NASCAR playoff standings after Gateway: Kyle Larson, William Byron, Chase Elliott add to Cup Series playoff cushion

By Ryan Pritt

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MADISON, ILL. - Kyle Larson didn't quite assure himself a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 16 during Sunday's event at WWT Raceway.

However, he did everything but ...

Larson is a near certainty after scoring 17 stage points in a 12th-place run, now sitting 60 points above the cutline entering Saturday night's Round-of-16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway. If Larson finishes 35th or higher or scores a single stage point, he will make the Round of 12.

Regular-season champion William Byron is not far behind and after an 11th-place run is 39 markers to the good going to the high-banked, half-mile oval. Chase Elliott turned in the best day of any Hendrick Motorsports driver on Sunday, finishing third, and that helped him extend his cushion to 28 points.

Finally, Alex Bowman will need to make up 35 points on the cut line or win Saturday night's race to advance.

Here's a look at the standings with one event remaining in the opening round of the playoffs:

NASCAR points standings

Driver	Playoff wins	Margin
1. Denny Hamlin	1	ADV
1. Chase Briscoe	1	ADV
3. Kyle Larson	0	+60
4. Bubba Wallace	0	+50
5. Ryan Blaney	0	+42
6. William Byron	0	+39
7. Tyler Reddick	0	+37
8. Christopher Bell	0	+32
9. Chase Elliott	0	+28
10. Joey Logano	0	+21
11. Ross Chastain	0	+19
12. Austin Cindric	0	+11
------------------	---	----
13. Austin Dillon	0	-11
14. Shane van Gisbergen	0	-15
15. Alex Bowman	0	-35
16. Josh Berry	0	-45