Denny Hamlin still holds the final wild card spot for NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, but his poor result at Michigan on Sunday loosened his grip.
Michigan: NASCAR Point Standings Update, Chase Picture After Sunday’s Race
Hamlin dropped to 14th in points and is now 59 points outside the top 10 – which means he’ll have to rely on the wild card to make the playoff.
That’s all well and good for now, but if another driver (such as Clint Bowyer) wins a race, Hamlin would be out.
Here is a look at the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings with only three races to go before the Chase (with each driver’s best Chase scenario listed):
- Kyle Busch *clinched Chase spot via wild card
- Jimmie Johnson -10
- Kevin Harvick -39
- Carl Edwards -39
- Matt Kenseth -40
- Jeff Gordon -60 (+69 inside Chase)
- Ryan Newman -74 (+55 inside Chase)
- Kurt Busch -77 (+52 inside Chase)
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -99 (+30 inside Chase)
- Tony Stewart -105 (+24 inside Chase)
- Clint Bowyer -24 from top 10 OR -1 win from wild card
- Brad Keselowski Has No. 1 Wild Card spot (two wins) OR -52 from top 10
- Greg Biffle -1 win from wild card
- Denny Hamlin Has No. 2 Wild Card spot (one win) by +18 points on Paul Menard
- AJ Allmendinger -1 win AND -3 points from wild card
- Mark Martin -1 win AND -8 points from wild card
- Kasey Kahne -1 win AND -12 points from wild card
- Paul Menard -1 win OR -18 points from wild card
- Joey Logano -2 wins OR -1 win AND -25 points from wild card
- David Ragan -1 win OR -31 points from wild card
- Martin Truex Jr. -2 wins AND -2 points from wild card
- Juan Pablo Montoya -2 wins AND -8 points from wild card
- Marcos Ambrose -1 win AND -11 points from wild card
- **24th and below virtually eliminated from Chase contention**
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