Much of the focus was rightfully on Kyle Larson's NASCAR Cup Series points lead growing after Sunday's South Point 400 playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
What started out as a disastrous day for Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team ended with him extending his lead over Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin from 26 points to 40, thanks to a comeback runner-up finish while Hamlin could only recover to finish 16th after a spin.
But the points lead isn't the only battle in the championship standings going on during the 10-race Chase postseason.
Ryan Preece drops back to last in NASCAR playoff standings
RFK Racing's Ryan Preece was the 16th and final driver to qualify for the playoffs and started 16th in the standings as the only driver who was not awarded any additional bonus points to begin the playoffs. After a DNF in the opener at Darlington Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron fell to 16th, last among championship contenders.
But ever since, it had been Spire Motorsports' Daniel Suarez in that 16th spot. He began the playoffs in 11th, fell to 13th with a 21st place finish at Darlington, and then fell to last with a DNF at Gateway. He remained there after finishes of 14th at Bristol and Kansas.
After his third consecutive 14th place finish at Las Vegas, however, Suarez has appropriately moved up to 14th, passing both RFK Racing playoff drivers. Chris Buescher remained 15th with a 13th place finish, with Suarez moving ahead due to the stage points he earned at Las Vegas (five compared to Buescher's two), while Preece dropped back to 16th with a 28th place effort and no stage points.
None of those three drivers has finished a single playoff race higher than 10th this year. Preece is responsible for all three top 10 finishes among that trio, finishing 10th at Darlington, Bristol and Kansas. Despite the fact that he's last in the playoff standings, only four playoff drivers have more top 10 finishes in the postseason than Preece.
As for Byron, he's actually moved all the way up to 12th, having finished fourth, ninth, seventh, and sixth since the Darlington DNF. Teammate Chase Elliott is now 13th.
All 16 playoff drivers remain mathematically in title contention with five races remaining on the 2026 schedule. There are 76 points on the table in each race, and Preece is 200 points out of the lead. Nobody can be eliminated this coming weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway either, since there will still be 304 points on the table afterward.
The sixth race on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason schedule is the Bank of America 400, which is set to be shown live on USA Network from Charlotte Motor Speedway at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 11. This race is set to take place on the oval, not the Roval, for the first time since 2017.
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