With 11 races completed in the 26-race NASCAR Cup Series regular season, the playoff picture is still very much a blank canvas. While some drivers have sprinted out to an early points lead, there’s a long summer stretch ahead filled with opportunities for the standings to do a complete 180.

So far in 2024, we’ve seen the likes of William Byron and Denny Hamlin visit Victory Lane three times and lock up their playoff spots by winning races. However, even at this relatively early juncture, there’s already some drama and intrigue brewing around which drivers will fill out the remaining 14 playoff berths.

Veterans like Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney have been steady performers, putting them comfortably inside the playoff field for now. But they’ve yet to win and lock themselves in automatically, leaving the door open for a points reshuffle if they can’t find Victory Lane.

Meanwhile, former champions Joey Logano and Kyle Busch have gone winless through the first 11 races. Their past pedigree suggests they’ll eventually break through, but their uncharacteristic early-season drought has them sweating it out just to stay above the playoff cut line for the time being.

Of course, it’s still early enough that Bubba Wallace and Brad Keselowski can’t be counted out. There’s always a driver or two that heats up over the summer and charges their way into championship contention. With over half the regular season remaining, absolutely nothing is set in stone yet in the NASCAR playoff race.

As the series chugs ahead to Kansas, drivers know they need to be racking up as many points and playoff points as possible. Because in NASCAR, you can never secure a playoff spot too early. The real jockeying for position is just getting started.

Rank	Driver	Wins/ Points To Cut
1	Denny Hamlin	3X
2	William Byron	3X
3	Kyle Larson	1X
4	Chase Elliott	1X
5	Tyler Reddick	1X
6	Christopher Bell	1X
7	Daniel Suarez	1X
8	Martin Truex Jr.	+132
9	Ryan Blaney	+79
10	Ty Gibbs	+60
11	Alex Bowman	+39
12	Ross Chastain	+39
13	Kyle Busch	+12
14	Chase Briscoe	+11
15	Joey Logano	+3
16	Chris Buescher	+2
17	Bubba Wallace	-2
18	Brad Keselowski	-4
19	Austin Cindric	-51
20	Carson Hocevar	-78