For the first time in just over a year, Chase Elliott is the NASCAR Cup Series points leader.
Elliott, who started from the pole on Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway after a qualifying washout, finished sixth. He also led a race-high 238 laps in his No. 9 Chevy.
Although Elliott had his sights set on his second win of 2025, the outcome was not entirely disappointing. With his finish and the stage points he collected, NASCAR’s most popular driver displaced Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron atop the NASCAR standings.
Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, now leads Byron by 16 points with five races to go in the regular season. Another Hendrick driver, Kyle Larson, ranks third. Larson trails Elliott by 38 points. That’s a far-from-insurmountable deficit.
Denny Hamlin Makes Significant Jump In NASCAR Standings With Dover Win
Only one point in arrears of Kyle Larson in the NASCAR Cup Series standings is Dover race winner Denny Hamlin. With the next-closest driver, fifth-place Tyler Reddick, 62 points behind Chase Elliott, no one outside of the top four has a very realistic shot to claim the regular season championship and the 15 playoff points it awards.
Hamlin would likely be positioned even better in the battle for the regular season crown if he had competed in last month’s race in Mexico City. Rather than making the trip, he stayed home to spend time with his newborn son.
Hamlin made up some significant ground, though, at Dover. Most notably, he swapped places with Reddick in the standings. He also narrowed his gap to first place.
Along with his duties as wheelman of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Hamlin co-owns 23XI Racing with NBA legend Michael Jordan. One of Hamlin and Jordan’s drivers — along with Reddick and rookie Riley Herbst — is Bubba Wallace, who joined Elliott and Hamlin as Sunday’s big winners in the standings.
Bubba Wallace Pads Cushion Over Drivers Behind Cutline For NASCAR Playoffs
Coming into the Monster Mile, Bubba Wallace — who has been squarely on the playoff bubble for several weeks — held a slender three-point edge over Ryan Preece for the final transfer spot. But, buoyed by a seventh-place finish at Dover, Wallace stretched his advantage over Preece to 16 points.
Kyle Busch, who arrived at the high-banked concrete oval with justifiably high expectations, struggled with the handling on his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after a strong start. He finished a disappointing 11th.
“Our balance switched to wrecking loose, and our Chevy wasn’t in the track,” the three-time Dover winner said. “It was way different from the start of the race. We salvaged what we could. We’ll regroup and continue to push for a spot in the NASCAR playoffs.”
With his result, Busch saw his deficit to playoff bubble driver Wallace tick up from 37 to 39 points. Next in line — and probably the last driver still with a chance to reach the playoffs based on points — is Ty Gibbs.
With a fifth-place finish at Dover, Gibbs pulled within 13 points of Busch — and 52 of Wallace for the final playoff berth. The grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs also advanced to face Ty Dillon in next weekend’s final round of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge.
