Josh Berry’s hopes literally went up in flames at Bristol when his #21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang suffered a fire. He had a horror run on the whole, crashing out at Darlington and Gateway to be plum last.
Alex Bowman only just scraped into the Round of 16 and was up against it from the outset. The #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro was in a do-or-die predicament entering Bristol and ultimately fell short of the mark.
Shane van Gisbergen suffered two spins at Bristol, condemning his hopes of advancing the #88 Trackhouse Racing Camaro having come in 15 points below the cut-off line.
Austin Dillon was the first of the cars below the cut-off line in the #3 Richard Childress Racing Camaro.
With the aforementioned quartet cut, there are 12 drivers left in the Playoffs.
With each round, the points are reset with the caveat of drivers carrying over Playoffs Points accrued in the regular season.
At the top of the pile sits Denny Hamlin in the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry with 3034 points to his credit. Behind him is Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson in the #24 Camaro on 3032.
The points reset has shuffled the order drastically. Bubba Wallace in the #23 23XI Racing Camry has plummeted from fourth entering Bristol to eighth entering New Hampshire, as the first driver above the cut-off line just one point clear.
Four drivers now sit below the cut-off line – Austin Cindric (#12 Team Penske Mustang), Ross Chastain (#1 Trackhouse Racing Camaro), Joey Logano (#22 Team Penske Mustang), and Tyler Reddick (#45 23XI Racing Camry).
Reddick came to Bristol well above the cut-off line in seventh but now finds himself in the drop zone. The saving grace is a very small deficit to the cutoff line. Cindric is only one point below, Chastain and Logano are only two points below, and Reddick is three points below.
Three races will decide who advances from the Round of 12 to the Round of 8.
It begins with New Hampshire on Monday, September 22 (AEST) before heading to Kansas Speedway on Monday, September 29. Making life difficult for the seasoned speedway veterans is the Charlotte ROVAL on Monday, October 6.
There are few that are banking on anyone other than van Gisbergen winning at the ROVAL.
NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Standings (Race 3 of 16)
| Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Points | Cut-off (+/-) | Wins | Stage Wins |
| 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | 3034 | 26 | ||
| 2 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | 3032 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | 3032 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | 3028 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | 3027 | 19 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing | 3018 | 10 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | 3013 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | 3009 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| CUT-OFF LINE | |||||||
| 9 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | 3008 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | 3007 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | 3007 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing | 3006 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
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