Nine points. That’s the whole cushion
Denny Hamlin has led the Cup Series standings since Sonoma in late June. That lead is now nine points over Kyle Larson, with Christopher Bell 18 back. The 16 Chase drivers roll into Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol, 500 laps on a half-mile oval where nobody gets to hide.
The 45-year-old owns four wins here, more than any other active driver. That’s his strongest card. Everything else is harder to sell.
Hamlin has not won in 12 races. Back in June he said he wanted his 65th career win before the regular season closed, so he wouldn’t drag a 10-race drought into the playoffs. He showed up with more baggage than that. Daytona, the regular-season finale, meant nothing in the standings. He ran 11th and the points reset anyway.
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Two playoff races down, and the numbers still look thin
Since the Chase opened at the Cook Out Southern 500 in Darlington two weeks ago, Hamlin has gone 18th and ninth. Enough to stay on top. Not enough to convince anybody.
He said as much after Gateway. “At Darlington, we had good pace, but the circumstances… This week, we weren’t good, tough day in the pits late in the race. Coming away with something was about all we could ask for,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who calls leading the standings a blessing.
Behind him the pressure keeps building. Larson snapped a 51-race drought last week near St Louis. The two-time Cup champion has won two of the last four Bristol races and three in all. When Larson finds the rhythm at this place, he opens gaps that drain the drama out of a night.
Bell already knows how to win here in the dark
Christopher Bell is the defending winner of the Bristol night race, having beaten Brad Keselowski to it last year. Seven runner-up finishes this season, then a breakthrough at Darlington for his first win of 2026.
Joe Gibbs Racing owned this race twelve months ago. Ty Gibbs, winner of the spring Bristol event, led 201 laps, the high count of the night, while Chase Briscoe led 127. The No. 5 and No. 20 cars sit right in the mirror of the No. 11 Toyota. Closer than the standings make it look.
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