Chase Elliott moved into the NASCAR Cup Series regular season points lead with a strong day at Dover on July 20.
Elliott earned his first stage victory of the season in Stage 1 and added more points in Stage 2 before finishing sixth. William Byron crashed late and finished 31st, ceding the points lead.
Denny Hamlin earned his series-high fourth win of the season and now has a series-high 24 playoff points.
Near the cutline, Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace each increased their margin ahead of 17th place Ryan Preece. Ty Gibbs has surged to 19th in the playoff picture, 52 points behind Wallace with five races remaining in the regular season.
Here’s the updated NASCAR Cup Series points standings:
Unofficial after Dover
- Chase Elliott 702 points (1 win, 6 playoff points)
- William Byron: -17 (1 win, 12 playoff points)
- Kyle Larson -38 (3 wins, 23 playoff points)
- Denny Hamlin -39 (3 wins, 24 playoff points)
- Tyler Reddick -62 (1 playoff point)
- Christopher Bell -67 (3 wins, 17 playoff points)
- Ryan Blaney -126 (1 win, 9 playoff points)
- Chase Briscoe -132 (1 win, 6 playoff points)
- Alex Bowman -155
- Chris Buescher -174 (5 playoff point penalty)
- Joey Logano -178 (1 win, 7 playoff points)
- Ross Chastain -185 (1 win, 6 playoff points)
- Bubba Wallace -202 (2 playoff points)
- Ryan Preece -218 (2 playoff points)
- Kyle Busch -241
- Ty Gibbs -254
- Michael McDowell -279 (1 playoff point)
- AJ Allmendinger -282
- Austin Cindric -285 (1 win, 8 playoff points)
- Erik Jones -291
- John Hunter Nemechek -302
- Josh Berry -303 (1 win, 6 playoff points)
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -310
- Zane Smith -314
- Carson Hocevar -327
- Shane van Gisbergen -328 (3 wins, 17 playoff points)
- Brad Keselowski -342
- Austin Dillon -349
- Daniel Suarez -361
- Ty Dillon -365
- Justin Haley -365
- Todd Gilliland -369
- Noah Gragson -430
- Cole Custer -439
- Riley Herbst -451
Through 21 races
- Denny Hamlin (4 wins)
- Kyle Larson (3 wins)
- Christopher Bell (3 wins)
- Shane van Gisbergen (3 wins)
- Chase Elliott (1 win)
- William Byron (1 win)
- Ryan Blaney (1 win)
- Chase Briscoe (1 win)
- Joey Logano (1 win)
- Ross Chastain (1 win)
- Austin Cindric (1 win)
- Josh Berry (1 win)
- Tyler Reddick +156 ahead of playoff cutline
- Alex Bowman +63
- Chris Buescher +44
- Bubba Wallace +16
- Ryan Preece -16 behind 16th
- Kyle Busch -39
- Ty Gibbs -52
- Michael McDowell -77
- AJ Allmendinger -80
- Erik Jones -89
- John Hunter Nemechek -100
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -108
- Zane Smith -112
- Carson Hocevar -125
- Brad Keselowski -140
- Austin Dillon -147
- Daniel Suarez -159
- Ty Dillon -163
- Justin Haley -163
- Todd Gilliland -167
- Noah Gragson -228
- Cole Custer -237
- Riley Herbst -249
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