Jamie McMurray’s bad day at Talladega opened the door for the rest of the field to trim his lead in SB Nation’s “Best Of The Rest Cup” standings.
Jamie McMurray’s Bad Day Means ‘Best Of The Rest Cup’ Top Three Now Closer Than Actual Chase
Thanks to McMurray’s 36th-place finish, Joey Logano (fifth at Talladega) and Mark Martin (11th) now make up a tighter points battle from first to third than in the real Chase itself.
Can Logano or Martin take advantage of McMurray’s misfortune to steal the Cup in the final weeks? Logano has certainly been coming on strong as of late, but Juan Pablo Montoya has also now closed to within 100 points.
As a reminder, here are the rules: We reset the points before New Hampshire for all the non-Chasers (awarding 10 bonus points per regular season win). Then, just like in the Chase, contenders earned the points based on their weekly finishes.
The winner gets a red plastic cup with a beverage of his choice.
Here are the standings with three races to go:
| Driver | Points | Behind | ||
| 1 | Jamie McMurray | 946 | 0 | |
| 2 | Joey Logano | 931 | -15 | |
| 3 | Mark Martin | 915 | -31 | |
| 4 | Juan Montoya | 859 | -87 | |
| 5 | Paul Menard | 818 | -128 | |
| 6 | Ryan Newman | 814 | -132 | |
| 7 | David Reutimann | 796 | -150 | |
| 8 | AJ Allmendinger | 793 | -153 | |
| 9 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 754 | -192 | |
| 10 | Brad Keselowski | 745 | -201 | |
| 11 | Martin Truex Jr. | 730 | -216 | |
| 12 | Regan Smith | 729 | -217 | |
| 13 | David Ragan | 716 | -230 | |
| 14 | Elliott Sadler | 705 | -241 | |
| 15 | Kasey Kahne | 677 | -269 | |
| 16 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 616 | -330 | |
| 17 | Scott Speed | 595 | -351 | |
| 18 | Marcos Ambrose | 548 | -398 | |
| 19 | David Gilliland | 517 | -429 | |
| 20 | Reed Sorenson | 471 | -475 | |
| 21 | Casey Mears | 443 | -503 | |
| 22 | Dave Blaney | 409 | -537 | |
| 23 | Bobby Labonte | 409 | -537 | |
| 24 | Travis Kvapil | 407 | -539 | |
| 25 | Robby Gordon | 365 | -581 | |
| 26 | Michael McDowell | 283 | -663 | |
| 27 | Joe Nemechek | 267 | -679 | |
| 28 | Tony Raines | 244 | -702 | |
| 29 | Landon Cassill | 237 | -709 | |
| 30 | Aric Almirola | 208 | -738 | |
| 31 | JJ Yeley | 191 | -755 | |
| 32 | Bill Elliott | 189 | -757 | |
| 33 | Kevin Conway | 171 | -775 | |
| 34 | Andy Lally | 168 | -778 | |
| 35 | Patrick Carpentier | 144 | -802 |
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