Chase Briscoe’s Chicagoland Win Shakes Up NASCAR Cup Standings

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway delivered a major shakeup in the championship picture, with Chase Briscoe making the most dramatic leap inside the top 10. While Denny Hamlin held onto the points lead with a third-place finish, Briscoe earned his first win of the 2026 season, vaulting from 11th to 8th in the standings.

The victory was a timely boost for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who now sits at 538 points and has an automatic Chase berth locked in, giving him some breathing room after spending much of the first half near the provisional cutoff.

Not everyone had a good day. Kyle Larson started on the front row alongside Hamlin and finished second in Stage 1, but his afternoon unraveled early in Stage 2 when his No. 5 Chevrolet hit one of Chicagoland’s notorious bumps, spun off Turn 4, and got stuck in the grass. He returned several laps down and ended up 34th, dropping him one spot to sixth in the standings behind Chase Elliott.

Ryan Preece also slipped two positions to 17th, now trailing Austin Cindric and Erik Jones as the fight around the Chase cutoff tightens. Shane van Gisbergen held steady at 14th despite a controversial incident with Austin Hill, keeping his playoff footing secure thanks to two wins this season.

Hamlin’s third-place finish extended his championship lead over Tyler Reddick from 36 to 44 points, putting the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran at 764 points and firmly in control of the regular-season title race. But as the series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next, the standings remain volatile.

With seven races left before the regular season ends, Briscoe’s surge and Larson’s stumble prove that the championship picture can change in a hurry.