{"id":1499827,"date":"2022-04-04T16:49:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T20:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1499827"},"modified":"2022-04-04T16:57:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T20:57:57","slug":"updated-nascar-cup-series-standings-following-denny-hamlin-victory-at-richmond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/updated-nascar-cup-series-standings-following-denny-hamlin-victory-at-richmond\/","title":{"rendered":"Updated NASCAR Cup Series Standings Following Denny Hamlin\u2019s Victory at Richmond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s new life for the playoff hopes of some old guys seven races into the 2022 NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series season as Denny Hamlin<\/a> pulled off the victory and Kevin Harvick<\/a> followed him across the finish line on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 12 straight races in which drivers under the age of 30 had prevailed, Richmond Raceway afforded veteran drivers the opportunity to show their experience in preserving tires on a short track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch also had good days at the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denny Hamlin led an impressive charge by JGR drivers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Denny
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on April 3, 2022. | Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Neither of the Toyota organizations had been off to a particularly strong start in the NASCAR Cup Series, but Sunday\u2019s effort at Richmond Raceway has put Joe Gibbs Racing in a better place. With the short-track swing continuing next week at Martinsville, a favorite track recently for Martin Truex Jr.<\/a>, it will be interesting to see if JGR continues the momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denny Hamlin\u2019s victory in Richmond makes seven winners in seven races, so we\u2019re starting to get uncomfortably close to saying that \u201cwin and you\u2019re in\u201d might not apply to the 2022 playoff picture. Still trying to dig himself out of an early-season hole, Hamlin only moved up two spots in points to 20th<\/sup> place by leading the four company cars into the top 10 on Sunday. However, Truex climbed four spots to third, and teammate Kyle Busch now resides in the top 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big winner aside from Hamlin was Kevin Harvick, whose second-place run lifted him from 14th<\/sup> to eighth in Cup Series points<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\tRank\t<\/td>\tDriver\t<\/td>\tPoints\t<\/td>\tRace Wins\t<\/td>\tStage Wins\t<\/td>\tPlayoff Pts\t<\/td>\tUp\/down\t<\/td>\tTop 5\t<\/td>\tTop 10\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t1\t<\/td>\tRyan Blaney\t<\/td>\t241\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t2\t<\/td>\tChase Elliott\t<\/td>\t241\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t-1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t3\t<\/td>\tMartin Truex Jr.\t<\/td>\t222\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t4\t<\/td>\tWilliam Byron\t<\/td>\t218\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t7\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t5\t<\/td>\tJoey Logano\t<\/td>\t215\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t-2\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t6\t<\/td>\tRoss Chastain\t<\/td>\t214\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t6\t<\/td>\t-1\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t7\t<\/td>\tAlex Bowman\t<\/td>\t212\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t6\t<\/td>\t-3\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t8\t<\/td>\tKevin Harvick\t<\/td>\t193\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t6\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t9\t<\/td>\tChase Briscoe\t<\/td>\t192\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t5\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t10\t<\/td>\tKyle Busch\t<\/td>\t191\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t11\t<\/td>\tAric Almirola\t<\/td>\t184\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t-3\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t12\t<\/td>\tKyle Larson\t<\/td>\t183\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t5\t<\/td>\t4\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t13\t<\/td>\tTyler Reddick\t<\/td>\t183\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t-3\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t14\t<\/td>\tDaniel Suarez\t<\/td>\t171\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t15\t<\/td>\tAustin Cindric\t<\/td>\t170\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t5\t<\/td>\t-3\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t16\t<\/td>\tAustin Dillon\t<\/td>\t158\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t\t<\/td>\t\t<\/td>\t\t<\/td>\t\t<\/td>\t\t<\/td>\t\t<\/td>\t\t<\/td>\t\t<\/td>\t\t<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n

The other Toyota outfit wasn\u2019t as fortunate as Denny Hamlin and JGR<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Austin
Austin Dillon has finished 10th in his two most recent NASCAR Cup Series races. | Dylan Buell\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas easily outperformed the 23XI Toyotas of Bubba Wallace (26th<\/sup> place) and Kurt Busch (35th<\/sup>) at Richmond. The mechanical problems Busch experienced<\/a> minutes into the race put him more than 100 laps down before he returned to action, and that ended up costing him five precious places in season points. Wallace, in his first of four races without his suspended crew chief, slipped two notches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Richmond was a decent day for Austin Dillon, who produced the best showing for any of the Chevys not belonging to Hendrick Motorsports. Dillon has followed his early exit at Atlanta with consecutive 10th<\/sup>-place efforts and is on pace for a career high in top-10 days. He has moved up two spots to 16th<\/sup> in points, theoretically giving him the edge for the last playoff spot with plenty of time remaining in the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\tRank\t<\/td>\tDriver\t<\/td>\tPoints\t<\/td>\tRace Wins\t<\/td>\tStage Wins\t<\/td>\tPlayoff Pts\t<\/td>\tUp\/down\t<\/td>\tTop 5\t<\/td>\tTop 10\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t17\t<\/td>\tErik Jones\t<\/td>\t157\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t18\t<\/td>\tKurt Busch\t<\/td>\t155\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t-5\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t19\t<\/td>\tChris Buescher\t<\/td>\t151\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t20\t<\/td>\tDenny Hamlin\t<\/td>\t148\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t6\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t21\t<\/td>\tChristopher Bell\t<\/td>\t147\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t3\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t22\t<\/td>\tBubba Wallace\t<\/td>\t133\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t-2\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t23\t<\/td>\tJustin Haley\t<\/td>\t129\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t-2\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t24\t<\/td>\tTy Dillon\t<\/td>\t116\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t25\t<\/td>\tMichael McDowell\t<\/td>\t109\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t1\t<\/td><\/tr>\n
\t26\t<\/td>\tCole Custer\t<\/td>\t105\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t2\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td>\t0\t<\/td><\/tr>\n\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n

Brad Keselowski is out of the basement<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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