NASCAR Championship: Full Driver Standings After Quaker State 400 at Atlanta

Superspeedway racing has become one of the wild cards in terms of playoff drivers over the years, but that has not been the case this year. Aside from Ricky Stenhouse Jr winning the Daytona 500, there really have not been any surprises. Joey Logano won the first race at Atlanta this season, Kyle Busch won at Talladega, and William Byron went to victory lane at Atlanta tonight after rain shortened the race to just 185 laps. It was the second consecutive weekend where the race did not go the full distance.

Byron was already at the top of the playoff standings coming into the race this weekend, and now he heads into next weekend as the sole driver with four victories this season. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is having a career year, and is shaping up for a delightful first round with all of his bonus points. His win today broke a tie with Kyle Busch for the most this season, with just seven races remaining before the playoffs begin.

The good news for Byron's teammate Chase Elliott is that another spot went unclaimed tonight. In fact, there really hasn't been a shakeup since Ryan Blaney won the Coca-Cola 600 back in May. Since then, Busch and Martin Truex Jr each claimed another win, while Ross Chastain earned one but was already the leader in points. Shane Van Gisbergen won the race last weekend in Chicago. There are still 11 drivers with a race win this season, meaning five playoff positions remain up for grabs.

A few drivers shuffled positions in the standings, but Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs both fell out of the top 16 with poor finishes at Atlanta. They join AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric as the four drivers below the cut line. Their spots were taken by Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell, who both earned top-five finishes tonight. They are both just three points ahead of Wallace.