NASCAR: Denny Hamlin's team doesn't lead the point standings

Following his fifth place finish in Sunday night's rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin took the lead of the NASCAR Cup Series point standings for the first time in the 2024 season.

Hamlin's ascension to the top of the point standings was, of course, aided by the fact that Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson opted to remain at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to compete in the rain-delayed 108th running of the Indy 500.

Even if Larson had arrived at Charlotte before what ended up being the race-ending red flag, he would not have been eligible to score any Cup Series points after Justin Allgaier drove his No. 5 Chevrolet for the first 249 of the 400 scheduled laps around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina oval.

While Allgaier himself also scored no points for himself, since he is a full-time driver for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series and is therefore ineligible, he did score points for Larson's No. 5 team in the owner standings.

As a result, Larson's No. 5 team still leads the owner standings, not Hamlin's No. 11 team.

Larson fell behind not only Hamlin but also Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr., who finished Sunday's race in 12th place, in the point standings. Larson trails Hamlin by six points and Truex by one.

But it is the No. 5 team which owns an 18-point lead in the owner standings over the No. 11 team, with the No. 19 team a further five points behind in third place.

Allgaier scored the No. 5 team 24 points on Sunday night, thanks to his 13th place finish after starting from the back of the field.

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