By Aaron Bearden
A look at the Cup Series playoff situation leaving the spring race at Kansas Speedway.
Race: AdventHealth 400
Race No.: 12/36
Winner: Kyle Larson
Stage Winner(s): Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher
Winners
- Kyle Larson: The closest win in the Cup Series history is worth as many playoff points as the biggest. Larson nipped Buescher at the line to score his second win of the season. Throw in his growing regular season championship lead and Larson is positioning himself as a major title threat entering the summer months.
- Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher: Both of these drivers won stages and they each looked like potential winners in the closing stages. The wins didn’t come, but the stage victories garner a playoff point and the overall solid point days helped them each in the standings. Hamlin is now within a point of Chase Elliott for third, while Buescher has a more cozy (if still tight) 33-point edge on the cutline in 11th.
- Kyle Busch: A late spin threatened to throw away his good points day, but Busch rallied from 20th to eighth in the final run to tally a solid 39 points in Kansas – the fifth most on the day. That gives the Nevadan a 31-point edge on the cutline heading to Darlington Raceway.
- Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain: Neither driver finished as well as they’d like to. Bowman was a quiet seventh and Chastain faded to 19th after running well early. But they tallied point totals in the top quarter of the field and have essentially a full race up on the cutline. They’re slowly climbing out of the danger zone.
- Noah Gragson: If you go back to mid-April, a post-penalty Gragson was finishing mid-pack and sat 29th in points, 97 points below the cutline. He’s since risen to 19th, earning three-consecutive top-10s at wildly different tracks. I still think the No. 10 team needs a win to make the playoffs – Gragson is 71 points below the cutline as things stand – but this consistent performance could see Gragson slowly rise into playoff contention if the team can keep it up.
Losers
- Joey Logano: The battle at the cutline has a consistent early trend. A handful of drivers are shooting up toward the top-10 with good runs and then falling back into the danger zone when things go awry. Logano’s in the latter situation right now, sitting 18 points out of the provisional playoff grid after a 34th-place finish in Kansas.
- William Byron: On a day when his teammates were all in the top-10, a struggling Byron finished 23rd and earned just 14 points. His three early wins make last year’s breakout star a playoff threat regardless, but he’s losing ground in the regular season standings and may miss out on some of those bonus points after Race 26.
- Anyone below 18th: I’m just going to keep this here any time the group well beyond the cutline fails to win. There’s still plenty of time to turn things around, but the clock is ticking.
Playoff Grid
| Rank | Driver | Wins | Points | Gap |
| 4 | Denny Hamlin | 3 | 411 | 128 |
| 7 | William Byron | 3 | 362 | 79 |
| 1 | Kyle Larson | 2 | 467 | 184 |
| 3 | Chase Elliott | 1 | 412 | 129 |
| 5 | Tyler Reddick | 1 | 374 | 91 |
| 13 | Christopher Bell | 1 | 296 | 13 |
| 18 | Daniel Suarez | 1 | 250 | -33 |
| 2 | Martin Truex Jr. | 0 | 438 | 155 |
| 6 | Ryan Blaney | 0 | 367 | 84 |
| 8 | Ty Gibbs | 0 | 338 | 55 |
| 9 | Alex Bowman | 0 | 336 | 53 |
| 10 | Ross Chastain | 0 | 331 | 48 |
| 11 | Chris Buescher | 0 | 316 | 33 |
| 12 | Kyle Busch | 0 | 314 | 31 |
| 14 | Chase Briscoe | 0 | 290 | 7 |
| 15 | Brad Keselowski | 0 | 287 | 4 |
| Playoff Cutoff | ||||
| 16 | Bubba Wallace | 0 | 283 | -4 |
| 17 | Joey Logano | 0 | 269 | -18 |
| 19 | Noah Gragson | 0 | 216 | -71 |
| 20 | Austin Cindric | 0 | 215 | -72 |
| 21 | John H. Nemechek | 0 | 205 | -82 |
| 22 (t) | Carson Hocevar | 0 | 200 | -87 |
| 22 (t) | Josh Berry | 0 | 196 | -91 |
| 24 | Todd Gilliland | 0 | 190 | -97 |
| 25 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 | 186 | -101 |
| 26 | Michael McDowell | 0 | 185 | -102 |
| 27 | Erik Jones | 0 | 181 | -106 |
| 28 | Daniel Hemric | 0 | 175 | -112 |
| 29 | Ryan Preece | 0 | 172 | -115 |
| 30 | Corey LaJoie | 0 | 166 | -121 |
| 31 | Austin Dillon | 0 | 158 | -129 |
| 32 | Justin Haley | 0 | 134 | -153 |
| 33 | Harrison Burton | 0 | 129 | -158 |
| 35 | Zane Smith | 0 | 107 | -180 |
Above the Cutline
(All But) Locked In
Winners: Denny Hamlin (3), William Byron (3), Kyle Larson (2), Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez
Drivers 60+ points up on the cutline: Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney
Safe (For Now)
Drivers 40-59 points above the cutline: Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain
In the Danger Zone
Drivers within 40 points of the cutline:Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski
Below the Cutline
Within Reach
Drivers within 50 points of the bubble: Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano
Looking For A Win
Drivers 51+ points below the cutline: Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, John Hunter Nemechek, Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry, Todd Gilliland, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Preece, Corey LaJoie, Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, Zane Smith
Race Results
- Kyle Larson
- Chris Buescher
- Chase Elliott
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Christopher Bell
- Alex Bowman
- Kyle Busch
- Noah Gragson
- Michael McDowell
- Brad Keselowski
- Ryan Blaney
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Todd Gilliland
- Josh Berry
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Bubba Wallace
- Justin Haley
- Ross Chastain
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Briscoe
- Corey Heim
- William Byron
- Carson Hocevar
- Austin Dillon
- Corey LaJoie
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Preece
- Zane Smith
- Daniel Hemric
- Derek Kraus
- Ty Gibbs
- Austin Hill
- Joey Logano
- Riley Herbst
- Harrison Burton
- Austin Cindric
- Jimmie Johnson
Stage Points
Results from Kansas
| Stage 1 | Stage 2 | ||||
| Pos. | Driver | Points | Pos. | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | 10 (+ 1 Playoff Point) | 1 | Chris Buescher | 10 (+ 1 Playoff Point) |
| 2 | Ross Chastain | 9 | 2 | Kyle Larson | 9 |
| 3 | Kyle Larson | 8 | 3 | Denny Hamlin | 8 |
| 4 | Christopher Bell | 7 | 4 | Kyle Busch | 7 |
| 5 | Chris Buescher | 6 | 5 | Martin Truex Jr. | 6 |
| 6 | Ty Gibbs | 5 | 6 | Ty Gibbs | 5 |
| 7 | Martin Truex Jr. | 4 | 7 | Alex Bowman | 4 |
| 8 | Kyle Busch | 3 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | 3 |
| 9 | Noah Gragson | 2 | 9 | Ross Chastain | 2 |
| 10 | Chase Elliott | 1 | 10 | Noah Gragson | 1 |
Total Stage Points
| Pos. | Driver | Points | Stage Wins |
| 1 | Kyle Larson | 143 | 6 |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | 107 | 3 |
| 3 | Martin Truex Jr. | 102 | 2 |
| 4 | Ryan Blaney | 86 | 1 |
| 5 | Tyler Reddick | 75 | 1 |
| 6 | Chase Elliott | 71 | 1 |
| 7 | William Byron | 59 | 0 |
| 8 (t) | Bubba Wallace | 53 | 0 |
| 8 (t) | Christopher Bell | 53 | 2 |
| 10 | Ross Chastain | 52 | 1 |
| 11 | Kyle Busch | 51 | 0 |
| 12 | Ty Gibbs | 50 | 2 |
| 13 | Austin Cindric | 47 | 2 |
| 14 | Joey Logano | 45 | 1 |
| 15 | Alex Bowman | 40 | 0 |
| 16 | Brad Keselowski | 35 | 0 |
| 17 | Chris Buescher | 34 | 1 |
| 18 | Chase Briscoe | 27 | 0 |
| 19 | Daniel Suarez | 25 | 0 |
| 20 | Michael McDowell | 24 | 1 |
| 21 (t) | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 18 | 0 |
| 21 (t) | Todd Gilliland | 18 | 0 |
| 23 (t) | Austin Dillon | 17 | 0 |
| 23 (t) | John H. Nemechek | 17 | 0 |
| 23 (t) | Josh Berry | 17 | 0 |
| 26 | Erik Jones | 15 | 0 |
| 27 | Ryan Preece | 13 | 0 |
| 28 | Harrison Burton | 12 | 0 |
| 29 | Noah Gragson | 6 | 0 |
| 30 | Corey LaJoie | 4 | 0 |
| 31 | Daniel Hemric | 2 | 0 |
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(Top photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
