |
9 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 2190 | -128 |
10 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 2181 | -137 |
11 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 2160 | -158 |
12 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 2158 | -160 |
13 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 2155 | -163 |
14 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 2123 | -195 |
15 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 2122 | -196 |
16 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 2118 | -200 |
A full starting lineup for Sunday's race was supposed to be determined by Saturday's single-car qualifying session, but for the fourth time in six playoff race weekends, qualifying was rained out. Larson is on pole, thanks to the qualifying metric.
Follow along with our standings updates from Charlotte as the Bank of America 400 unfolds.
NOTE: Only the 16 playoff drivers are included after the first two stages.
NASCAR Cup Series at Charlotte: Standings after Stage 1
NASCAR Cup Series at Charlotte: Standings after Stage 2
NASCAR Cup Series at Charlotte: Full standings after Bank of America 400
Race number seven on the 10-race 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason schedule is the Freeway Insurance 500, which is set to be shown live on USA Network from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 18.
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