NASCAR fans who were worried that a lack of eliminations and a winner-take-all championship race would lead to a less exciting postseason needn’t be worried now.
With just three races remaining in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, the top seven drivers in the standings are separated by just 56 points, and none of the 16 Chase drivers are mathematically eliminated from title contention.
Such is the result in a system where winning means so much and staying at the top of the standings requires near-perfection week in and week out.
Meet the seven drivers who are bunched up at the top of the NASCAR standings
Kyle Larson didn’t finish worse than sixth through the first six races of the Chase but finished 34th on Sunday at Phoenix after a blown tire and now leads Christopher Bell by only five points. On the flip side, Phoenix winner Tyler Reddick was 118 points behind Larson ahead of Sunday’s race and had all but given up on winning the championship. Now, he heads to Talladega — where he won in the spring of 2024 — with wind in his sails.
Bell was 51 points back of Larson after Charlotte and is now half a stage’s worth of points behind the defending champ. Even with a 28th-place finish at Phoenix, Denny Hamlin (fourth, -31) gained 18 points on Larson from last week.
Chase Briscoe (third, -24) was 123 points behind Larson going into the fifth race of the Chase at Las Vegas, but consecutive wins at both Vegas and Charlotte and a 44-point day at Phoenix have him squarely in contention as his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team roars to life.
And who could forget the Team Penske duo of Ryan Blaney (fifth, -40) and Joey Logano (sixth, -44), who have trended up and down throughout the Chase but have an excellent opportunity awaiting them at Talladega on Oct. 25. Neither driver has lit the world on fire during the Chase, but both have stayed in contention and are within striking distance to capitalize over the final three races of the year.
This is what the Chase is supposed to be — a heavyweight fight for the championship among the best drivers and teams in the sport, and the final three races of 2026 should all be appointment television.