Hamlin's Chase advantage narrows after WWTR

Denny Hamlin remains the NASCAR Cup Series championship point leader, but his previously slim advantage is even smaller after the second race in the Chase.

Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing team were able to salvage a ninth-place finish out of Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway with the help of a rash of cautions in the final stage. A slow pit stop on the left side of the car under a caution with 42 laps to go had buried Hamlin in the field, and he was making little headway. He was running 16th with 20 laps to go.

But there were four cautions in the final 20 laps. Hamlin then gained spots with each incident and restart.

The lead is now nine points over Kyle Larson, who won the race. Larson jumped five spots in the standings with his win.

Larson was the biggest winner of the weekend. Other drivers who gained spots in the standings were Carson Hocevar, who moved up three positions to ninth place, Austin Cindric, who gained two spots to 12th place, and Ryan Preece and William Byron, who each moved up one spot. Preece moved to 14th place and Byron to 15th.

The biggest losers after Sunday’s carnage-filled race were Christopher Bell, who dropped one spot, and Ryan Blaney, who also dropped a spot. Blaney was one of five Chase drivers who failed to finish the race.

Tyler Reddick also lost one spot, and Chase Briscoe lost three spots. Chase Elliott lost two spots, as did Chris Buescher. Lastly, Daniel Suarez lost three spots, dropping him to last in the Chase standings.

Here are the championship standings after the second Chase race:

1.     Denny Hamlin
2.     Kyle Larson – 9
3.     Christopher Bell – 18
4.     Ryan Blaney – 33
5.     Tyler Reddick – 42
6.     Ty Gibbs – 51
7.     Joey Logano – 51
8.     Chase Briscoe – 59
9.     Carson Hocevar – 88
10.  Bubba Wallace – 90
11.  Chase Elliott - 93
12.  Austin Cindric – 108
13.  Chris Buescher – 111
14.  Ryan Preece – 113
15.  William Byron – 114
16.  Daniel Suarez – 119

Bristol Motor Speedway is the next stop in the championship fight. There are eight races remaining.