Could the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs get tighter after Harrison Burton’s improbable victory Saturday night at Daytona?
The Cup Series playoffs consist of 16 drivers: the regular season champions, then the next 15 drivers ranked by wins, with ties broken. by points.The three drivers with a chance to win the regular season title are among the 13 drivers who have won this year and secured a spot in the playoffs. That means there are three spots up for grabs ahead of next Sunday’s regular season finale at Darlington.
So who’s in contention, who’s on the bubble and who’s a winner at all the costs? 13 drivers with race wins: Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton. br>There are five winless drivers fighting for the top three spots: Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain. .” T Wallace said. “We don’t even deserve to be here and we are. We have to win next week. That’s all.”NASCAR Cup Series: Harrison Burton takes a crazy victory at Daytona!
Here are the decisive scenarios for these drivers:
–Truex has a 58-point lead over Wallace, the number one driver currently out. Truex is in contention if there isn’t a new winner at Darlington. Even with a new winner, he is in a good position with 19 points ahead of Ty Gibbs and 37 points ahead of Buescher. Truex has two career wins at Darlington, but has not finished better than 18th in his last five starts. Gibbs is 39 points ahead of Wallace and 18 points ahead of Buescher. If there is no new winner, Gibbs secures a place with a 20th or better finish at Darlington (and probably shouldn’t finish that well). Gibbs is probably fine unless he is involved in an accident or has a mechanical problem at Darlington. He finished second at Darlington in May.”You just have to have a good run,” Gibbs said. “We finished second there in the spring.
“I think we have the speed to win, so I think it would be nice to get my first win in the Southern 500. That would be amazing” – -Buescher is 21 points ahead of Wallace and 27 ahead of Chastain for the final spot as he and Tyler Reddick gloat as they battle for the win. Buescher finished third at Darlington last year.“We came to Darlington with what I know: a little bit ahead,” Buescher said. “We know we were really good here last time.”
Wallace is 21 points behind Buescher for the final playoff spot. If Buescher had a bad first two stages and Wallace could have gained points, he could have tried to catch him. That’s a big “if.” Wallace should probably win. Wallace has four top 10s at Darlington, but has never finished better than fifth.
–Chastain, 27 points back, is in a similar position to Wallace. Darlington is a good track for Chastain, but he’s only finished in the top 5 in the Cup twice at that track.”I’ll look at it like we have another chance to win the Southern 500,” Chastain said. . “That’s what I’m focused on.”
There are 17 other playoff-eligible drivers who absolutely must win at Darlington to qualify: Austin Dillon (who lost his appeals with NASCAR who won a spot of playoffs for his win at Richmond), Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland, Josh Berry, Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Daniel Hemric, Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie , John Hunter Nemechek and Zane Smith . Between them, Busch and Jones won Cup races at Darlington.
2024 NASCAR Playoff Standing: Who is in,who will emerge for bubble chaos at Darlington
