After Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Team Penske's Austin Cindric was sitting in a 10th place tie in the point standings, while Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe was sitting in 41st (last) with a negative point total.
Briscoe had been docked 100 points after the season-opening Daytona 500, since it was discovered that the No. 19 team had supposedly modified a single-source supplier part.
While there haven't been any races contested since the COTA race came to an end, Cindric now finds himself in 35th place in the point standings, while Briscoe is sitting in a 14th place tie.
NASCAR standings drastically shifted mid-week
First and foremost, NASCAR took action against Cindric right-hooking Kaulig Racing's Ty Dillon on the front straightaway in Sunday's race. Though he was not suspended, he was docked 50 points, taking him from 80 points all the way down to 30 and miring him well outside the playoff picture.
Shortly thereafter, it was confirmed than the appeals panel had overturned Briscoe's penalty after determining that the spoiler "modifications" that drew NASCAR's attention at the Research & Development Center after the Daytona 500 were not actually modifications like NASCAR thought they were.
The elongated holes on the spoiler base were believed by the panel to have been caused by the "process of attaching the specific spoiler base to the rear deck", thereby implying that the team did not attempt to circumvent the rules in any way.
Full updated NASCAR Cup Series point standings can be found here.
Ironically, for every other driver, these decisions did not actually change where the playoff cut line is positioned.
Since one driver who was inside the provisional playoff picture dropped out of it and another one who was not in the provisional playoff picture was promoted into it, Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is still the driver one spot above the cut line in 16th place in the point standings, and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin is still the driver one spot below the cutoff in 17th. There is a four-point gap between the two.
Briscoe, instead of being 99 points below the playoff cut line, is now five points above it. Cindric, instead of being 13 points above it, is now 41 points below it.
Phoenix Raceway is scheduled to host the Shriners Children's 500 this Sunday, March 9. Live coverage is set to be provided by Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!