Kyle Larson was running strong early on Monday, leading a race-high 41 laps. Then, he spun in traffic and took out seven other cars, ending his day.

Tyler Reddick, by taking the victory at Michigan, was able to assume the points lead. His advantage is 10 points over Chase Elliott, who dropped back on the final restart to finish 15th. Denny Hamlin spun from second early on and spent the rest of the race catching up. A ninth-place finish allowed him to move up to third. Larson's crash and 34th-place finish dropped him down to fourth.

Ryan Blaney remains in fifth after finishing 18th. William Byron is up one place to sixth after finishing second. Byron jumped over Christopher Bell, who was eliminated in the same wreck as Larson. Martin Truex Jr. hit the wall to bring out a late caution and ended up 24th. The finish keeps him in eighth.

Brad Keselowski is still in ninth after finishing fifth. Ty Gibbs is up one place to 10th after finishing third. Gibbs passed over Alex Bowman, who struggled late and finished 27th. Chris Buescher recovered from being involved in the big crash to finish sixth and move up to 12th.

Ross Chastain has sole possession of 13th despite a late spin. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Buescher has a one-point lead over Bubba Wallace, who was caught up in the big crash and had to struggle for the remainder of the race with a damaged car. Joey Logano was eliminated in the big crash and stays in 15th. Daniel Suarez finished eighth and stays in 16th.

Kyle Busch took two tires on his final stop and finished fourth to move up to 17th. He is still 93 points behind Chastain, so he will need to win in the next couple of weeks to make the playoffs. Chase Briscoe was fast early before wrecking and dropping to 18th. Austin Cindric moved up to 19th despite a substandard day, while Todd Gilliland is 20th.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 814, 2) Chase Elliott -10, 3) Denny Hamlin -28, 4) Kyle Larson -32, 5) Ryan Blaney -82, 6) William Byron -86, 7) Christopher Bell -111, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -132, 9) Brad Keselowski -137, 10) Ty Gibbs -170, 11) Alex Bowman -187, 12) Chris Buescher -193, 13) Ross Chastain -208, 14) Bubba Wallace -209, 15) Joey Logano -253, 16) Daniel Suarez -288.

Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Austin Cindric -354.

Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points.

Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 28, 2) Christopher Bell -3, 3) Denny Hamlin -7, 4) William Byron -12, t-5) Tyler Reddick -15, t-5) Ryan Blaney -15, 7) Austin Cindric -21, t-8) Chase Elliott -22, t-8) Joey Logano -22, t-8) Daniel Suarez -22, t-11) Brad Keselowski -23, t-11) Alex Bowman -23, 13) Martin Truex Jr. -25, t-14) Ty Gibbs -26, t-14) Chris Buescher -26, t-16) Ross Chastain -27, t-16) Bubba Wallace -27, t-16) Michael McDowell -27, t-16) Kyle Busch -27, t-16) Joey Hand -27.

Note: If he were eligible for playoff points, Shane van Gisbergen would be tied for 16th.

Stage Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 228, 2) Kyle Larson -1, 3) Christopher Bell -44, 4) Ryan Blaney -50, 5) Tyler Reddick -58, t-6) Chase Elliott -61, t-6) Martin Truex Jr. -61, 8) William Byron -80, 9) Brad Keselowski -98, 10) Ty Gibbs -116, 11) Joey Logano -121, 12) Bubba Wallace -122, 13) Alex Bowman -129, 14) Ross Chastain -152, 15) Kyle Busch -154, 16) Austin Cindric -156.

Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Chris Buescher -160, 18) Daniel Suarez -176.

Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. 

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 756, 2) Chase Elliott -11, 3) William Byron -75, 4) Denny Hamlin -85, 5) Ryan Blaney -96, 6) Kyle Larson -97, 7) Brad Keselowski -102, 8) Chris Buescher -103, 9) Ty Gibbs -117, 10) Ross Chastain -120, 11) Christopher Bell -128, 12) Alex Bowman -131, 13) Martin Truex Jr. -140, 14) Bubba Wallace -152, 15) Daniel Suarez -180, 16) Joey Logano -194.

Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 23) Austin Cindric -269.
 

Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.

WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 3390, 2) Chase Elliott -95, 3) William Byron -280, 4) Denny Hamlin -286, 5) Ryan Blaney -345, 6) Brad Keselowski -353, 7) Kyle Larson -370, 8) Chris Buescher -383, 9) Ty Gibbs -416, 10) Christopher Bell -426, 11) Ross Chastain -462, 12) Alex Bowman -476, 13) Martin Truex Jr. -498, 14) Bubba Wallace -548, 15) Daniel Suarez -666, 16) Joey Logano -673.

Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 24) Austin Cindric -940.

Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975.

Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona, COTA, Martinsville), Daniel Suarez (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Kansas, Sonoma, Indianapolis), Christopher Bell (Phoenix, Charlotte, Loudon), Denny Hamlin (Bristol, Richmond-1, Dover), Chase Elliott (Texas), Tyler Reddick (Talladega, Michigan), Brad Keselowski (Darlington), Austin Cindric (Gateway), Ryan Blaney (Iowa, Pocono), Joey Logano (Nashville), Alex Bowman (Chicago), Austin Dillon (Richmond-2)

 
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.

Cole Custer ran decently Saturday until he suffered a suspension failure that ended his day. That opened the flood gates for his immediate opposition.

Justin Allgaier claimed the victory and cut Custer's lead from 56 points down to 12. Austin Hill finished 18th and stays in third. Chandler Smith spun on the final lap and finished 27th. Despite that, he stays in fourth.

AJ Allmendinger is one place to fifth after finishing 10th. Allmendinger jumped over Riley Herbst, who was eliminated in an early crash and finished 38th. Sheldon Creed finished second again and moved up to seventh. Creed overtook Jesse Love, who finished a lap down in 29th.

Parker Kligerman remains in ninth after finishing 11th. Sammy Smith is up one place to 10th after finishing fifth. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Sammy has a one-point lead over Ryan Sieg. Sieg won stage one Saturday, but finished 13th. Shane van Gisbergen is up one place to 12th.

Sam Mayer dropped down to 13th after being eliminated in the same crash as Herbst. Brandon Jones had the same fate and is squarely in a must-win situation to make the playoffs now as he is 94 points behind Sammy Smith. Anthony Alfredo is still 15th after a fourth-place finish, while Brennan Poole is 16th.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 768, 2) Justin Allgaier -12, 3) Austin Hill -70, 4) Chandler Smith -84, 5) AJ Allmendinger -122, 6) Riley Herbst -145, 7) Sheldon Creed -154, 8) Jesse Love -164, 9) Parker Kligerman -188, 10) Sammy Smith -223, 11) Ryan Sieg -224, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -248, 13) Sam Mayer -265, 14) Brandon Jones -317, 15) Anthony Alfredo -338, 16) Brennan Poole -411.

Playoff Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 21, 2) Shane van Gisbergen -4, 3) Chandler Smith -6, 4) Austin Hill -8, 5) Sam Mayer -10, 6) Jesse Love -12, t-7) Cole Custer -13, t-7) Aric Almirola -13, 9) Riley Herbst -14, 10) Ryan Truex -16, 11) Ryan Sieg -19, 12) Parker Kligerman -20.

Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be fifth in playoff points, while Christopher Bell would be 11th, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott tied for 12th and Ty Gibbs tied for 15th.

Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 236, 2) Cole Custer -52, 3) Chandler Smith -65, 4) Riley Herbst -69, 5) Austin Hill -71, 6) AJ Allmendinger -81, t-7) Jesse Love -125, t-7) Sheldon Creed -125, 9) Sam Mayer -134, 10) Sammy Smith -140, t-11) Parker Kligerman -151, t-11) Brandon Jones -151, 13) Ryan Sieg -153, 14) Aric Almirola -160, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -185, 16) Ryan Truex -200.

Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 15th and Ty Gibbs 16th in stage points.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 682, 2) Austin Hill -48, 3) Justin Allgaier -64, 4) Chandler Smith -84, 5) Sheldon Creed -87, 6) Jesse Love -93, 7) Parker Kligerman -99, 8) AJ Allmendinger -102, 9) Shane van Gisbergen -125, 10) Ryan Sieg -131, 11) Riley Herbst -140, 12) Sammy Smith -144, 13) Anthony Alfredo -183, 14) Sam Mayer -187, 15) Brandon Jones -230, 16) Brennan Poole -250.

WC Points (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 3019, 2) Austin Hill -178, 3) Justin Allgaier -208, 4) Sheldon Creed -262, 5) Chandler Smith -282, 6) Jesse Love -330, 7) Parker Kligerman -381, 8) AJ Allmendinger -382, 9) Shane van Gisbergen -449, 10) Riley Herbst -482, 11) Ryan Sieg -486, 12) Sammy Smith -500, 13) Sam Mayer -620, 14) Anthony Alfredo -652, 15) Brandon Jones -791, 16) Brennan Poole -876.

Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas, Nashville), Chandler Smith (Phoenix, Richmond), Kyle Larson (COTA), Aric Almirola (Martinsville), Sam Mayer (Texas, Iowa), Jesse Love (Talladega), Ryan Truex (Dover), Justin Allgaier (Darlington), Chase Elliott (Charlotte), Shane van Gisbergen (Portland, Sonoma, Chicago), Christopher Bell (Loudon), Cole Custer (Pocono), Riley Herbst (Indianapolis)

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

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They are scheduled to race Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin to start the playoffs.

Once in Milwaukee, Corey Heim will start the playoffs with a three-point lead over Christian Eckes by virtue of his five wins. Ty Majeski is third, then Nick Sanchez and Rajah Caruth. At the bottom, Taylor Gray will start in eighth with a one-point advantage over Ben Rhodes and two over Daniel Dye.