Carson Hocevar climbed to fifth place in the NASCAR Cup Series standings after finishing ninth at the Brickyard 400 on Sunday.
The Spire Motorsports driver now holds the highest points position among Chevrolet drivers in the series.
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Hocevar overtook Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott, who dropped in the standings after a 37th-place finish due to wall contact.
Hocevar entered the race trailing Elliott by 36 points but gained enough to surpass him.
Kyle Larson, also from Hendrick Motorsports, suffered a setback during the race. He became the first driver forced out after a flat tire caused a crash.
Larson had entered the event 18 points behind Elliott.
Hocevar currently holds the highest points position among drivers without a playoff spot.
He maintains a 158-point cushion above the playoff cut line and sits 113 points behind Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs, who secured his playoff berth on Sunday.
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Gibbs joins Denny Hamlin, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick, and Team Penske's Ryan Blaney as drivers who have officially clinched playoff spots.
This gives Toyota three locked berths and Ford one.
Hocevar is positioning himself for a career-best season after finishing 21st as a rookie in 2024 and 23rd the following year.
Securing a playoff berth would guarantee him a spot in the top 16.
Earlier this season, Hocevar captured his first career Cup victory at Talladega Superspeedway.
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He has earned four top-five finishes and five additional top-10 results this year without recording a single DNF.
