How 2025 NASCAR playoff standings would look after Chicago using Winston Cup Points system

The 2025 NASCAR playoff standings would look a little different after the Chicago race if the organization used the Winston Cup Points system. The X/Twitter account NASCAR Winston Cup Series Standings calculated this year’s playoff standings after the Chicago Street race, and Chase Elliott would be in first place with 2,576 points. Kyle Larson would be in second place with 51 points behind Elliott, and Christopher Bell came in at third with 68 points.

The rest of the top 10 is William Byron (-137 points), Denny Hamlin (-199), Tyler Reddick (-220), Ross Chastain (-233), Chase Briscoe (-263), Chris Buescher (-340) and Ryan Blaney (-364). NASCAR currently has its playoff standings and Cup points standings since its playoff system. Larson is on top of the playoff standings, and Byron leads Elliott in Cup points by a small margin.

Kyle Larson moves up to 2nd place as the top 10 tightens after the Chicago Street Course. pic.twitter.com/vF3xAE0vXN

— NASCAR Winston Cup Series Standings (@NWCS_Standings) July 6, 2025

NASCAR used the Winston Cup Series Points system from 1975 to 2003. It was created by Bob Latford, and the winner of each race would get 175 points. From there, it would go down to five points until sixth place, and then it would go down four points. Starting at 12th place, there is a three-point difference, and that goes all the way down until it gets to one point for the last-place finisher.

Could NASCAR go back to the Winston Cup Points system?

There has been some talk about NASCAR going back to the Winston Cup Series Points system because some feel that the current playoff format doesn’t determine the true champion. Earlier this year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked about how “a lot of people want to go back to the original format.”

“It’s not off the table entirely,” he said on an episode of Dale Jr. Download. “It has a very tiny percent chance of actually happening. Near zero. But it is in the conversation, and I like that, it’s a healthy debate of saying, ‘Look, we’re probably never going to go back to this original, but let’s discuss the merits, the positives of it and why did we go away from it.’”

There have been 12 drivers who have won a race this year, meaning they have clinched a playoff spot. Two of those drivers – Josh Berry and Shane van Gisbergen – are not in the top 10 in the old points system, meaning a championship run wouldn’t be likely. On the flip slide, Buescher and Reddick are in the top 10 of the Winston Cup Points but have yet to win a race this year.