Rick Ware Racing's Cody Ware was the first driver to be mathematically eliminated from 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship contention, given the fact that he was more than 304 points below the provisional playoff cut line following the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
With four races remaining on the regular season schedule, nine drivers entered Iowa Speedway facing elimination, needing to remain within 228 points of that cut line (225 assuming nobody misses any races) in order to have any chance whatsoever of qualifying for the "Chase" postseason.
Four of them were able to stave off elimination, largely because Team Penske's Austin Cindric entered the race in the 16th and final provisional playoff spot and remains there, having only scored eight points with a 29th place finish.
But another five are officially out of contention with three races remaining on the regular season schedule at Richmond Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Daytona International Speedway.
5 drivers eliminated at Iowa Speedway
Those five include Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry, who actually scored an impressive season-best fourth place finish at Iowa, Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson, Kaulig Racing's Ty Dillon, and Haas Factory Team's Cole Custer. They are now 229, 238, 247, and 247 points behind, respectively.
They also include Trackhouse Racing rookie Connor Zilisch, who actually put on arguably the most complete oval performance of his career on Sunday, finishing 11th after starting sixth. He is 281 points below the cutoff.
Zilisch's elimination, even though it was mathematically inevitable given where he was in the standings heading into Iowa, is particularly notable because of how much hype surrounded him entering his rookie year. He was considered one of the preseason championship favorites, and instead he's 34th in the standings, ahead of only Ware among full-time drivers, with just a single top 10 finish to his name.
Previously, these eliminated drivers would have been able to win one of the last three races of the regular season and still qualify for the playoffs. After a post-2022 rule change, they wouldn't have even needed to be in the top 30 in the standings, either. But not under the new postseason format.
The four drivers who entered Iowa facing elimination but were not eliminated include Hyak Motorsports' Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon, Legacy Motor Club's John Hunter Nemechek, and Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman.
Those four, along with Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger, Front Row Motorsports teammates Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith, and 23XI Racing's Riley Herbst, face elimination at Richmond, since all can potentially be at least 152 points below the cutoff once the race concludes.
The Cook Out 400 is set to be shown live on USA Network from Richmond Raceway starting at 7:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 15. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action!
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