NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings After Talladega
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. became the third non-Playoff driver to score a win during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs as he squeaked out a win in Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway by a razor-thin margin of 0.006 seconds over Brad Keselowski, who was eliminated from Playoff contention at the end of the Round of 16.
William Byron was the highest-finishing Playoff driver in the field as he came home in the third position, just 0.027 seconds behind Stenhouse. With the third-place finish, and misfortune by numerous Playoff contenders, Byron has clinched advancement to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 by way of points.
Ryan Blaney, who was the lowest-finishing Playoff driver in the field, as he finished 39th in the 40-car field, leaves Talladega in a decent spot on the grid as he still has a 25-point advantage over the Playoffs cutline.
If Blaney finished 39th, but still carries a large advantage on the cutline exiting Talladega, that tells you all you need to know about the type of day Sunday's race was for the Playoff contenders.
Only six of the 12 Playoff drivers (William Byron, 3rd; Kyle Larson, 4th; Christopher Bell, 6th; Denny Hamlin, 10th; Alex Bowman, 16th; Tyler Reddick, 20th) finished inside of the top-20. Every other Playoff contender finished 26th-or-worse.
Here are the updated 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings following Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the second of three races in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12.
Rank | Driver | Points | +/- Cutline |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | William Byron | 3122 | LOCKED IN |
2 | Christopher Bell | 3105 | +57 |
3 | Kyle Larson | 3100 | +52 |
4 | Denny Hamlin | 3078 | +30 |
5 | Alex Bowman | 3074 | +26 |
6 | Ryan Blaney | 3073 | +25 |
7 | Tyler Reddick | 3062 | +14 |
8 | Chase Elliott | 3061 | +13 |
*CUTLINE* | |||
9 | Joey Logano | 3048 | -13 |
10 | Daniel Suarez | 3041 | -20 |
11 | Austin Cindric | 3032 | -29 |
12 | Chase Briscoe | 3029 | -32 |
*ELIMINATED* | |||
13 | Ty Gibbs | 2144 | ELIMINATED |
14 | Martin Truex Jr. | 2130 | ELIMINATED |
15 | Brad Keselowski | 2104 | ELIMINATED |
16 | Harrison Burton | 2048 | ELIMINATED |
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.