Chase Elliott managed to sweep past Ryan Blaney on the final lap of the race Sunday to claim his fifth win of the year.  That catapulted him back into the points lead from a tie for seventh.  His advantage is two points over Ryan Blaney, who finished second Sunday.  Ross Chastain dropped down to third despite tying for the most laps led and finishing fourth.  Denny Hamlin is up two places to fourth after finishing fifth.

Joey Logano and Kyle Larson are tied for fifth.  Larson got jumbled back to 18th late, while Logano got a piece of the only multi-car wreck of the day and ended up 27th.  Daniel Suarez has sole possession of seventh after finishing eighth.  Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric are tied for eighth.  Via a tiebreaker, Briscoe has the last spot in the Round of 8 at the moment.

Briscoe and Cindric are 11 points ahead of William Byron, who failed to score stage points and finished 11th.  Christopher Bell spun entering pit road, lost a lap on track, then finished 17th.  He's 33 points out of eighth.  Alex Bowman, if he can go at Charlotte, must win to advance.

Of those already eliminated, Tyler Reddick continues to lead that group in 13th.  He is nine points ahead of teammate Austin Dillon.  Kyle Busch is 15th, while Kevin Harvick is 16th.

Of those who didn't qualify for the playoffs, Martin Truex Jr.'s margin continues to drop after another disappointing race.  His lead is still 153 over Erik Jones.  Bubba Wallace is 19th and Aric Almirola 20th.

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.

Noah Gragson finished 10th Saturday at Talladega, but failed to earn a stage point.  Meanwhile, AJ Allmendinger scored 13 stage points and won his fourth race of the year.  That was enough for Allmendinger to tie Gragson.  The two drivers are 21 points ahead of Ty Gibbs, who recovered from an early incident to finish seventh.  Austin Hill won the first two stages, but got shuffled late to finish 14th.  He remains in fourth.

Josh Berry finished fifth and stays in fifth.  Justin Allgaier got stuck in the second pack late in the race and ended up 15th.  He is still in sixth.  Sam Mayer has sole possession of seventh after finishing second.  Ryan Sieg has sole possession of eighth with his fourth-place finish.

Sieg is the last driver in position to advance to the Round of 8.  He has a six-point advantage over Daniel Hemric, who finished eighth and moved up one place.  Riley Herbst and Brandon Jones are tied for 10th, while Jeremy Clements is 12th.

Outside of the playoffs, Landon Cassill finished third to stay in 13th, but he gained no ground on Sheldon Creed.  They are still separated by nine points.  Anthony Alfredo is 90 points behind the two of them in 15th, while Brandon Brown is 16th.

Round of 12 Point Standings: t-1) AJ Allmendinger 2134, t-1) Noah Gragson 2134, 3) Ty Gibbs -21, 4) Austin Hill -27, 5) Josh Berry -43, 6) Justin Allgaier -45, 7) Sam Mayer -58, 8) Ryan Sieg -64, 9) Daniel Hemric -70, t-10) Riley Herbst -74, t-10) Brandon Jones -74, 12) Jeremy Clements -111.
 

Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the Round of 8.

Note No. 2: Drivers in italics have failed to qualify, or were otherwise ineligible for the playoffs.

Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 1150, 2) Noah Gragson -79, t-3) Ty Gibbs -99, t-3) Justin Allgaier -99, 5) Josh Berry -180, 6) Austin Hill -251, 7) Brandon Jones -302, 8) Sam Mayer -359, 9) Riley Herbst -381, 10) Daniel Hemric -451, 11) Ryan Sieg -475, 12) Landon Cassill -511, 13) Sheldon Creed -520, 14) Anthony Alfredo -610, 15) Brandon Brown -648, 16) Jeremy Clements -676.

Best of the Rest: 13) Landon Cassill 639, 14) Sheldon Creed -9, 15) Anthony Alfredo -99, 16) Brandon Brown -137, 17) Jeb Burton -186, 18) Myatt Snider -204, 19) Brett Moffitt -223, 20) Alex Labbe -252, 21) Bayley Currey -269, 22) JJ Yeley -324.

Playoff Points: 1) Noah Gragson 56, t-2) Ty Gibbs -18, t-2) AJ Allmendinger -18, 4) Justin Allgaier -23, 5) Josh Berry -34, 6) Austin Hill -38, 7) Brandon Jones -46, t-8) Jeremy Clements -51, t-8) Sam Mayer -51, 10) Daniel Hemric -52, 11) Riley Herbst -54, 12) Ryan Sieg -55.

Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 307, 2) Noah Gragson -18, 3) Ty Gibbs -20, 4) AJ Allmendinger -46, 5) Josh Berry -78, 6) Brandon Jones -123, 7) Austin Hill -151, 8) Sam Mayer -161, 9) Daniel Hemric -175, 10) Riley Herbst -216, 11) Sheldon Creed -218, 12) Trevor Bayne -227, 13) Ryan Sieg -239, 14) Landon Cassill -248, 15) Brandon Brown -255, 16) Anthony Alfredo -265.

Outside of the Top 16, but Still in the Playoffs: 24) Jeremy Clements -289.

Note: If he was eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 13th in stage points.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 1009, 2) Noah Gragson -100, 3) Ty Gibbs -110, 4) Austin Hill -141, 5) Josh Berry -142, 6) Justin Allgaier -149, 7) Riley Herbst -219, 8) Brandon Jones -223, 9) Sam Mayer -248, 10) Ryan Sieg -284, 11) Landon Cassill -320, 12) Daniel Hemric -324, 13) Sheldon Creed -349, 14) Anthony Alfredo -397, 15) Jeremy Clements -442, 16) Brandon Brown -444.

WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 4359, 2) Noah Gragson -313, 3) Ty Gibbs -360, 4) Austin Hill -480, 5) Josh Berry -483, 6) Justin Allgaier -484, 7) Riley Herbst -767, 8) Brandon Jones -787, 9) Sam Mayer -830, 10) Ryan Sieg -1023, 11) Landon Cassill -1117, 12) Daniel Hemric -1127, 13) Sheldon Creed -1187, 14) Anthony Alfredo -1379, 15) Brandon Brown -1510, 16) Jeremy Clements -1516.
 

Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, Atlanta-2), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas, Atlanta-1, Richmond, Road America, Michigan), Noah Gragson (Phoenix, Talladega-1, Pocono, Darlington-2, Kansas, Bristol, Texas-2), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas, Portland, Indianapolis, Talladega-2), Brandon Jones (Martinsville), Josh Berry (Dover, Charlotte), Justin Allgaier (Darlington-1, Nashville, Loudon), Tyler Reddick (Texas-1), Kyle Larson (Watkins Glen), Jeremy Clements (Daytona-2)

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.

Chandler Smith won stage two Saturday, but ended up 14th at the finish.  That was still enough to expand his points lead to 12 over Zane Smith, who finished 17th.  Ben Rhodes' second-place moved him up from eighth to third, the last spot in the Championship 4 on points.  Rhodes has a three-point advantage over Christian Eckes and Stewart Friesen.  Eckes finished fifth Saturday, while Friesen was 20th.

John Hunter Nemechek led 20 laps and won stage one, but got caught up in the final wreck and finished 24th.  He's down to sixth as a result.  Ty Majeski dropped to seventh after finishing 23rd.  Grant Enfinger crashed and finished a lap down in 29th.  He is down to eighth.

Outside of the playoffs, Matt Crafton maintains a six-point lead over Carson Hocevar of those who have already been eliminated from the playoffs.  Of those who did not qualify, Derek Kraus has a 13-point lead over Tyler Ankrum.

Matt DiBenedetto's victory keeps him in 13th, but he gained significant ground on his rivals.  Tanner Gray is 14th, then Corey Heim and Chase Purdy.