{"id":261359,"date":"2026-09-07T06:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T06:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/07\/nascar-chase-playoff-picture-2026-updated-cup-series-drivers-points-standings-after-cook-out-southern-500-at-darlington-raceway\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T06:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T06:10:14","slug":"nascar-chase-playoff-picture-2026-updated-cup-series-drivers-points-standings-after-cook-out-southern-500-at-darlington-raceway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/07\/nascar-chase-playoff-picture-2026-updated-cup-series-drivers-points-standings-after-cook-out-southern-500-at-darlington-raceway\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Chase playoff Picture 2026: Updated Cup Series drivers\u2019 points standings after Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5214283\" data-slug-id=\"2833114\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Twenty-seven races have taken place in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Joe Gibbs Racing driver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/nascar\/news-who-won-nascar-race-today-full-results-2026-cook-out-southern-500-darlington-raceway\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Christopher Bell secured his first win of the season after winning the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway<\/a> on Sunday, September 6.<\/p>\n<p>Bell won the opening race of the NASCAR Chase after taking the lead from Kyle Larson with 12 laps to go and then held off Ty Gibbs in the closing laps to cross the finish line in P1.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\nThanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The 367-lap Darlington Chase race is done and dusted. After winning the race, Bell gained 73 points and moved from sixth place to second place in the championship standings, now only 12 points behind teammate and leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/denny-hamlin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Denny Hamlin<\/a>. Bell has 2123 points.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>With a P18 finish at Darlington, Denny Hamlin, who won the regular season championship, gained 35 points and holds his top position in the championship standings with nine races left to decide who hoists the Bill France Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson finished fifth and gained 41 points. He stands in seventh position in the points standings with 2086 points.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/tyler-reddick\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Tyler Reddick<\/a>, who started on pole, secured a third-place finish. He gained 46 points and moved to fourth position in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Bell stands second, followed by Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Bubba Wallace to round out the top 10 in the points standings.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2><strong>Find out where the NASCAR drivers stand on the points table after the 2026 Cook Out Southern 500<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Here is an updated list of 36 drivers in the latest released NASCAR Cup Series points table after the opening race of the 2026 Chase season:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Driver \u2013 points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Denny Hamlin &#8211; 2135<\/li>\n<li>Christopher Bell &#8211; 2123<\/li>\n<li>Ryan Blaney &#8211; 2119<\/li>\n<li>Tyler Reddick &#8211; 2111<\/li>\n<li>Chase Briscoe &#8211; 2098<\/li>\n<li>Ty Gibbs &#8211; 2096<\/li>\n<li>Kyle Larson &#8211; 2086<\/li>\n<li>Chase Elliott &#8211; 2063<\/li>\n<li>Joey Logano &#8211; 2063<\/li>\n<li>Bubba Wallace &#8211; 2054<\/li>\n<li>Chris Buescher &#8211; 2047<\/li>\n<li>Carson Hocevar &#8211; 2046<\/li>\n<li>Daniel Suarez &#8211; 2041<\/li>\n<li>Austin Cindric &#8211; 2033<\/li>\n<li>Ryan Preece &#8211; 2031<\/li>\n<li>William Byron &#8211; 2021<\/li>\n<li>Shane van Gisbergen &#8211; 616<\/li>\n<li>Brad Keselowski &#8211; 557<\/li>\n<li>Michael McDowell &#8211; 537<\/li>\n<li>Ross Chastain &#8211; 528<\/li>\n<li>Erik Jones &#8211; 520<\/li>\n<li>Todd Gilliland &#8211; 489<\/li>\n<li>AJ Allmendinger &#8211; 478<\/li>\n<li>Zane Smith &#8211; 467<\/li>\n<li>Josh Berry &#8211; 448<\/li>\n<li>Austin Dillon &#8211; 443<\/li>\n<li>Ricky Stenhouse Jr. &#8211; 432<\/li>\n<li>John Hunter Nemechek &#8211; 431<\/li>\n<li>Alex Bowman &#8211; 416<\/li>\n<li>Riley Herbst &#8211; 409<\/li>\n<li>Noah Gragson &#8211; 351<\/li>\n<li>Cole Custer &#8211; 333<\/li>\n<li>Ty Dillon &#8211; 316<\/li>\n<li>Connor Zilisch &#8211; 274<\/li>\n<li>Cody Ware &#8211; 202<\/li>\n<li>Casey Mears &#8211; 13<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Watch NASCAR drivers and teams at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, September 13, 2026.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Yash Soni<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/nascar\/news-nascar-chase-playoff-picture-2026-updated-cup-series-drivers-points-standings-cook-out-southern-500-darlington-raceway\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twenty-seven races have taken place in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell secured his first win of the season after winning the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, September 6. Bell won the opening race of the NASCAR Chase after taking the lead from Kyle Larson [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":261360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-261359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}