The Cup Series drivers have completed 25 races this season. Now, only one remains before the start of the 10-race Chase, and it will feature several drivers battling for the final three spots above the cutline.
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The picture has become much clearer after a race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway featuring wet weather tires, nine cautions, and a late battle between winner Ryan Blaney and runner-up Bubba Wallace.
Denny Hamlin had what he called a pedestrian day, but he clinched the No. 1 seed with a seventh-place finish. He is the regular-season champion. Hamlin just won't get a trophy as NASCAR ditched this term for the 2026 season and beyond.
The road to his first championship starts here.
With a seventh-place finish, @dennyhamlin secures the No. 1 seed in The Chase. pic.twitter.com/xhK8gytcHS
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 23, 2026
"I feel good about where our team is right now, everyone is kind of clicking well and we don't have a whole lot of weaknesses," Hamlin said after the race. "We're just not as strong as the Penske cars on these types of racetracks, but Martinsville we are good, Phoenix we've been good, just over the last few years this has not been as strong as those guys.
"And when I say strong, I mean top five, top seven, so it's something we can work with. The mile and-a-half's are certainly something that's been our strength for a couple of years now. I look forward to getting the Chase started and seeing where it goes."
The Chase field has also mostly solidified. Seven drivers entered Sunday afternoon's race at New Hampshire with secure spots. They knew they would race for a championship starting at Darlington Raceway.
This group included Hamlin, Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, and Chase Elliott.
Six others have since locked up their spots in the Chase. This group includes Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, and Daniel Suarez.
Both Byron and Hocevar clinched their spots despite dealing with major setbacks. Hocevar spun multiple times and finished 19th, but he also scored eight stage points early. Byron lost a wheel and crashed. He finished 30th after scoring seven stage points.
The only three spots remaining in the Chase field currently belong to Bubba Wallace (14th in points), Austin Cindric (15th), and Shane van Gisbergen (16th). They do not have secure spots, but they have decent buffers to the cutline heading into the regular-season finale.
Wallace is 75 points ahead of Ryan Preece, the first driver below the cutline. Cindric is 44 points ahead of Preece. Van Gisbergen is 31 points ahead. Brad Keselowski is the only other driver within reach of the Chase. He is 66 points behind the cutline.
Ross Chastain and Erik Jones had an opportunity to move closer to the cutline, but mechanical issues eliminated them both from contention.
