by Neha Dwivedi
What’s Happening?
Where do all the drivers stand after the first official points race in the standings table?
After winning the opening points race of the season at Daytona by leading one lap, Tyler Reddick made it to the top of the standings. Under the new rules, he managed to pull up 58 points. He pocketed 55 for the win and added three more by finishing Stage 2 in P8. He may have squeezed out at least one more had he landed inside the top 10 in Stage 1, but after getting swept into a Lap 5 crash, Reddick limped the Stage 1 in P20, giving him no extra points.
- Joey Logano crossed the line in the Daytona 500 race in P3 but still sits second in the standings. He banked 36 points from Sunday, as the third-place finish handed him 34 points, and a P2 in Stage 2 chipped in two more. Logano missed out on Stage 1 points, noting that pit calls cost them track position and left points on the table. His win in Duel 1 earlier in the week padded his tally with 10 extra points, bringing his total to 46.
- Chase Elliott finished P4 in the main event and walked away with 33 points, but it placed him third overall with 43. His Duel 2 win handed him another 10 points, helping him stay ahead of drivers who finished higher in the race, including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who came home P2 in the main event.
- Zane Smith may have finished sixth in the Daytona 500, but he holds fourth in the standings. Smith collected 31 points for the race and another 10 for winning Stage 1. While no points came from it, he was the one who pushed Elliott forward on the final lap, ahead of Riley Herbst, pushing the No. 9 into the fight for the win until the last-corner chaos flipped the script.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who tends to make drafting tracks his playground and won the Daytona 500 back in 2023, sits right behind Smith. This year, starting from P19, Stenhouse kept his nose clean, dodged the mayhem, and crossed the line second, earning 35 points. He also finished seventh in Duel 2 earlier in the week. Under the 2026 points format, top-10 Duel finishers earn points, with seventh place paying out four. That brought him to 39 points, good enough for P5 in the standings.
Rounding out the top 10 are Brad Keselowski with 39 points in sixth despite a P5 finish, followed by his driver, Chris Buescher, in seventh with 39, Bubba Wallace in eighth with 37, Carson Hocevar in ninth with 36, and Ryan Blaney in 10th with 36.
Atlanta Could Shake Things Up
Atlanta could be a springboard for Elliott, who owns an average finish of 11.4 across 14 starts there, with two wins, including one in last year’s fall race, plus three top fives and nine top 10s. The track could also pull Kyle Busch back into contention. Having already shown his speed at Daytona by winning the pole, he may potentially pull it off at the 1.54-mile track. The RCR driver sits P14 in the standings, but with an average finish of 8.8 at Atlanta since 2023 across six starts, the place might finally snap his 94-race drought.
Then again, Connor Zilisch has only one start at the track and came home P11 last year when he made his third Cup start there, making Atlanta a stage where he could stamp his mark.
Ryan Blaney will also have a better chance than anyone else to climb through a win or even points alone at Atlanta. The No. 12 Team Penske driver has one win there from 2021, but consistency has been his strong suit, with seven top fives and nine top 10s in 15 starts. And that puts him in a position to move the needle when the field rumbles into Atlanta.
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