Kyle Larson's NASCAR Cup Series championship hopes took a hit at Sunday's Brickyard 400.
The reigning champion exited the race in the first stage in dramatic fashion, slamming into the outside wall thanks to a tire failure to leave him to just a single point on the day, a disaster for a driver who looked to have the pace to challenge for a race win.
That, combined with some other results on the day, means that he slips to eighth on points – which would leave him 60 points behind whichever driver ends the regular season top of the standings (now looking likely to be Denny Hamlin), leaving him with a mountain to climb over the final ten races.
Elsewhere, Ty Gibbs officially clinched his spot in the postseason with a 43-point day despite finishing down in 12th, while Carson Hocevar leapt over both Larson and Chase Elliott to go fifth in the standings.
Joey Logano, after finally regaining his Chase spot last weekend, has continued to climb and now sits 13th – very much within touching distance of the top ten – while Shane van Gisbergen dropped a place in the standings but crucially gained three points compared to the cut line, leaving him with a 57-point cushion to Ryan Preece with four races to go.
READ MORE: 'Heim Time' at Indianapolis as 23XI star takes stunning Brickyard 400 victory
NASCAR Cup Series standings after Indianapolis
| Pos | Driver | Manufacturer | Points (Stage) | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denny Hamlin * | Toyota | 886 (179) | 4 | 12 | 14 |
| 2 | Tyler Reddick * | Toyota | 802 (152) | 5 | 10 | 14 |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney * | Ford | 766 (160) | 2 | 4 | 15 |
| 4 | Ty Gibbs * | Toyota | 751 (181) | 1 | 9 | 14 |
| 5 | Carson Hocevar | Chevrolet | 638 (113) | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 6 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 635 (96) | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 7 | Chase Briscoe | Toyota | 623 (119) | 1 | 9 | 11 |
| 8 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 617 (169) | 0 | 8 | 11 |
| 9 | Chris Buescher | Ford | 613 (94) | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 10 | Christopher Bell | Toyota | 609 (132) | 0 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | Daniel Suárez | Chevrolet | 583 (74) | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 12 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 568 (103) | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 13 | Joey Logano | Ford | 545 (104) | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 14 | Bubba Wallace | Toyota | 540 (99) | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 15 | Shane van Gisbergen | Chevrolet | 537 (68) | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 16 | Austin Cindric | Ford | 518 (98) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| ────────── The Chase Cutline ────────── | ||||||
| 17 | Ryan Preece | Ford | 480 (75) | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 18 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 474 (43) | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 19 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 468 (58) | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 20 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 442 (44) | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 21 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 436 (56) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 22 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 409 (56) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 23 | Todd Gilliland | Ford | 406 (47) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 24 | Zane Smith | Ford | 393 (22) | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 25 | Riley Herbst | Toyota | 370 (32) | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 26 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Chevrolet | 364 (37) | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 27 | John H. Nemechek | Toyota | 355 (28) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 28 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 349 (19) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 310 (28) | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 30 | Cole Custer | Chevrolet | 270 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | Noah Gragson | Ford | 268 (4) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 32 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 266 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Josh Berry | Ford | 264 (30) | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 34 | Connor Zilisch | Chevrolet | 216 (10) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 | Cody Ware | Chevrolet | 183 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | 12 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Kevin Magnussen | Chevrolet | 11 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Jimmie Johnson | Toyota | 9 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Katherine Legge | Chevrolet | 8 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | BJ McLeod | Chevrolet | 4 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
NASCAR TODAY: Kyle Larson angers fans and Cup Series star opens up on retirement decision
