It’s hard to believe that Sunday’s historic Chicago street course race signaled the halfway point of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, but it did. With 18 races down and 18 more to go — including 10 playoff races — here’s where things stand.
The biggest takeaway from the points standings is that nobody has distanced himself from the pack. William Byron and Kyle Busch lead the field with three race wins apiece, while Martin Truex, Jr. is the overall points leader, nine ahead of Byron. Five drivers are within 31 points of the lead.
Additionally, nobody has scored more than Kyle Larson’s eight top-five finishes, and nobody has earned more than Busch’s 11 top-10s. Byron has led the most laps with 722, one of 13 different drivers to eclipse the century mark. Suffice to say, things are evenly matched.
Truex must be considered the year’s biggest surprise, coming off a season in which he didn’t win a race, missed the playoffs and strongly considered retirement. The 2017 Cup champion seems re-ignited and is arguably the title favorite.
On the flip side, no one has disappointed this season more than Stewart-Haas Racing, with three of the team’s four entries sitting 25th or worse in the standings. Chase Briscoe trails them all, as his nightmarish campaign has been lowlighted by one of the largest penalties in NASCAR history.
It has been a tumultuous season for drivers named Chase across the board. 2020 champion Chase Elliott has missed seven races due to injury and suspension and sits outside the playoff field. Whether he — as well as teammate Alex Bowman, who was also sidelined for three races — can race their way back into contention will be an interesting storyline to follow.
As far as the racing itself, we’ve seen a noticeable improvement from last season. There haven’t been as many safety concerns with the Gen 7 car (both Elliott and Bowman’s injuries were away from NASCAR), and the reliability of the equipment is better, with fewer tire and engine failures.
Drama, mostly involving a select few drivers, has made the racing exciting. Tensions are sure to escalate as the playoffs draw closer, but hopefully we can stay away from dangerous on-track incidents and physical post-race brawls.
The NASCAR Cup Series should be full of intrigue and excitement between now and November. It’s anyone’s guess who will hoist the championship trophy, but now’s the time for contenders to separate from pretenders.