NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Picture Following Bristol

Following the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field dropped from 16 drivers to 12.

Christopher Bell won Saturday's race, completing a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the first round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry were eliminated from the Playoffs.

With that, the Playoff grid is reset entering the Round of 12, which begins next Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Denny Hamlin moves back atop the points standings with his 34 playoff points, a total that increased after his win at World Wide Technology Raceway one week ago.

Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick start the Round of 12 below the cutoff. However, all four are within three points of eighth-place Bubba Wallace, so the battle to qualify for the Round of 8 remains wide-open.

Along with the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire next Sunday, the Round of 12 also consists of races at Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Bank of America ROVAL 400 will conclude the Round of 12 on Sunday, October 5.

-Photo credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings