Kyle Larson leads Denny Hamlin by one point after Bristol, with Joey Logano and Christopher Bell still close entering the Kansas weekend.
Kyle Larson takes a one-point NASCAR Cup Series lead over Denny Hamlin to Kansas after finishing second in Saturday night's race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Larson has 2,206 points following the third round of the 2026 Chase, with Hamlin at 2,205 and Bristol winner Joey Logano at 2,190.
The gap is tiny. The championship battle behind them has tightened, too, as the 16-driver field moves further into the 10-race stretch that will decide the Bill France Cup at Homestead-Miami Speedway in mid-November.
Larson leaves Bristol with the lead
Rain canceled qualifying at Bristol, putting Larson on pole and securing him a front-row start for the September 19 night race. He couldn't turn that advantage into a second straight victory, but second place moved him ahead of Hamlin.
Larson earned 47 points at Bristol, while Hamlin finished eighth. It extended Larson's strong start to the Chase after a fifth-place result at Darlington and a victory at Gateway.
The Gateway win snapped Larson's 51-race winless streak and marked his first Cup victory in 16 months.
Hamlin led the standings by nine points after Gateway. That cushion disappeared at Bristol, leaving NASCAR with a one-point championship fight ahead of the September 24 through September 27 Kansas II event.
Logano closes in with his 40th win
Logano scored 73 points at Bristol and climbed to third in the standings, 16 points behind Larson. The victory was the 40th of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
The race turned on the final restart. Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar ran each other up the track, opening the door for Logano to take the lead. He held on to beat Larson, followed by Hocevar in third and Christopher Bell in fourth.
Logano's surge reshaped the title order. He arrived at Bristol behind the leading group and departed within range of Larson and Hamlin, with seven races still listed in the Chase.
Bell stayed close as well. His fourth-place finish came after his Southern 500 victory in the Chase opener at Darlington, and he trails Larson by 17 points.
“Bristol's just the best.”
Bell offered that assessment after a night when the lead changed late and attention quickly moved to pit road after the race.
Hocevar and Blaney clash after the flag
A fight followed the race after a late clash between Hocevar and Ryan Blaney. Hocevar punched Blaney during the confrontation, creating the main postrace flashpoint despite scoring 41 points with his third-place finish.
“They got an old-school Bristol show.”
That was Hocevar's description of the altercation.
No response from Blaney was included in the supplied notes. Hocevar's result is confirmed, along with the physical confrontation after the checkered flag.
The incident came after Hocevar ran near the front during the closing stages. His contact with Gibbs on the last restart also opened the lane Logano used to claim the victory.
Three contenders win the first three Chase races
Three different drivers have won during the opening phase of the 2026 Chase. Bell started it with a Southern 500 victory at Darlington. Larson won next at Gateway, and Logano followed at Bristol.
Those results put all three near the top of the championship. Larson leads, Logano ranks third and Bell is fourth, while Hamlin holds second without a victory in the first three Chase rounds.
The format sends 16 drivers into the final 10 races of the season. Bristol completed race three, with the title battle now moving into a stretch that includes Kansas II, Las Vegas II and Charlotte II.
Larson built his lead with three straight top-five finishes to begin the Chase. Logano produced the biggest single-race gain among the current top three at Bristol, earning 26 more points than Larson and closing to within 16 of the lead.
Kansas begins the next phase
Kansas II is scheduled for September 24 through September 27. Las Vegas II follows from October 1 through October 4, with Charlotte II set for October 8 through October 11.
Larson reaches Kansas as the leader and with the best finishing sequence among the top contenders across the first three Chase races. Hamlin is one point behind, while one point separates Logano and Bell in third and fourth.
The standings don't require a projected favorite. Four drivers sit within 17 points, and each of the first three Chase races was won by someone in that group.
Teams have four days between Bristol's September 19 finish and the opening date of the Kansas II event on September 24.
