Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott made some late moves and took advantage of a huge push from teammate Alex Bowman to get around Brad Keselowski on the final lap and win at EchoPark Speedway to pick up his second win at his home track just outside Atlanta.
The win is Elliott's first of the season and shrinks the playoff field by another spot with only eight regular season races to go. Saturday night's race was also the first of the In-Season Challenge, with the field now trimmed from 32 to 16 after a chaotic race under the lights. Behind Elliott in the top-five were Keselowski, Bowman, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick and Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones.
Updated Cup Series standings after the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway
Driver Standings | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|
1. William Byron | 631 | 0 |
2. Chase Elliott | 594 | -37 |
3. Kyle Larson | 589 | -42 |
4. Denny Hamlin | 551 | -80 |
5. Christopher Bell | 551 | -80 |
6. Tyler Reddick | 533 | -98 |
7. Ryan Blaney | 504 | -127 |
8. Ross Chastain | 458 | -173 |
9. Chris Buescher | 457 | -174 |
10. Chase Briscoe | 452 | -179 |
After getting caught up in the Lap 69 Big One at EchoPark Speedway, William Byron remains the points leader, but only by 37 points over his HMS teammate Elliott, who moves up three spots following his first win of the season. Larson, Hamlin and Bell each drop one spot. Chris Buescher moves into the top-10 and slots into the ninth position after finishing ninth when drivers ahead of him like Chase Briscoe (35th) and Joey Logano (36th) failed to finish the race altogether.
Notable drivers outside the top-10 in the overall standings include Logano (11th), Bubba Wallace (13th), Talladega winner Austin Cindric (15th), Carson Hocevar (18th), Las Vegas winner Josh Berry (19th), Kyle Busch (20th), Ty Gibbs (24th), Keselowski (27th), Daniel Suarez (29th) and Mexico City winner Shane van Gisbergen (32nd).
Keep in mind, a win will most likely guarantee a driver a playoff berth with 16 spots up for grabs. After EchoPark Speedway, Larson, Hamlin, Bell, Byron, Ryan Blaney, Cindric, Logano, Briscoe, Berry, van Gisbergen, Elliott and Ross Chastain are the season's 12 winners.
Who has the most to gain with NASCAR's remaining schedule?
That leaves only four spots up for grabs with eight regular-season races remaining. Tyler Reddick (+128) is in the best position of the non-winners, while Buescher (+52), Bowman (+39) and Wallace (+23) are not as comfortable. RFK Racing's Ryan Preece is the first driver outside the 16-driver playoff field, 23 points behind Wallace.
One thing to keep in mind is the importance of both regular-season points standings and playoff standings. While drivers with wins vault to the top of the points standings and guarantee themselves a playoff spot, assuming there are no more than 16 winners, the overall points are equally important.
The regular-season champion by season's end will earn an additional 15 playoff points, second place will get 10 and drivers third-to-10th in points will receive points in descending order down to one point for 10th.