Tyler Reddick Atop NASCAR Standings With 2 Races Remaining

Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, and William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, lead the field during the NASCAR Next Gen Test at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., on Dec. 17, 2021. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Tyler Reddick has put himself in the driver’s seat for potential NASCAR supremacy.

With a win at FireKeepers Casino 400 in Michigan on Monday, Reddick jumped to the top of the NASCAR Cup standings with 814 points, ahead of Chase Elliott (804), Denny Hamlin (786), Kyle Larson (782), and Ryan Blaney (732). It was Reddick’s second win of the season and he has already clinched a spot in the playoffs.

“The group did a really good job at that, and we made great adjustments,” Reddick told NBC Sports after the Michigan race. “Honestly, going into stage three we had a tough go of it on pit road, but they had a great catch. Great way to get redemption from one year ago here.”

William Byron finished second and Ty Gibbs was third at the FireKeepers Casino 400.

Four spots are still available in the 16-car playoffs with races. The season’s final two races are the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday and the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 1.

Those 12 drivers who qualified for the playoffs because of wins this season are Reddick, Larson, Hamlin, Blaney, Elliott, Byron, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Cindric.

Larson is ranked No. 1 in the playoff standings with four wins this season for 28 points, followed by Bell (three wins, 25 points), Hamlin (three wins, 21 points), Byron (three wins, 16 points), and Reddick (two wins, 13 points).

The regular-season champion is awarded 15 bonus playoff points.

NASCAR revoked Austin Dillon’s automatic berth into the playoff field following his controversial win at Richmond on Aug. 18. Dillon, who is part of the Richard Childress Racing team, was part of a wreck with Logano and Hamlin. NASCAR let Dillon maintain the win but took away his playoff points for the victory. Dillon has appealed that decision.

“Everybody at RCR deserves to be in the playoffs, and we will do our best to show our position in that [appeal],” Dillon told Fox Sports in a statement. “And then after that, [my focus] is trying to win Daytona or Darlington, whatever comes next.”

Several other drivers can still earn one of those final playoff berths.

Martin Truex Jr. (+77) is ranked 13th in the playoff race, followed by Gibbs (+39), Chris Buescher (+16), and Ross Chastain (+1). Bubba Wallace is still in the hunt and is just one point behind Chastain.

Making one of the final spots in the playoffs is going to come down to strategy and perhaps luck, according to Hamlin.

“I’m not going to say anybody, but almost anybody can be leading the points after two or three races, right?“ Hamlin said after the Michigan race. ”We’re 20-some races in. All the averages have worked themselves out. When we were in Stage 1 right there, the top four in points were the top four on the race track. It’s just not by happenstance. It’s awesome to see how tough they are.

“I mean, week in, week out, they’re a tough out. It’s certainly going to make my path a lot harder. That’s what I started the team for. This is part of the crux of being a team owner and a driver, you’re going to have to deal with the days they beat you.”