Denny Hamlin leads field in stage points, stage wins

Four races into the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin leads all competitors in stage points earned and stage wins.

Hamlin has earned 62 stage points so far — including 15 points Sunday (Mar. 7) in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — 25 points over Brad Keselowski who has earned the second-most stage points (37).

Kyle Larson (36), Chase Elliott (35) and William Byron (32) round out the Top-5 drivers with the most stage points.

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

STAGE WINS
Hamlin has earned three of the eight stage wins through Las Vegas.

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

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 points and so forth.

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

STAGE POINT TOTALS
Denny Hamlin – 62
Brad Keselowski – 37
Kyle Larson – 36
Chase Elliott – 35
William Byron – 32
Joey Logano – 31
Martin Truex Jr. – 29
Kurt Busch – 25
Christopher Bell – 21
Alex Bowman – 19
Austin Dillon – 18
Ryan Blaney – 17
Chris Buescher – 16
Kevin Harvick – 15
Bubba Wallace – 12
Ryan Preece – 9
Kyle Busch – 5
Cole Custer – 4
Michael McDowell – 4
Matt DiBenedetto – 3
Ross Chastain – 2

SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info