Bubba Wallace holds the final playoff spot with eight races to go in the regular season. He dropped a spot in the playoff standings after his fifth finish outside the top 20 in the last eight races.
Wallace placed 22nd last weekend at Atlanta. Alex Bowman, who was on the cutline entering the race, finished third at Atlanta. Bowman scored 41 points in that race to Wallace’s 16 points to pass Wallace and put him on the cutline.
There have been 12 different winners this season, leaving four playoff spots via points at this time. The four drivers without a win but in a playoff spot are Tyler Reddick (+128 points on the cutline), Chris Buescher (+52), Bowman (+39) and Wallace (+23).
The first four below the cutline are Ryan Preece (-23 points), Erik Jones (-49), AJ Allmendinger (-59) and Carson Hocevar (-62).
This weekend marks the first of back-to-back weekends for the Cup series on either a street course or road course. The series races Sunday on the Chicago Street Course (Bowman is the defending winner) and then goes to Sonoma Raceway (Kyle Larson is the defending winner).
Here is a look at the playoff standings (drivers in yellow have won a race this season):
