Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway is the antepenultimate race on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season schedule, and the playoff battle is heating up.
While it is going to take a huge effort to unseat Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin atop the championship standings as he aims to secure the No. 1 seed and the 100-point bonus (25-point bonus over second place) to begin the 10-race postseason, every position could prove crucial, as bonus points are set to be awarded to all playoff qualifiers except for the driver in 16th.
Here's a look at the playoff picture heading into the Cook Out 400, including the 16 drivers currently in the provisional field and everybody else who is within 100 points of the cut line.
NASCAR Cup Series standings before Richmond
Rank | Name | Points | Gap | Playoff | Bonus* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 923 | 0 | 426 | 100 |
2 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 820 | -103 | 323 | 75 |
3 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 813 | -110 | 316 | 65 |
4 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 803 | -120 | 306 | 60 |
5 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 663 | -260 | 166 | 55 |
6 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 659 | -264 | 162 | 50 |
7 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 657 | -266 | 160 | 45 |
8 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 644 | -279 | 147 | 40 |
9 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 637 | -286 | 140 | 35 |
10 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 629 | -294 | 132 | 30 |
11 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 600 | -323 | 103 | 25 |
12 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 597 | -326 | 100 | 20 |
13 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 586 | -337 | 89 | 15 |
14 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 565 | -358 | 68 | 10 |
15 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 544 | -379 | 47 | 5 |
16 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 526 | -397 | 29 | 0 |
17 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 497 | -426 | -29 | N/A |
18 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 479 | -444 | -47 | N/A |
19 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford | 478 | -445 | -48 | N/A |
20 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 476 | -447 | -50 | N/A |
21 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 454 | -469 | -72 | N/A |
22 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 438 | -485 | -88 | N/A |
*=bonus points not awarded until after the regular season, when all 16 playoff drivers' point tallies are due to be reset at 2,000.
A full starting lineup for Saturday's race was determined by Friday's single-car qualifying session, with Team Penske's Ryan Blaney on pole.
Follow along with our standings updates from Richmond as the Cook Out 400 unfolds.
NOTE: Only the top 10 drivers are included after the first two stages.
NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond: Standings updates
NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond: Standings after Stage 1
1 - Denny Hamlin - 927 (0)
2 - Ryan Blaney - 823 (-104)
3 - Ty Gibbs - 820 (-107)
4 - Tyler Reddick - 803 (-124)
5 - Chase Briscoe - 672 (-255)
6 - Christopher Bell - 662 (-265)
7 - Chase Elliott - 659 (-268)
8 - Carson Hocevar - 644 (-283)
9 - Chris Buescher - 637 (-290)
10 - Kyle Larson - 629 (-298)
NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond: Standings after Stage 2
NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond: Full standings after Cook Out 400
Race 25 of 26 on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season schedule is the Dollar Tree 301, which is set to be shown live on USA Network from New Hampshire Motor Speedway starting at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 23. Take advantage of FuboTV's free trial offer and don't miss any of the action from the "Magic Mile"!
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