The driver Denny Hamlin has established himself as the leader of the NASCAR Cup standings after the race held at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. With a 77-point lead over the race winner, Ryan Blaney, Hamlin has secured the top spot for the knockout round.
All of the top thirteen drivers in the standings have already guaranteed their spots in the final phase of the championship. Following the upcoming race in Daytona, Bubba Wallace, who is in 14th place, seems to be in a good position with a 75-point advantage, considering that only up to 76 points can be earned in a single race.
As for the battle for the last Chase spot, Austin Cindric is in 15th place with a 44-point lead over the cut line. Shane van Gisbergen continues to fight to get into the final phase, with a 31-point difference from the cut line; Ryan Preece has recently narrowed this gap in New Hampshire.
Preece is the only driver who has a chance to qualify from below the cut line in Daytona, after Ross Chastain was excluded from the competition with his last place finish.
NASCAR Cup Standings After New Hampshire 2026 (Race 25 of 36)
Pos. Driver Points Changes
1 Denny Hamlin 1001 —
2 Ryan Blaney 924 —
3 Ty Gibbs 880 —
4 Tyler Reddick 860 —
5 Christopher Bell 738 +2
6 Chase Briscoe 727 -1
7 Kyle Larson 708 +1
8 Chase Elliott 707 -2
9 Joey Logano 682 —
10 Chris Buescher 676 —
11 Carson Hocevar 672 —
12 William Byron 644 —
13 Daniel Suarez 638 —
14 Bubba Wallace 630 —
15 Austin Cindric 599 —
16 Shane van Gisbergen 586 —
_Cut Line of the Chase_
17 Ryan Preece 555 —
18 Brad Keselowski 520 +1
19 Ross Chastain 505 -1
20 Erik Jones 490 —
21 Michael McDowell 484 —
22 AJ Allmendinger 456 —
23 Todd Gilliland 444 —
24 Zane Smith 442 —
25 Austin Dillon 405 –
26 Riley Herbst 402 —
27 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 398 —
28 John Hunter Nemechek 394 —
29 Josh Berry 386 +1
30 Alex Bowman 362 -1
31 Noah Gragson 334 —
32 Cole Custer 302 —
33 Ty Dillon 294 —
34 Connor Zilisch 259 —
35 Cody Ware 199 —
36 Casey Mears 12 —
37 Kevin Magnussen 11 —
38 Jimmie Johnson 9 —
39 Katherine Legge 8 —
40 BJ McLeod 4 —
_Note: Kyle Busch scored 217 points before his tragic passing, and the decision of NASCAR not to rank Busch in the weekly standings has been followed._
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
