PREVIEW: Gibbs Rising, Hamlin Looks To Extend Cup Lead In VA

By Thomas Hughes, SWN Staff Writer

RICHMOND, Virginia (Aug. 13, 2026) — One year ago, Ty Gibbs was fighting just to get into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, an endeavor that ultimately failed for the second time in three seasons. 

Now, with three regular-season Cup Series races remaining, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver enters Richmond second in the championship standings and fresh off a victory at Iowa Speedway, part of a Joe Gibbs Racing juggernaut at the top of the Cup points sheet.

After Richmond last year, JGR had its other three drivers situated Nos. 3 (Denny Hamlin), 6 (Christopher Bell) and 8 (Chase Briscoe).

This year, the equation has changed. Gibbs now has two career Cup victories, with both coming on short tracks this year, and his latest came at Iowa in a race where he held off Bell for the win.

This year, Hamlin holds a 103-point advantage over Gibbs in the standings with three races until the Chase — the newly-returning points system that’s back for the first time since the 2013 season. Hamlin's lead hasn't come solely through consistency, either. The JGR veteran has four wins, 11 top-five finishes and 13 top-10s this season, along with 863 laps led. His 8.67 average finish is also among the best marks in the series.

Gibbs’ second-place standing comes fresh off a win at Iowa that vaulted him over Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, the latter of whom holds a series-high five wins this season. It’s been a breakout fourth campaign for the 23-year-old, who finished 18th, 15th and 19th in his first three seasons at the Cup level.

The improvement has been evident beyond the standings, too. Gibbs already has nine top-five finishes and 14 top-10s through 23 races, surpassing his totals from all of 2025. His average finish has also improved dramatically, sitting around 12th this season after finishing at 17.86 a year ago.

The track has historically been kind to Gibbs' organization, too. Joe Gibbs Racing leads all teams with 19 Cup victories at Richmond, making Saturday night's race a particularly interesting one for a team that currently occupies four of the top six positions in the standings.

Hamlin, Gibbs, Blaney and Reddick have all locked up Chase spots, with 304 points at maximum still up for grabs. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell are fifth and sixth in the title hunt. Bell is currently tied with Harry Gant for the most runner-ups without a win in a season with seven, meaning nearly one-third of his starts (seven through 23 races) have ended with him one position short of victory lane.

Despite the lack of a win and a fractured left wrist sustained at Michigan in early June, those seven runner-ups have kept Bell sixth in the championship standings.

Hendrick’s Chase Elliott is seventh, while Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar took a three-spot tumble to eighth place after a 31st-place finish at Iowa last week. Hocevar claimed his first career Cup Series win at Talladega Superspeedway in May.

RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and Hendrick’s Kyle Larson round out the top-10 standings — Larson is currently mired in a slump, having finished four of the last five races outside the top-30 and holding a 31.0 average finish in that timespan.

Larson does, however, boast three sprint car victories on dirt in the past five days and have seeming momentum behind him as he looks to end a 15-month winless drought in Cup Series competition.

Ryan Preece is 17th and 29 points behind Cindric for the final Chase position. Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones remain within striking distance, while Michael McDowell is also still mathematically alive.

And then there is Austin Dillon.

Dillon sits 27th with 382 points, 541 markers behind Hamlin and well outside the current Chase field. A win will not move him into the Chase; he is, for all intents and purposes until mathematically confirmed, out of the title hunt. But his Iowa weekend provided at least some reason for optimism heading into Richmond, a track he’s won at the last two seasons.

A third consecutive Richmond victory does little to change Dillon's championship outlook, but it would reinforce his status as one of the track's most successful active drivers. It would also give RCR another major result at a track where Dillon has seemingly found an answer others haven't.

His 2024 victory came in a controversial fashion after he used contact with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap to secure the win. NASCAR ultimately allowed Dillon to keep the victory but stripped him of its automatic playoff berth and docked him 25 points.  Last year, though, Dillon returned to Richmond and won again — this time without the controversy.

The Richard Childress Racing driver finished 10th last time out at Iowa, putting together another strong short-track performance. Dillon had participated in a Goodyear tire test at Iowa earlier this year, giving him additional experience with the track's unique characteristics.

Practice for the Cup Series is set for Friday, Aug. 14 at 3:30 p.m. ET; fans can tune in on truTV, the Motor Racing Network or SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90. Qualifying is available via the same options, taking place at 4:40 p.m. on Friday.

The Cook Out 400 will commence at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 15, with the race being aired live on USA, HBO Max, MRN and SiriusXM.