NASCAR playoff standings 2019: Updated points for Cup chase after First Data 500 at Martinsville

Arthur Weinstein

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NASCAR playoff standings 2019: Updated points for Cup chase after First Data 500 at Martinsville image

Martin Truex Jr. destroyed the field at Martinsville Speedway Sunday, leading almost the entire race en route to victory in the First Data 500.

Truex led 464 of the 500 laps to win his seventh race of the season and the 26th of his career. The victory makes him the first driver to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 playoff finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"We've wanted to win here for a long time … I used to be terrible here," Truex told NBCSN afterward.

While Truex cruised to the easy win, unexpected drama broke out elsewhere. With 43 laps remaining, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin were racing side by side when Hamlin pinched Logano into the wall. Logano cut a tire and spun, losing track position. Following the race, the two drivers scuffled on pit road.

"We were having a discussion, everything was civil, and then like Joey does, he does a little push and runs away," Hamlin told NBCSN.

"I just wanted to talk to him about it, I was pretty frustrated," Logano said. "I just wanted to see what he had to say, and he wasn't apologetic at all, which was really frustrating."

Logano finished eighth, while Hamlin ended up fourth.

Chase Elliott suffered a broken axle and finished 36th, digging himself a huge hole in Round of 8.

The NASCAR playoffs continue Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR playoff points standings 2019

Rank Driver Wins Points
No. 1Martin Truex Jr.74,102
No. 2
Denny Hamlin54,082
No. 3
Kyle Busch44,075
No. 4Joey Logano24,072
No. 5Kevin Harvick34,058
No. 6Ryan Blaney14,057
No. 7Kyle Larson14,048
No. 8Chase Elliott34,028
No. 9Brad Keselowski32,264
No. 10William Byron02,227
No. 11Clint Bowyer02,191
No. 12Alex Bowman12,172
No. 13Kurt Busch12,161
No. 14Aric Almirola02,159
No. 15Ryan Newman02,148
No. 16Erik Jones12,091
No. 17Jimmie Johnson0773
No. 18Daniel Suarez0764
No. 19Paul Menard0715
No. 20Chris Buescher0669
No. 21Ricky Stenhouse Jr.0642
No. 22Matt DiBenedetto0635
No. 23Austin Dillon0628
No. 24Ty Dillon0564
No. 25Ryan Preece0467
No. 26Daniel Hemric0467
No. 27Bubba Wallace0459
No. 28Michael McDowell0455
No. 29Corey LaJoie0392
No. 30David Ragan0375
No. 31Matt Tifft0352
No. 32Reed Sorenson0116
No. 33Quin Houff073
No. 34Jamie McMurray019
No. 35Austin Theriault017
No. 36Andy Seuss09
No. 37Stanton Barrett02
No. 38Casey Mears01

How the NASCAR playoffs work:

Sixteen NASCAR drivers qualified for the playoffs. Four were eliminated in the Sept. 29 race at Charlotte. Four more were eliminated in the Oct. 20 race at Kansas, and four more will fall out at Phoenix on Nov. 10, leaving the final four drivers to compete straight up for for the NASCAR Cup title Nov. 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the first of the four playoff drivers to cross the finish line is crowned the champion.

How drivers earn points:

– Win Stage 1 or Stage 2 in a race: 1 playoff point (point awarded per stage win)
– Win a race: 5 playoff points
– Win the regular-season championship: 15 playoff points

Second place in the final regular-season standings earns 10 playoff points, third place receives eight points, and the points awarded decline to one point for 10th (4th = 7 points, 5th = 6 points, etc.).

Championship-contending drivers can accumulate additional playoff points throughout the playoffs via stage and race wins and may use all the playoff points they earn, from both the regular season and the playoffs, to advance all the way up to the Championship 4.

Playoff points are added to a championship-contending driver’s reset points total at the start of every round of the playoffs until they are eliminated from championship contention.

At Homestead-Miami, playoff points are off the table, and the Championship 4 drivers enter the “winner-take-all” race tied in the standings. 

Cup playoff information provided by NASCAR.

Arthur Weinstein