It was a wild and chaotic weekend when NASCAR’s Xfinity and Cup Series travelled to Atlanta Motor Speedway this past weekend.  For the Cup Series it was the first race in round one of the playoffs and of great importance to the 16 playoff drivers.  If one of the Playoff drivers won the race, it would secure them in the next round.

After some engine issue even before qualifying, Denny Hamlin found himself at or near the back of the field all day.  Kyle Larson crashed out early and took last week’s winner Chase Briscoe with him.  Playoff drivers Martin Truex Jr, Chase Elliott, and Brad Keselowski all dropped in the standings.

Joey Logano won the race in overtime after a push from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney and is the first driver to make it to the next round of the playoffs.

After Kyle Larson’s wreck dropped him nine spots in the standings, Ryan Blaney is now the new points and playoffs leader.

Cup Series Standings:
Ryan Blaney – 2,071
Christopher Bell – 2,066
Tyler Reddick – 2,059
William Byron – 2,059
Joey Logano – 2,054
Alex Bowman – 2,053
Austin Cindric – 2,053
Chase Elliott – 2,050
Daniel Suarez – 2,048
Kyle Larson – 2,041
Denny Hamlin – 2,028
Ty Gibbs – 2,027
Brad Keselowski – 2,026
Harrison Burton – 2,011
Martin Truex Jr – 2,008
Chase Briscoe – 2,006
Ross Chastain – 696
Chris Buescher – 691
Bubba Wallace – 677
Kyle Busch – 617
Todd Gilliland – 510
Carson Hocevar – 492
Michael McDowell – 483
Josh Berry – 469
Ricky Stenhouse Jr – 453
Noah Gragson  – 434
Ryan Preece – 412
Erik Jones – 405
Austin Dillon – 399
Daniel Hemric – 399
Justin Haley – 391
Corey LaJoie – 385
John Hunter Nemechek – 359
Zane Smith – 346
Kaz Grala – 169
Cody Ware – 105
Joey Hand – 43
Jimmie Johnson – 39
Derek Kraus – 32
David Ragan – 17
Kamui Kobayashi – 8
Will Brown – 6
Cam Waters – 2

A late race crash knocked Justin Allgaier out of the race but the driver of the number seven car leads in the point standings with just two races remaining in the regular season for the Xfinity Series.

After winning the race in Atlanta back in February, Austin Hill crossed the finish line first to sweep Atlanta for the 2024 season.

Xfinity Series Point Standings:
Justin Allgaier – 866
Cole Custer – 832
Chandler Smith – 799
Austin Hill – 795
AJ Allmendinger – 744
Sheldon Creed – 723
Riley Herbst – 693
Jesse Love – 693
Parker Kligerman – 674
Sammy Smith – 644
Ryan Sieg – 600
Shane van Gisbergen – 574
Sam Mayer – 542
Brandon Jones – 505
Anthony Alfredo – 479
Brennan Poole – 417
Josh Williams – 404
Leland Honeyman – 364
Parker Retzlaff – 363
Jeb Burton – 348
Kyle Weatherman – 325
Jeremy Clements – 321
Ryan Ellis – 308
Kyle Sieg – 303
Matt DiBenedetto – 273
Ryan Truex – 261
Blaine Perkins – 261
Aric Almirola – 248
Carson Kvapil – 217
Hailie Deegan – 174
Josh Bilicki – 171
Garrett Smithley – 170
Patrick Emerling – 120
Austin Green – 112
Joey Gase – 110
David Starr – 105
BJ McLeod – 78
Joe Graf Jr – 74
Jordan Anderson – 71
JJ Yeley – 61
Nick Leitz – 58
Ed Jones – 57
Sage Karam – 49
Logan Bearden – 48
Caesar Bacarella – 46
Alex Labbe – 46
Brad Perez – 32
Bubba Pollard – 31
Natalie Decker – 27
CJ McLaughlin – 27
Justin Bonsignore – 25
Patrick Gallagher – 25
Conor Daly – 23
Chad Finchum – 22
Myatt Snider – 18
Preston Pardus – 18
Dexter Bean – 17
Nathan Byrd – 17
Daniil Kvyat – 16
Andre Castro – 16
Greg van Last – 13
Thomas Annunziata – 12
Glen Reen – 10
RC Emerson – 9
Boris Said – 9
Armani Williams – 4
Morgan Baird – 4
Timothy Viens – 2
Ryan Vargas – 2
Gus Dean – 1