NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR penalty appeal has massive impact on Cup Series playoffs

Chris Deeley Thursday 29 May 2025 13:00

Photo: © IMAGO

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series standings have been updated after Chris Buescher's Kansas penalty was radically altered on appeal.

The RFK Racing star was docked a hugely consequential 60 points after the race at Kansas earlier this month, knocking him out of the playoff spots at the time of the infringement.

However, Wednesday saw NASCAR halve his penalty and add 30 of those 60 points back onto his season total – which still sees him out of the playoffs after the Coca-Cola 600, but moves him to within six points of the cut line.

Hendrick Motorsports star William Byron dominated proceedings in the No. 24 Chevrolet on Sunday night at the Coca-Cola 600, sweeping all three stages, but was ultimately left devastated late on when Trackhouse Racing star Ross Chastain passed him for the lead with just six laps to go.

Despite that, however, given the points he racked up throughout the race, Byron has once again claimed top spot in the Cup Series standings, demoting team-mate Kyle Larson to second after he endured a challenging Sunday performing NASCAR and Indy 500 double duty.

With that said, let's take a look at the standings after NASCAR's decision.

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NASCAR Cup Series standings after Buescher penalty appeal

Rank	Driver	Car No.	Team (Engine Manufacturer)	Points (Stage)	Playoff Points
1	William Byron	24	Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet	499 (137)	11
2	Kyle Larson	5	Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet	470 (128)	23
3	Christopher Bell	20	Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota	425 (74)	16
4	Chase Elliott	9	Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet	415 (80)	0
5	Tyler Reddick	45	23XI Racing Toyota	392 (100)	0
6	Denny Hamlin	11	Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota	390 (95)	12
7	Ryan Blaney	12	Team Penske Ford	363 (110)	2
8	Ross Chastain	1	Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet	350 (29)	5
9	Joey Logano	22	Team Penske Ford	338 (74)	7
10	Alex Bowman	48	Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet	333 (83)	0
11	Chase Briscoe	19	Stewart-Haas Racing Ford	314 (18)	0
12	Chris Buescher	17	RFK Racing Ford	304 (31)	-5
13	Bubba Wallace	23	23XI Racing Toyota	312 (100)	2
14	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	47	JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet	284 (22)	0
15	Ryan Preece	60	Stewart-Haas Racing Ford	280 (43)	1
16	Austin Cindric	2	Team Penske Ford	279 (81)	7
17	Josh Berry	21	Wood Brothers Racing Ford	269 (49)	6
18	AJ Allmendinger	16	Kaulig Racing Chevrolet	267 (51)	0
19	Kyle Busch	8	Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet	266 (17)	0
20	Michael McDowell	71	Front Row Motorsports Ford	259 (11)	0
21	John H. Nemechek	42	Legacy Motor Club Toyota	257 (21)	0
22	Carson Hocevar	77	Spire Motorsports Chevrolet	248 (65)	0
23	Todd Gilliland	34	Front Row Motorsports Ford	246 (19)	0
24	Austin Dillon	3	Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet	244 (4)	0
25	Ty Gibbs	54	Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota	230 (20)	0
26	Zane Smith	38	Front Row Motorsports Ford	228 (9)	0
27	Erik Jones	43	Legacy Motor Club Toyota	223 (19)	0
28	Noah Gragson	4	Stewart-Haas Racing Ford	213 (8)	0
29	Justin Haley	7	Rick Ware Racing Ford	213 (15)	0
30	Daniel Suárez	99	Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet	210 (16)	0
31	Ty Dillon	10	Kaulig Racing Chevrolet	206 (12)	0
32	Brad Keselowski	6	RFK Racing Ford	180 (26)	0
33	Shane Van Gisbergen	88	Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet	161 (14)	0
34	Riley Herbst	35	Rick Ware Racing Ford	160 (2)	0
35	Cole Custer	41	Stewart-Haas Racing Ford	155 (2)	0
36	Cody Ware	51	Rick Ware Racing Ford	80 (3)	0
37	Jimmie Johnson	84	Legacy Motor Club Toyota	35 (0)	0
38	Corey LaJoie	7	Spire Motorsports Chevrolet	24 (5)	0
39	Katherine Legge	78	Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet	7 (0)	0
40	Derek Kraus	44	Chevrolet	5 (0)	0
41	Casey Mears	66	Garage 66 Ford	2 (0)	0
42	Burt Myers	50	Team AmeriVet Chevrolet	1 (0)	0
43	Chad Finchum	66	Garage 66 Ford	1 (0)	0
44	Martin Truex Jr	56	Tricon Garage Toyota	1 (0)	0

NASCAR Cup Series Hendrick Motorsports William Byron Chris Buescher RFK Racing Kansas

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