As you read above, the penalties announced Wednesday are quite substantial. They also have significant implications on the point standings.
By virtue of the penalties, Kevin Harvick is now in the points lead. His advantage is three points over Ross Chastain. Christopher
Bell moves up to third, followed by Ryan Blaney.
Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. are tied for fifth (Busch wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his victory at Auto Club
Speedway). Daniel Suarez is seventh, then Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher 10th.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is back up to 11th from 15th, while Denny Hamlin's smaller penalty for committing actions detrimental on Actions
Detrimental drops him to 12th. Bubba Wallace is 13th, then Austin Cindric and Corey LaJoie.
LaJoie is now the last driver in the playoffs. He has a three-point lead over Michael McDowell, with Tyler
Reddick close behind. AJ Allmendinger, who avoided a louver penalty unlike his teammate, is 18th. Austin Dillon and Ty Gibbs round out the top 20.
Alex Bowman fell all the way from the points lead to 23rd. William Byron drops from fourth to 29th, behind the currently idle
Chase Elliott, who is 26th. Kyle Larson falls from a tie for fifth to 32nd, while Justin Haley falls from 24th to 37th. He is now 40 points in the hole.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 151, 2) Ross Chastain -3, 3) Christopher Bell -14, 4) Ryan Blaney -27, t-5) Kyle Busch -29, t-5) Martin Truex Jr. -29, 7) Daniel Suarez -32, 8) Joey Logano
-33, 9) Brad Keselowski -36, 10) Chris Buescher -39, 11) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -47, 12) Denny Hamlin -51, 13) Bubba Wallace -59, 14) Austin Cindric -70, 15) Corey LaJoie -72, 16) Michael McDowell -75.
Outside of the top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 29) William
Byron -107.
Note: Drivers in
italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points.
Playoff Points: t-1) Kyle Busch 5, t-1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 5, t-3) William
Byron -2, t-3) Ross Chastain -2, 5) Brad Keselowski -12, 6) Kyle Larson -14.
Stage Points: 1) William Byron 49, 2) Ross Chastain -1, 3) Kyle Larson -7, 4) Christopher Bell -14, t-5) Kevin Harvick -15, t-5) Denny Hamlin -15, t-7) Alex Bowman -18, t-7) Brad Keselowski -18, 9) Joey Logano -20, 10) Ryan Blaney -24, 11) Martin Truex Jr. -25, 12) Chris Buescher
-32, 13) Austin Cindric -34, 14) Daniel Suarez -35, t-15) Aric Almirola -36, t-15) Chase Elliott -36.
Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: t-17) Bubba Wallace -37, 20) Kyle Busch -38, 22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -41.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 136, 2) Kyle Busch -9, 3) Daniel Suarez -14, t-4) Ross Chastain -16, t-4) Christopher Bell -16, 6) Ryan Blaney -19, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -20, t-8) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-24, t-8) Chris Buescher -24, t-10) Joey Logano -28, 11) Brad Keselowski -31, 12) Bubba Wallace -39, 13) Denny Hamlin -45, 14) Corey LaJoie -48, 15) AJ Allmendinger -51, 16) Austin Cindric -54.
Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 33) WIlliam Byron -99.
Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 590, 2) Kyle Busch
-36, 3) Christopher Bell -43, 4) Daniel Suarez -48, 5) Ross Chastain -49, 6) Ryan Blaney -59, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -74, 8) Chris Buescher -83, t-9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -86, t-9) Joey Logano -86, 11) Brad Keselowski
-101, 12) Bubba Wallace -128, t-13) Denny Hamlin -166, t-13) Corey LaJoie -166, 15) AJ Allmendinger -168, 16) Austin Cindric -179.
Outside the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 34) William Byron -384.
Note No. 1: The WC points are based on the original points system
created by Bob Latford in 1975.
Race
Winners: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Fontana), William Byron (Las Vegas, Phoenix)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count
towards playoff eligibility.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
