Under the old "win and in", knockout-style NASCAR Cup Series playoff format, there would be exactly eight drivers remaining in championship contention with three races remaining on the calendar.
Under the new 10-race Chase postseason format, all 16 postseason drivers remain eligible to win the championship with three races remaining on the 2026 calendar.
Thanks to Kyle Larson's complete disaster of an afternoon on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, the eight drivers who entered the 312-lap Freeway Insurance 500 around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) facing the possibility of being eliminated from title contention are all still in the fight.
Those eight drivers all entered Sunday's race at least 153 points behind Larson, meaning they all faced the possibility of falling to at least 229 points behind after Phoenix. With 76 points up for grabs for each driver in each race, there are 228 points still on the table with three races remaining.
But none of those drivers entered Phoenix more than 227 points behind Larson, so as long as Larson didn't outscore them, they'd remain eligible to win the title heading into this coming Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Larson was unable to outscore any of them, scoring only three points with a 34th-place DNF after scoring no stage points. The other 15 title contenders all scored at least 15.
Now heading into Sunday's 188-lap YellaWood 500 around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval, there are nine drivers who face the possibility of being mathematically eliminated.
All drivers currently at least 77 points behind Larson face the possibility of dropping to at least 153 behind following the Talladega race. After the Talladega race, there will be just 152 total points up for grabs for each driver at Martinsville Superspeedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway to wrap up the season.
Eight of the nine drivers are the same eight drivers from this past week.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs is 132 points behind, Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott is 149 behind, Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar is 158 behind, 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace is 162 behind, Spire Motorsports' Daniel Suarez is 188 behind, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron is 190 behind, and RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece are 204 and 211 behind, respectively.
Of that group, Gibbs and Elliott are the only two who don't necessarily need to outscore Larson at Talladega to remain in contention.
The ninth driver who has joined that group this week is Team Penske's Austin Cindric, who sits eighth in the standings, 130 points behind Larson. Like Gibbs and Elliott, he doesn't necessarily need to outscore Larson, but he can't really afford to lose any more ground if he wants to remain championship eligible heading into Martinsville.
As for the six drivers who can still challenge Larson, all of them are within 56 points of the championship lead. With a sizable gap between seventh-place Tyler Reddick and eighth-place Cindric, we could very well be looking at a seven-way title fight over the final three races of the season.
Talladega Superspeedway's YellaWood 500 is set to be shown live on NBC beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 25. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action from the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season's antepenultimate race!
Add us as a preferred source on Google