With only three races left in the regular season, Denny Hamlin leads the standings with a 103-point advantage. A surprising new name has risen to second place after achieving a major victory in Iowa: Ty Gibbs, who moved up from fourth to second, surpassing Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney. There is only a 17-point difference among these three drivers in the fight for second place, with many extra points at stake when the Chase resumes.
The driver who advanced the most in the standings has been Christopher Bell, who climbed four positions, moving from tenth to sixth. In contrast, Carson Hocevar has been the biggest loser, falling from fifth to eighth due to engine trouble during the race.
Regarding the battle around the cut line, Austin Cindric remains on the edge, but Ryan Preece has narrowed the gap, now sitting 29 points below, after entering the race with a 38-point disadvantage. It should be noted that the 25-point penalty for intentional wrecking in Texas does not affect Preece in the owners’ standings, so the No. 60 Ford of RFK Racing is just four points away from the cut line.
A standout performance by Ross Chastain allowed him to move up three positions in the standings, reducing his deficit by 35 points and placing him 47 points below the cut line. Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones lie just behind, so the three drivers still have chances to qualify.
On the other hand, Shane Van Gisbergen has lost some of his advantage, dropping from +57 points to +47 points above the cut line.
The NASCAR Cup standings after the Iowa race are as follows:
Position Driver Points Positions gained or lost
1 Denny Hamlin 923 —
2 Ty Gibbs 820 +2
3 Ryan Blaney 813 —
4 Tyler Reddick 803 -2
5 Chase Briscoe 663 +2
6 Christopher Bell 659 +4
7 Chase Elliott 657 -1
8 Carson Hocevar 644 -3
9 Chris Buescher 637 —
10 Kyle Larson 629 -2
11 William Byron 600 +1
12 Daniel Suarez 597 -1
13 Joey Logano 586 —
14 Bubba Wallace 565 —
15 Shane Van Gisbergen 544 —
16 Austin Cindric 526 —
17 Ryan Preece 497 —
18 Ross Chastain 479 +3
19 Brad Keselowski 478 —
20 Erik Jones 476 -2
21 Michael McDowell 454 -1
22 AJ Allmendinger 438 —
23 Todd Gilliland 421 —
24 Zane Smith 417 —
25 Riley Herbst 386 —
26 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 383 —
27 Austin Dillon 382 +1
28 John Hunter Nemechek 373 -1
29 Alex Bowman 313 —
30 Josh Berry 297 +3
31 Noah Gragson 288 —
32 Ty Dillon 279 —
33 Cole Custer 279 -3
34 Connor Zilisch 245 —
35 Cody Ware 188 —
36 Casey Mears 12 +1
37 Kevin Magnussen 11 -1
38 Jimmie Johnson 9 —
39 Katherine Legge 8 —
40 BJ McLeod 4 —
Note: Kyle Busch earned 217 points before his tragic transition, and we have followed NASCAR’s decision not to rank Busch further in the weekly driver standings.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
