NASCAR Cup Series standings: Ross Chastain bounces back in Nashville

After the Ally 400, there has been some movement in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, but Ross Chastain is the big story from the weekend. He didn’t take the points lead, but he moved up and is now back in a position to win the regular season and those extra playoff points.

Another week in the Cup Series and another week of Martin Truex Jr. leading the points standings. Truex Jr. now has four straight top-5 finishes to his record. In the last 10 races, Truex Jr. has two wins, six top-5s, and has only failed to reach the top-10 twice in that timeframe.

Truex Jr. leads William Byron and Ross Chastain by 18 points with 576 points to their 558 points. Byron and Chastain are tied coming off of the Ally 400 and it sets up an interesting race for the regular season title.

Cup points grid (9 to go): Byron-3w, Busch-3w, Truex-2w, Larson-2w, Chastain-1w, Bell-1w, Hamlin-1w, Blaney-1w, Logano-1w, Reddick-1w, Stenhouse-1w, Harvick +164, Keselowski +99, Buescher +98, Wallace +30, Suarez +2, Bowman -2, Gibbs -10, Allmendinger -24, McDowell -27 pic.twitter.com/ryWMntiDx2

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 26, 2023

Christopher Bell trails those three drivers with 531 points of his own while Kyle Busch rounds out the top-5 with 528 points.

As for the top-10, every driver except for Kevin Harvick has at least one win on the year. It shows how good The Closer has been this season, but he needs to pull it together for a complete race if he wants to get back in Victory Lane. It has been a struggle for the Fords for most of the season.

Things are heating up in the NASCAR playoff battle. Ross Chastain might be the driver to beat in the coming weeks. If he gets on a hot streak, we might have another Chastain/Truex battle later on this season.

Ross Chastain rebounds, Chase Elliott needs more

The big story is Ross Chastain winning the pole and the Ally 400 this weekend. He was excellent and showed that he can still compete for wins and do it cleanly. Meanwhile, further down the rankings where Chase Elliott resides, things have to change and soon.

After picking up 20 points on the cutoff line, Elliott is now back in a position where he could theoretically point himself into the playoffs. However, even the driver himself said if he isn’t competing for wins now, then the playoffs won’t be much better.

A top-5 finish goes a long way when you’re trying to rebound. The sentiment around the No. 9 team is that Elliott has to win a race in the regular season. Nashville was one of his best shots at it and he still sits 25th in the standings.

It won’t be impossible to catch the likes of Daniel Suárez and Bubba Wallace who sit on the last two playoff spots as of now. Still, Elliott would have to be perfect the rest of the season to point his way in. He’s got back-to-back top-5 finishes and is off to a good start.

Without a win, I see too many factors and “what-ifs” in the way for Elliott to make the playoffs on points alone. Nine more races for the No. 9 team to make the postseason. Time is slowly running out.