Iowa shakes up Cup Series championship standings

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway shuffled the order of some key players in the championship picture.

Denny Hamlin remains the point leader and is one of four drivers at the top of the leaderboard who have officially clinched their spot in the Chase. Hamlin would start the postseason with a 25-point lead on second place and a 35-point lead on third place if he were to hang on to be the No. 1 seed. Of course, he’s still seeking his first Cup Series championship in what is his second-to-last season behind the wheel.

“Yeah, I'd retire at the end of the year if I had to do that every week, that's for sure,” said Hamlin after battling brake issues all weekend. “Lesson learned from our part, that obviously we got in a box that we weren't allowed to get out of and we just had to grind away the best we could. I'm really proud of the team for the effort they put in today.”

Ty Gibbs moved to second in the championship standings with his victory. It is the highest Gibbs has ever been in the standings, and in his three previous seasons, he’s only made the postseason once.

Ryan Blaney remains third in the standings. Tyler Reddick, however, fell to fourth after finishing outside the top 30 for the fourth time in the last six races. All four are locked into the Chase.

Chase Briscoe jumped two positions to fifth in the standings while Christopher Bell gained four spots to move to sixth. Carson Hocevar was the biggest loser in the top 10 as he fell three spots to eighth.

The championship field will consist of 16 drivers. Austin Cindric continues to hold the final spot, with his gap now 29 points on Ryan Preece. But suddenly, Ross Chastain has entered the picture, even as a long shot with three races to go, as he sits 18th.

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Ty Gibbs – 103

3. Ryan Blaney – 110

4. Tyler Reddick – 120

5. Chase Briscoe – 260

6. Christopher Bell – 264

7. Chase Elliott – 266

8. Carson Hocevar – 279

9. Chris Buescher – 286

10. Kyle Larson – 294

11. William Byron – 323

12. Daniel Suarez – 326

13. Joey Logano – 337

14. Bubba Wallace – 358

15. Shane van Gisbergen – 379

16. Austin Cindric – 397

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17. Ryan Preece – 29

18. Ross Chastain – 47

19. Brad Keselowski – 48

20. Erik Jones – 50

The final three races of the regular season are at Richmond Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway.