A chaotic day at Talladega on Sunday saw some big swings in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings.
The Big One hit midway through Stage 2, ending some title hopefuls' days and seriously compromising a number of drivers' races – including Chase Briscoe, who had to head to the garage for repairs and finished eight laps down.
The Joe Gibbs Racing star did leave the race with eight points after salvaging a 29th place finish, but that wasn't enough to stop Austin Cindric (eighth place, 29 points) from leapfrogging him in the standings and knocking him out of the Chase positions.
Briscoe now sits 17th after ten races, although he wasn't the only high-profile driver to see his spot in the standings dented by Sunday's action.
NASCAR RESULTS: Carson Hocevar takes epic first Cup Series victory at Talladega
Big names' NASCAR title hopes dented by Big One
Joey Logano was one of the drivers completely wiped out in the huge wreck, dropping him to 15th (+12 to Briscoe in 17th), while William Byron and Bubba Wallace both lost four places apiece to drop out of the top ten.
Up top, Tyler Reddick managed to pick his way through the carnage without race ending damage to take 14th place, extending his lead over 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin by five points, and pulling out another 20 points on wreck victim Ryan Blaney in third.
A final word on first-time race winner Carson Hocevar, who leapt up into eighth in points and now has a 70-point cushion in the hunt for his first ever spot in the postseason.
NASCAR Cup Series points standings after Talladega
| Pos | Driver | Manufacturer | Points (Stage) | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyler Reddick | Toyota | 484 (78) | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 374 (83) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 344 (87) | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 340 (48) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 5 | Ty Gibbs | Toyota | 322 (59) | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 6 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 315 (91) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Chris Buescher | Ford | 309 (58) | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Carson Hocevar | Chevrolet | 292 (42) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 9 | Christopher Bell | Toyota | 290 (73) | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 10 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 279 (42) | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 11 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 277 (55) | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 12 | Bubba Wallace | Toyota | 276 (71) | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 13 | Ryan Preece | Ford | 269 (37) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Daniel Suárez | Chevrolet | 235 (26) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 | Joey Logano | Ford | 234 (54) | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | Austin Cindric | Ford | 226 (49) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 | Chase Briscoe | Toyota | 222 (32) | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 18 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 205 (22) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | Shane van Gisbergen | Chevrolet | 195 (24) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 20 | Zane Smith | Ford | 183 (11) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 21 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 183 (15) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Todd Gilliland | Ford | 181 (19) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 179 (19) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 163 (8) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Chevrolet | 161 (11) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 161 (0) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 | Kyle Busch | Chevrolet | 160 (11) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 | Josh Berry | Ford | 147 (30) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 | Riley Herbst | Toyota | 144 (9) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | Noah Gragson | Ford | 144 (4) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 | John H. Nemechek | Toyota | 141 (14) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 123 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Connor Zilisch | Chevrolet | 103 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Cole Custer | Chevrolet | 89 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Cody Ware | Chevrolet | 85 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 80 (10) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 37 | Casey Mears | Ford | 9 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | BJ McLeod | Chevrolet | 3 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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