It was a repeat of last season's playoff race at Bristol as Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson dominated on the 0.533-mile track in Tennessee. Larson won by 2.25 seconds over Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin for his second win of the season and his second straight at Bristol leading over 400 laps. The victory was emotional after Jon Edwards, Larson's public relations representative and the director of communications for HMS, passed away suddenly earlier in the week.
Once Larson took the lead away from teammate Alex Bowman early in the first stage, there was not much standing in his way of a win on Sunday. Behind Hamlin in second were his JGR teammates Ty Gibbs (third), Chase Briscoe (fourth) and Team Penske's Ryan Blaney (fifth).
Updated Cup Series standings after Food City 500 at Bristol
Driver Standings | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|
1. William Byron | 346 | 0 |
2. Denny Hamlin | 316 | -30 |
3. Christopher Bell | 305 | -41 |
4. Kyle Larson | 304 | -42 |
5. Chase Elliott | 278 | -68 |
6. Ryan Blaney | 275 | -71 |
7. Tyler Reddick | 274 | -72 |
8. Bubba Wallace | 251 | -95 |
9. Joey Logano | 245 | -101 |
10. Alex Bowman | 244 | -102 |
Larson goes from sixth to fourth in the standings with his Bristol domination. With his sixth top 10 in nine races, William Byron's sixth-place finish at Bristol keeps in possession of the points lead (+30) over Hamlin, who gained 19 points with his runner-up showing in Thunder Valley. Christopher Bell (-41), Larson (-42) and Chase Elliott (-68) round out the top five. Ryan Blaney moves up one spot to sixth with Tyler Reddick dropping two spots to seventh after a lackluster 18th-place result. Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Bowman maintain their spots in eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively.
Notable drivers outside the top 10 include Kyle Busch (15th), Ty Gibbs (20th), Daniel Suarez (27th), Brad Keselowski (31st) and Shane van Gisbergen (34th). Keep in mind, a win will most likely guarantee a driver a playoff spot with 16 spots up for grabs. After Bristol, Byron, Bell, Josh Berry, Hamlin and Larson remain the season's five winners. Currently, that 16th and final spot for postseason eligibility goes to Busch (+2) over AJ Allmendinger. Busch is 15th in the overall standings, but with Berry's win at Las Vegas earlier this season, he goes from 17th to the top of the playoff leaderboard. Obviously, things are going to change, but that is the position drivers currently find themselves in after Bristol.
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-10th in points will receive points in descending order all the way down to one point for 10th