Ryan Blaney was able to rebound from adversity early and often in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway to score his first win of the 2026 season. And in doing so, Blaney was able to vault up to the second position in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
With the win, Blaney was able to shave 10 points off of Tyler Reddick’s point lead, which now stands at 60 points over Blaney after Sunday’s race at Phoenix, where Reddick finished eighth. Prior to Blaney’s win, Reddick had won each of the opening three races of the season, an all-time NASCAR Cup Series record to start a season.
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Bubba Wallace fell one spot to third in the standings, as he is now 72 points back, while Chase Elliott is 97 points back in fourth. Incredibly, road race ringer Shane van Gisbergen continues to churn out good results, and after an 11th-place finish at Phoenix, he sits fifth in points, 109 points behind Reddick.
Brad Keselowski is the final driver above the “Chase” cutoff, and with 22 races remaining until the Chase for the NASCAR Cup begins, Keselowski holds a two-point advantage over Daniel Suarez, eight points over Ryan Preece, and 15 points over Zane Smith.
NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings After Straight Talk Wireless 500
After race 4 of 36 (22 races remaining until the Chase)
|
Rank |
Car |
Driver |
Points |
Behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
45 |
Tyler Reddick |
225 |
— |
|
2 |
12 |
Ryan Blaney |
165 |
-60 |
|
3 |
23 |
Bubba Wallace |
153 |
-72 |
|
4 |
9 |
Chase Elliott |
128 |
-97 |
|
5 |
97 |
Shane van Gisbergen |
116 |
-109 |
|
6 |
20 |
Christopher Bell |
113 |
-112 |
|
7 |
22 |
Joey Logano |
113 |
-112 |
|
8 |
71 |
Michael McDowell |
111 |
-114 |
|
9 |
17 |
Chris Buescher |
111 |
-114 |
|
10 |
5 |
Kyle Larson |
109 |
-116 |
|
11 |
24 |
William Byron |
108 |
-117 |
|
12 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
107 |
-118 |
|
13 |
16 |
AJ Allmendinger |
104 |
-121 |
|
14 |
77 |
Carson Hocevar |
103 |
-122 |
|
15 |
54 |
Ty Gibbs |
101 |
-124 |
|
16 |
6 |
Brad Keselowski |
100 |
-125 |
|
17 |
7 |
Daniel Suarez |
98 |
-127 |
|
18 |
60 |
Ryan Preece |
92 |
-133 |
|
19 |
38 |
Zane Smith |
85 |
-140 |
|
20 |
8 |
Kyle Busch |
81 |
-144 |
|
21 |
10 |
Ty Dillon |
76 |
-149 |
|
22 |
42 |
John Hunter Nemechek |
75 |
-150 |
|
23 |
1 |
Ross Chastain |
74 |
-151 |
|
24 |
35 |
Riley Herbst |
72 |
-153 |
|
25 |
4 |
Noah Gragson |
66 |
-159 |
|
26 |
34 |
Todd Gilliland |
65 |
-160 |
|
27 |
47 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
64 |
-161 |
|
28 |
43 |
Erik Jones |
59 |
-166 |
|
29 |
3 |
Austin Dillon |
56 |
-169 |
|
30 |
2 |
Austin Cindric |
52 |
-173 |
|
31 |
21 |
Josh Berry |
50 |
-175 |
|
32 |
51 |
Cody Ware |
50 |
-175 |
|
33 |
19 |
Chase Briscoe |
47 |
-178 |
|
34 |
88 |
Connor Zilisch |
45 |
-180 |
|
35 |
41 |
Cole Custer |
42 |
-183 |
|
36 |
48 |
Alex Bowman |
23 |
-202 |
|
37 |
66 |
Casey Mears |
9 |
-216 |
|
38 |
78 |
BJ McLeod |
3 |
-222 |
|
39 |
33 |
Austin Hill (i) |
0 |
-225 |
|
40 |
33 |
Jesse Love (i) |
0 |
-225 |
|
41 |
67 |
Corey Heim (i) |
0 |
-225 |
|
42 |
44 |
JJ Yeley (i) |
0 |
-225 |
|
43 |
48 |
Anthony Alfredo (i) |
0 |
-225 |
|
44 |
40 |
Justin Allgaier (i) |
0 |
-225 |
|
45 |
99 |
Corey LaJoie |
0 |
-225 |
|
46 |
36 |
Chandler Smith (i) |
0 |
-225 |
|
47 |
84 |
Jimmie JohnsonTyler Reddick just keeps winning, and afterhis third consecutive win to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, his hold on the top spot in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings has strengthened. Reddick leaves Austin, Texas, with a massive 70-point advantage in the standings. Bubba Wallace, whofinished 11th in Sunday’s DuraMax Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, is the second-place man in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, yet again this week, which means 23XI Racing continues to hold down the top-two spots in the standings. |
0 |
-225 |
This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/racing-america as NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings After Phoenix Raceway.
Read the full article here