Denny Hamlin Opens 44-Point NASCAR Lead After Chicagoland Race

Q: Can veteran Denny Hamlin finally win his first championship, or will Reddick's five victories prove more crucial?

Denny Hamlin looks slightly better positioned right now, but Tyler Reddick’s win total keeps this far from settled. Hamlin has the most important advantage at this stage: the points lead. After Chicagoland, he sits on 764 points, 44 ahead of Reddick’s 720, and he has built that margin with elite form. He has four wins this season, including a recent surge that erased what had once been a massive Reddick lead. In a format that rewards not just victories but stage points, fastest laps and week-to-week consistency, Hamlin’s current run may matter more than the raw win count. That said, Reddick’s five victories are not a minor detail. Under the 2026 system, wins are heavily rewarded, and they also signal the kind of race-winning speed that often decides a 10-race Chase. Reddick has shown he can dominate stretches of the season, and analysts such as Kevin Harvick have argued he may still be the sport’s most explosive weekly threat. Hamlin’s case is strengthened by experience. At 45 and in his 21st Cup season, he has been in title fights before and is driving as well as anyone in the series. But that same history also includes near-misses, most notably 2010, which is why skepticism remains until he closes it out. With seven regular-season races left, Hamlin has the edge because of momentum, consistency and the standings lead. Reddick’s five wins, however, make him the more dangerous spoiler if he regains form at the right time.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 6

Hamlin left Chicagoland with 764 points, stretching his NASCAR Cup Series lead to 44 over Tyler Reddick after Reddick had spent most of the season on top.
Reddick sits second at 720, while Ryan Blaney is a distant third at 651, leaving Hamlin with a 113-point cushion over everyone but Reddick.
The playoff cutline remains tight with seven regular-season points races left: Erik Jones holds 16th on 411 points, and Ryan Preece is first out, just 4 points back.
Joey Logano and AJ Allmendinger are 16 points below the cutoff, with Brad Keselowski 19 back, underscoring how unsettled the final postseason spots remain.