NASCAR Cup Series point standings have two different leaders

Kyle Larson's decision to remain at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to compete in the rain-delayed 108th running of the Indy 500 resulted in him being unable to compete in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Larson entered Coca-Cola 600 race weekend as the leader of the Cup Series point standings, a lead he had held since the early April race at Martinsville Speedway.

Even if the 400-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina oval wasn't shortened to 249 laps and Larson had been able to jump in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after replacement driver Justin Allgaier came from the back to run 13th by the time the red flag flew, he would not have been eligible to score any points.

In fact, had the race continued and Larson won, Allgaier would have been credited with his first career Cup Series victory.

Allgaier himself is ineligible to score points in the Cup Series, as he is a full-time driver for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. However, he was still eligible to score points for Larson's No. 5 team in the owner standings.

NASCAR driver standings, owner standings have different leaders

So while Larson dropped from first to third place in the point standings, with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. sliding into first and second with finishes of fifth and 12th, respectively, the No. 5 team stayed atop the owner standings thanks to the 24 points Allgaier scored for it at Charlotte.

Hamlin's No. 11 team sits in second place in the owner standings, 18 points behind the No. 5 team, with Truex's No. 19 team in third, five points further back. But Larson himself trails Hamlin by six points and Truex by one.

It is rare that a driver and a team this high in the standings find themselves with differing point totals, save for a situation in which a driver or a team is issued a points penalty that is not applied to both the driver and the team.

But that is the situation that has now unfolded, due to weather impacting both races of Larson's ill-fated Memorial Day Double attempt, which would have been the first instance of a driver running both races since Kurt Busch did so in 2014.

The next race on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter, which is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from World Wide Technology Raceway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 2. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!