Kevin Harvick's race was effectively ruined on Sunday before the red flag when he hit the wall exiting turn 2 and was forced to pit under green.  Once the race resumed Wednesday, he was able to get back onto the lead lap quickly, but struggled with handling issues.  He eventually finished a lap down in 16th.  His losses were minimal, though.  He only dropped six points to Denny Hamlin, who finished ninth.  Brad Keselowski struggled early, but rose up into the top 10 and finished sixth.  He is the last man in Championship 4 at present on points in third.

Keselowski's margin is 25 points over a tie between Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott.  Bowman finished fifth Sunday night and was strong all night.  Elliott got trapped a lap down after failing to pick up on a tire issue and having to make an extra stop under green.  He spent the majority of the final stage as the first driver a lap down, but never got the caution he needed, eventually finishing a lap down in 20th.

Joey Logano, who is locked into the Championship 4 thanks to his win in Kansas, actually dropped a spot to sixth after finishing 10th.  Martin Truex Jr.'s second-place finish gained him some points, but he's still 36 points behind Keselowski.  He'll need to win or hope that Keselowski runs into trouble Sunday to advance.  Finally, Kurt Busch finished a decent seventh, but he's still 45 points behind Truex and over 80 behind Keselowski.  He must win to advance.

Outside of the playoffs, Kyle Busch's victory keeps him in the ninth spot.  He is 19 points ahead of Ryan Blaney, who gained a spot after finishing fourth.  Austin Dillon is down one place to 11th after finishing 11th.  William Byron remains in 12th.

Clint Bowyer is up to 13th after leading a bunch of laps and winning stage one.  Unfortunately, not getting the car full in stage two put him off-sequence on pit strategy.  While nearly everyone else made it to the end on one stop in the final stage, Bowyer had to pit a second time from the lead with 23 laps to go and ended up 17th.  Matt DiBenedetto is up to 14th after finishing eighth, while Aric Almirola drops two places to 15th after finishing 23rd.  Cole Custer is still 16th.

Of note who never made the playoffs, Erik Jones continues to lead that group in 17th.  He is 42 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson, who ran well Wednesday until his engine failed late.  Tyler Reddick is still in 19th, while Christopher Bell's career-best third-place finish moved him up to 20th.

Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Kevin Harvick 4137, 2) Denny Hamlin -15, 3) Brad Keselowski -17, t-4) Alex Bowman -42, t-4) Chase Elliott -42, 6) Joey Logano -43, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -53, 8) Kurt Busch -98.

Note: Drivers in Bold have locked into the Championship 4.

Note No. 2: Drivers in Italics in current points are in position to be eliminated.

Best of the Rest: 9) Kyle Busch 2270, 10) Ryan Blaney -19, 11) Austin Dillon -26, 12) William Byron -57, 13) Clint Bowyer -71, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -80, 15) Aric Almirola -89, 16) Cole Custer -101, 17) Erik Jones -1437, 18) Jimmie Johnson -1479, 19) Tyler Reddick -1521, 20) Christopher Bell -1634, 21) Chris Buescher -1643, 22) Michael McDowell -1705, 23) Bubba Wallace -1711, 24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -1713, 25) Ryan Newman -1737, 26) Ty Dillon -1751.

Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 1351, 2) Denny Hamlin -134, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -176, 4) Brad Keselowski -184, 5) Joey Logano -195, 6) Chase Elliott -200, 7) Ryan Blaney -255, 8) Kyle Busch -361, 9) Alex Bowman -364, 10) Aric Almirola -416, 11) Kurt Busch -431, 12) Clint Bowyer -445, 13) William Byron -469, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -495, 15) Erik Jones -518, 16) Austin Dillon -539.

Playoff Points: 1) Kevin Harvick 67, 2) Denny Hamlin -12, 3) Brad Keselowski -32, 4) Chase Elliott -39, 5) Joey Logano -40, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -50, 7) Alex Bowman -58, 8) Kurt Busch -61.

Stage Points: 1) Ryan Blaney 327, 2) Joey Logano -19, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -27, 4) Kevin Harvick -30, 5) Chase Elliott -37, 6) Denny Hamlin -66, 7) Brad Keselowski -80, 8) Alex Bowman -95, 9) Kyle Busch -116, 10) Clint Bowyer -175, 11) William Byron -177, t-12) Aric Almirola -193, t-12) Jimmie Johnson -193, 14) Erik Jones -214, 15) Matt DiBenedetto -216, 16) Kurt Busch -219.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 1215, 2) Denny Hamlin -101, 3) Brad Keselowski -141, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -187, 5) Chase Elliott -205, 6) Joey Logano -208, 7) Aric Almirola -264, 8) Kurt Busch -277, 9) Kyle Busch -287, 10) Ryan Blaney -294, 11) Alex Bowman -312, t-12) Matt DiBenedetto -321, t-12) Clint Bowyer -321, 14) William Byron -343, 15) Erik Jones -355, 16) Austin Dillon -378.

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

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

"It was obviously much needed and very much a lot of relief, as well, too.  For me having the opportunity to continue that win streak was certainly high on our list, and when you fall out of the playoffs and you've got nothing else to race for, that's all you have to race for is trophies and getting wins for the rest of this year, and it feels really good to be able to come here to Texas and score that win.  We haven't been the best on mile‑and‑a‑halfs this year but we've been working on it and strategizing on things that we can do to improve and it was nice to see some of that in that fruit pay off tonight.

"We had to save fuel that entire last stage.  The beginning of the final stage, we were saving fuel there towards the end once Bowyer had to pit, and then after the pit stop, the entirety after the final pit stop I was saving fuel, as well, too.  So there was a lot on my mind and things that we were trying to do and accomplish, obviously, with trying to stretch it." - Kyle Busch, race winner

"I had a lot of confidence in it, in the 50 whatever laps we ran there on Sunday. We had to start at the rear and quickly worked our way up through the field, and definitely had a good feeling for the car balance‑wise and speed‑wise and felt like the longer we were going there, the better it was getting.

"Definitely was optimistic, and today we had to make some adjustments, obviously, with it being colder and then racing into the night, we were adjusting on the car the whole race, but guys did a good job, and obviously had a good car. Just seems like [we've] been second and third a lot this year, which is a little bit frustrating, but obviously a great job by everyone, and you can't complain about second, it's just a shame that we're in the position we are where we have to win. A second place finish kind of gets overshadowed by not winning, and that's unfortunate for our team and everybody involved in our team because they did a great job and worked really hard.

"I felt like we had pretty much a flawless race. Just needed a tiny little bit more speed or a little bit more luck out there at the end with the 18 and fuel‑wise." - Martin Truex Jr., finished second

"That was a very hard‑earned third‑place finish.  It felt like we were coming from the back almost every yellow flag.  I was very happy to see that last stage go green.  I knew our car was really, really good.  We were able to pass guys pretty easily and really carry momentum.  I was happy with our Procore Camry pretty much all day.  I was a little bit loose to start on Sunday and I knew if we could get it tightened up that we'd be pretty fast.  Jason did a great job and we were able to execute and come away with a nice finish.

"I felt like I've had speed to run in the top 10, top 5 for the last several races, just haven't been able to execute and get the job done.  I was really happy today that we didn't have anything stupid happen.  We did get a little bit of damage there whenever that lap car spun out, but luckily it didn't slow us down and we were able to come away with a good finish.