Team Penske's Ryan Blaney became the first driver to punch his ticket to the round of 8 of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, with his Mobil 1 301 victory on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway sending him to the semifinal round for the fifth consecutive season.
Though points technically no longer matter for Blaney during the round of 12, since he could crash out on the opening lap of the next two races at Kansas Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and still be set to advance to the next round, Blaney did become the new official points leader for the Cup Series after the round of 12 opener.
Blaney actually spent two races atop the standings earlier this year. He was the first points leader of the season following a seventh place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, despite the fact that Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron actually won the race.
Ryan Blaney back on top of NASCAR standings
He retained the lead following a fourth place finish in the season's next race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but he hasn't been back on top since.
Blaney now owns a two-point lead over Byron, the top driver not yet locked into the round of 8. Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is eight points out of the lead in third place. Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, who opened the round of 12 on top of the standings, dropped down to fifth and is 22 points out of the lead. Teammate Christopher Bell is two points ahead of him in fourth.
As far as a season-long points are concerned, Byron still owns the lead, just as he has for the overwhelming majority of the 2025 season, but Blaney, despite seven regular season DNFs, is only 19 points behind amid an extended hot streak that features just one finish outside of the top eight in the 10 most recent races.
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