NASCAR has a new points leader after Watkins Glen, first time in 54 races

With the points resets ahead of each round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and the chaos of the playoff races, especially considering the fact that this year's four-round, 10-race postseason opened up with a drafting race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and a road course race at Watkins Glen International, there is some serious volatility when it comes to the point standings during the playoffs.

For example, neither one of the two drivers who finished the regular season standings in the top two is in the top five in points after two playoff races.

Team Penske's Joey Logano won at Atlanta to open up the playoffs and clinch a spot in the round of 12, but it was teammate and reigning series champion Ryan Blaney who ascended to the top of the point standings for the first time since March.

After the race at Watkins Glen, there is another new points leader.

That new points leader is Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell, who entered the Go Bowling at The Glen as a co-favorite to win the 2024 championship, tied with Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson.

Though he finished the regular season in fourth place in the point standings, Bell started the playoffs in second as a result of the fact that he earned the second most playoff points throughout the 26-race regular season.

He opened up the playoffs with a fourth place finish at Atlanta to retain his position in second. He scored no stage points and only finished in 14th at Watkins Glen, but that was still the fifth highest result among the 16 playoff drivers after several other contenders endured disastrous afternoons.

Bell himself did not have a completely clean race, but it was a far more productive afternoon than it was for most of the other 14 drivers battling to join Logano and advance from the round of 16 to the round of 12.

As a result, Bell is the new points leader by three points over Team Penske's Austin Cindric. The top four drivers are separated by just five points, with Logano and Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman tied, just five points behind Bell.

Bell has led the point standings in the playoffs before, ironically also doing so after two of three races in the round of 16 back in 2022. He has not led the overall point standings since April 2023, 54 races ago, and even now, he is still in fourth place in total points scored this year.

He was technically tied for the points lead as a Championship 4 driver in both 2022 and 2023, but none of the four remaining title contenders are able to hold an outright points lead ahead of the season finale since playoff points are no longer added to their point totals at that stage.

Blaney fell from first to eighth place in the standings with a DNF on Sunday, and regular season champion Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing is in sixth. Regular season runner-up Larson, who opened up the playoffs with the highest playoff point total, is in ninth.

Logano is still the only driver locked into the round of 12, as it was non-playoff driver Chris Buescher of RFK Racing who won at Watkins Glen. This means that there are 11 spots in the quarterfinal round still up for grabs and 15 drivers set to vie for them in the round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway this coming Saturday night.

Tune in to USA Network at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, September 21 for the live broadcast of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race from Bristol Motor Speedway. Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, who finds himself below the round of 12 cut line after an awful start to the round of 16, won this race last year and won at the track again back in March. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!