Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after Iowa 2026

With just three races left in the regular season, Denny Hamlin holds a 103-point lead, but there's a surprising new name in second. After a big win in Iowa, Ty Gibbs jumped up from fourth, leaping over Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney. There is just 17 points between those three drivers in the battle for P2, with a lot of bonus points on the line once the Chase resets.

The biggest mover in the championship standings was runner-up finisher Christopher Bell, vaulting four positions up the standings from tenth to sixth. In contrast, the biggest loser was Carson Hocevar, who dropped three positions from fifth to eighth after battling engine gremlins all day.

In the battle around the cut-line, Austin Cindric remains on the bubble, but Ryan Preece chipped into the gap, now 29 markers back after entering this race at -38pts. Of note, the 25-point penalty for intentional wrecking from Texas earlier this does not impact Preece in the owner standings, so the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford is just four points out.

An impressive day for Ross Chastain helped him to jump three positions in the standings, erasing 35 points of his deficit and now 47 points below the cut-line. Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones are just a few markers behind him, so all three still have a chance.

Just above the cut-line, Shane Van Gisbergen lost a bit of his cushion, falling from +57pts to +47pts.

2026 NASCAR Cup points after Iowa (Race 23 of 36)

Pos.	Driver	Points	Positions gained or lost
1	Denny Hamlin	923	--
2	Ty Gibbs	820	+2
3	Ryan Blaney	813	--
4	Tyler Reddick	803	-2
5	Chase Briscoe	663	+2
6	Christopher Bell	659	+4
7	Chase Elliott	657	-1
8	Carson Hocevar	644	-3
9	Chris Buescher	637	--
10	Kyle Larson	629	-2
11	William Byron	600	+1
12	Daniel Suarez	597	-1
13	Joey Logano	586	--
14	Bubba Wallace	565	--
15	Shane van Gisbergen	544	--
16	Austin Cindric	526	--
CHASE CUTLINE	CHASE CUTLINE	CHASE CUTLINE	CHASE CUTLINE
17	Ryan Preece	497	--
18	Ross Chastain	479	+3
19	Brad Keselowski	478	--
20	Erik Jones	476	-2
21	Michael McDowell	454	-1
22	AJ Allmendinger	438	--
23	Todd Gilliland	421	--
24	Zane Smith	417	--
25	Riley Herbst	386	--
26	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	383	--
27	Austin Dillon	382	+1
28	John Hunter Nemechek	373	-1
29	Alex Bowman	313	--
30	Josh Berry	297	+3
31	Noah Gragson	288	--
32	Ty Dillon	279	--
33	Cole Custer	279	-3
34	Connor Zilisch	245	--
35	Cody Ware	188	--
36	Casey Mears	12	+1
37	Kevin Magnussen	11	-1
38	Jimmie Johnson	9	--
39	Katherine Legge	8	--
40	BJ McLeod	4	--

Note: Kyle Busch scored 217 points before his tragic passing, and we have followed NASCAR's decision to no longer classify Busch in the weekly driver standings.