Denny Hamlin continues to lead field in stage points, stage wins

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Five races into the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin continues to lead all competitors in stage points earned and stage wins.

Hamlin has earned 77 stage points so far — including 15 points Sunday (Mar. 14) in the Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway — 25 points over Brad Keselowski who has earned the second-most stage points (37).

Joey Logano (50), Chase Elliott (43) and William Byron (39) round out the Top-5 drivers with the most stage points.

Twenty-two drivers have earned at least one stage point throughout the opening races of the season.

Aric Almirola picked up his first stage points of the season at Phoenix, netting three points with an eighth-place finish in Stage 2 of the Instacart 500.

STAGE WINS THROUGH PHOENIX
Hamlin has earned three of the 10 stage wins through Phoenix.

Ryan Blaney, Chris Buecsher, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano have each won one stage thus far in 2021.

STAGE POINT TOTALS THROUGH PHOENIX
Denny Hamlin – 77

Brad Keselowski – 52

Joey Logano – 50

Chase Elliott – 43

William Byron – 39

Kyle Larson – 38

Martin Truex Jr. – 38

Ryan Blaney – 33

Kurt Busch – 25

Kevin Harvick – 24

Christopher Bell – 22

Alex Bowman – 19

Austin Dillon – 18

Chris Buescher – 16

Bubba Wallace – 12

Kyle Busch – 10

Ryan Preece – 9

Cole Custer – 4

Matt DiBenedetto – 4

Michael McDowell – 4

Aric Almirola – 3Ross Chastain – 2

STAGE POINTS EXPLAINED
NASCAR awards the Top-10 finishers of Stages 1 and 2 in points-awarding races, with the exception of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May (three stages award points there).

A stage winner earns 10 points, which is added to the points they earn for their finishing position. Second place in a stage earns nine points, third place earns eight and so forth.

The stage point totals do not include points earned during the Daytona qualifying races.

SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info