With a runner-up finish at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson became the first driver not named Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin to lead the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings since June, when 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick was on top following his hot start to the 2026 season.
Larson entered Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway sitting just one point ahead of Hamlin. While Hamlin and several other championship contenders had solid afternoons in the 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kansas City, Kansas oval, every single one of them lost more ground to Larson.
Larson swept the stages and won the race after running the fastest lap, netting him a perfect 76-point outing, the first such outing for anybody through the first 30 races of the year.
His lead is now 26 points over Hamlin, even after Hamlin himself had a strong run to third place.
But as was the case during the "win and in", knockout-style playoff era, there are still those who care about the full-season championship standings, if there were no "Chase" points reset following the conclusion of the 26-race regular season.
If points and points alone still determined the champion, how would the standings look with six races remaining on the schedule?
Hamlin would unsurprisingly be the leader, and his lead would be quite comfortable. Larson finished the regular season seventh, 303 points behind Hamlin, so even with his three-race run of top two finishes, including two victories, he'd still need a miracle to get back into contention.
NASCAR Cup Series full-season standings
Rank | Driver | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1183 | 0 |
2 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 1054 | -129 |
3 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1020 | -163 |
4 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 1000 | -183 |
5 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 961 | -222 |
6 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 940 | -243 |
7 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 889 | -294 |
8 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 865 | -318 |
9 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 804 | -379 |
10 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 785 | -398 |
11 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 783 | -400 |
12 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 775 | -408 |
13 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 768 | -415 |
14 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 746 | -437 |
15 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 743 | -440 |
16 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 731 | -452 |
17 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 660 | -523 |
18 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford | 641 | -542 |
19 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 614 | -569 |
20 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 580 | -603 |
21 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 570 | -613 |
22 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 538 | -645 |
23 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 529 | -654 |
24 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 510 | -673 |
25 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford | 503 | -680 |
26 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 489 | -694 |
27 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 483 | -700 |
28 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 475 | -708 |
29 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet | 455 | -728 |
30 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota | 428 | -755 |
31 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet | 377 | -806 |
32 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 377 | -806 |
33 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 333 | -850 |
34 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 325 | -858 |
35 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet | 226 | -957 |
But as it is, this is all one big "what if". Everybody plays by the same rules, and those rules mean that the standings were reset following the regular season. The top 16 drivers advanced to the postseason with 2,000 points each, plus a predetermined numbers of bonus points based on where they finished in the regular season standings.
For what it's worth, Hamlin lost over 3,000 combined points to the other 15 playoff drivers thanks to the postseason reset. And he has gone backwards in each and every one of the first four playoff races since.
Playoff race number five of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is the South Point 400, which is set to be shown live on USA Network from Las Vegas Motor Speedway beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 4. Don't miss any of the action as the postseason approaches its halfway mark!
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