The penalty that Denny Hamlin received Thursday is quite substantial. Losing a race and a quarter's worth of points will always hurt you.

Hamlin drops from third to sixth in points as a result of the penalty. He has gone from 28 points behind Tyler Reddick to 103, meaning that any real chance at the regular season championship is now over. He has also lost 10 playoff points. Ultimately, that number is going to end up being more than that when you count the additional playoff points that come after Darlington.

Being in third, Hamlin was in line for eight additional playoff points. That is now down to five, assuming he doesn't lose any more ground in the next two races.

The stage points in use in the current format absolutely benefit Hamlin here as he has the most stage points this year with 228. In older point formats, this would have really hurt him.

In the Old School and WC points, Hamlin would have dropped from fourth to 13th. That would put him in a pretty deep hole for the beginning of the playoffs.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 814, 2) Chase Elliott -10, 3) Kyle Larson -32, 4) Ryan Blaney -82, 5) William Byron -86, 6) Denny Hamlin -103, 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) William Byron -12, t-4) Tyler Reddick -15, t-4) Ryan Blaney -15, 6) Denny Hamlin -17, 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) Ryan Blaney -96, 5) Kyle Larson -97, 6) Brad Keselowski -102, 7) Chris Buescher -103, 8) Ty Gibbs -117, 9) Ross Chastain -120, 10) Christopher Bell -128, 11) Alex Bowman -131, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -140, 13) Denny Hamlin -141, 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) Ryan Blaney -345, 5) Brad Keselowski -353, 6) Kyle Larson -370, 7) Chris Buescher -383, 8) Ty Gibbs -416, 9) Christopher Bell -426, 10) Ross Chastain -462, 11) Alex Bowman -476, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -498, 13) Denny Hamlin -517, 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.