The bottom four: Hopes and desperation for a playoff rebound at Watkins Glen

As expected, the opening race of the NASCAR Cup playoffs really jostled the order of things in the championship standings. Most notably, top seed Kyle Larson shockingly crashed on his own in the first stage of the race. The result erased half of his points cushion, leaving him tenth in the standings and just 15 points away from the cut-line. Denny Hamlin is another title contender who endured a ...Keep reading