Chris Gayle won't be stressing about points at Richmond

You won't find Chris Gayle pulling his hair out Saturday at Richmond Raceway while he watches live updates on the NASCAR Cup Series points standings. 

The reasons are twofold. First, Gayle's driver, Denny Hamlin, is 103 points up on second-place Ty Gibbs in the standings with three races left in the regular season. Barring a major hiccup from the No. 11 team over the next three weeks, the No. 1 seed in the Chase and the regular season title will belong to Hamlin. 

Perhaps more importantly, Gayle doesn't let the points distract him from the task at hand: winning a race. 

How Chris Gayle approaches NASCAR points standings

"After the race, yes, of course, I'll look and I'll see," Gayle said Thursday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "But in this case, no. I don't make it a big deal during the race. I know where we are after the race. If it was 100 points or 10 points, I don't know that it would change our focus and how we're going about preparing for Richmond and what we can do at Richmond. 

"There might be particular places, a road course to grab stage points or not. I think that's a case-by-case basis on the racetrack with where you're running [and] how you would approach those points scenarios."

Winning should be the focus and could very well be the reality for Hamlin, Gayle and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing group in Saturday's Cook Out 400 at Richmond. Hamlin, a native of Chesterfield, Virginia, is a five-time winner at the 0.75-mile Virginia short track.