Kevin Harvick clinched the regular season championship in the middle of last Sunday's Drydene 311 No. 2.  Daytona was basically a free ride.  He spent much of the race in the back, then ended up in the wall on the final lap.  A 20th-place finish cost him some of his lead, but he still won the regular season by a healthy 115 points over Denny Hamlin.  Hamlin was in position to win Saturday night, but got beat out on the final restart en route to a third-place finish.  Brad Keselowski finishes the regular season third after a 10th-place finish.  Martin Truex Jr. finishes fourth after a fourth-place finish.

Joey Logano made gains in the standings despite dropping out late to finish the regular season in fifth.  Ryan Blaney finished the regular season in sixth after finishing sixth.  Chase Elliott remained in seventh after finishing second.  Aric Almirola crashed on the final lap and finished 18th.  He held onto eighth in points.

Kyle Busch was in position to win before getting eliminated in a crash on Lap 152.  He remained in ninth.  Clint Bowyer moved up to 10th after finishing 19th.  Kurt Busch dropped a spot after getting eliminated in the same crash with his brother.  Alex Bowman finished seventh and remained in 12th.

William Byron's maiden victory moved him up to 13th in points.  Matt DiBenedetto finished 12th and dropped to 12th in points.  He was the last man in on points.  DiBenedetto ended up six points ahead of Jimmie Johnson, who got caught up in the Lap 159 crash that caused the race to go into overtime.  The team made repairs that allowed Johnson to finish the race on the lead lap in 17th.  Erik Jones finished second in stage one, but got eliminated in the Lap 152 crash.  He still ended up 16th at the end of the regular season, 67 behind Johnson.

As a result of the bonus points being handed out, Harvick will start the playoffs with a 10-point lead on Hamlin.  Keselowski is third, then Logano, Elliott, Truex, Blaney, Bowman and Byron.  Dillon, Custer and Almirola are all tied for 10th at the cutoff for the Round of 12.  Bowyer will be 13th, one point behind the aforementioned trio.  The Busch brothers are 14th and 15th, while DiBenedetto will start the Round of 16.

Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 1058, 2) Denny Hamlin -115, 3) Brad Keselowski -145, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -171, 5) Joey Logano -192, 6) Ryan Blaney -200, 7) Chase Elliott -214, 8) Aric Almirola -299, 9) Kyle Busch -334, 10) Clint Bowyer -347, 11) Kurt Busch -348, 12) Alex Bowman -366, 13) William Byron -382, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -392, 15) Jimmie Johnson -398, 16) Erik Jones -465.
 

Outside the Top 16, but Still In The Playoffs: 18) Austin Dillon -485, 21) Cole Custer -582.
 

Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
 

Round of 16 Point Standings: 1) Kevin Harvick 2057, 2) Denny Hamlin -10, 3) Brad Keselowski -28, 4) Joey Logano -35, 5) Chase Elliott, -37, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -43, 7) Ryan Blaney -44, 8) Alex Bowman -48, 9) William Byron -50, t-10) Austin Dillon -52, t-10) Cole Custer -52, t-10) Aric Almirola -52, 13) Clint Bowyer -53, 14) Kyle Busch -54, 15) Kurt Busch -56, 16) Matt DiBenedetto -57.
 

Best of the Rest: 17) Jimmie Johnson 660, 18) Erik Jones -67, 19) Tyler Reddick -81, 20) Christopher Bell -174, 21) Chris Buescher -183, 22) Bubba Wallace -190, 23) Michael McDowell -208, 24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -226, 25) John Hunter Nemechek -261, 26) Ryan Newman -272.

Playoff Points: 1) Kevin Harvick 57, 2) Denny Hamlin -10, 3) Brad Keselowski -28, 4) Joey Logano -35, 5) Chase Elliott -37, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -43, 7) Ryan Blaney -44, 8) Alex Bowman -48, 9) William Byron -50, t-10) Austin Dillon -52, t-10) Cole Custer -52, t-10) Aric Almirola -52, 13) Clint Bowyer -53, 14) Kyle Busch -54, 15) Kurt Busch -56, 16) Matt DiBenedetto -57.

Stage Points: 1) Ryan Blaney 262, 2) Kevin Harvick -31, 3) Joey Logano -32, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -54, 5) Denny Hamlin -64, 6) Chase Elliott -73, 7) Brad Keselowski -74, 8) Kyle Busch -101, 9) Alex Bowman -102, 10) Aric Almirola -135, 11) Clint Bowyer -142, 12) William Byron -145, 13) Jimmie Johnson -167, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -169, 15) Erik Jones -176, 16) Kurt Busch -186.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 941, 2) Denny Hamlin -76, 3) Brad Keselowski -100, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -152, 5) Chase Elliott -184, 6) Aric Almirola -193, 7) Joey Logano -200, 8) Kurt Busch -220, 9) Ryan Blaney -238, 10) Clint Bowyer -253, 11) Matt DiBenedetto -258, 12) Kyle Busch -267, 13) William Byron -282, 14) Jimmie Johnson -294, 15) Tyler Reddick -304, 16) Tyler Reddick -323.

Outside of the Top 16, But Still In Playoffs: 18) Austin Dillon -330, 21) Cole Custer -389.

Race Winners: Denny Hamlin (Daytona-1, Darlington-2, Homestead, Pocono-2, Kansas, Dover-1), Joey Logano (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Alex Bowman (Fontana), Kevin Harvick (Darlington-1, Atlanta, Pocono-1, Indianapolis, Michigan-1, Michigan-2, Dover-2), Brad Keselowski (Charlotte-1, Bristol, Loudon), Chase Elliott (Charlotte-2, Daytona-2), Ryan Blaney (Talladega), Cole Custer (Kentucky), Austin Dillon (Texas), William Byron (Daytona-3)

 
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

Austin Cindric was right up there late Friday night, but got caught in a wreck on the final lap.  Despite that, he still finished eighth and earned 10 stage points.  That allowed him to all but completely maintain his points lead.  His advantage is 58 points, just less than a full race, over Chase Briscoe, who finished third.  Ross Chastain crashed on the final lap, but still finished sixth.  18 stage points allowed him to jump Noah Gragson and move up to third in points.  Gragson crashed out early and finished 31st.

Justin Haley's victory Friday night moved him up to fifth in points, but he's 85 behind Gragson.  Harrison Burton remains in sixth after finishing fifth.  Justin Allgaier was eliminated after getting involved in two wrecks.  That dropped him to seventh in points.  Michael Annett was caught up in the last lap crash, but still finished seventh.  He remains eighth.

Brandon Jones is still in ninth after crashing early and losing the lead draft during the final run.  He would finish 13th.  Riley Herbst is still 10th after finishing fourth.  Ryan Sieg is still 11th after a black flag ruined a decent night.  Brandon Brown scored stage points early, but got into two wrecks and retired early.

Brown is still the last man in the playoffs.  Despite dropping out, he actually increased his lead by one point over Jeremy Clements to 32 points.  Myatt Snider is still 14th after a 19th-place finish.  Josh Williams earned a ninth-place finish and moved back up to 15th.  Jesse Little's 10th-place finish moved him back up to 16th.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 968, 2) Chase Briscoe -58, 3) Ross Chastain -108, 4) Noah Gragson -126, 5) Justin Haley -211, 6) Harrison Burton -216, 7) Justin Allgaier -218, 8) Michael Annett -305, 9) Brandon Jones -316, 10) Riley Herbst -386, 11) Ryan Sieg -442, 12) Brandon Brown -496, 13) Jeremy Clements -528, 14) Myatt Snider -554, 15) Josh Williams -582, 16) Jesse Little -584.

Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics in the point standing sections are currently outside of the playoffs.

Playoff Points: 1) Chase Briscoe 35, 2) Austin Cindric -1, 3) Noah Gragson -17, t-4) Justin Haley -22, t-4) Justin Allgaier -22, 6) Brandon Jones -23, 7) Harrison Burton -25, 8) AJ Allmendinger -28, 9) Ryan Sieg -33, t-10) Ross Chastain -34, t-10) Jeb Burton -34.

Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 302, 2) Ross Chastain -63, 3) Justin Allgaier -66, 4) Noah Gragson -69, 5) Chase Briscoe -71, 6) Justin Haley -147, 7) Brandon Jones -152, 8) Harrison Burton -156, 9) Michael Annett -198, 10) Riley Herbst -208, 11) Daniel Hemric -210, 12) Ryan Sieg -225, 13) Anthony Alfredo -262, t-14) AJ Allmendinger -273, t-14) Brandon Brown -273, t-14) Jeb Burton -273.

Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 13th in stage points.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Briscoe 780, 2) Austin Cindric -9, 3) Ross Chastain -57, 4) Noah Gragson -64, 5) Harrison Burton -81, 6) Justin Haley -91, 7) Michael Annett -130, 8) Justin Allgaier -162, 9) Brandon Jones -185, 10) Riley Herbst -207, 11) Ryan Sieg -237, 12) Brandon Brown -247, 13) Jeremy Clements -257, 14) Myatt Snider -294, 15) Josh Williams -305, 16) Jesse Little -308.

Race Winners: Noah Gragson (Daytona-1, Bristol), Chase Briscoe (Las Vegas, Darlington, Homestead-2, Pocono, Indianapolis, Dover-2), Harrison Burton (Fontana, Homestead-1), Brandon Jones (Phoenix, Kansas), Kyle Busch (Charlotte), AJ Allmendinger (Atlanta), Justin Haley (Talladega, Daytona-3). Austin Cindric (Kentucky-1, Kentucky-2, Texas, Road America, Daytona-2), Justin Allgaier (Dover-1)

Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

Austin HIll finished third on Sunday, but did not claim any stage points.  That allowed Zane Smith to cut Hill's lead down to 29 points.  Brett Moffitt finished second and maintained third, gaining 14 points on Hill.  Ben Rhodes now has sole possession of fourth in points after finishing 11th.

Sheldon Creed's third victory of the year moves him up one place to fifth.  Christian Eckes drops to sixth after breaking his driveshaft and finishing 32nd.  Matt Crafton is still in seventh after a disappointing 14th-place finish.  Grant Enfinger finished eighth and stays in eighth.

Tyler Ankrum is still in ninth after a 12th-place finish, while Todd Gilliland had an excellent chance to win Sunday.  He led the most laps and was up front until contact with Creed put him in the wall and forced him to make an unscheduled stop.  He finished two laps down in 24th, but stayed in 10th, the last man in the playoffs.

Gilliland is 13 points ahead of Derek Kraus.  Kraus finished 13th on Sunday.  Tanner Gray is still in 12th after earning a top 10 finish.

Raphael Lessard is up one place to 13th after finishing sixth.  Stewart Friesen earned a top five finish Sunday, which boosted him up to 14th.  Johnny Sauter dropped out early with engine issues and dropped to 15th.  Ty Majeski is still in 16th after finishing ninth.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 549, 2) Zane Smith -28, 3) Brett Moffitt -33, 4) Ben Rhodes -66, 5) Sheldon Creed -74, 6) Christian Eckes -78, 7) Matt Crafton -100, 8) Grant Enfinger -127, 9) Tyler Ankrum -136, 10) Todd Gilliland -138, 11) Derek Kraus -151, 12) Tanner Gray -207, 13) Raphael Lessard -211, 14) Stewart Friesen -235, 15) Johnny Sauter -237, 16) Ty Majeski -274. 

Note No. 1: Drivers in bold have locked into the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series playoffs.

Note No. 2: Drivers in italics in the point standing sections are not in the playoffs.

Playoff Points: 1) Sheldon Creed 19, 2) Zane Smith -5, 3) Grant Enfinger -8, 4) Austin Hill -12, 5) Matt Crafton -14, 6) Brett Moffitt -15, 7) Todd Gilliland -17, 8) Johnny Sauter -18.

Stage Points: 1) Brett Moffitt 136, 2) Christian Eckes -1, 3) Zane Smith -7, 4) Austin Hill -10, t-5) Sheldon Creed -25, t-5) Ben Rhodes -25, 7) Matt Crafton -41, 8) Todd Gilliland -42, 9) Tyler Ankrum -43, 10) Grant Enfinger -71, 11) Derek Kraus -80, 12) Johnny Sauter -94, 13) Raphael Lessard -103, 14) Stewart Friesen -114, 15) Tanner Gray -117, 16) Ty Majeski -120.

Note: If everyone were eligible for stage points, Ross Chastain would be 10th in points, while Kyle Busch would be 11th.  Chase Elliott would be 16th.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 376, 2) Zane Smith -30, 3) Brett Moffitt -42, 4) Ben Rhodes -44, 5) Sheldon Creed -59, 6) Grant Enfinger -72, 7) Matt Crafton -73, 8) Derek Kraus -79, 9) Christian Eckes -87, 10) Tanner Gray -107, 11) Todd Gilliland -108, 12) Tyler Ankrum -111, 13) Raphael Lessard -124, 14) Stewart Friesen -138, 15) Johnny Sauter -149, 16) Ty Majeski -173.

Note: If they were eligible for points, Ross Chastain would be tied for 16th in Old School points.

Race Winners: Grant Enfinger (Daytona-1, Atlanta), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, Homestead, Texas), Chase Elliott (Charlotte), Brandon Jones (Pocono), Sheldon Creed (Kentucky, Daytona-2, Gateway), Austin Hill (Kansas-1), Matt Crafton (Kansas-2), Zane Smith (Michigan, Dover)

Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

"Oh, yeah! I had confidence in [crew chief) Chad [Knaus] and the guys that we could get four tires and make the most of it. So, I’m just extremely blessed, and this is incredible. It’s been a hard couple of years in the Cup Series and trying to get my first win and gel with this team. These guys did an awesome job today and got us in the Playoffs and it’s amazing.

"This is probably the hardest track to points-race. We had a great Stage 2 and kind of got back in the pack and got shuffled when everyone went single file. I thought my hopes were up there. And we were racing around [Matt DiBenedetto] and [Jimmie Johnson] in the final stage and I was like man, I’ve got to really make something happen. Luckily, I was able to push [Bubba Wallace] and he and [Joey Logano] made some contact and opened up a hole for me, and I wasn’t going to lift. It was awesome." - William Byron, race winner

"It was pretty wild from my seat. I was surprised it took us as long as it did to wreck, for sure. But I’m really proud of our Hooters team. I feel like we had faster Chevrolet’s than we’ve had in the last couple of trips, which was good. It didn’t drive as good as I think it probably should have, but I do think we were better by a pretty large margin, so that was nice. Congratulations to William (Byron) – getting your first win is something he’ll never forget and that’s a really special moment for him. He’s worked really." - Chase Elliott, finished second

"Just disappointed. I didn’t do a good job. Lack of focus or whatever it is. Not executing. If you have control of a green-white-checkered on a speedway, most of the time the win is going to come from the front row and you have to just make sure you make the right moves and I just didn’t after I took the green. I don’t know what I was doing and I didn’t have a push from the 21 (Matt DiBenedetto) and I was clear of the 24 (William Byron) and just didn’t pull down. I don’t know what I was doing. Disappointing, but I guess we escaped some mayhem, we were in some mayhem. Just a crazy race. Just everyone kind of out there for themselves and all the pushing and shoving and body-slamming and what not. Decent finish, but I hate having control and not finishing." - Denny Hamlin, finished third

"We got ourselves in position there at the white flag and made a run through the tri-oval and got to the outside of the leader there. [Clint Bowyer] and those guys that were behind me, they were my pushers and they crashed. As soon as they wrecked behind me, I realized that I lost all my help and it was going to be tough from there on out. Then, [Chase Elliott] just pushed [William Byron] back by us and ended up barely hanging onto fourth. Overall, it was a really good night. Our Bass Pro Toyota had a lot of speed and we passed a lot of cars at the end. We had to pit twice there at the end on those two cautions because we flat-spotted our tires and ran over all kinds of debris. To be able to come through the field in a short amount of laps was a lot of fun. Always nice when you leave here in one piece." - Martin Truex Jr., finished fourth

"Super pumped for William [Byron].  They've worked hard for that. I’m happy for him, Chad [Knaus] and all of the 24 team. They’ve done a good jobn) and the entire No. 24 team. Really cool to see them get the win. Bummed for Jimmie at the same time. It is a big mix of emotions there for Jimmie to miss it. Overall, not a bad day for the No. 88 team. Had a really fast car, didn’t drive really well though. I have no clue how we didn’t crash some of those times. We got really lucky there at the end and ended up with a solid top-10 finish." - Alex Bowman, finished seventh

"The Beard Oil Distributing Chevrolet Camaro had a heck of a run tonight. We saw pay dirt there at the end – third place coming out of turn four. The 19 car just side drafted us and pulled us back. I didn’t have any help behind me but what a night. I just have to say thank you so much to the Beard family, Darren Shaw (crew chief) and Ron Lewis, my spotter. I also want to say thank you to Richard Childress and ECR motors for all they do for us. Two top-10s this year at Daytona – what a way to go out. It was so much fun. We will see everyone in Talladega and we’ll actually be able to take the same racecar because it’s in one piece." - Brendan Gaughan, finished eighth

"It was too eventful.  I’m mentally worn out.  I’m gonna sleep great tonight, but there was so much going on there at the end.  First off, I’m so happy for this team and Menards, Dutch Boy, the whole Menard family, Motorcraft/Quick Lane and the Wood Brothers, Ford, our alliance with Team Penske.  You name it.  This means so much to get this for them, but in the race there if I could I hedged toward being on the bottom because, man, just when you’re in the bottom and the top it’s nearly a sure thing when you get that you get crashed, so I’m glad we were able to take it home because I wasn’t happy with the finish, but I came in here saying all that mattered I just wanted to make these playoffs and the finishing position didn’t matter too much." - Matt DiBenedetto, finished 12th

"We had a really good car. The last couple of months, we’ve been really getting our act together and running well. Definitely disappointed to not be in the Playoffs – that was the number one goal to start the year. But when I look back at the disqualification at Charlotte and then missing the Brickyard 400 due to my COVID-19 positive test and only miss it by six points – we did all that we could this year. I’m so thankful for Hendrick Motorsports and the career that I’ve had there, the relationship with Ally and their continued support for this race team. Cliff Daniels and these guys on my team – they pour their guts out for me. There’s 10 races left, 10 trophies to go chase and we’ll have to focus our efforts there." - Jimmie Johnson, finished 17th

"It’s just superspeedway racing. It gets so intense at the end and everyone is pushing so hard.  It’s one of those situations you’re so close to the front you’ve got to stay in it and keep going for it and try to get the lead.  I got a good run off the top side.  We had [Bubba Wallace] pushing enough to clear [Denny Hamlin] and I knew I could do that, which we did.  I was hoping I could get back up in front of [Wallace], which we did and then [Hamlin] got me just off-centered a little bit.  It’s no one’s fault, it’s just superspeedway racing.  It’s hard pushing and it got me in the right-rear and turned me to the right and ran me into [Wallace] and that cut down my right-rear tire by the time I got to [Turn 1] and you can’t control it and spun out in front of the whole field.  Thanks to NASCAR we have safe cars and Team Penske for building something safe.  I’m okay.  The good news is we’re ready for the playoffs.  We did what we needed to do today.  We ran up front.  We got two stage wins, a couple playoff points, which is great.  Not the best starting position for us next week after this, but, overall proud of the effort of the team and feel like we’re ready to go." - Joey Logano, finished 27th (Crashed out)

"Our No. 8 KCMG Chevrolet team came out today with one goal, and that was to win. We gave it our all and came close to making the NASCAR Playoffs during my rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series. Our No. 8 KCMG Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was fast tonight and handled really well too. I have to thank RCR and ECR for always bringing such great engines and cars to the superspeedway races. My spotter, Derek Kneeland, and crew chief, Randall Burnett did a great job calling a race that got me up towards the front with 10 laps to go. I tried to make a move for the lead with about eight laps to go, and it didn’t work out like I planned. It unfortunately hurt our car and chance to win. I was clear for about a second when I went to make it, but it’s Daytona and things change quickly. There weren’t a lot of laps left at that time, and you have to do what you can to try to win to make the Playoffs. I can’t thank KCMG, Caterpillar, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Alsco, Chevrolet and all our partners at RCR and ECR enough for their support during my rookie season. I promise we’re still going to be fighting hard every week for the next 10 weeks to get our first win in the Cup Series." - Tyler Reddick, finished 29th (Crashed out)

"Just a slide job gone bad. [Tyler] Reddick threw it off into [Turn 3] and might have been clear, but wasn’t clear by much and started coming up the track and was losing momentum. I even had to check-up because I saw him coming and it wasn’t enough check-up and wrecked the field. I hate it for all my Interstate Batteries guys. They’ve worked so hard this year and done a great job. We put ourselves in a great spot again tonight and had a fast race car, a good driving race car and was just hoping we could maintain that position for the rest of the day and get a win, that’s what we’re trying to look for. Thought we had a shot to do that. Still 2020." - Kyle Busch, finished 33rd (Crashed out)

"We were just digging on the bottom – I thought that was the best spot to be. Our Monster Energy Chevy was fast and we were all in the right spot, I thought, for what we needed to get done. Just got clipped from behind and our day is done. But, all-in-all, we’ve been coming together as a team – we just haven’t had the results to show it. I like the clarity and focus that we have on the No. 1 car heading into the Playoffs. It’s been a consistent season all the way until these last few, but now it’s time. Now we have to lay down everything we’ve got with Darlington, Richmond and Bristol coming up." - Kurt Busch, finished 34th (Crashed out)

"I mean, [Tyler Reddick] wasn’t clear. Kyle [Busch] let him in, number one, to not cause a wreck and then he ran into the wall and wrecked everybody behind him. It’s frustrating. He had way too much speed to try to make that move up the hill with the grip that is left in the tires. We had a lot of laps on them. It’s unfortunate. He wrecked us a Pocono, and then to have this happen, you know, two times making racing moves that were not going to work out. Unfortunately, it was to the detriment of us today. The Auto Owners Camry was pretty fast. We were up front. I think we were running third when we got wrecked, so we had a shot. We needed to win — we were there, we just didn’t get it done." - Erik Jones, finished 35th (Crashed out)

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.