The NASCAR Cup Series standings have undergone some significant changes after a race at Kansas Speedway featuring one dominant driver and some surprising adversity.
Kyle Larson, who led 221 laps and swept the stages, took over the points standings. He leads teammate William Byron by 35 points after Byron finished 24th without any stage points. Byron was one of the many drivers who dealt with setbacks at Kansas Speedway as he blew a tire from second place during the opening stage. He never recovered.
Denny Hamlin was another driver who fell in the standings after Sunday's race. He lost four spots after a DNF due to a clutch issue on the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE. He is now seventh with 346 points.
Photo credit: NASCAR
Other drivers who lost spots in the standings were Bubba Wallace in 10th (DNF due to a crash), Kyle Busch in 18th (21st-place finish), and Carson Hocevar in 20th (26th-place finish). However, no driver lost more spots than AJ Allmendinger, who blew an engine on Lap 6 and finished 38th.
Allmendinger fell six spots to 25th in the Cup Series standings. He is now well below the playoff cutline after only scoring one point.
While several drivers lost spots in the Cup Series standings, others capitalized with solid finishes. This includes Josh Berry, who moved up seven spots with a strong performance. He finished sixth and scored seven stage points. This was his first top-10 finish since his win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Preece both moved into playoff contention with strong performances. Preece finished seventh after scoring four stage points. He moved to 16th in the standings. Nemechek finished 10th and gained four spots. He is now 19th in the standings.
"We've made a lot of gains for sure," Nemechek said after the race. "Last week was a really good showing, had speed. This week, both cars had speed as well. Luckily, we were able to come home 10th in our Dollar Tree Camry.
"I like it. I like that we have decent speed. Solid day, solid effort. It wasn't pretty - that is for sure, but we were able to maximize our finish and come home 10th."
The list of drivers who made gains includes three perennial playoff contenders.
Christopher Bell moved up three spots into third place with a runner-up finish and 14 stage points. Ryan Blaney moved up two spots into fifth place with a third-place finish and 15 stage points.
Alex Bowman, for comparison, moved up two spots with a fifth-place finish. He also scored nine stage points despite hard contact with the wall while racing Zane Smith.
"We were really good before that (contact), and then we destroyed the race car," Bowman said. "The toe's knocked out of it, and the body was killed. While it might not look destroyed, and we still ran fifth, these things are just super sensitive."