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NASCAR Cup Championship Leaders Over the Season
- Races 1 through 17: Reddick led the NASCAR Cup standings
- Races 18 through 28: Hamlin held the top spot
- Races 29 onward: Larson currently leads the championship
Following his points leadership gain at Sonoma on June 28, Denny Hamlin managed to maintain a solid hold on the top position, even expanding his lead to over 100 points before the Chase reset. Starting the Chase’s ten-race stretch with a 25-point advantage, Hamlin’s lead shrank to 12 points after Darlington, then to 9 points following Gateway, and eventually disappeared at Bristol.
Kyle Larson has now become just the third different driver to lead the standings this year, edging out Hamlin by a single point. Bristol race winner Joey Logano is close behind in third place, just 16 points back.
Hamlin’s No. 11 team hasn’t experienced any major setbacks but has only performed moderately over the last three weeks. Their best result was at the Southern 500, finishing 18th due to contact with Michael McDowell that damaged their toepiece, followed by finishes of ninth at Gateway and eighth at Bristol.
Currently, Hamlin is enduring his longest stretch without a top-five finish in the season, whereas Larson has started the Chase impressively with three consecutive top-five finishes.
After the race, Hamlin expressed his frustrations: “We need to improve our performance. Early in the first stage, my National Debt Relief Toyota felt strong, and I believed we could compete for the win. However, after securing stage points in the first segment, we fell to the back, and once we lost track position, the car wasn’t as competitive. The track seemed to change against us, and then the caution came at a bad time. It’s just part of the sport, so we keep moving forward.”
Looking ahead, the upcoming sequence of three intermediate tracks—Kansas, Las Vegas, and Charlotte—should favor Hamlin, as he previously earned top-five finishes and led many laps at each, including a win at Las Vegas.
Larson also acknowledged the challenging nature of the schedule: “It’s good to lead the points, but there’s still a lot of racing left. We’ve had three top-fives opening the Chase and lead by just one point. The upcoming tracks are strong for us but also favorable for the Toyotas like Vegas, Kansas, and Charlotte. The standings could shift significantly in the coming weeks, so we just have to stay prepared and keep pushing.”
Fan Take:
This points battle highlights the intense competition and unpredictability that keeps NASCAR thrilling for fans. With several strong contenders and tracks that favor different manufacturers, the championship race is wide open, promising an exciting and unpredictable finish to the season.
Source: www.motorsport.com
