Amid the 12-year run of NASCAR's "win and in", knockout-style playoff format, there was always a contingent of fans who begged for the return to the full-season points format that was used before the initial Chase postseason format was implemented in 2004.
NASCAR returned to the Chase this year for the first time since 2013, but given the fact that regular season champion Denny Hamlin lost more than 3,000 combined points to the other 15 playoff drivers to begin the 10-race postseason, the full-season points discussion simply will not go away.
At the end of the day, it's a pointless discussion, no pun intended; everybody plays by the same set of rules, and those rules are recognized by everybody. But it's still intriguing to think about.
Hamlin won the regular season championship by 89 points over Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, and nobody else was even within 130 points of the top spot. Yet that 89-point lead was reduced to 25 to start the playoffs, and the other 14 drivers were all placed within 100.
It only took three postseason races for Hamlin to lose the championship lead to Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson, despite Larson finishing 303 points behind in seventh during the regular season. Yet in the full-season standings, Hamlin had actually extended his lead over Blaney to 100 points, and nobody had overtaken Blaney for second.
In other words, Hamlin's "downfall" is only a downfall because of the post-regular season points reset. Nobody would have batted an eye otherwise.
But after Sunday's race at Phoenix Raceway, which proved disastrous for Hamlin with a 28th place finish following a flat tire and a pit road speeding penalty, the full-season standings update shows that even without the playoff reset, a Hamlin championship would be far from a foregone conclusion.
Blaney has scored just 73 fewer points than Hamlin has through the first 33 races of the season. There's still a very real chance that he finishes the year with more total points scored than anybody.
NASCAR full-season point standings
Rank | Driver | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1266 | 0 |
2 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 1193 | -73 |
3 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 1143 | -123 |
4 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1073 | -193 |
5 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1070 | -196 |
6 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1052 | -214 |
7 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 1049 | -217 |
8 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 1000 | -266 |
9 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 904 | -362 |
10 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 866 | -400 |
11 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 865 | -401 |
12 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 849 | -417 |
13 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 833 | -433 |
14 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 831 | -435 |
15 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 813 | -453 |
16 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 781 | -485 |
The big thing to note here is the fact that Larson, who leads the actual championship by five points over Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell, would be all but eliminated after his own disastrous Phoenix race.
There are just 228 points up for grabs for each driver over the season's final three races, with 76 on offer in each, and Larson would be 217 points behind Hamlin.
Instead, seven drivers are within 56 points at the top of the standings with three races remaining on the 2026 schedule. Who will be crowned champion in November?
Live coverage of the YellaWood 500 is set be provided by NBC from Talladega Superspeedway beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 25. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the 2026 season's antepenultimate race!
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