Storylines to follow in final stretch of Cup Series regular season

After a rare off weekend, the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season resumes Sunday at Iowa Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Sports, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and winds down later in the month.

From Iowa to the regular-season finale at Daytona, here are several storylines to follow with four races remaining before The Chase field is set.

RELATED: Iowa schedule | Cup Series standings

Closing out a dominant first 26

Father Time still isn't ticking on 45-year-old Denny Hamlin, and he's arguably in the best form of his career right now. Along with three consecutive wins from Nashville through Pocono, Hamlin took the No. 1 seed from Tyler Reddick after Sonoma and hasn't looked back. 

His average finish of 8.5 also bodes well as The Chase looms, with the driver who has the most points after the final 10 races set to be crowned champion. All signs point toward Hamlin being the title favorite come Darlington, and he'll be looking to make an even bigger statement in the last four regular-season races. 

Superstars still winless entering August

If you were to tell someone in February that Kyle Larson, William Byron and Christopher Bell would all be winless entering August, they would've called you crazy. But that's the reality right now for some of the sport's best. 

Larson (17.0 average finish) and Byron (15.9) are both enduring down years by their recent standards, and neither has converted opportunities into a victory.

Bell appears to be closest to snapping his winless drought dating back to the Bristol Night Race last season. The No. 20 JGR driver has six runner-up results this season, with three coming in the last four races and also in back-to-back crown jewels. 

Will Carson Hocevar be the top Chevy driver entering The Chase?

After Larson and Chase Elliott were involved in incidents at Indianapolis, Hocevar scored a top 10 to surpass both Hendrick drivers in the standings and is now fifth in points as the top Chevrolet driver. 

A strong close to the regular season would cement Hocevar's 2026 campaign as much more than a flash in the pan.

Tyler Reddick in desperate need of Chase momentum

After winning five of the first nine races of the year, Reddick looked like the early Cup Series title favorite. But despite remaining the provisional No. 2 seed, his summer has been forgettable, to say the least.

Since his first DNF of 2026 at Michigan, Reddick has finished 25th or worse in four of the last seven races. The No. 45 23XI Racing driver needs a big August to rediscover his early-season form and challenge Hamlin.

Can Shane van Gisbergen lock his Chase spot?

It was always going to be a tall ask for the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing driver to finish 16th or better in the Cup standings after 26 races, but he's nearly there.

Despite crashing out at Naval Base Coronado -- where he was the favorite to win -- van Gisbergen won in Sonoma and rattled off back-to-back surprise top 10s at EchoPark and North Wilkesboro to find himself 57 points above the Chase cutline heading into August.

The Kiwi faces a tough group of tracks ahead, but SVG is proving many doubters wrong this year.

Ty Gibbs' underrated 2026 campaign

What's crazier: Gibbs being fourth in points or the lack of folks talking about Gibbs being fourth in points? 

It took until his fourth season to earn his maiden Cup victory, but the No. 54 driver is doing more than being the fringe Chase contender he was from 2023-25.

The 2026 season has been career-defining for Gibbs, who has already set career highs in top-five and top-10 finishes. He's also tallied 36 or more points in six of the last seven races. 

Gibbs is also one of just four drivers already locked into The Chase, so look out for the No. 54 team as a potential title threat. 

Three-in-a-row at Richmond?

Austin Dillon sits well outside The Chase field with four races remaining, but there's something to be said for a driver who enters an event as the two-time defending winner.

On Aug. 15, the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing driver will look to become the first Cup driver to win three consecutive races at the same track since Hall of Famer Kevin Harvick did so at Michigan International Speedway from 2019-20.

How will the new Daytona package race for the regular-season finale?

NASCAR is adjusting its Next Gen superspeedway package by shortening the rear spoiler from 7 to 4 inches and reducing horsepower from 510 to 465.

The reduction in drag is intended to create more opportunities for drivers to move through the field rather than relying on pit strategy for track position.

FULL STORY: NASCAR announces rule changes for summer Cup race at Daytona