NASCAR Cup Series standings: Pocono drama shakes up postseason outlook

Who thought that Pocono Raceway was going to give us the show that it did this weekend? It’s had an impact on the NASCAR standings. We saw teams come into the race with hopes of a win and those that were on the points strategy as well. Fuel and tire decisions were different for so many cars, at times, you didn’t know when the field was going to flip.

While we didn’t see a huge change in the field, there were teams that lost out on track position. Sometimes even the most well-thought-out strategy doesn’t work out. However, the battles we saw on the NASCAR standings playoff bubble were awesome. We also saw some interesting movements in the regular season championship race.

Coming into the weekend, Martin Truex Jr. was the points leader coming into Pocono. He had a 17-point cushion on William Byron. After finishing P3 at the Tricky Triangle, that lead has extended to 30 points. Truex Jr. leads 711 to 681. He also had an issue with Hamlin’s late move on Kyle Larson.

However, Denny Hamlin and his controversial win made some noise as well. Hamlin moves up to third in the NASCAR standings, over teammate Christopher Bell after a 55-point day. He is still 55 points off True Jr.’s lead.

Cup points grid(5 to go Rich Mich IMSroad Glen Daytona): Byron-4w, Truex-3w, Busch-3w, Hamlin-2w, Larson-2w, Bell-1w, Chastain-1w, Blaney-1w, Logano-1w, Reddick-1w, Stenhouse-1w, Harvick +163, Keselowski +122, Buescher +111, Wallace +27, McDowell +17, Allmendinger -17, Suarez -23 pic.twitter.com/H1V3RkLxqD

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 23, 2023

Two bad weeks in a row for Kyle Busch and his team and he has now fallen out of the top-5 in the standings. Ross Chastain enters the top-5 in the NASCAR standings once again. However, those drivers are likely out of the regular season championship hunt at this point.

So, let’s get into all of the NASCAR standings playoff bubble action we saw. There were some clear winners and losers from that group.

NASCAR standings – Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell pick up big points

The two biggest winners besides Denny Hamlin this weekend had to be Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell. Coming into Pocono weekend, Wallace and McDowell were 15th and 16th, respectively. They were also just two and one point ahead of their competition on the playoff bubble. A virtual tie with Daniel Suárez who was just one point below McDowell.

So, coming into the race, Wallace knew where he stood in the NASCAR standings. He also knows that he has to get as many points as possible, if not an outright win if he wants to make the postseason. Same deal for McDowell who has outperformed his Front Row Motorsports team in the No. 34 car.

After the HighPoint.com 400, it was Wallace and McDowell making a jump in points. Wallace is now 27 points up on 17th-place, AJ Allmendinger. McDowell is 17 points up on Allmendinger and the playoff cutline in the NASCAR standings.

Of course, there are drivers like Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman who have the equipment and talent to win in the last five weeks of the season. Factor in that you will likely have a surprise winner at Daytona, and the playoff window gets even more narrow.

For his efforts in Stage 1, Daniel Suárez would be awarded 1 point on the day as he wrecked out of the race at the start of Stage 2. And don’t count out Ty Gibbs in the NASCAR standings. He has legit talent and with some road course races coming up, he might parlay his first Cup Series top-5 finish into a couple of more – if not a checkered flag.