During an early caution flag at the rain delayed Yellawood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 4, Kyle Larson saw his 59 point lead evaporate after Justin Allgaier slammed into the left front quarter panel of his car. Finishing the race four laps down, Larson recovered some of those points to take second place in the playoffs 22 points behind leader Denny Hamlin who has secured his spot in the next round of the playoffs with a race win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Along with his race win, Hamlin has 3,116 points.

Also caught up in a crash, Kyle Busch has dropped from his third place spot in the playoffs to the last driver above the cut line.

While Christopher Bell continues to find himself below the cut line, he is no longer in last place. Kevin Harvick, William Byron, and Alex Bowman are also currently below the cut line. The four drivers with the fewest points after The Roval race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday will be eliminated from the playoffs.

Playoff standings after the race at Talladega Superspeedway:
Denny Hamlin – 3,116
Kyle Larson – 3,097
Joey Logano – 3,096
Brad Keselowski – 3,095
Martin Truex Jr – 3,095
Ryan Blaney – 3,090
Chase Elliott – 3,084
Kyle Busch – 3,084
Kevin Harvick – 3,075
Christopher Bell – 3.056
William Byron – 3,040
Alex Bowman – 3,032