Ryan Blaney was able to rebound from adversity early and often in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway to score his first win of the 2026 season. And in doing so, Blaney was able to vault up to the second position in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
With the win, Blaney was able to shave 10 points off of Tyler Reddick’s point lead, which now stands at 60 points over Blaney after Sunday’s race at Phoenix, where Reddick finished eighth. Prior to Blaney’s win, Reddick had won each of the opening three races of the season, an all-time NASCAR Cup Series record to start a season.
Bubba Wallace fell one spot to third in the standings, as he is now 72 points back, while Chase Elliott is 97 points back in fourth. Incredibly, road race ringer Shane van Gisbergen continues to churn out good results, and after an 11th-place finish at Phoenix, he sits fifth in points, 109 points behind Reddick.
Brad Keselowski is the final driver above the “Chase” cutoff, and with 22 races remaining until the Chase for the NASCAR Cup begins, Keselowski holds a two-point advantage over Daniel Suarez, eight points over Ryan Preece, and 15 points over Zane Smith.
NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings After Straight Talk Wireless 500
After race 4 of 36 (22 races remaining until the Chase)
Rank
Car
Driver
Points
Behind
1
45
Tyler Reddick
225
—
2
12
Ryan Blaney
165
-60
3
23
Bubba Wallace
153
-72
4
9
Chase Elliott
128
-97
5
97
Shane van Gisbergen
116
-109
6
20
Christopher Bell
113
-112
7
22
Joey Logano
113
-112
8
71
Michael McDowell
111
-114
9
17
Chris Buescher
111
-114
10
5
Kyle Larson
109
-116
11
24
William Byron
108
-117
12
11
Denny Hamlin
107
-118
13
16
AJ Allmendinger
104
-121
14
77
Carson Hocevar
103
-122
15
54
Ty Gibbs
101
-124
16
6
Brad Keselowski
100
-125
17
7
Daniel Suarez
98
-127
18
60
Ryan Preece
92
-133
19
38
Zane Smith
85
-140
20
8
Kyle Busch
81
-144
21
10
Ty Dillon
76
-149
22
42
John Hunter Nemechek
75
-150
23
1
Ross Chastain
74
-151
24
35
Riley Herbst
72
-153
25
4
Noah Gragson
66
-159
26
34
Todd Gilliland
65
-160
27
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
64
-161
28
43
Erik Jones
59
-166
29
3
Austin Dillon
56
-169
30
2
Austin Cindric
52
-173
31
21
Josh Berry
50
-175
32
51
Cody Ware
50
-175
33
19
Chase Briscoe
47
-178
34
88
Connor Zilisch
45
-180
35
41
Cole Custer
42
-183
36
48
Alex Bowman
23
-202
37
66
Casey Mears
9
-216
38
78
BJ McLeod
3
-222
39
33
Austin Hill (i)
0
-225
40
33
Jesse Love (i)
0
-225
41
67
Corey Heim (i)
0
-225
42
44
JJ Yeley (i)
0
-225
43
48
Anthony Alfredo (i)
0
-225
44
40
Justin Allgaier (i)
0
-225
45
99
Corey LaJoie
0
-225
46
36
Chandler Smith (i)
0
-225
47
84
Jimmie JohnsonTyler Reddick just keeps winning, and after his third consecutive win to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, his hold on the top spot in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings has strengthened. Reddick leaves Austin, Texas, with a massive 70-point advantage in the standings.
Bubba Wallace, who finished 11th in Sunday’s DuraMax Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, is the second-place man in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, yet again this week, which means 23XI Racing continues to hold down the top-two spots in the standings.
0
-225