NASCAR: Full Driver Playoff Standings After Chris Buescher Wins at Michigan

The Playoff picture remains steady at the top, with William Byron leading Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson. Chris Buescher moved up to 6th after winning his second consecutive race today at Michigan. With just three races remaining in the regular season, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Buescher, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr are now officially locked into the Playoffs.

As always, the real drama is down near the cutoff line in the standings. There have only been 12 different winners this year, which means that winning one of the next three races will guarantee a driver will be in the Playoffs. The final four spots are up for grabs, but both Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski look to be safe to make it on points, as they are 180 and 168 points above the cutoff.

The last two spots are currently occupied by Toyota drivers Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs. The 23XI Racing driver is 58 points above the line while the rookie Gibbs is only three points ahead of Michael McDowell. Daniel Suarez is only five points behind Gibbs for that final spot and even AJ Allmendinger (-24) has a realistic chance of making it. All three of those drivers are great on road courses, which is where the next two races (Indianapolis, Watkins Glen) will be.

Hendrick Motorsports has two cars at the top of the Playoff standings but the other two are in serious jeopardy of not making it. Alex Bowman is 44 points below the cut line after his crash at Michigan today. Chase Elliott is 55 points back after his crash at the track yesterday. Both drivers will likely need to win a race to get into the Playoffs, and the chances look much better for the 2020 champion than the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet.