NASCAR Cup playoff race tightens heading into final three regular season races – MASHAHER

Bubba Wallace moved into the final playoff spot after Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway as the NASCAR Cup playoff picture tightened.

Austin Dillon’s win secured a spot in the playoffs, making him the 13th driver to earn a spot via a win. That leaves three positions left with three races left in the regular season.

Would NASCAR take away Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond for last-lap incidents?

NASCAR will further examine Austin Dillon’s actions and could issue a penalty Tuesday.

Martin Truex Jr. is 78 points above the cutline even after his last-place finish at Richmond due to an engine failure.

Ty Gibbs is 18 points above the cutline. Wallace is three points above the cutline after his fourth-place finish. Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain both fell out of a playoff spot at Richmond. Both are three points below the playoff cutline.

‘It’s a joke to call that racing’: Joey Logano’s crew chief wants NASCAR to take action after Dillon’s win

Paul Wolfe says last-lap moves at Richmond Raceway were unprofessional.

The race is just as intense for the regular season championship.

Kyle Larson leads the season standings with 779 points, but Tyler Reddick is five points behind and Chase Elliott is six points behind Larson. It is the closest the top three in points have been at this point in the season. Also, not far behind them is Denny Hamlin. He’s 21 points behind Larson.

The regular season champion earns 15 playoff points. Second place receives 10 playoff points, third gets nine playoff points, fourth gets eight playoff points and it goes all the way down to 10th, which receives one playoff point.

Tyler Reddick maintains No. 1 spot in NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings

Tyler Reddick scored another top-three finish this past weekend at Richmond.

The series next heads to Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET Sunday on USA Network).

After Michigan, the series goes to Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 24 on NBC) and ends the regular season with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET on Sept. 1 on USA Network).

Here is the playoff standings. Those names shaded in yellow are in the playoffs.