A change has taken place in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings. A new driver has taken the top spot for the first time in the 2026 regular season.
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Denny Hamlin is now the championship leader after Sunday afternoon's race at Sonoma Raceway. He has erased what at one point had appeared to be Tyler Reddick's insurmountable advantage. Now, he has a one-point lead with eight races remaining in the regular season.
Neither driver scored stage points at the Northern California road course, nor did they finish inside of the top 10.
Hamlin crossed the finish line in 26th place. He had reached seventh place during the final stage, but a stack-up in Turn 7 led to him being spun off the nose of Carson Hocevar. Alex Bowman bumped Brad Keselowski, who bumped Hocevar into Hamlin.
This incident damaged the splitter on Hamlin's No. 11 and kept him from contending for a top-15 finish. He spent the rest of the race mired outside of the top 25.
Reddick had an even worse experience at Sonoma Raceway. He lost power steering during the opening stage. He had to spend extended time on pit road as his team attempted repairs, which dropped him six laps behind the leaders.
Reddick got one lap back after stage 2 and then another after a caution for a multi-car incident on Lap 61. The rest of the race ran green from that point, so he remained four laps behind the leaders.
He finished last and only scored two points — one point from his finishing position and one point from the Xfinity Fastest Lap. This helped him keep within one point of Hamlin in the battle for the regular-season title.
But while Sonoma Raceway marked the first time that the points lead changed, the trend began weeks earlier at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Reddick entered the Crown Jewel weekend with a 129-point lead over Hamlin. This decreased to 122 points after a rain-shortened race.
Hamlin scored 60 points in the Coca-Cola 600 while Reddick scored 53 after starting from the pole. This wasn't a major difference, but it led into an intriguing next few weeks.
Hamlin kicked off the month of June by winning the rain-delayed race at Nashville Superspeedway. He scored 62 points. Reddick scored 37 after finishing sixth.
One week later, Hamlin won at Michigan International Speedway and scored 58 points. Reddick scored 12 after a crash and a 33rd-place finish. Hamlin cut the lead to only 51 points.
Hamlin then scored 67 with a win at Pocono while Reddick scored 35. This cut Reddick's advantage in the standings to 19 points.
Neither driver delivered a standout performance in the inaugural race on Naval Base Coronado. Hamlin finished 14th while Reddick finished 25th. Yet, Hamlin left Southern California only eight points behind Reddick based on the track position.
Now, the battle will continue as the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Chicagoland Speedway. This marks the first time since 2019 that the series has competed at the intermediate track and the first time in the Gen 7 era.
This is a track where Hamlin has 14 Cup Series starts with seven top-10 finishes and one win. Reddick has no Cup Series experience at Chicagoland, and he only has two O'Reilly Auto Parts Series starts there.
Will Hamlin take advantage of his experience, or will Reddick take back the lead in the championship standings?
