The NASCARCup Series ran a thriller in Las Vegas this past weekend, finishing up its fifth race of the season. The Pennzoil 400 awarded victory lane to Denny Hamlin of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, winning his first race of the season. Closely behind was Chase Elliott, then William Byron in third.
Despite a big surge by Hamlin, Tyler Reddick comfortably maintains first place in the driver standings by 61 points. 23XI Racing maintains to keep the top-2 spots, with Bubba Wallace in 2nd place. All three race winners on the season (Reddick, Blaney, Hamlin) sit within the top-4 of the standings — proving it paramount to win races, and multiple of them to be well set entering the chase.
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NASCAR Standings: Top 10 and Beyond
*Open Cars/Non Full-Time Driver
|
Place |
Driver |
Total Points |
|
1 |
Tyler Reddick |
255 |
|
2 |
Bubba Wallace |
194 |
|
3 |
Ryan Blaney |
188 |
|
4 |
Denny Hamlin |
177 |
|
5 |
Chase Elliott |
168 |
|
6 |
Christopher Bell |
164 |
|
7 |
Kyle Larson |
157 |
|
8 |
William Byron |
157 |
|
9 |
Chris Buescher |
146 |
|
10 |
Ty Gibbs |
140 |
|
11 |
Joey Logano |
135 |
|
12 |
Brad Keselowski |
127 |
|
13 |
Ryan Preece |
125 |
|
14 |
Michael McDowell |
122 |
|
15 |
Carson Hocevar |
118 |
|
16 |
Shane van Gisbergen |
117 |
|
17 |
Daniel Suarez |
117 |
|
18 |
AJ Allmendinger |
117 |
|
19 |
Zane Smith |
108 |
|
20 |
Ross Chastain |
94 |
|
21 |
John Hunter Nemechek |
91 |
|
22 |
Kyle Busch |
90 |
|
23 |
Riley Herbst |
86 |
|
24 |
Austin Dillon |
81 |
|
25 |
Ty Dillon |
80 |
|
26 |
Chase Briscoe |
76 |
|
27 |
Erik Jones |
76 |
|
28 |
Noah Gragson |
73 |
|
29 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
72 |
|
30 |
Austin Cindric |
71 |
|
31 |
Todd Gilliland |
68 |
|
32 |
Josh Berry |
56 |
|
33 |
Cody Ware |
52 |
|
34 |
Cole Custer |
52 |
|
35 |
Connor Zilisch |
50 |
|
36 |
Alex Bowman |
23 |
|
37 |
Casey Mears* |
9 |
|
38 |
BJ McLeod* |
3 |
Highest Risers After Las Vegas
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Yahoo! Toyota, with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images))
Denny Hamlin: 12th > 4th (+8)
Hamlin has rebounded quite well after a poor start to the 2026 season. Hamlin wins his first race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hamlin now has three career victories at this track, with two of them over the last five months.
Chase Briscoe: 33rd > 26th (+7)
The No. 19 car of Briscoe still has a lot of work to do going forward. To bounce back after multiple bottom-five finishes will take multiple weeks of top-10, plus wins on top. Briscoe overcame a pit road speeding penalty to finish in 8th place. With zero top-10 stages outside of the last, Briscoe only scored 29 points.
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Lowest Fallers After Las Vegas
Shane van Gisbergen: 5th > 16th (-11)
This week goes to show how much finishing position matters. If a driver has one bad week, they will plummet down the standings. Van Gisbergen finished dead last after consistent struggles throughout the day. Trackhouse Racing looks to be in a very bad spot with all three drivers.
Playoff Bubble
Shane van Gisbergen falls to sit squarely on the bubble in 16th place. Odds are that van Gisbergen will continue to fall; even if he improves, he is still among the worst non-road-course racers in NASCAR.
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Daniel Suarez landed himself one spot outside of the bubble last week (17th place). Suarez remains in that same spot after Las Vegas, having finished 18th in points on the day alone. All three Spire Motorsports drivers look to be quite evenly matched (McDowell, Hocevar).
Carson Hocevar is above the transfer spot in 15th place. All three Spire Motorsports cars happen to land between 14th and 17th in the driver standings. Hocevar had a poor week, finishing 22nd with 15 points.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Mar 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the Racing section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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