NASCAR has a new points leader after Bristol night race

Entering the round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson sat in ninth place in the point standings, placing him in somewhat of a precarious position in terms of advancing to the round of 12.

Larson started the playoffs with a series-high 40 playoff points thanks to his series-high four regular season wins, series-high (tied) 10 regular season stage wins, and runner-up finish in regular season points, but a crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway followed by a lackluster race at Watkins Glen International cost him that lead.

But the next highest driver in playoff points was Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell with 32. Even had Bell won Saturday night's round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway, as well as its first two stages, he only would have collected seven more playoff points, putting him at 39 and still behind Larson.

So all Larson needed to do to retake the points lead ahead of the round of 12 was advance.

All he did was lead 462 of the 500 laps of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol, Tennesse oval.

The race win, plus the two stage wins, added seven playoff points to his tally, giving him 47. As a result, he has a 15-point cushion over Bell to begin the quarterfinal round.

Larson is set to open up the round of 12 sitting 39 points above the round of 8 cut line.

It is also worth mentioning that, in terms of total points scored (excluding playoff resets), Larson's perfect 60-point effort on Saturday night means that he has overtaken 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick for the lead.

Reddick won the regular season championship, and thus 15 extra playoff points instead of 10, by one point over Larson, a point Larson would have gotten had he simply not stayed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to compete in a rain-delayed Indy 500 and instead competed in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway back in May.

The Hollywood Casino 400 presented by ESPN BET is scheduled to get the round of 12 underway next Sunday, September 29 at 3:00 p.m. ET. USA Network is set to provide live coverage from Kansas Speedway, so start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss it!