Good and bad news for the NASCAR Cup teams ahead of the weekend in New Hampshire

The NASCAR Cup season reaches the halfway point with Sunday's race at New Hampshire, the 18th of 36 points races. USA Network will provide all coverage this weekend.

Ryan Blaney secured a playoff spot as the tenth driver with his win last weekend at Iowa Speedway. There are currently six spots still up for grabs based on points.

Here's a look at where things stand for each Cup organization this weekend.

23XI Race — Good news: Bubba Wallace, who holds the final playoff spot, is one of four active drivers to finish in the top 10 in both New Hampshire races in the Next Gen car. Wallace was third in 2022 and eighth in 2023. The other three active drivers to finish in the top 10 in both of those races are Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. … Tyler Reddick has started in the top 10 in each of the last five points races. Bad news: Wallace is one of two drivers in a playoff spot who have not earned any playoff points, the other being Alex Bowman.

Front Row Motorsports — Good News: Todd Gilliland's 12th-place finish at Iowa is his sixth consecutive top-20 finish – his longest such streak in his Cup career. … Michael McDowell has nine top-10 starts this season. He had eight such starts all of last year. Bad news: The organization has never achieved a top-10 ranking in New Hampshire.

Hendrick Motorsports — Good News: Chase Elliott leads the points standings for the first time since October 2022. … Elliott's season average finish is 9.1, the best in the series. … Kyle Larson has three second-place finishes in New Hampshire. Bad news: Alex Bowman has only one top-10 finish in 12 Cup starts at New Hampshire. He is entered in the Xfinity race to get a few extra laps on the track. … William Byron has never finished in the top 10 in six New Hampshire Cup starts. … Hendrick Motorsports' last win at New Hampshire was in July 2012 by Kasey Kahne.

Joe Gibbs Racing — Good News: Martin Truex Jr. is the defending New Hampshire champion. … Truex has won all four stages at New Hampshire in the Next Gen car. … In the last 12 races at New Hampshire, a JGR car has finished in the top two. The last time a JGR car did not finish first or second at New Hampshire was in September 2014. … Denny Hamlin has finished first or second in nearly a third of his starts at New Hampshire. … Christopher Bell has earned Cup wins (one), Xfinity wins (three) and Truck wins (one) at New Hampshire. Bad news: New Hampshire hosts only one race each year. … Ty Gibbs has gone three races in a row without a top-10 finish.

Martin Truex Jr. will not drive full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025

Martin Truex Jr. said he is excited about his future but doesn't know what it will bring.

JTG Daugherty Racing — Good News: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. earned his second top-five finish of the season last weekend in Iowa, finishing fifth. Bad news: The last time Stenhouse finished in the top 10 in a row was last year in the playoffs at Bristol and Texas. It has been 23 races since then.

Kaulig Racing — Good news: Daniel Hemric has finished all 17 races. The only other drivers to do so this year are Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. … The team has announced that it will field a third car for AJ Allmendinger at Watkins Glen in September. Shane van Gisbergen and Hemric will be in the team's other two cars there. Bad news: Hemric finished 28th or worse in four of the last six races.

Legacy Motor Club – Good News: The last time John Hunter Nemechek was in New Hampshire, he won the Xfinity race. That was last season. Bad news: Nemechek's average starting position in the last five points races is 28.6. … Erik Jones' average starting position in the last five points races is 31.2.

Richard Childress Racing — Good News: Austin Dillon finished ninth in New Hampshire last year. Bad news: In the 38 races since Kyle Busch's last win, he has finished 25th or worse 13 times, compared to 14 top-10 finishes. … Busch is 31 points from the playoff line with nine races to go. The smallest points deficit by a driver who reached the playoffs on points was 20 points by Ryan Newman in 2019.

Rick Ware Racing — Good News: Justin Haley finished 13th at Iowa, making it 13th or better three times in the last five races. … Haley's average running position this season is 23.2, but his average running position in each of the last five points races on oval tracks has been better. At Iowa, his average running position was 15.1. Bad news: The best finish by a Rick Ware Racing car in New Hampshire is 29th.

RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher has completed 48 races without a pit lane speeding penalty, the only one Chase Elliott has failed to do so in that streak of 89 races. … Brad Keselowski has finished in the top 10 four times in the last five points races. Bad news: Buescher finished 14th or worse in four of the last five points races.

Spire Motorsports — Good News: Carson Hocevar's 14th place means he has three consecutive top 20 finishes. This is the third time he has done that this season. … Corey LaJoie has scored stage points in each of the last two races. This is the first time he has done that this season. Bad news: Zane Smith finished 30th or worse eight times in 17 starts this season.

Stewart-Haas Racing — Good news: Josh Berry's seventh-place finish at Iowa is his third top-10 finish in the last five races. … Chase Briscoe finished 10th at New Hampshire last year. Bad news: Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece and Berry are all outside the top 25 in laps completed percentage this season. Gragson is 26th, Berry is 29th and Preece is 30th.

Team Penske – Good news: All three Penske drivers have won the last five races: Joey Logano won the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro, Austin Cindric won at World Wide Technology Raceway and Ryan Blaney won the first Cup race at Iowa Speedway last weekend. … Logano moved to within six points of the playoff line after scoring 10 points at Iowa. … Team Penske joins Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing as the only organizations to win multiple points races this year. Bad news: Logano's sixth-place finish in Iowa was only his second top-10 finish in the last nine points races.

With victory in Iowa, Ryan Blaney returns to the NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings

Kyle Larson remains number 1 in the US rankings ahead of Sunday's race in New Hampshire.

Trackhouse Racing — Good News: Ross Chastain is in second place in the series with an average score of 12.5, tied with William Byron. …Daniel Suarez became a US citizen this week. … Bad news: Suarez has finished in the top 10 in his last six starts at New Hampshire.

Daniel Suarez takes the oath to become a US citizen

More than a decade after coming to the United States, Daniel Suarez became a US citizen.

Wood Brothers Racing — Good News: Harrison Burton's 20th place in Iowa was his best result in the last seven points races. Bad news: The organization's last victory was 255 races ago. It was the team's 99th career Cup victory.